Bootstraps

In this episode we were lucky to be joined with Rhea Fears, a certified financial planner and financial advisor. She talks about her journey to financial advising and what she learned along the way. If you want to get in touch with Rhea, feel free to shoot her an email at: rhea.fears@ml.com We talk about how she took an unconventional path to find a career in financial planning, who should consider this path and tips she has for those starting out on their own financial journeys. In this episode we talk about a few resources that you can find belowBank of America and Khan Academy, better money habits website: https://bettermoneyhabits.bankofamerica.com/enreddit personal finance wiki: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/indexreddit personal finance flowchart: https://i.imgur.com/lSoUQr2.pngIf you liked this episode and want to see more please, subscribe and leave us a review. As an added bonus, if you leave us a review and Email us a picture of the review at bootsrapspod@gmail.com with your review in the Email, you will be entered to win a book and you might even hear your review live our next Podcast! If you want to follow the hosts you can find us on Instagram @ridwanhassen and @halimohassen. If you want to be a guest on the podcast also feel free to reach out to us as well!Note: This podcast is for entertainment purposes only, for professional finance advise please out to a real financial advisor!

Today we were lucky enough to be joined by Alan O'Neil. It was both a fun and informative conversation that you will not want to miss. Alan grew up in a working class family, but through hard work and opportunities he was able to change his circumstances. He emigrated to the United States in 1996 on a green card from Ireland with his wife and children where he settled in Houston. He was able to rapidly climb the ranks becoming a president of a company before he founded Abacus Plumbing in 2003. He grew his company to 220 employees and over $40M in annual revenue. For someone without formal business training, Alan talked to us about how he was able to succeed at every level at an organization and lessons we can all take into our lives, whether you pursue entrepreneurship or not. If you would like Alan as a guest speaker please go to his website: http://www.alanspeaks.com/ If you liked this episode and want to see more please, subscribe and leave us a review. As an added bonus, if you leave us a review and Email us a picture of the review at bootsrapspod@gmail.com with your review in the Email, you will be entered to win a book and you might even hear your review live our next Podcast! If you want to follow the hosts you can find us on Instagram @ridwanhassen and @halimohassen. If you want to be a guest on the podcast also feel free to reach out to us as well!

We were lucky to be joined by Amadu Bah. Amadu hails from Bankhead, but was able to overcome growing up near gang violence, poverty and other difficult challenges from being born in the the projects to attend Stanford University and become an investment banker. This is an inspiring episode that you don’t want to miss to find out how Amadu was able to discover the kernels of resources that allowed him to build a process that enabled him to succeed in any environment he found himself in. If you liked this episode and want to see more please, subscribe and leave us a review. As an added bonus, if you leave us a review and Email us a picture of the review at bootsrapspod@gmail.com with your review in the Email, you will be entered to win a book and you might even hear your review live our next Podcast! If you want to follow the hosts you can find us on Instagram @ridwanhassen and @halimohassenhttps://www.instagram.com/ridwanhassen/ https://www.instagram.com/halimohassen/

In this episode we were lucky to be joined with Atlanta based, Bryant Dudley. Bryant hails from South Bend, Indiana and did his undergraduate and MBA in the area. Currently, Bryant works in supply chain at Delta and also works a side hustle during the evenings and weekends as a logistics manager for trucking companies. He has 10 years in the industry and is making inroads to his long term goals. He grew up, like many of us, not understanding money and that led to him accumulating debt and spending money in ways that did not necessarily lead to short or long term value. After reflecting and hearing the messages of financial independence, Bryant has been working towards buying his time so that he can make work optional. Now Bryant spends his time educating others on the importance of spending on your needs and what you value and investing the rest to buy back your time. In this discussion we talk about how his life has informed his career choices, why he works a side hustle even though he has an incredible full time job, behavioral economics and why we spend instead of saving or investing. We also touch on why it is difficult to balance money and family, especially when you are the first in your family to go to college. The discussion was incredible and we both enjoyed meeting Bryant. If you want to follow Bryant you can find him on LinkedIn and Instagram:https://www.linkedin.com/in/cbryantdudleyIG: bmd_dreamchaserIf you liked this episode and want to see more please, subscribe and leave us a review. As an added bonus, if you leave us a review and Email us at bootsrapspod@gmail.com with your review in the Email, you will be entered to win a book and you might even hear your review live our next Podcast! If you want to follow the hosts you can find us on Instagram @ridwanhassen and @halimohassenhttps://www.instagram.com/ridwanhassen/ https://www.instagram.com/halimohassen/

We were lucky to have been joined today by JaLisha Richmond, a young innovator and entrepreneur from Durham, North Carolina. JaLisha overcame tremendous obstacles in order to get where she is today. With all the options available to her, she has always been driven to purposeful work and decided to devote her work to helping others. After college, she joined AmeriCorps where she traveled the country helping to rebuild communities that were impacted from disasters and improving educational access. After traveling the country, JaLisha then returned to North Carolina to work at the Rural Economic Development Center, where she helps to empower small businesses.JaLisha is also the CEO of Dream Catcher Consulting, a company that works to helps to keep small businesses running by offering affordable assistance in filing and other services related to keeping a business running effectively. When she isn't doing non-profit work, she is an avid traveler. She has been to all 50 states  and has made an intentional path to see the world around her and bring that view back to her city. If you want to follow JaLisha on Instagram you can do so @travelingdurhamitehttps://www.instagram.com/travelingdurhamite/If you liked this episode and want to see more please, subscribe and leave us a review. As an added bonus, if you leave us a review and Email us at bootsrapspod@gmail.com with your review in the Email, you will be entered to win a book and you might even hear your review live our next Podcast! If you want to follow the hosts you can find us on Instagram @ridwanhassen and @halimohassenhttps://www.instagram.com/ridwanhassen/ https://www.instagram.com/halimohassen/

Naseema’s story is one for the books. She grew up in Oakland knowing very little about what it meant to be rich, let alone wealthy. She worked hard and got into USC, a top private school in Los Angeles, with a great scholarship package. She was unsure of what to do and decided that she was not happy nor making enough money so she decided to go into nursing. She realized that if she had known this earlier, she could have attended nursing school during her undergraduate study and gotten her degree without needing to take out more loans or pursue further education. Despite this, Naseema was not one that worried about the past. She went on to UCSF, another prestigious university and became a nurse. After which she started earning 6 figures and was living large. By 2007, she had homes in California, North Carolina and Georgia. When the recession hit, she lost everything and was in almost $1 milllion of debt. She looked at her daughter and had a reality check. “Why am I making this much money to be broke? What am I leaving to my daughter.” She buckled down and paid off her debt in less than 3 years, an incredible feat for anyone. She is a big proponent of the FIRE or Financial Independence Retire Early movement, where she now lives well below her means and invests most of her money in low cost ETFs.  Doing this has allowed her to accumulate enough wealth to only work 5 days a month. In addition, her journey has inspired her to help others be intentional with their money and take control of their financial future. Now, what did Naseema learn through her journey?First, prestige isn’t always the answer. Nursing is a trade and Naseema realized that she was working with people who were trained from a broad spectrum of colleges, whether they were prestigious or not, and they all got the training they needed. Sometimes the right choice is the cheapest answer and if you are pursuing a high demand field like nursing prestige matters less than you might think.Secondly, Naseema’s old conception of wealth was that you had to spend and show that you were making money. In effect, spending every dollar you learned. This is actually how most people think. The savings rate in the USA stands at below 5% and most Americans spend most of what they earn. However, Naseema was able to make changes in her life when she became intentional about her spending.  When she went from rich to broke she realized that after years of working she did not have much to show for it. To build wealth you need to save, invest and accumulate assets that will generate income and produce higher future returns going forward. Now Naseema’s money is working hard for her. Finally, Naseema learned that she did not need to work for the sake of work. She is intentional about how she spends her time. She values her time with her daughter and family and thus has built her life in a way that enables her to still maximize her take home salary, such as moving to Nevada (a state that does not have state income tax), and her family time. Naseema’s story is inspirational and we hope this gets you to a better personal understanding of how you spend your money, aligning that with your values and also investing in your retirement accounts like a 401K (if you are eligible for one with your job) or a Roth IRA. Naseema’s story might be different than yours, and although many people aren’t making high salaries, we can all be more financially intentional and invest in ourselves. If you liked this episode and want to see more please, subscribe and leave us a review. As an added bonus, if you leave us a review and Email us at bootsrapspod@gmail.com with your review in the Email, you will be entered to win a book and you might even hear your review live our next Podcast! If you want to follow the hosts you can find us on Instagram @ridwanhassen and @halimohassen

In this episode we are joined with Caylin Moore. We discuss his journey from a difficult upbringing in Compton, to a preeminent athlete, academic and Rhodes Scholar. He grew up in Compton in a single mother household and a father in jail. He lived in a community where very few people even knew the school a short drive away, Locke High School, was named after the first Black Rhodes Scholar, Alain Locke. With this in the backdrop, Caylin was motivated to defy the odds and was hungry to learn about the unknown. He was encouraged to succeed by his mother who never gave up despite her difficult circumstances. He took advantage of every opportunity he had, both in sports in school. He was a member of Snoop Dog’s football league and took a chance attending a prep school instead of his local high school. He had dreams of playing Division 1 football, but the path wasn’t linear. He started out at Marist and was plagued with injuries. He never gave up, working part-time as a janitor and continuing to reach for his dreams. His dream came true when he got to play at Texas Christian University (TCU). Despite being a D1 athlete, he also had an incredible academic record, received fellowships such as the Fulbright and spent a summer studying at Princeton University. With all of these accomplishments it is no wonder or small feat why he was named a Rhodes Scholar. Caylin now travels around the country giving speeches and talking to communities about how he was able to get through his circumstances. He is navigating a new world and we get into these details throughout the episode. In this episode, we tackle difficult topics such as economic inequality and discuss the insidious nature of wealth and how everyday conversations preclude many of us from understanding who has the power in our society. It was an incredible conversation that left both of us very inspired and we hope that you find value in this episode. Caylin’s journey was an improbable journey only because we believe it to be so. We all have the ability to tackle these notions each day and Caylin exemplifies that success does not happen overnight. It is a creature of habit that manifests itself when you are able to weather the storm and learn from your failures. To learn about Caylin’s journey, please checkout his book, it’s on Amazon and you can find it at your local bookstores as well.  https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Too-Big-Improbable-Journey/dp/1400209919You can also follow Caylin on his journey on Instagram @caylinlmoore:https://www.instagram.com/caylinlmoore/ If you liked this episode and want to see more please, subscribe and leave us a review. As an added bonus, if you leave us a review and Email us at bootsrapspod@gmail.com with your review in the Email, you will be entered to win Caylin’s book and you might even hear your review live our next Podcast! If you want to follow the hosts you can find us on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/ridwanhassen/ https://www.instagram.com/halimohassen/

In this episode, we talk about what you can expect in our first season and why we decided to call our podcast "Bootstraps". Bootstraps aims to discuss how people who surmounted difficult environments and challenges were able to achieve success. Not in spite of their adversity, but because of it.  We will have inspiring guests that range from entrepreneurs and tech trailblazers to someone who grew up in Compton and went on to win the Rhodes Scholarship. We will highlight the story of someone that went from a wealthy owner of 7 homes to someone who lost it all and then several years later was able to achieve even more wealth. We will also have conservations with accomplished producers and a leader in the non profit world.  Through these stories, we will have conversations about the inflection points and dive into how they got to where they are today. We will draw out actionable insights into these stories and present applicable resources. Every conversation or discussion may not be relevant to you, but often times many of us do not have access to these conversations in our everyday lives. This leads to us having a sample of jobs, careers or opportunities that are finite and not inclusive of the diverse world we live in. Through this podcast, we want to highlight and unlock new realities you may not have heard of before and bring these conversations to your everyday lives. Bootstraps is not about one person achieving success in isolation. It is a community that understands that success is a team sport and requires all of us doing our part to help those that are on the same journey. We will discuss a myriad of topics such as business, financial literacy and wealth, education, arts, fitness, health and wellness, mental health and will not stray away from tough conversations. If you have any suggestions, questions or a burning desire to contact us, please email us at bootstrapspod@gmail.com and we will try our best to get to your question either via email or live on the Podcast! If you want to follow the hosts you can find us on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/ridwanhassen/ https://www.instagram.com/halimohassen/