298: [Petra-Ann Brown] Breaking Barriers: Embracing Island Money
In this episode of About That Wallet, host Anthony Weaver welcomes the dynamic Petra-Ann Brown, a certified financial coach dedicated to empowering immigrants and minorities to achieve financial freedom. Together, they explore the unique financial challenges faced by those starting from scratch in a new country, including the complexities of navigating unfamiliar financial systems and cultural expectations.
Petra-Ann shares her inspiring story of resilience, detailing her journey from a comfortable childhood in Jamaica to rebuilding her life in the U.S. with her family. She emphasizes the importance of setting boundaries, particularly when it comes to financial support for family members back home, and how to allocate resources wisely without sacrificing personal financial health.
Listeners will gain valuable insights into budgeting, the significance of understanding credit, and the necessity of open communication about finances. Petra-Ann also discusses her philosophy of treating money management as a holistic process, addressing both offense and defense strategies to achieve financial stability.
π¬ Question of the Day: How do you set financial boundaries with family while maintaining supportive relationships? Share your thoughts in the comments!
π Connect with Petra-Ann Brown:
Website: https://brownfinancialsolutions.com
Podcast: Islands Money 365
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β Subscribe to About That Wallet
β Leave a review to help others find valuable financial insights
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=|| π Chapters ||=
(00:00) Welcome and Introduction
(02:30) Petra-Ann's Journey from Jamaica to the U.S.
(10:15) The Importance of Financial Boundaries
(18:00) Navigating Cultural Expectations
(25:45) Strategies for Budgeting and Saving
(32:30) Understanding Credit and Its Impact
(40:00) The Holistic Approach to Money Management
(48:15) Final Thoughts and Resources
(55:00) How to Connect with Petra
ππ½ Thank you for tuning in!
Your support helps more people build strong financial habits and achieve their goals.
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β οΈ DISCLAIMER:
This content is for educational purposes only and is not financial advice. Always consult a licensed financial professional when needed.
#AboutThatWallet #FinancialLiteracy #ImmigrantFinance #MoneyManagement #FinancialCoaching
Episode 298
Transcript
Petra-Ann Brown: They're migrating, starting from scratch, right? You have to
Speaker:learn the culture. You got to learn the new financial system, everything. And
Speaker:some of us come from a system that raise corruption. We don't trust
Speaker:it. Some of us come from a system where it's just like the United States. We can
Speaker:easily transition system. There's a lot of barriers that we need to think
Speaker:about. Don't know anything about credit. Some of us come from a cash system.
Speaker:But the most important thing is that we work
Speaker:like several jobs.
Anthony Weaver:Welcome back, everybody, to another exciting show, Are they About
Anthony Weaver:that Wallet Podcast? I am your host, Anthony
Anthony Weaver:Weaver, and we focus on
Anthony Weaver:the sandwich generation to help you build strong financial
Anthony Weaver:habits so that you can spend money, talk about
Anthony Weaver:money, and enjoy your money with confidence.
Anthony Weaver:And today I have somebody who
Anthony Weaver:is, uh, I guess you could say
Anthony Weaver:a force to reckon with when it comes to
Anthony Weaver:the outreach perspective. She has
Anthony Weaver:always looking for the right ways and
Anthony Weaver:the right tools to make sure that she's providing the
Anthony Weaver:greatest information for our audience. Um, and
Anthony Weaver:when, I mean, like, she's a force that's going out the way, she's cold
Anthony Weaver:calling people. She is not only cold calling, she
Anthony Weaver:will show up on the door and knock people down, you know what I'm saying?
Anthony Weaver:To get what she needs to get to make sure that
Anthony Weaver:she's providing the best information.
Anthony Weaver:And I just want to thank you so much for coming on the show, Petra.
Anthony Weaver:And how are you doing today?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Thank you, Anthony. I am great. I'm so happy to be
Anthony Weaver:here.
Anthony Weaver:It.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: And now I want to be happy with my money. I want to happily
Anthony Weaver:spend my money.
Anthony Weaver:So let's talk about how we can happily
Anthony Weaver:spend our money.
Anthony Weaver:Well, let's talk about it. Like, what was the most, uh, let's see.
Anthony Weaver:What is the one thing that you're so happy that you
Anthony Weaver:purchased it that you still use today?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Oh, I don't know if I still use it, but I recently I
Anthony Weaver:attended a event, um, of one of the Caribbean events
Anthony Weaver:that we have here in Connecticut. Um, Caribbean connections.
Anthony Weaver:It's called Ann, since,
Anthony Weaver:you know, I'm a financial coach, so, and
Anthony Weaver:money conscious. So I really, I really spend money
Anthony Weaver:in terms of these things. I spend money on, like,
Anthony Weaver:vacation. That's where that's what my value is.
Anthony Weaver:Right.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: So I had to go buy a dress and I went to
Anthony Weaver:Macy's. Okay, I don't build Macy's. I went to
Anthony Weaver:Macy's. My, uh, mom had some coupons because she loved
Anthony Weaver:Macy's. So she had those star points. I was like,
Anthony Weaver:everybody got coupons. I went there
Anthony Weaver:I saw this dress, it was beautiful. I didn't want any black because
Anthony Weaver:everybody wear black togethers. And I was like, I don't want to wear black. And
Anthony Weaver:I walked in, saw this beautiful, um,
Anthony Weaver:burgundy kind of dress. And I just
Anthony Weaver:picked it up, I tried it on for my side. Tried on, looked beautiful on
Anthony Weaver:me. I said, this is it. My husband was with me. They look at the
Anthony Weaver:price tag.
Anthony Weaver:I went to the red, it was like 100 and something
Anthony Weaver:dollars. I look at my husband, I was like, what?
Anthony Weaver:He was like, let's buy. Wasn't there. I
Anthony Weaver:was like 100 some dollars for a dress I'm gonna wear one time.
Anthony Weaver:He was like, you better find another use for it, but
Anthony Weaver:you should buy it. And I bought it. It had a
Anthony Weaver:great time. It was a beautiful dress. I felt so beautiful in it.
Anthony Weaver:But I mean I would not have.
Anthony Weaver:It's not just. That's not what I do, you know, I'm a
Anthony Weaver:couponer. I don't buy anything at full
Anthony Weaver:price. I did not distress.
Anthony Weaver:Anyway, I did get um, like $60
Anthony Weaver:off. I paid well originally two something and I end up paying one
Anthony Weaver:something for it. So. But it was a great purchase.
Anthony Weaver:The reason why, because I enjoyed it. I had fun.
Anthony Weaver:I just went in there and bought something without thinking about it, which is
Anthony Weaver:so not me.
Anthony Weaver:Well, I mean, but that is amazing thing when you cross
Anthony Weaver:that threshold of confidence in your finances. You're like,
Anthony Weaver:you know what? Not that I deserve it, but the fact
Anthony Weaver:that I can do it without it impacting any part of
Anthony Weaver:your finances, you know.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Yes, exactly. Plus, you know, I knew this color was
Anthony Weaver:coming up and I did allocate money for this because, you
Anthony Weaver:know, I had none of these kind of clothes. I don't.
Anthony Weaver:I go to like, um, like rainbow
Anthony Weaver:and stuff, you know, Marshall.
Anthony Weaver:Marshall TJ Maxx, you know, Burlington.
Anthony Weaver:So I don't have any of these nice, nice stuff, uh,
Anthony Weaver:outside of my church clothes. You don't want to wear church post. It's to
Anthony Weaver:a gala.
Anthony Weaver:So they don't know.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Everybody was dressed to a T. And these are. Look, these are
Anthony Weaver:Caribbean. These are Jamaicans, you know, um, um,
Anthony Weaver:Beijings. I mean they dress, they go all out, right?
Anthony Weaver:So I got my hair done, got my
Anthony Weaver:nails done, I did a whole shebang. So I knew it was going to
Anthony Weaver:cost. So I allocated money for it. And then, you know, I was
Anthony Weaver:okay because I knew what my parameters are. And I went on to bought it and I stay within
Anthony Weaver:my budget. So it was pretty good.
Anthony Weaver:That's good.
Anthony Weaver:Um, because I um, like to ask that question, because
Anthony Weaver:a lot of times we feel afraid to spend money on things that we
Anthony Weaver:really want, um, and we
Anthony Weaver:feel guilty sometime of purchasing it.
Anthony Weaver:And sometimes it's like, well, I bought it for this
Anthony Weaver:one thing. What other uses
Anthony Weaver:am I going to use this for? Um,
Anthony Weaver:did you decide to keep it or did you give it
Anthony Weaver:back? Did you donate it back? What?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: You know, I keep it. I do not do that.
Anthony Weaver:I wore it, I danced in it. I sweat in
Anthony Weaver:it. That is not. Not right. No, I am not giving that
Anthony Weaver:thing. That's not. No, no, you would. My
Anthony Weaver:moral compass would not allow me to return it. But
Anthony Weaver:I have it in my closet. I am thinking, is anything else
Anthony Weaver:going to come up for me to wear this dress? I was like, I need to wear it again. So I'm
Anthony Weaver:sure somebody going to have a wedding somewhere, you know,
Anthony Weaver:or some kind of ball, or maybe a class reunion,
Anthony Weaver:something's going to come up, um, for me to use it
Anthony Weaver:again. But either way, I'm not stressing it. It doesn't think about it.
Anthony Weaver:It's beautiful. It's in my closet. It's a fond memory.
Anthony Weaver:It's a really, really fun memory. So I had a great night with some
Anthony Weaver:girlfriends, just celebrating with Caribbean people. Have some
Anthony Weaver:Caribbean music, celebrating our achievement.
Anthony Weaver:It was fun. I love it.
Anthony Weaver:That's good.
Anthony Weaver:So, you know, obviously, um,
Anthony Weaver:a lot of people are, well, my audience is new to you.
Anthony Weaver:And what is it that got you
Anthony Weaver:to where you are today? It's like, let's say, start with your
Anthony Weaver:early, uh, memory of money. What is
Anthony Weaver:your earliest memory of money?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Oh, well, my money. My memory of money changed. I had
Anthony Weaver:two drastic, um, memory of money. One,
Anthony Weaver:when I was in Jamaica, before I migrated to the U.S. we
Anthony Weaver:were the, I would say, the better off,
Anthony Weaver:the affluent, um, memory in
Anthony Weaver:our little community. I live in the country. Country, country, country.
Anthony Weaver:People in Jamaica don't know we're there. So.
Anthony Weaver:But. And I don't want to say affluent, like my father was. Rich, flowing.
Anthony Weaver:No. But I was the only one in the community at that
Anthony Weaver:time that had a tv. You know, I was wearing shoes
Anthony Weaver:on my feet, and my friends were going barefoot to school.
Anthony Weaver:So in my mind, I was like, okay, we have a little
Anthony Weaver:bit more than my neighbors, right? Most of most of us
Anthony Weaver:were farmers, but for some reason, we
Anthony Weaver:had just a little bit more. Um, and then I
Anthony Weaver:came here. We migrated to the U.S. we had
Anthony Weaver:nothing. We had to start from scratch. Zero.
Anthony Weaver:And my mom, who migrated as a teacher, had to
Anthony Weaver:come here and start all over, right? Because some Things doesn't
Anthony Weaver:translate or doesn't transition with you, um, or
Anthony Weaver:we didn't know about it back then. Maybe you can trans
Anthony Weaver:transfer your credentials now, I don't know. But she
Anthony Weaver:came here and became a.
Anthony Weaver:Essentially start cleaning people homes in the, uh, in the
Anthony Weaver:rich areas. Right? That's what, that's what we do.
Anthony Weaver:We got the connection. Start cleaning homes and taking care of their kids.
Anthony Weaver:And so some nights
Anthony Weaver:I was left to be the cook and I had to just create something
Anthony Weaver:out of nothing. You know, I remember this one particular
Anthony Weaver:incident where I would never forget. It's always my,
Anthony Weaver:my pain point. Where I go back to every time when I realize how
Anthony Weaver:blessed I am now is that I was opening the
Anthony Weaver:refrigerator and all there was, was two single hot dogs. Two
Anthony Weaver:single hot dogs. That's all that was there. And a bag of
Anthony Weaver:flour, right. So what I did was I cut up the hot
Anthony Weaver:dogs, um, toss it down with some ketchup,
Anthony Weaver:and then make some, um, dumplings and boil that. And we have
Anthony Weaver:boiled dumping massages. My sister and I had. We had a great
Anthony Weaver:dinner. So we always had food. But you know, go
Anthony Weaver:from. Have always have food at home back in Jamaica, to
Anthony Weaver:come in here and just making something out of nothing. And
Anthony Weaver:then seeing m. How my mom worked, you know,
Anthony Weaver:come from a teacher to be basically a domestic
Anthony Weaver:servant. Right. And then now as a, um, ed
Anthony Weaver:nurse, as a rn, it shows me that anything is possible.
Anthony Weaver:So my pain, my memory
Anthony Weaver:of money is that, yes, we had.
Anthony Weaver:We don't. But you don't have. That's only temporary.
Anthony Weaver:You're passing through, right? You be
Anthony Weaver:content where you are until it gets to where you want to go or you work to
Anthony Weaver:where you want to go. So now, you know,
Anthony Weaver:money is not as much as
Anthony Weaver:scarcity anymore, is not
Anthony Weaver:evasive, it's not missing,
Anthony Weaver:but, um, we're okay. So those are my two
Anthony Weaver:memories of money. Early memories of money.
Anthony Weaver:Yeah. So, you know, seeing your mom going through
Anthony Weaver:that, um, how was your dad? Did he come
Anthony Weaver:over too?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: No, usually, um, my mom migrated first and then she
Anthony Weaver:brought us up and then my dad came later.
Anthony Weaver:So that's usually the flow of it. Everybody don't come
Anthony Weaver:out all at once. You know, one person come, set things
Anthony Weaver:in motion and, you know, file for you, you come over and
Anthony Weaver:then. Plus my father had a lot of businesses in
Anthony Weaver:Jamaica. Eventually, as my mom was over trying to get things right, you
Anthony Weaver:know, they couldn't just up and leave all his
Anthony Weaver:things at his land and all that kind of stuff. We didn't have a mother leave it
Anthony Weaver:to. So we. They had to make that decision. I don't know what the conversations
Anthony Weaver:were, but they're still married. But
Anthony Weaver:okay, that was. I wasn't proof of that kind of information.
Anthony Weaver:I just knew my dad wasn't with us at the time.
Anthony Weaver:Gotcha. And, um,
Anthony Weaver:so does that actually help you in your
Anthony Weaver:business today? Like, why are you helping other people?
Anthony Weaver:Um, you know, coming through that particular
Anthony Weaver:upbringing, does that actually impact the way how you view money
Anthony Weaver:now?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: It does. I am, um.
Anthony Weaver:I. I don't look at it as if I don't have it. It's a big deal.
Anthony Weaver:You know, some people, like, oh, my life is over.
Anthony Weaver:Or um, they say, you know,
Anthony Weaver:why can't I figure this out? I just know once you have the
Anthony Weaver:information and once you have opportunity, anything is
Anthony Weaver:possible.
Anthony Weaver:So my experience with money and a lot of different
Anthony Weaver:various experiences I have with money definitely helped me to be a better
Anthony Weaver:coach. Help me to be an empathetic coach. Help me to show
Anthony Weaver:people and show the through experience. And I think that's the best coach
Anthony Weaver:you can have is someone. We're not just talking from textbooks. Cause we
Anthony Weaver:all read, right? Read every day. We
Anthony Weaver:digest this stuff, we absorb this stuff, right? We just boom, boom,
Anthony Weaver:boom. All this money stuff.
Anthony Weaver:I read articles, I read books. But at the end of the
Anthony Weaver:day, your experience is what can really change and
Anthony Weaver:shift somebody to. So look, this is possible. I was
Anthony Weaver:here. Um, you're here. And this is how I
Anthony Weaver:came through it. And I think that's the amazing thing about
Anthony Weaver:it. Because even though I went through that when I
Anthony Weaver:went to college and graduated and started making money, I still wasn't
Anthony Weaver:responsible with it. You know, I was
Anthony Weaver:like, okay, I have money now. I spend on buy what I wanted,
Anthony Weaver:right? I'm like, wait a minute, I'm doing
Anthony Weaver:that. I had debt, lots of debt. Um,
Anthony Weaver:and I'm like, wait a minute. I wanted to
Anthony Weaver:stop using my credit card. I'm like, I'm paying so much money in credit card. I want
Anthony Weaver:to stop using my credit card. And when I tried that, I didn't have enough
Anthony Weaver:money in my bank account to buy a large pizza. I was like,
Anthony Weaver:piece of that man was like, a large piece was like, what, 17?
Anthony Weaver:Not even 15 back then. So it
Anthony Weaver:was like the positive, the. The idea that I
Anthony Weaver:couldn't buy a large pizza from my money without
Anthony Weaver:using my credit card. That was a wake up call for me because I
Anthony Weaver:didn't realize I was mismanaging it. I didn't.
Anthony Weaver:I just knew I had enough to buy because I had A good paying job.
Anthony Weaver:I had enough to buy what I want, right? And I was
Anthony Weaver:not living this passion life. I was never that person, but
Anthony Weaver:yet I didn't have it. So where was it going? Because I wasn't buying
Anthony Weaver:fancy cars. I wasn't, um, buying fancy clothes.
Anthony Weaver:I was still this, the way I grew up,
Anthony Weaver:still marshalls BJ's. You know, that's what my.
Anthony Weaver:My mom used to bring us a salvation armor to buy clothes because that's what we could
Anthony Weaver:afford. So I still continued on that path, but yet I still
Anthony Weaver:didn't have the money. Where was it going? And
Anthony Weaver:that's why, you know, debt, um,
Anthony Weaver:eat your income, right? It takes away your income. So
Anthony Weaver:that's what happened to me.
Anthony Weaver:Yeah. And what did you do to get out of
Anthony Weaver:that, that rut?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: I said, I want money.
Anthony Weaver:And I just thought it coming to you like I did my affirmation
Anthony Weaver:in the mirror, right?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: No, I know.
Anthony Weaver:I decided I did not want this kind of
Anthony Weaver:life because I promised myself the reason I went to college. And I was
Anthony Weaver:so focused. I mean, and I actually,
Anthony Weaver:funny story, M. I went into. I ran into a high school friend
Anthony Weaver:and they were surprised that I was married with kids because it was like you were so
Anthony Weaver:focused, you didn't see. Even see boys. You were so tunnel vision.
Anthony Weaver:And I was tunnel vision because I wanted to leave that circumstance that I
Anthony Weaver:was in and make a better life for myself and my family.
Anthony Weaver:And I did that. But here
Anthony Weaver:I am not totally out of it, right? It's still kind of
Anthony Weaver:survival because if something should happen from, uh,
Anthony Weaver:my job, I'm back to square one. So really there was no
Anthony Weaver:security there. There's no freedom there. Right? So
Anthony Weaver:all that sacrifices and then now what? I'm making money
Anthony Weaver:and what's happening? So I realize, um,
Anthony Weaver:getting back to your question, what, what
Anthony Weaver:made me make that change is like the
Anthony Weaver:fact this, this the fear
Anthony Weaver:or the anxiety that, oh my gosh,
Anthony Weaver:I can go back to our empty refrigerator. Yeah, I can
Anthony Weaver:go back to an empty cupboard. I was like, nope,
Anthony Weaver:this story is changing. I'm rewriting
Anthony Weaver:this story. Absolutely not.
Anthony Weaver:And I started just diving deeper into,
Anthony Weaver:you know, the Internet, YouTube, went to YouTube University. I found out
Anthony Weaver:about Dave Ramsey, went through their coaching
Anthony Weaver:program, the seven Steps. I did all that.
Anthony Weaver:You know, I even did his coaching program as well
Anthony Weaver:and get certification through his coaching program where I want to do other things.
Anthony Weaver:But, um, that was it for me. That was the wake up
Anthony Weaver:call. I was saying, no, I can't. I worked too hard. I made
Anthony Weaver:too many sacrifices. I um, deny myself too much
Anthony Weaver:to go back to that space. So
Anthony Weaver:everyone to move on, have to have enough is enough moment
Anthony Weaver:for them to make that change. If they're not there, they're not
Anthony Weaver:ready. You have to have something to say. Enough is enough. Whether it's your
Anthony Weaver:kids, um, whether it's your life situation, whether
Anthony Weaver:the fact that you want to go on vacation. All I can do is
Anthony Weaver:go to your backyard. Yeah. Something happened for
Anthony Weaver:you to say, know what? It's over. I'm starting
Anthony Weaver:over. Change here, it ends here, and then you go do it.
Anthony Weaver:Once that switch turned on, you're determined.
Anthony Weaver:And one of the things I like about that
Anthony Weaver:is when that switch comes on, I always
Anthony Weaver:treat it as if it's like a disease. If the
Anthony Weaver:doctor come up to you and say, like, hey, you can no
Anthony Weaver:longer have peanuts or you'll, uh, die.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: I know.
Anthony Weaver:And you. If you can switch your habits so quickly to get
Anthony Weaver:peanuts out your life, why can't you do that about everything
Anthony Weaver:else? So if you say, like, hey, if
Anthony Weaver:you go to another happy hour and buy a drink,
Anthony Weaver:your finances are going to go back to zero.
Anthony Weaver:If you treat it like a disease, you
Anthony Weaver:operate differently.
Anthony Weaver:Um, so what was that one thing that you had to cut back on
Anthony Weaver:that you noticed that you're spending a lot of money on to kind
Anthony Weaver:of get you focused back on? Because I'm familiar, um,
Anthony Weaver:with the Dave Ramsey process. So
Anthony Weaver:what was it that you notice that you're spending a lot on
Anthony Weaver:that you need to cut back on?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: My family.
Anthony Weaver:I gotta be like, oh, you guys gotta get a job?
Anthony Weaver:No, my family, um, I give a lot.
Anthony Weaver:You know, as immigrants, we are told
Anthony Weaver:to take care of each other, to take care of family. We are here. You
Anthony Weaver:know, this country is very. Yeah, it's very hard.
Anthony Weaver:Um, so we got to give back,
Anthony Weaver:not only here. And that's one of many challenges that immigrants
Anthony Weaver:have. Not only taking care of family here and yourself, but you also taking
Anthony Weaver:family, taking care of family back home. And in
Anthony Weaver:addition to that, we had gotten to the habit, um,
Anthony Weaver:of eating now on Friday nights. I know where it came
Anthony Weaver:from. Friday nights, no one cooks. You know,
Anthony Weaver:it's Friday where we're going to eat out, where we're going to go. It's
Anthony Weaver:Friday. No. So we cook all the way from bunch on Sunday
Anthony Weaver:to Thursday, and then Friday, it's like, boom.
Anthony Weaver:So I realized that too, even in my family,
Anthony Weaver:with my mom, everybody. So I will eat off
Anthony Weaver:Friday night for dinner, right? And then go to visit my mom on the
Anthony Weaver:weekends. And we like, oh, let's go for breakfast. Let's, you
Anthony Weaver:know, then obviously didn't cook anything from the night before. There's no
Anthony Weaver:leftovers. Right. So lunch, m
Anthony Weaver:dinner, and then Sunday morning, Grandma
Anthony Weaver:always cook a nice feast. And then Sunday afternoon,
Anthony Weaver:m. Mama said, let's go, you know, let's go to the all you can eat place. I'm
Anthony Weaver:like, okay, so. So,
Anthony Weaver:um, that time was like, Hometown Buffet.
Anthony Weaver:I mean, almost every Sunday we're at Hometown Buffet.
Anthony Weaver:Um, and then. Or the Chinese one.
Anthony Weaver:The Chinese. Um. Um, all you can
Anthony Weaver:eat. So I was like. When I had that switch, I was like, mom,
Anthony Weaver:we're not doing that anymore. She was like, what? I was
Anthony Weaver:like, no, we're not doing that anymore. I was like, if a family member
Anthony Weaver:needs something, we can. But it's something they can do
Anthony Weaver:on their own. They're going to have to figure it out. If it's
Anthony Weaver:a situation like, you know, somebody is sick or something, I need
Anthony Weaver:help. Absolutely. But we're just gonna say,
Anthony Weaver:this is what we're gonna do. This is how we're gonna do it. If we're gonna send money back home,
Anthony Weaver:say, you know what? We're gonna send money home once a month
Anthony Weaver:or every quarter. We just, like, we're gonna put
Anthony Weaver:some barriers, put some railing on this
Anthony Weaver:thing. Because I realized, well, those one that goes out of the
Anthony Weaver:family is not coming back. It is not coming back. Right.
Anthony Weaver:You know it.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: And then it's, can you please stop using the word borrow? You're not
Anthony Weaver:borrowing the money. Okay? Just say,
Anthony Weaver:can I have the money? I'm looking at. I've been giving you money for
Anthony Weaver:years. That money have never come back.
Anthony Weaver:And Jamaicans have this sound office in America as well.
Anthony Weaver:It's like, as long as I owe you, you'll never go broke. I was like,
Anthony Weaver:it's the same. Yes, I will go broke.
Anthony Weaver:You're not giving it back. So, um, have no
Anthony Weaver:problem helping families. But I just put guardrails around it and how much,
Anthony Weaver:and I tell my immigrant, um, clients is that we
Anthony Weaver:like to give back, which is, there's no problem with that. But you need to allocate certain
Anthony Weaver:amount. They're going to give back monthly or quarterly. And
Anthony Weaver:once you reach that threshold, that's it. Tell them it's over.
Anthony Weaver:You have to wait for the next quarter or the next one, because
Anthony Weaver:you're done. And so I denied myself going
Anthony Weaver:out. I changed that. I was like, we're going to cook on the weekends, too.
Anthony Weaver:You know, it's okay.
Anthony Weaver:Yeah. And how did they.
Anthony Weaver:Because I would say now that you're mom and everybody,
Anthony Weaver:it seemed like almost that that was a your family event.
Anthony Weaver:But now that y' all don't have that family event anymore,
Anthony Weaver:what was like, that conversation? Like, did they, like,
Anthony Weaver:accept it or just like you and your immediate
Anthony Weaver:family did not show up to the next one?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Well, my mom was like, is it that bad? Is everything
Anthony Weaver:okay? I was like, I'm
Anthony Weaver:broke. I'm broke,
Anthony Weaver:Mommy. And that was very. And that was very impactful
Anthony Weaver:for me because my father. So ashamed,
Anthony Weaver:right? And some of us use that fear, like when people.
Anthony Weaver:People see us a certain way, because I went. I was the one that went to college
Anthony Weaver:in the family, and people look at me as. I got myself
Anthony Weaver:together and I'm making good money, right? They don't know how much,
Anthony Weaver:but then I was making money, and they feel like I'm the
Anthony Weaver:successful one, we're the one that doing well. So they look up
Anthony Weaver:to you and they look at you as, okay, this is what we need to aspire
Anthony Weaver:to, right?
Anthony Weaver:That's the reality of it. You are the one that did it.
Anthony Weaver:You made it out. You're doing things. And
Anthony Weaver:I had to go back and say, no, I don't have any
Anthony Weaver:money. I don't. Um,
Anthony Weaver:and not to say I had. And to say I had like
Anthony Weaver:$3,000 in savings, but that was like my. My life
Anthony Weaver:vest, it's like my. My lifeboat that I didn't touch it. It
Anthony Weaver:didn't exist. But that was my money. Like, if anything should
Anthony Weaver:happen, I was like, that was my safety net, you know, made me feel okay.
Anthony Weaver:But other than that, in my check in and regular savings account, because
Anthony Weaver:I was at a different bank account that was at a different bank. It was at a credit
Anthony Weaver:union. And I would advise anybody to do that. You have a checking and
Anthony Weaver:saving combo, and then you have one savings account that's out of reach, out
Anthony Weaver:of sight, you know, doesn't exist.
Anthony Weaver:I know. But, um, you know, I was. I had to go back
Anthony Weaver:and say, no, I don't have it. I said, oh, stop it. Oh, stop
Anthony Weaver:it. You do. I was like, no, I don't.
Anthony Weaver:I was like, if I do not use my credit card, I do not.
Anthony Weaver:So I was like, that's going to change. And that empowered
Anthony Weaver:me. That took away the fear, that took away the, um, the
Anthony Weaver:shame of it. And I just told my mom, no, I'm broke. Once
Anthony Weaver:I said those lines, it was like, I got empowered.
Anthony Weaver:And I was like, okay, now I told you, now I'm gonna do so I'm gonna do
Anthony Weaver:and they come to me, and they always said to me,
Anthony Weaver:oftentimes like, patrick, do you really have to go that hard? I'm like, yes,
Anthony Weaver:I am. I was like, yes, I am. I'm going real hard.
Anthony Weaver:I was like, I'm not searching this thing out for three years. I was
Anthony Weaver:like, in 15 months, I'm done.
Anthony Weaver:You know, I said maximum two years. And I had
Anthony Weaver:$68,000 in debt, and I did it within that time.
Anthony Weaver:Let's go.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.
Anthony Weaver:Because it's. It's like a switch that goes off,
Anthony Weaver:and setting those boundaries have really helped you out,
Anthony Weaver:M man. Because, uh, it gets
Anthony Weaver:you to think of, like, how many other people are willing to make those
Anthony Weaver:type of sacrifices, uh, with their. Well,
Anthony Weaver:are they afraid to. To have those
Anthony Weaver:conversations with their parents? Because I'm
Anthony Weaver:thinking about, you know, people like yourself who are in the
Anthony Weaver:sandwich generation. Like, you got kids to take care of. You have your own
Anthony Weaver:household to take care of first before you deal with mom and dad.
Anthony Weaver:And it's like, yes, yo, I need a break.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Yes.
Anthony Weaver:So how was it with the kids? Like, did the kids
Anthony Weaver:take it okay? Where they was like, hey, well, we don't get to see.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: I was in a good spot, actually, to be honest with you. And it was scary.
Anthony Weaver:Don't think it wasn't. It took a lot of. But, um,
Anthony Weaver:the desire to be better off was way
Anthony Weaver:outweighs what they will feel about me and the opinion of me
Anthony Weaver:changing. Um, I was in a better spot. My son was
Anthony Weaver:young. My husband and my son was young.
Anthony Weaver:Um, he was still under 1 years old.
Anthony Weaver:Okay.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: And another tipping point for me was that I
Anthony Weaver:was. We said that we're not going to use a credit card anymore. And I was like,
Anthony Weaver:okay, the baby need diapers. And my husband was like, we're going to get the money
Anthony Weaver:from. And, you know, I remember being so irritated one
Anthony Weaver:day, and I was, ah. And this was right in the
Anthony Weaver:same, um, moment of when everything was just
Anthony Weaver:enough is enough was coming together for me. And
Anthony Weaver:I was like, what do you mean? I was like, we need diapers. It doesn't
Anthony Weaver:matter if I put a. Put on a credit card. We need diapers.
Anthony Weaver:And he was very, you know, I don't want to use that.
Anthony Weaver:Because he came into relationship debt free.
Anthony Weaver:He came in debt free. So he
Anthony Weaver:was like, I'm just. I just want to stop using the credit card. I'm like,
Anthony Weaver:I understand, but I need diapers for my child, and I'm not going to
Anthony Weaver:nappies, you know, so. Right.
Anthony Weaver:Anybody who don't know what nappies are. Is just what Jamaicans. What, uh,
Anthony Weaver:we use to those cloth things and soap and put it.
Anthony Weaver:And just that run. No, no, we're not doing that
Anthony Weaver:properly. No. So, you
Anthony Weaver:know, I don't want to have those conversations. Right.
Anthony Weaver:Yeah.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: This is what the person I love, you know, my partner, and I'm
Anthony Weaver:not. I don't want to do that.
Anthony Weaver:I don't want to have those kind of conversations. Um, so.
Anthony Weaver:And how. How hard is that to
Anthony Weaver:look at each other and say, to buy your diapers. I can't put
Anthony Weaver:in a credit card. Like, that's very
Anthony Weaver:painful, you know, Very painful. I
Anthony Weaver:can't surprise provide for my family. We can't
Anthony Weaver:provide for our family. And that was very heartbreaking for my husband as well, and
Anthony Weaver:for both of us. And we had to realize that we want the same
Anthony Weaver:thing for our family, and we want us to be financially stable because
Anthony Weaver:we're both coming from a place of nothing,
Anthony Weaver:you know, um, of, um, food insecurities and
Anthony Weaver:stuff like that, especially my husband's side.
Anthony Weaver:Um, so I don't want. We don't want to go through that
Anthony Weaver:again. So.
Anthony Weaver:Yeah, yeah, that's tough.
Anthony Weaver:And. But it's really good that, you know,
Anthony Weaver:you both were on the same page. Uh, because
Anthony Weaver:they talk about marriages usually fail
Anthony Weaver:because of finances,
Anthony Weaver:but really deep down, when you think about it, it's about the
Anthony Weaver:communication about the finances.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Yes.
Anthony Weaver:Um, and so with you being
Anthony Weaver:a certified, um, person
Anthony Weaver:in the financial realm, why
Anthony Weaver:you focus on the finances so much,
Anthony Weaver:uh, instead of anything else,
Anthony Weaver:what.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: If finance like to mean, why focus on the core
Anthony Weaver:building blocks versus all the investments and stuff like that?
Anthony Weaver:Because most people, when they come to me, they said,
Anthony Weaver:um, oh, you're not. Help me say, do you do investment
Anthony Weaver:and stuff? And then you want to invest, but you don't have
Anthony Weaver:$2 in your savings account. It doesn't make sense.
Anthony Weaver:Make it make sense. Right. You don't have
Anthony Weaver:the discipline or the
Anthony Weaver:understanding of those core principles for you
Anthony Weaver:to build that foundation. It's going to
Anthony Weaver:crumble. Right. You know the Bible story that says you build
Anthony Weaver:a house in the sand, they build a house in a rock. Right. Which one is going to sustain
Anthony Weaver:itself? So I'm passionate about
Anthony Weaver:teaching people the foundation, giving them the tools to build that strong
Anthony Weaver:foundation. So when they're done, they go off and build their wealth.
Anthony Weaver:But you cannot build wealth if you don't understand
Anthony Weaver:the. The principle of savings, the principle of how debt
Anthony Weaver:affect your paycheck and how budgeting
Anthony Weaver:helps you manage it all. And to get that goal and dream that you have in
Anthony Weaver:your mind, if you don't have that is.
Anthony Weaver:Is. Is pointless.
Anthony Weaver:So why the, um.
Anthony Weaver:So.
Anthony Weaver:So what is it that somebody right now is listening to this
Anthony Weaver:who, like you said, don't have those. Those only
Anthony Weaver:have those $2. Um,
Anthony Weaver:and with so much amounts of debt and everybody's
Anthony Weaver:asking for money, um, and they just
Anthony Weaver:don't know what to do. Are you more
Anthony Weaver:of a defense side of the person or you more offense?
Anthony Weaver:Meaning, like, offense is like, hey, go get a
Anthony Weaver:job, increase, uh, your income, or you more of the
Anthony Weaver:defense. Like, hey, let's cut back on your spending
Anthony Weaver:and let's, uh, focus on your core structure
Anthony Weaver:first.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: We. I do both. We have to look at the whole person, right?
Anthony Weaver:Um, you can't just attack one side. You need both sides to win.
Anthony Weaver:To win a game, you need defense, I need offense. Right? You can put
Anthony Weaver:all defense you want, but if you're not making the shots, you're not gonna get enough points for
Anthony Weaver:the game, right? So you're not winning. Um, so I look at both
Anthony Weaver:sides as a financial coach, and I tell my individuals or
Anthony Weaver:tell my clients, I say, okay, what are your pain
Anthony Weaver:points? You gotta identify your pain points. Right? We all
Anthony Weaver:have them. And if you only have $2.
Anthony Weaver:A lot of us have pride. I know in the, in the immigrant
Anthony Weaver:community, there's a lot of pride. Right, right, right.
Anthony Weaver:There's a lot of pride. All right, so you only have $2
Anthony Weaver:and you have all these bills that you have to pay.
Anthony Weaver:Okay, what if. What are the necessity? What are
Anthony Weaver:necessities? We need food. Okay, what can
Anthony Weaver:supplement your food right now? Can we go to a food pantry
Anthony Weaver:temporarily, you know, and supplement and, um, you know,
Anthony Weaver:supplement the food and lower the cost of the food
Anthony Weaver:while you try to do these other things? What else can you do? What
Anthony Weaver:other services are out there? That's why it's
Anthony Weaver:good. As I tell all financial coaches,
Anthony Weaver:I hope they know of those nonprofits out there that provide
Anthony Weaver:certain help in your community, in your local
Anthony Weaver:community that you're operating out of, because then it can
Anthony Weaver:direct people to those services. I have
Anthony Weaver:a client who was on the verge of being
Anthony Weaver:evicted, and I knew of a program
Anthony Weaver:that supplied temporarily,
Anthony Weaver:short term, um, money
Anthony Weaver:for them to stay in their home. Like they rent, like the
Anthony Weaver:supplement. They're supplement their rent for a certain amount of time if they
Anthony Weaver:get some things in order and if they go through, like a coaching program.
Anthony Weaver:So obviously she'll leave for me as a coach and go to that coaching
Anthony Weaver:program because she had to go through that program to get the help she
Anthony Weaver:need, uh, for them to pay her rent for the
Anthony Weaver:few months that they would. Right. No problem with
Anthony Weaver:that. But, um, so what would I do with somebody who
Anthony Weaver:has $2? I would look where they are. Is
Anthony Weaver:it money issue? Is it an income issue? Is it
Anthony Weaver:or is a spending issue? Right. If the income issue, then
Anthony Weaver:we got to get to some services. If it's a
Anthony Weaver:spending issue, then we got to tighten it up,
Anthony Weaver:cut back on some spending, um, and
Anthony Weaver:then take that money and reallocate it to the place that it needs
Anthony Weaver:to be so you can get back to be financially stable.
Anthony Weaver:Nice. Um, and I would say you focus in
Anthony Weaver:on immigrants and minorities to help financial
Anthony Weaver:freedom. Um,
Anthony Weaver:why that particular demographic?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Because I'm an immigrant.
Anthony Weaver:I know. It's like a rhetorical question.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: No, no, honestly, all
Anthony Weaver:seriousness, I see the struggles
Anthony Weaver:that we go through. We come here. When this person migrate,
Anthony Weaver:um, they're migrating something from scratch. Right. You have
Anthony Weaver:to learn the culture. You got to learn the new financial system,
Anthony Weaver:everything. And some of us come from a system that we as corruption.
Anthony Weaver:We don't trust it. Some of us come from a system where it's just like the United
Anthony Weaver:States. I can easily transition. So there's a lot of
Anthony Weaver:barriers that we need to think about. Um, some don't know anything about
Anthony Weaver:credit. Some, uh, of us come from a cash system.
Anthony Weaver:But the most important thing is that we work,
Anthony Weaver:like, several jobs, you know?
Anthony Weaver:Yeah.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Working is not the issue. We work, and we can always find
Anthony Weaver:a job. I mean, one of these running jokes about Jamaican is like, when I
Anthony Weaver:tell people I'm Jamaican, they ask me, how many jobs do I have?
Anthony Weaver:How many jobs do you have? Right.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: How many jobs do you have? Anything is. It's funny, but at
Anthony Weaver:the time when they asked me, I had several jobs. Even though
Anthony Weaver:I had a great career job, I still had several
Anthony Weaver:other jobs. And I'm like, when I
Anthony Weaver:married my husband, he was like, why do you have all these jobs? I'm
Anthony Weaver:like, that's all I know. What
Anthony Weaver:do you mean, job? You work? He was
Anthony Weaver:like, well, uh, it doesn't have to be that way.
Anthony Weaver:So, um, making the money work for you,
Anthony Weaver:so you have all these jobs where you have all this responsibility.
Anthony Weaver:And I think a piece in the financial world that
Anthony Weaver:is not really discussed or explored is the fact that most
Anthony Weaver:immigrants are not just taking care of home here as they're
Anthony Weaver:trying to build their financial lives here. They also have to
Anthony Weaver:uplift. And their families back home, you
Anthony Weaver:know, they give in a lot to their families back home. Those
Anthony Weaver:barrels being sent back home, those packages, I mean
Anthony Weaver:Western Union, those money transmitters, you know, they're
Anthony Weaver:making money. They're making money,
Anthony Weaver:you know. So I think is a unique,
Anthony Weaver:um, challenge that we have our unique perspective
Anthony Weaver:or something that's different in the financial world that
Anthony Weaver:most other cultures, probably our American
Anthony Weaver:finances doesn't really address. That's why I focus on
Anthony Weaver:that. But, um, I know, I hope
Anthony Weaver:anyone across my definitely going to turn them away. And to
Anthony Weaver:be honest, um, right
Anthony Weaver:now I have more enough my non clients on um, my non
Anthony Weaver:target market than I have my target market. But
Anthony Weaver:that's why I like the immigrant community because I know what it
Anthony Weaver:is to start from scratch, work your way up, you
Anthony Weaver:get to where you want to be. I know that you have money. What are you going to do about
Anthony Weaver:it?
Anthony Weaver:Yeah. And when did you actually
Anthony Weaver:finally get your certification? Because I'm just going through your
Anthony Weaver:timeline. Uh.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Oh, when did I get it?
Anthony Weaver:Yeah. Yeah.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Okay. All right. So when did I get it? It's a good
Anthony Weaver:question, Anthony. I just be, I just be going. I don't mean.
Anthony Weaver:It seems like whatever, tracking.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: I know I don't tracking. Unlike my money that I
Anthony Weaver:track every month, I don't be tracking these things.
Anthony Weaver:So I. Okay, so I went to the Dave Ramsey program,
Anthony Weaver:the coaching program, right. I got debt free and
Anthony Weaver:then they had it. Then, you know, they stopped bombarding you with emails.
Anthony Weaver:Right. So they had a coaching program.
Anthony Weaver:Went through their coaching program. But,
Anthony Weaver:um, but obviously I feel like
Anthony Weaver:needed more than that because I always want to keep learning
Anthony Weaver:and go. And before that was, I was going to money seminars. I really was.
Anthony Weaver:I was, I was reading books. That was just, just a crescendo for
Anthony Weaver:say, hey, let me see what this coaching program is about. How can I help people? How can
Anthony Weaver:I be of service? And I went through, um, then I got
Anthony Weaver:my certified financial examiner. Oh,
Anthony Weaver:that's something. That's my job. Job. My examiner. Hold on. That's my job.
Anthony Weaver:What is my other, what's my other certification? What are you looking at?
Anthony Weaver:My cfbi. Right, yeah. Certified Financial
Anthony Weaver:education. Yeah. Instructor.
Anthony Weaver:Yeah, that one. Yes. So I got, I got, I went to
Anthony Weaver:that one because I was very serious. I
Anthony Weaver:was like, I really want to help people, make sure I help them correctly, you
Anthony Weaver:know? Yes, it's nice. I read, uh, books. I have those kind of
Anthony Weaver:knowledge. But how can I put it together in a
Anthony Weaver:package so they can be impactful for the
Anthony Weaver:individual? Because everybody can have knowledge,
Anthony Weaver:but you have people who go out and talk on the Stage, you have people
Anthony Weaver:who go and move you. Right. Go on that same
Anthony Weaver:stage and move you differently, Right?
Anthony Weaver:Yeah.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: I want it to be impactful for my clients. So that's why I
Anthony Weaver:continue to get the certification and growing. But when did I get it?
Anthony Weaver:I don't know the date, but I got it. I have a
Anthony Weaver:certification.
Anthony Weaver:I want to be like you when I grow up. Just, just doing it
Anthony Weaver:just because I was like, I don't know, I'm doing it. This is my
Anthony Weaver:thing. Yeah.
Anthony Weaver:So, you know, with all the impact and everything like that you're
Anthony Weaver:providing, um, we just kind of move into the
Anthony Weaver:futures a little bit. Which is, you know, where
Anthony Weaver:do you feel is from a
Anthony Weaver:financial expert, what do you feel is the
Anthony Weaver:gaps that a lot of people are missing when it comes to their
Anthony Weaver:finances?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: I used to say the know how. Right. But people are
Anthony Weaver:reading so much information out there, so they have all this information
Anthony Weaver:going on in their head. Everybody know you need to have an emergency fund, right. If
Anthony Weaver:you go out and be like, oh, yeah, we need to advertise. Oh, I need the budget,
Anthony Weaver:um, the action piece, the
Anthony Weaver:action, please. The steps you need to take.
Anthony Weaver:Everybody's like, okay, I know this, I know this, I know this. What's the
Anthony Weaver:first step? What's the next step by giving them an order?
Anthony Weaver:You know, I think give them. Giving them some kind of
Anthony Weaver:direction, I think is what people are missing.
Anthony Weaver:Once they have the. This is the moment and they start going. The first thing to do is go
Anthony Weaver:to you, um, Google or YouTube, right? You're gonna get all this
Anthony Weaver:information. You're gonna be bombarded m with information, some good, some
Anthony Weaver:bad. They have a differentiate and cipher through that. But then
Anthony Weaver:you're like, crap, where do I start? Yeah, I think
Anthony Weaver:that's what people need. People need order of doing things.
Anthony Weaver:So give us the order.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: What is the order, Petra? What is the order?
Anthony Weaver:Okay, everybody's. Everybody's different kind of person where your starting point is.
Anthony Weaver:But let's say you're starting from, um,
Anthony Weaver:uh, nothing or you're. You're in a
Anthony Weaver:lot of debt. Like I was first. You got to just
Anthony Weaver:face those numbers. And I tell people all the time,
Anthony Weaver:print your first three months of your bank statement.
Anthony Weaver:I know why I do that with my clients, because it jolts
Anthony Weaver:them. They have now, some people have never looked at their bank
Anthony Weaver:statement, right? So. And
Anthony Weaver:I'm talking about all of them. Your credit card, all of them, like
Anthony Weaver:three months. And then go through that line by line,
Anthony Weaver:taking that action alone. Give people
Anthony Weaver:such a wake up call. It's unbelievable. Um,
Anthony Weaver:almost everyone of my clients come across. I did not know. I
Anthony Weaver:did not know I was spending so much on this. I did not know. Um, this
Anthony Weaver:is where I was. So because we have imagination
Anthony Weaver:or we have an idea of what's happening,
Anthony Weaver:oh, I made a lot of debt. How much debt? I just feel like having
Anthony Weaver:a lot of that. People have emotions and feelings, but until they actually
Anthony Weaver:put numbers to that, and it's no longer conceptual,
Anthony Weaver:but actual is, and it's like it hit you
Anthony Weaver:over the head. And from there, you know, I like to say,
Anthony Weaver:okay, what's next? What are your goals from
Anthony Weaver:here, what you want to do? So after they do that, I have them,
Anthony Weaver:as I said, depends on where they start. Different pathway.
Anthony Weaver:Um, there was, you know, sometimes people have like 10 bank
Anthony Weaver:accounts.
Anthony Weaver:10. Wow.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Okay, I know we had a lot of bank account, but
Anthony Weaver:after. But let's back up a little bit. Once they look at their, their statements and
Anthony Weaver:see what's going on, what actually you're going to take, you know,
Anthony Weaver:if you say, well, I spend way too much on Uber Eats,
Anthony Weaver:okay. And that's what you want to focus on. Okay, tell me what you want to focus on.
Anthony Weaver:Or you can say, well, you know, I see a lot of
Anthony Weaver:fees going on here. I didn't know these fees are coming out. I have a lot of
Anthony Weaver:subscription. So whatever you see, the problem area is that you spend the most
Anthony Weaver:money on. You're going to decide how you're going to cut that back.
Anthony Weaver:Right. And then how's the flow of money coming in? I
Anthony Weaver:want. I, I looked at that. Okay. Your money comes
Anthony Weaver:here and it goes here, it goes here, it goes here. From your
Anthony Weaver:paycheck, uh, does it go to one central
Anthony Weaver:location and then disperse. You can actually see the flow
Anthony Weaver:of money. You know, I like people to see. It's like,
Anthony Weaver:streamline your money. I call it streamlining your money.
Anthony Weaver:For, for example, your paycheck get deposited
Anthony Weaver:into your checking account and you can automatically send it to some.
Anthony Weaver:To savings. It can automatically send some over here. But at
Anthony Weaver:least you see the lump sum that's coming in. And then you can start
Anthony Weaver:allocating to where you want to allocate it to. I think you need, need to
Anthony Weaver:organize your money in that sense. And
Anthony Weaver:obviously, you know, before you even come to your checking account, please have.
Anthony Weaver:It goes to your retirement account.
Anthony Weaver:Let's plug that in there. Please have some so you don't see it.
Anthony Weaver:All right. Uh, I know. And we, we go
Anthony Weaver:from there. Also organize those. We stop putting a
Anthony Weaver:planning motion and I do have to look at their credit
Anthony Weaver:report, but that's down the road. But budgeting doesn't come in right away. People say,
Anthony Weaver:oh, when I go to starting budget, I was like, wait a minute. We got to behaviors
Anthony Weaver:first. You know, budget is not right away. We don't jump in that right
Anthony Weaver:away. No, no, no. We got to change some behaviors first
Anthony Weaver:because you.
Anthony Weaver:I mean, obviously, Dave Ramsey got the seven steps. Is there like a
Anthony Weaver:Petra steps? You know what I'm saying that you got.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: You know what? I was. I. I haven't named it.
Anthony Weaver:Okay.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: But it's definitely a process that I go through that
Anthony Weaver:definitely works and give the results that, um, my clients
Anthony Weaver:need and. And want and they're happy with. But you're right.
Anthony Weaver:I should do that. I should have, like a, you
Anthony Weaver:know, outline it like that.
Anthony Weaver:So, uh. Because I'm thinking of, um.
Anthony Weaver:Because, okay, we got those entry barriers. A lot
Anthony Weaver:of my audience. Well, the person has listened to this right now,
Anthony Weaver:might understand that already. What is it
Anthony Weaver:that they can do? Um, now that they got the.
Anthony Weaver:They understand.
Anthony Weaver:They finished beating themselves up, like, hey, you know,
Anthony Weaver:I suck at this. Uh, now that
Anthony Weaver:they have all their information and they feel even worse.
Anthony Weaver:What should they do next?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: What do you ask me? What should they do next? In terms of what.
Anthony Weaver:Because they. They know, okay. Like, they feel
Anthony Weaver:like, okay, I need to cut back on some of the things.
Anthony Weaver:Okay, they played the defense side of the house.
Anthony Weaver:Where can we start making this money? Where can. Because now
Anthony Weaver:that they found the money, where it's going at, um, they
Anthony Weaver:started cutting everything out.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: We can't grow everything at once, though, Anthony. You know, somebody can go
Anthony Weaver:cold turkey, but we want to jolt the system,
Anthony Weaver:But I find it beneficial if we
Anthony Weaver:reduce and we reduce and reduce.
Anthony Weaver:So, for example, I had a client that go to Target every day.
Anthony Weaver:She was like, I don't know why I go to Target every day. I just go to Target. I just pass. I
Anthony Weaver:just stop at Target. I like Target. I'm like, that's great.
Anthony Weaver:Fantastic. I say go to target because I get to target seven
Anthony Weaver:days a week. Okay, what do you get? A target. Sometimes I
Anthony Weaver:just walk around. I'm like, okay. You know, I was like,
Anthony Weaver:okay, can we reduce that? Can we cut it down to maybe, you
Anthony Weaver:know, some, uh. No, not seven days a week. She was
Anthony Weaver:like, I can, you know, I can do. I can do 40.
Anthony Weaver:I make them pick it. Obviously, it's your journey, right? I'm not going to give you a
Anthony Weaver:number. You got to choose that number, because as your coach, I'm
Anthony Weaver:going to hold you to it. And once you say it right, and
Anthony Weaver:I write it down, I say, okay, four days this week,
Anthony Weaver:right? Then in your head, you know, crafts.
Anthony Weaver:And then just like that, she was able to do it.
Anthony Weaver:And now she go to want to go to Target. Like
Anthony Weaver:probably only when she needed. Cause she go her grocery shopping when she needs something for
Anthony Weaver:her K. But she did that. So, um,
Anthony Weaver:I don't say jump on it right away and get upset with yourself. Beat yourself
Anthony Weaver:up. You don't know what you don't know. Just the learning process.
Anthony Weaver:You gotta be upset with yourself for something that you didn't
Anthony Weaver:know, you know, so that's a learning process. You've
Anthony Weaver:been there. Now what? You take little steps. Little
Anthony Weaver:steps. Um, what's it? What's it? What? I say,
Anthony Weaver:um, Anthony, small steps made big changes or something like
Anthony Weaver:that.
Anthony Weaver:I mean, there's so many different analogies with that because I usually
Anthony Weaver:say raindrops create oceans.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Oh, I like that. I like. I've never heard that one.
Anthony Weaver:Raindrops prayed oceans. Okay,
Anthony Weaver:all right. I like it. Might steal that one.
Anthony Weaver:Please, you don't got to quote me for it either. Just
Anthony Weaver:take it. I was just say,
Anthony Weaver:uh, so there's no plagiarism. I'll just say it's unknown.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Okay.
Anthony Weaver:Um, now, because we even talked a little
Anthony Weaver:bit in the green room option as far as the future side of
Anthony Weaver:the house, you were talking about technology. Um,
Anthony Weaver:have you decided implementing AI or any
Anthony Weaver:other technical tools that. Or apps that
Anthony Weaver:has been helpful for your clients?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: For my clients, I usually if
Anthony Weaver:they want to go to the budgeting piece, I tell them to go and explore
Anthony Weaver:different budgeting options out there. So everybody know you need a
Anthony Weaver:budget. Every dollar budget, you know. And
Anthony Weaver:I say, okay, go look at them, see what you like.
Anthony Weaver:I don't tell them. I don't recommend one over the other.
Anthony Weaver:I use a Dave Ramsey one because that's what I started out with right when
Anthony Weaver:I went to the program. And I really, I really enjoy it.
Anthony Weaver:Are they limiting features? Probably, yeah, compared to the
Anthony Weaver:others. But I got it down back.
Anthony Weaver:It's like running like gravy. It's good. It's all good. Um,
Anthony Weaver:but I have them go and do the research and
Anthony Weaver:figure out what apps they look for. What is it that you need in the app,
Anthony Weaver:what is it that you're trying to get from it? And they come back
Anthony Weaver:to me and say, okay, let's start using it. Right, and we'll set it up
Anthony Weaver:together. I sit with them and we go through it line
Anthony Weaver:by line. Painstaking. We go through it together and set
Anthony Weaver:it up and then we send them on their way to manage
Anthony Weaver:it, you know, with their weekly, uh,
Anthony Weaver:or monthly, um, date with their money.
Anthony Weaver:I call it their date
Anthony Weaver:night with their money. So each client, good night. They're
Anthony Weaver:going to work with the money. They're a partner, they date night
Anthony Weaver:with their money. So. Yeah.
Anthony Weaver:Nice. Well, that's good. Um, are
Anthony Weaver:you anything else?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: I'm sorry? Anything other than that? No, but I used to talk my for
Anthony Weaver:myself business wise, if you never know about that.
Anthony Weaver:Okay. Um, and you know, because at
Anthony Weaver:this point we're going to start leaning into you.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Me. Okay.
Anthony Weaver:Yeah, let's.
Anthony Weaver:Let's go and learn about you now. Uh, so, like, what
Anthony Weaver:areas of focus that you looking to
Anthony Weaver:improve on in your life?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Uh, my whole self, Anthony. You
Anthony Weaver:know, I just wanna,
Anthony Weaver:um. Actually and I thought about this
Anthony Weaver:at the end of last year, you know, every end of the year, do a reflection and
Anthony Weaver:do a strategic plan and all this kind of stuff. And I said, what
Anthony Weaver:do I want to do personally? Um,
Anthony Weaver:I want to strengthen my walk with God,
Anthony Weaver:you know. Yes, I am a believer in my faith. I go to
Anthony Weaver:church regularly, but I still want to strengthen. I think
Anthony Weaver:it could be stronger because with kids now,
Anthony Weaver:I'm like, my son is doing track and
Anthony Weaver:all the meets are on Sunday. And I did not know that when
Anthony Weaver:I signed him up. And it's so upsetting to me because
Anthony Weaver:like, they have no respect for people who are,
Anthony Weaver:you know, who goes to church? And I told that to the
Anthony Weaver:organizer. I say, don't you know that people go to church? You know,
Anthony Weaver:can we put some on Saturdays? But you know, they explained to me that
Anthony Weaver:they usually causes the spring, the summer we have more, um,
Anthony Weaver:in outdoor track, we have more Saturdays when the indoor track
Anthony Weaver:season, high school get preference. So because
Anthony Weaver:he's in a club, he's, you know, he's only eight, he's in a club.
Anthony Weaver:So I said, okay, okay, I understand. But so next year we won't be doing
Anthony Weaver:indoor track, obviously.
Anthony Weaver:Yeah, look, you better get one of those treadmills from Amazon.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: No, we're not, we're not, not doing that. Coming up.
Anthony Weaver:But I want to strengthen my walk with God and
Anthony Weaver:for my business wise, um, what I want to improve
Anthony Weaver:what you said. What's going. I want to do. Ask me a question.
Anthony Weaver:Oh, this, um, what habits that you.
Anthony Weaver:Or areas of focus that you plan on doing.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Okay, so, um, technology
Anthony Weaver:wise, I am, I'm behind the A ball
Anthony Weaver:because before I start my business I avoided
Anthony Weaver:social media. I was one of those people just off the grid. So
Anthony Weaver:now I have to play catch up and I don't have the means
Anthony Weaver:to hire somebody to do that job that I don't like yet.
Anthony Weaver:I will get there, I'll soon outsource it. I'm telling you, I'm going to
Anthony Weaver:fire myself soon. I pray to Jesus. I. But in the
Anthony Weaver:meantime, what is it?
Anthony Weaver:What is it? What is it that you don't want to do?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: I don't want to do my social media. You know, I would like to be.
Anthony Weaver:And because of everything that's going on in my life in terms of, you know,
Anthony Weaver:um, have my full time job. I've been an
Anthony Weaver:entrepreneur, having my kids, my family. I'm not
Anthony Weaver:as consistent as I would like to be. And I know they're
Anthony Weaver:scheduling apps out there and I was like, okay, I got to find
Anthony Weaver:a day to just sit down and do m all these recordings. I have it in my
Anthony Weaver:head, I just need to do that. And so
Anthony Weaver:that technology, um, and putting
Anthony Weaver:systems in place, building systems, I really want to
Anthony Weaver:get that done this year so that I think if I have systems in
Anthony Weaver:place then it will be easier for me to get what it is that I need and
Anthony Weaver:it won't be such a chore. Right. Because it's
Anthony Weaver:just friction there. And that's what we do in financial coaching. I try to move
Anthony Weaver:the friction so people can, um, move
Anthony Weaver:on and um, get that financial deal
Anthony Weaver:to stability that they want. Once you remove those frictions, people
Anthony Weaver:can. Okay, this is easy, right? But
Anthony Weaver:yeah, I gotta remove all those frictions that I have,
Anthony Weaver:which is a lot.
Anthony Weaver:That's a lot.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Technology wise.
Anthony Weaver:Yeah, yeah. Uh, well, that's the beauty of
Anthony Weaver:having these conversations and being around the people that are
Anthony Weaver:in this space. Um, because systems,
Anthony Weaver:I love to play around with systems. Uh, my
Anthony Weaver:system is not to have a system because I like to try everything.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Uh, good for you. Where do you find the time
Anthony Weaver:to play around? I'm like, I need to get it done.
Anthony Weaver:Like, uh, schedule.
Anthony Weaver:So one of the things, uh, because I had her on the show
Anthony Weaver:is Brenda that Joy. And one of
Anthony Weaver:the things that she said as she was a keynote
Anthony Weaver:speaker for Flingcon at one point.
Anthony Weaver:Uh, she.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: I love her by the way. I really love her. She was on my show too. She's
Anthony Weaver:amazing. So proud, doing great things.
Anthony Weaver:Uh, she mentioned talking about like, um,
Anthony Weaver:setting time and really limiting your time
Anthony Weaver:to other people. And that's part of her flow strategy.
Anthony Weaver:So flow acronym has
Anthony Weaver:something. But the L part
Anthony Weaver:was the most Impactful to me. And since I've been
Anthony Weaver:implementing that part, it has helped me out
Anthony Weaver:a lot with my podcast. So, like for these
Anthony Weaver:interviews, most of my interviews are either Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
Anthony Weaver:I don't really try to do anything throughout the week because when
Anthony Weaver:I tried it, there's a lot of no shows.
Anthony Weaver:And since I've limited, everybody
Anthony Weaver:shows up M. So I haven't had any
Anthony Weaver:cancellations or nothing. If it's a cancellation,
Anthony Weaver:more likely my fault because I was like, uh, I can't make
Anthony Weaver:it push the time back
Anthony Weaver:a little bit. But yeah, it was just either
Anthony Weaver:doing it that way. So that's the reason why, like some
Anthony Weaver:people, like, it's just you. And I'm like, yeah, that
Anthony Weaver:was like how you posting all this time and doing three
Anthony Weaver:posting for your, uh, your shows and everything like
Anthony Weaver:that. It's like you got to schedule everything out.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: But how do you schedule when you have a four year old? Oh, no, he's five. He
Anthony Weaver:just turned five. Five and an eight year old.
Anthony Weaver:I don't have kids.
Anthony Weaver:But it, it comes back to,
Anthony Weaver:uh, you know, do what you can because I see a lot of people
Anthony Weaver:with social media with kids, and what they do is kind of
Anthony Weaver:implement their kids in that process. And because
Anthony Weaver:they. Making the kids part of it, you do a lot.
Anthony Weaver:Um, you can allot some money to their
Anthony Weaver:income and so you can actually create a brokerage account
Anthony Weaver:for them and so you can donate. I think it's what, up to
Anthony Weaver:16,000?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Yeah, I know that process, but I don't want my kids on
Anthony Weaver:social. You know, I feel like, no, no.
Anthony Weaver:They like, they hold your camera up for you. Like they don't have to be.
Anthony Weaver:Oh, like they're doing things for
Anthony Weaver:you.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Okay.
Anthony Weaver:To incorporate them in the business
Anthony Weaver:without showing their face. So.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Okay, okay. Maybe my 8 year old can do
Anthony Weaver:something. Yeah, you're right. He can do something. My 4 year old,
Anthony Weaver:my 5 year old. He's 5. He's 5. He's five.
Anthony Weaver:Let's go, y' all. I gotta figure it out.
Anthony Weaver:He thinks he's a man, but he's not
Anthony Weaver:like, I can do it, mommy. I'm like, no, you can't. I'm
Anthony Weaver:like, yes, you can, honey. Go try. Thank you for trying. In my head, I'm like, no, you
Anthony Weaver:can't. Yeah, a good try. Okay. Yeah,
Anthony Weaver:you know what? That's a good point, Anthony. I will take that, I will take that and
Anthony Weaver:do something with that, but limiting. Yeah,
Anthony Weaver:I like that. I like that. I will,
Anthony Weaver:I marinate on that and see what I can do with that. Thank you.
Anthony Weaver:Yeah, you're welcome. Um, because I believe I was in church
Anthony Weaver:one day and they was like, well, if you make time out for work, you can
Anthony Weaver:make time out for church. And I was like, well,
Anthony Weaver:what about the rest of my life? We
Anthony Weaver:talk about, about that. Like, no, church only. And I was like, okay,
Anthony Weaver:I don't need to be here anymore. So that's what happened
Anthony Weaver:with that.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Let me get this right. With that church, right? It didn't just
Anthony Weaver:cross off church.
Anthony Weaver:Right, right.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Okay.
Anthony Weaver:Just with that one, because I was like, come on now. Like, I got
Anthony Weaver:a life too.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Um, there's a balance and it's necessary.
Anthony Weaver:Right. Um, people tend to forget that, you know, people in the
Anthony Weaver:Bible, they dance, they socialize, they had dinner
Anthony Weaver:parties, you know, they got to, they had gatherings, they got together. And
Anthony Weaver:it's very important for us to be with people. I truly
Anthony Weaver:believe that. It's very important.
Anthony Weaver:So what do you think? Um, is very
Anthony Weaver:essential for people
Anthony Weaver:who haven't started yet and they looking to start.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: It's either you're going to start. I, uh, don't think you're looking to start.
Anthony Weaver:I think you start, you know, once you have that, this is that
Anthony Weaver:moment you are starting because your brain already
Anthony Weaver:switched off and say, okay, something's getting done. We're
Anthony Weaver:going to do this now once you are there. And
Anthony Weaver:once again, we need those steps, right? You,
Anthony Weaver:you going to figure out what your pain points are, you know, you know,
Anthony Weaver:what your problems are. You know, if you go to anybody that's
Anthony Weaver:like, I'm a spender, I like to spend. Or so,
Anthony Weaver:yeah, I like to go out with friends, like, you know, everybody
Anthony Weaver:knows something about the behavior that
Anthony Weaver:is keeping them back from the financial stability that they want. They might know
Anthony Weaver:everything yet. You know, I can look at it and do an analysis of everything,
Anthony Weaver:but at a minimum, you know what
Anthony Weaver:those core issues are that you're
Anthony Weaver:working with. As for me, as I said it was, I know it's my family and it was
Anthony Weaver:eaten out every weekend with my family. I know. So if you're looking
Anthony Weaver:to start, admit, um, it to yourself.
Anthony Weaver:Be honest. Be honest with that.
Anthony Weaver:Um, I think once you can say it out loud like,
Anthony Weaver:okay, I'm, um, broke, you know, I don't have
Anthony Weaver:the money. And take away that facade, right? And
Anthony Weaver:just be true to yourself, truthful to yourself, and especially
Anthony Weaver:so challenging if people see you as the one that, with the
Anthony Weaver:money, right. People see that the one that's doing
Anthony Weaver:well. And you have to change that whole perception of
Anthony Weaver:what they have of you, it can be, it can be a little bit.
Anthony Weaver:If that was your identity, it can be a challenge. But you
Anthony Weaver:have to be true to yourself and then start living in that truth and work to where you want to
Anthony Weaver:go. Know that it's only temporary. It is only temporary.
Anthony Weaver:You're passing through and as you get through one obstacle, you're going to get
Anthony Weaver:to the next one. Whatever you're going through do is building you and forging
Anthony Weaver:you to be the virgin of yourself that you want to
Anthony Weaver:be.
Anthony Weaver:Nice. Well said. Well said.
Anthony Weaver:Is there anything that you want to leave the audience with before we
Anthony Weaver:dive into the final four questions?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Uh,
Anthony Weaver:I was in a Tony Robbins,
Anthony Weaver:um, seminar workshop, three day free
Anthony Weaver:workshop that he does at the beginning of the year. It's my first
Anthony Weaver:time going to one of them. I've seen his clips
Anthony Weaver:coming and stuff. And he said something, he said, if you
Anthony Weaver:can't, then you must.
Anthony Weaver:People are so fearful because, oh, I can't do that. Or, you know,
Anthony Weaver:whatever. He said, if you can't, then you must. So those cold calls
Anthony Weaver:you talk about that I make, you know, I don't know
Anthony Weaver:that that just happened, but, you know, because I'm so
Anthony Weaver:scared. That's why I do most of the things I do, because I'm m.
Anthony Weaver:Like, if it's scary that, I mean, it's going to yield great results.
Anthony Weaver:But, but for anything to happen in your life, you have
Anthony Weaver:to take massive action. You have to act. So
Anthony Weaver:I'm telling anybody that's listening or watching this,
Anthony Weaver:but any change to happen, you gotta act. You gotta
Anthony Weaver:be, you gotta take initiative. You gotta start, um,
Anthony Weaver:sitting on the sideline, just hoping and dreaming or thinking
Anthony Weaver:about what could be. No, you
Anthony Weaver:gotta start and don't. I know people say this all the time, it's
Anthony Weaver:so contrary, but, oh, uh, it has to be perfect.
Anthony Weaver:Just get out of your head. Get out of your head. It might
Anthony Weaver:look stupid doing it, it might fall down, it might bruise yourself. It's
Anthony Weaver:okay. This is your life. I'm not sitting around thinking about
Anthony Weaver:your life and what your problems are. Only you. It's happening to
Anthony Weaver:you, right?
Anthony Weaver:Because you got our own lives to live, right?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: So get out of here. How are people gonna think like nobody's in the
Anthony Weaver:home thinking about you and your financial issues. Only
Anthony Weaver:you are facing that in your family. So you need to be like, you don't need to be concerned
Anthony Weaver:about you and your family. I know what everybody else think or feel or see or
Anthony Weaver:might have their perception of human may
Anthony Weaver:be. So think about that got it.
Anthony Weaver:All right, so you ready for the final four?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Okay. What's the final four?
Anthony Weaver:All righty. So the way how the final four works are the final
Anthony Weaver:four questions. They same for everybody. Unless, um, you've been on
Anthony Weaver:the show multiple times, you get different.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Uh, but the first time. Yes.
Anthony Weaver:The first time you get some water.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: I'm just give myself a.
Anthony Weaver:Perfect.
Anthony Weaver:All right, so number one.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Yes.
Anthony Weaver:What does wealth mean to you?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Oh, wealth means to me, choices,
Anthony Weaver:choices, experience
Anthony Weaver:and the ability to give back. Um, and I say
Anthony Weaver:choices. I mean, like Anthony,
Anthony Weaver:I was not able to. Like, my son said he
Anthony Weaver:wants to do track, and I said, okay, he can do track,
Anthony Weaver:and I can be there. I can be at practices. I can go to
Anthony Weaver:games. Even though it's on Sunday right now. I can go to games. You
Anthony Weaver:know, I can go to meet. Sorry, not games. Meets. Right.
Anthony Weaver:I have choices. I have. I can do
Anthony Weaver:experiences like we go on vacation once a year and.
Anthony Weaver:Because that's what my value is. And I can do all
Anthony Weaver:inclusive because, um, mommy need a rest, and I don't want to think about
Anthony Weaver:making breakfast. So. So right now,
Anthony Weaver:because they're still young, we're doing all inclusive because I'm not working.
Anthony Weaver:Okay. I need a vacation too. So you're hungry. Great. Go to the
Anthony Weaver:hut right over there. Go to that hut. Right. You want
Anthony Weaver:some juice later? Have some juice. Right?
Anthony Weaver:So. But I guess what it gives
Anthony Weaver:me. And who doesn't want that?
Anthony Weaver:Yeah. I mean, honestly, I can't wait to
Anthony Weaver:see you post on how you do these all
Anthony Weaver:inclusive. Because I'm like. I mean, I should put.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Thank you. I don't post on anything. Oh, my
Anthony Weaver:God. That's my problem. I don't think. I don't think to post.
Anthony Weaver:Like, I got to get into that mindset of pet. Oh, this could be a post.
Anthony Weaver:I don't think like that.
Anthony Weaver:Not right now. Not right now. I'm not gonna say
Anthony Weaver:I gotta think like that. Right.
Anthony Weaver:Well, I mean, like you said, you can't, which means that
Anthony Weaver:you must.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Yes.
Anthony Weaver:But if this one of those cancers. Okay.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Yeah, I gotta. I gotta think. I gotta change my mindset around that. Just
Anthony Weaver:think, oh, this is the, um. This is. Does he do it? I say do it. Does something
Anthony Weaver:happen? Oh, this could be a post.
Anthony Weaver:Wait, this could be. I mean, I'll take
Anthony Weaver:posts of me just eating food. Um,
Anthony Weaver:so it's okay.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Yeah, that's so mundane, I would think.
Anthony Weaver:Oh, so mundane.
Anthony Weaver:Okay, well, put some text. Put some texts on there.
Anthony Weaver:I mean, you know.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: All right. Okay. New me 2025. You're
Anthony Weaver:gonna see more. Woo. I'm ready. I'm
Anthony Weaver:ready. I'm taking charge here.
Anthony Weaver:Number two.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Uh-huh.
Anthony Weaver:What was your worst money mistake?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Um, as I said, giving too much to family. But
Anthony Weaver:I, I love them there and I want to support them. But um, one of the worst, one
Anthony Weaver:of the mistakes I made was when I started my job. I knew because I went
Anthony Weaver:to business school, right. In my accounting degree and all that stuff. My,
Anthony Weaver:um, I knew to contribute to my retirement
Anthony Weaver:account what I didn't do because
Anthony Weaver:it was in the 2008 whole financial
Anthony Weaver:craziness. Right. Um, didn't get a
Anthony Weaver:raise for a while. So my initial plan was every time I get a
Anthony Weaver:raise, I'll put that difference in. Because my raise was.
Anthony Weaver:My money was frozen. Everything didn't get raises. I really
Anthony Weaver:didn't. What I should have done was no matter what,
Anthony Weaver:every year I increased that even by
Anthony Weaver:$50. Increase my contribution year over year.
Anthony Weaver:That's what I should have done. So it's okay. But it could have been
Anthony Weaver:so much better
Anthony Weaver:if I just increased it year over year. It would have been so
Anthony Weaver:nice.
Anthony Weaver:All right, number three.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Mhm.
Anthony Weaver:Is there a book that inspired your
Anthony Weaver:journey or change your perspective?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Um, what? Not really inspired
Anthony Weaver:or changed, but reinforced what I knew. And that's the Million,
Anthony Weaver:um, the Millionaire Next Door. I read
Anthony Weaver:that and I, and I reread it and I was like,
Anthony Weaver:yeah, because reason we. It reinforced what
Anthony Weaver:I knew is because I know individuals that are like
Anthony Weaver:multi millionaires and you'll never know because they
Anthony Weaver:look dirty, they look beat up because they're coming from work,
Anthony Weaver:they will help their own businesses and you'll just never know. So many
Anthony Weaver:people have come to me and told me their stories and I was like,
Anthony Weaver:the millionaires that you're looking for are the
Anthony Weaver:carpenters or the contractors or the
Anthony Weaver:electrician. You might be laughing at them,
Anthony Weaver:thinking their pants is under their butt, you know. But guess what,
Anthony Weaver:that man, you're paying him a hundred dollars for
Anthony Weaver:like half an hour or $500 for the.
Anthony Weaver:They're, they're millionaires, they're rich, they got the money.
Anthony Weaver:I love that book.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Yeah, it's a good book, right? Every time I,
Anthony Weaver:I read it twice, every time I reread it, it got,
Anthony Weaver:got something new from it. Like something that just passed over before.
Anthony Weaver:Cause you had different place to your life so you get different meanings from different things.
Anthony Weaver:I like that.
Anthony Weaver:Number four, what is your
Anthony Weaver:favorite dish to make?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: My favorite dish to make is chicken foot soup.
Anthony Weaver:Chicken foot soup. The reason why it's so easy to make. I.
Anthony Weaver:When the kids and I always make Saturday soup, I
Anthony Weaver:still do that, and I still make Saturday soup.
Anthony Weaver:And if you ask any Islander, they tell you especially Jamaican
Anthony Weaver:soup. You just cook on Saturdays. Don't know ramen reasons. What's funny
Anthony Weaver:is cook. And I just continue that tradition because that's what I
Anthony Weaver:know. But it just put everything in the pop. Some dumplings, some
Anthony Weaver:potatoes. Yeah. You know, it doesn't. One pot, and
Anthony Weaver:it's a hearty meal, and you're good to go.
Anthony Weaver:Okay. Is there, like, a veggie option? Because.
Anthony Weaver:Just asking for it.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Actually. Actually, I brought it,
Anthony Weaver:um, unknowingly. I brought it to work, um, earlier
Anthony Weaver:in my career. And actually, you know, look at
Anthony Weaver:eating area cafeteria, and I was sucking up my foot, my
Anthony Weaver:chicken foot, and put it like. They
Anthony Weaver:were like, The Americans are like,
Anthony Weaver:what? I'm not there. But the good thing is that I
Anthony Weaver:had a Polish, um, co. Um,
Anthony Weaver:worker as well, and a Chinese co worker.
Anthony Weaver:And they know what it was. No, not. Not the Polish one. The
Anthony Weaver:Chinese co worker. And who was that one? Was
Anthony Weaver:she Beijing or she Italian? Another Islander.
Anthony Weaver:And they knew exactly. You know, they was like, oh, we love it,
Anthony Weaver:too. I'm like, great. Everyone was like, eating a
Anthony Weaver:chicken foot. They didn't even know it was edible. And
Anthony Weaver:the thing is, Anthony, you can't even find it in the supermarket. Like, it
Anthony Weaver:goes like hotcake. Okay.
Anthony Weaver:Wow.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: You have to go there. Yeah. One of the. One of the person working there,
Anthony Weaver:I was like, you have a chicken foot in the back? He was like, no. He said, before I work here,
Anthony Weaver:I didn't know that thing sold. But now I come here working at this grocery
Anthony Weaver:market. I'm doing, you know, packing. He was like, that's the number one
Anthony Weaver:thing people fight over is chicken foot. I'm like, yeah,
Anthony Weaver:that's. It's a hot commodity. Chicken foot is great.
Anthony Weaver:But, um, I can make you any kind of soup. I love soup. Soup.
Anthony Weaver:Okay. Because I was looking at the ingredients because it
Anthony Weaver:was reminding me a little bit about corn soup, but.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Oh, okay. Uh-huh.
Anthony Weaver:Yeah. I like corn soup.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Okay. Or pepper soup. You like pepper soup?
Anthony Weaver:I haven't tried pepper soup.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Really? Okay.
Anthony Weaver:Yeah. I might add that to my list.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: You eat goat?
Anthony Weaver:Uh, yes.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Are you. Do you eat meat?
Anthony Weaver:I do from time to time. I don't like.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: I don't. I don't indulge in it like that. I. I had. Cut it out. Um,
Anthony Weaver:but I m like, do you know, like, my kids are probably
Anthony Weaver:getting me twice a week I try to cut down on it. That's the thing that
Anthony Weaver:we do in our family. So when we do chicken foot. But
Anthony Weaver:yeah, okay. Pepper soup is with goat.
Anthony Weaver:Uh, that's interesting.
Anthony Weaver:Okay, we have to talk offline about that.
Anthony Weaver:Uh, this is the very last question of the show, which is
Anthony Weaver:where could people find out more about you?
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Oh, my goodness. Please check out my
Anthony Weaver:podcast. It's everywhere. Spotify, Apple
Anthony Weaver:podcast, Hyatt Radio, YouTube, um,
Anthony Weaver:Islands, Money 365, where we share the immigrant
Anthony Weaver:migration story, their success, their failures, and their
Anthony Weaver:triumphs. I also share money, um,
Anthony Weaver:money lingo as well. Money ideas, how to get there, how to
Anthony Weaver:rebuild yourself. Also my website,
Anthony Weaver:www.brownfinancialsolutions.com
Anthony Weaver:and same thing for Facebook.
Anthony Weaver:See, I'm there. I promise. There's stuff on their
Anthony Weaver:financial solutions and on instagram.
Anthony Weaver:Island money 365.
Anthony Weaver:Nice.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: And right here about that wallet.
Anthony Weaver:Well, one of the things I might have to do is,
Anthony Weaver:um, because I did do a geek out
Anthony Weaver:session that aren't for my regular day audience.
Anthony Weaver:We were talking about just geeking out about podcasting,
Anthony Weaver:the features of podcasting and how could we do
Anthony Weaver:better and stuff like that. Um, I might
Anthony Weaver:have to bring you back on just to kind of talk about from a
Anthony Weaver:podcasting realm.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Okay.
Anthony Weaver:What do you like about it, what you don't like about it, how can
Anthony Weaver:you get better and stuff like that? I'm not sure if I'll make that a whole
Anthony Weaver:nother segment, but this is something that has been
Anthony Weaver:on my mind. Yeah. So if you're listening
Anthony Weaver:to this right now, you think like, hey, I will be
Anthony Weaver:interested in a podcast episode just to kind of
Anthony Weaver:talk about this. Go to and leave a comment on
Anthony Weaver:Spotify, because you can leave a comment on the actual episode
Anthony Weaver:or even on YouTube. So I look forward to hear
Anthony Weaver:about it.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Yeah, I'll let you know. I like it. I put some. Put
Anthony Weaver:some words down there. Put some
Anthony Weaver:words. I would like to talk about it. I know it's gonna be
Anthony Weaver:helpful.
Anthony Weaver:Hey, I mean, one of the cool things is that I like
Anthony Weaver:the, uh, the questions from
Anthony Weaver:new podcasters about how they can get
Anthony Weaver:better. Um, and it gets me to think about
Anthony Weaver:ways that I can actually get better. Because for me, I
Anthony Weaver:can only talk about what I've experienced and what I've seen and what's
Anthony Weaver:coming down the pipes, which has been good.
Anthony Weaver:Um, but also, everybody's podcast and everybody's audience
Anthony Weaver:is different. So, yes, what might work for me might not work for
Anthony Weaver:you. Just like personal finance is personal
Anthony Weaver:running your Podcast business is personal, too, because
Anthony Weaver:it depends on your.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Yes, yes, I love it. Um, though I love talking to people. I like hearing
Anthony Weaver:stories. I like stories. Anthony, tell me, how
Anthony Weaver:did you get here? How did you get here? You know, I just want to
Anthony Weaver:know.
Anthony Weaver:Well, that's why I asked you your questions in a. In a different
Anthony Weaver:way, to kind of get through your story. I didn't. You
Anthony Weaver:know, we touched on a few things, but we'll get
Anthony Weaver:there.
Anthony Weaver:All right. I'm sure you who are
Anthony Weaver:listening is tired of us bantering
Anthony Weaver:at this point, so.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: No, we're absolutely amazing.
Anthony Weaver:Never.
Anthony Weaver:Oh, yeah, they never. Obviously, you
Anthony Weaver:love us if you stayed this long.
Anthony Weaver:Um, so, because you made it this long, I just want
Anthony Weaver:to let you know you do have what it takes, uh,
Anthony Weaver:to be successful in anything that you want to do.
Anthony Weaver:And remember, throughout this whole
Anthony Weaver:interview, what we talked about was pretty
Anthony Weaver:much getting started and really have
Anthony Weaver:a reflection in the mirror of saying, you know what?
Anthony Weaver:I don't like where I'm at. I need to do
Anthony Weaver:something different. And in order for you to do different,
Anthony Weaver:you need to set up your boundaries. And
Anthony Weaver:from the people that are in your life or even from the
Anthony Weaver:things that you're purchasing, um, that
Anthony Weaver:is no longer adding value or is actually taken
Anthony Weaver:away from your goal
Anthony Weaver:in life, you know, because Petra and you talked
Anthony Weaver:about it, it was like, hey, family,
Anthony Weaver:not that I don't love y' all, but y' all
Anthony Weaver:need to block this. This can't happen anymore. I got. I
Anthony Weaver:got things that I want to do for my. Me and my family, so.
Anthony Weaver:All right. So you got what it takes. If anything else,
Anthony Weaver:y' all be safe. We out. Peace.
Anthony Weaver:Petra-Ann Brown: Bye. Uh.