IAM1737 – Coach Helps Create New Possibilities

Keina Newell Teaser 00:00

I think the thing that we have to deal with first is normalizing the money conversation. And I think you can deal with that on a personal level first because there is just so much shame and guilt. I tell clients all the time it's okay you're starting now. I feel like money is one of those things that we're not really taught about.

You just learn through osmosis and even if you had parents that talked about money in your home, doesn't mean you're gonna be great at managing finances.

Intro 00:27

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:53

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I appreciate you listening to this episode. If you've been listening this year, you know that we hit 1600 episodes at the beginning of this year and we're doing something a little bit different. We're repurposing our favorite episodes around certain categories or topics or as I like to call them, the business pillars that we think are going to be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners, and what I like to call the CB nation architects who are looking to level up their organizations.

This month we are focused on our greatest asset; talent management and hiring. Think from great resignation to the great renovation. And if you disagree with me, maybe these episodes might be especially for you. Life and especially business has changed. It has forced those that are within organizations who look differently at talent, how it's being managed.

When we talk about change, think about it, we have to realize that business as usual is no longer here, and that's evident in attracting and retaining clients, but also in setting up people within organizations to succeed. Think onboarding, think DEI- diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. How it is working from home and even going back into the office.

Things are different in this month. We are going to explore these topics by featuring CEO hacks and CEO nuggets, but also interviews that focus on these changes and how organizations can make sure they care for and attract the most valuable asset, their people. Sit back and enjoy this special episode of the I AM CEO podcast.

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I Keina Newell of Wealth Over Now. Keina, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Keina Newell 02:24

Hi. Thank you for having me.

Gresham Harkless 02:26

No problem. Super excited to have you on. Before we jumped in, I wanted to read a little bit more about Keina so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing.

Keina works with professional women and solopreneurs to create new possibilities with their money so they can save more, pay off debt, and stress less about money. She's passionate about her work and finds no greater satisfaction than helping her clients start approaching the way they manage their money with joy because they've learned to feel the possibility where they once felt shame, guilt, overwhelmed, or anxiety.

When she's not coaching Keina is spending quality time with family and friends, encouraging herself to go work out. To learn more about Keina, head over to Wealth Over Now and explore her tips to manage your money. Well, Keina, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Keina Newell 03:06

I am.

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Gresham Harkless 03:07

Awesome. To get everything started, I want to rewind the clock a little bit, and hear a little bit more on how you got started. Could you take us through your CEO story? What let you get started with the business?

Keina Newell 03:16

Of course. So I feel like the origination of it comes from graduating college and having a mountain of student loan debt. I was making $30,000 a year, but I had $75,000 worth of student loan debt.

And anybody who's listening, you can do the math. That sounds really overwhelming. And so I started having money dates with myself because being 22 graduating from college, you're thinking about, oh, I wanna own a home. People tell me I'm supposed to save, but I don't know how I'm supposed to do all of this because I'm not making a lot of money.

So I had to get serious with my finances. I talked about money with all of my friends as well. Two years ago I came to a point where I was asking myself like, if I could do anything that I wanted to do, what would I wanna do? And I love talking about money. I enjoy helping people budget. I've helped my friends get their finances in order. I became a financial coach and it also aligned with, before I started my business, I was an educator. The thing that I loved within education was coaching. I was a vice principal, and also a math teacher.

Being able to see the transformation with adults whenever I was coaching them as a classroom teacher or even just basically coaching students as well in the classroom to see something within themselves that they couldn't see was something that I enjoyed. Now I feel like I get to do that every day, but in a different capacity. And that's working with a number of different professional women and solopreneurs to help them see like, how can you actually get unstuck and change your relationship with money.

Gresham Harkless 04:44

Nice. Sometimes there's no conversation at all around it. Sometimes people just put it on the back burner, they don't actually look at what the number is that they have to pay off if it's debt or whatever that might be. And I think being able to, for one, look at it and figure out exactly how to plan around it. But it sounds like there are so many other things that are involved with it that people sometimes don't deal with as well.

Keina Newell 05:04

I think the thing that we have to deal with first is normalizing the money conversation. I think you can deal with that on a personal level first because there is just so much shame and guilt. I tell clients all the time it's okay, you're starting now. And I feel like money is one of those things that we're not really taught about. You just learn through osmosis and even if you had parents that talked about money in your home, doesn't mean you're gonna be great at managing finances.

On the flip side of that, if you don't have parents that don't talk about money at home, doesn't mean you're gonna be great or bad with finances. It's just  something that we're supposed to be good at, but no one's talking about.

Gresham Harkless 05:40

Yeah, absolutely. And that's what I love, the work that you do because you're bringing that conversation a light and the tools to help people as well too.

So, I know I touched on it a little bit when I read your bio, could you take us through a little bit more on how you work with your clients and what exactly that process looks like?

Keina Newell 05:52

Yeah, so all of my clients, I have a one-month intensive, whether it's a solopreneur or someone who wants to work on their personal finances. But I like to start and I tell people all the time that like your personal finance journey should be personal. I think there's a lot of information out there by financial gurus, if you will, where it's like, you need to save a thousand dollars and then you need to throw all of your money towards debt.

A lot of people feel very deprived in that way of thinking. So with my clients, I always start with a values and goals-based approach. So we dive into what their financial values are, what are your financial goals? I know that financial goals piece sounds scary to a lot of people because I encounter people that tell me, I don't know if I have goals and I don't think we have to make goals complicated, so we try to simplify that.

Then after we identify whatever your goals are and your values are, then we actually align that with how you want to spend your money. So I walk clients through creating a spending plan, which also we could call a budget, but I use the term spending plan because I think it creates a space for clients to be curious about like, how do I actually plan to spend my money?

Then from there, I'm teaching my clients in that one-month intensive how to use their spending plan as a tool. So that means that We are in conversation with your bank account and your money from week to week. It's not just the thing where I've made a pretty spreadsheet somewhere and you put it on a Google Drive folder, an Excel sheet, or on a piece of paper and you never look at it again. Or moving clients away from what I call bank account budgeting, where you look at your bank account and then you go and spend because you see money in your bank account and you've paid all your bills.

So you've given yourself permission to do those things, but you haven't actually thought about the things that you could be preparing for that are coming in the next month or in the next six months to a year.

Gresham Harkless 07:39

Nice. That kind of understanding of how you're getting to where you're going and where you are along that process because I think so many times we're just sometimes not aware of exactly where we are and what we need to do to get there.

Keina Newell 07:49

Yeah, and I think people make it a lot more complicated because even you're talking about goals in five to 10 years, I'm like, how about we just talk about this year? Something that I know catches people off guard, whether it may be my Costco membership. Oh, yeah. Or my Amazon Prime membership or like your auto registration. Like those aren't unexpected expenses.

They may be irregular or an annual at expense, but we can actually plan to prepare for those. My like running thing that I talk to people all the time, I'm like, Christmas is not an emergency expense guys. It comes on the same day every single year, and you can create a plan for how you wanna prepare for that. I feel like from November to December, it's just the holiday season and people spend a lot of money. I encourage all of my clients to think about how much money do you actually wanna spend and how do we prepare for that.

So if you wanna spend. $2,400 during the holidays let's set aside $200 every single month. So now when you get to November, you're not looking at your paycheck, and dang, I don't have any money until my next paycheck because I have to pay for all these things. Or you're not paying for your holiday season in January or February of the next year. So I try to steer away from this word discipline because I also think that sounds really restrictive. And I'm like, it's not about having more discipline, it's just the fact you need a plan.

Gresham Harkless 09:06

Yeah, and I always felt what you spoke to or just habits and different things that we do, and sometimes we're not even aware of the habits that we have, but that awareness allows us to be able to take the ship where we want it to be.

Keina Newell 09:16

Yeah. Awareness I think is the number one shift that my clients get first from working with me. And once you have the awareness, now we can shift to actually help you reach whatever that financial goal is. Whether it's, solopreneurs, it's I wanna be able to pay myself. I wanna have a carefree tax season.

When you have this awareness, now we can start to align your money in that way so that way you can get those things that you desire. And I would say on the flip side, it's the same thing for personal finances. You realize, oh, wow, I didn't realize I was spending $200 $300 a week on, Uber Eats. That's crazy to me. I actually don't wanna be putting my money in that, out in that way. Now you can shift and actually adjust those habits and be more intentional about where you desire your money to go.

Gresham Harkless 10:05

Nice. And so, I guess your ability to be able to obviously see that and communicate that and help people to not, feel those that shame, guilt, and overwhelming anxiety, do you feel that is what I would call your secret sauce a thing you feel sets you apart and makes you unique?

Keina Newell 10:17

I would definitely say that because I've had clients reflect back to me that our first session felt like financial therapy. And so being able to hold a space for a client to talk about something that they're like, I don't even talk about this with my therapist and I'm in therapy. Or, this is something that I've battled with for years, and even in a matter of our first call, I just feel like I'm gonna actually be able to sleep better, tonight.

It's not even about needing to be like one of the people you may see on social media where they're holding up a letter board that's I paid off $200,000 worth of debt. I always want my clients to know that it's those results you can definitely achieve, but you don't have to compare yourself to others because you can have your own journey.

Gresham Harkless 11:03

Awesome, awesome, awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Keina Newell 11:14

I would say hiring a business coach has been the thing that actually makes me more effective. I think that's because I've been able to have someone hold the space for me to develop in the way that I desire to serve my clients, but then also in the way that I desire to show up for my business.

I think just felt like personal development, which in our lives, at least for myself, after college in a few years out of college, I felt like you don't necessarily work on yourself in the same way. I felt like in college, I was still a little kid that was like gonna be a firefighter, a ballerina, and a doctor all at the same time. So having that business coach has just allowed me to be very reflective on what I want to be true. It's allowed me to work on like my mindset. So all of those things that I think helped me show up better for my business, but also for my client.

Gresham Harkless 12:09

Yeah, absolutely. I always, reference the seven Habits of Highly Effective People and one of those is sharpening the saw. It's so important, as you said, to have that space in order to do that, to have that opportunity. And as you said, sometimes after school we often aren't really sharpening the saw as much as we could be.

So it's great to be able to have that person or those people or that community, I guess even to turn to be able to make that happen.

Keina Newell 12:30

Definitely.

Gresham Harkless 12:31

Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. This could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you have to do a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

Keina Newell 12:42

I think something that I would tell a client it's about progress and not perfection, which I think I can tell myself as well.

Gresham Harkless 12:50

Tell me too.

Keina Newell 12:51

And just realizing every day that you show up, you get to make a choice. I would tell myself that, in entrepreneurship there's so many different ebbs and flows. There's no linear way to get from point A to point B. There's a roller coaster of emotions there.

So I have to remind myself that this is a journey. But then also I remind my clients of that all the time, whether it be oh my goodness, I just went on a shopping spree because I was doing emotional spending, came in and just got me in this moment. And so being able to tell them like, okay, what tools do you have that maybe you didn't have a week ago or a month ago? What progress have you made and how do we move, how do we learn from this moment? Instead of letting it be something that defines us in a negative way.

Gresham Harkless 13:35

Yeah, that's absolutely powerful. And it's so funny, I have a theme every year, but I feel like with everything that happened I often say, give yourself grace, because often we can beat ourselves up more than anybody else.

And as you said, like understanding that, whether it's finances or entrepreneurship or any aspect, sometimes it can be like a roller coaster ride. So we often won't look at the things and the progress that we've had and the progress that we've made. We'll just look at where we wanna be, or we'll be busy looking at somebody else's, race and what they're doing and we forget about being kind and being appreciative of ourselves and what we've done.

Keina Newell 14:06

Definitely.

Gresham Harkless 14:07

Awesome. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO and we're hoping to have different quote and quote, CEOs on the show.

So, Keina what does being a CEO mean to you?

Keina Newell 14:17

For me, I think it's owning this new space in the world that I have. And not shying away from the things that seem hard because I am building something that is bigger than myself. I wanna fully embrace that and acknowledge that this thing has not happened because of happenstance, but my business is here because I'm, feeding it.

Gresham Harkless 14:39

I love that perspective. I love that definition.

Keina Newell 14:41

Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 14:42

Very welcome and what I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know, and of course, how best they can get ahold of you and find out about all the awesome things that you're working on.

Keina Newell 14:52

Yeah. I would say if there are any listeners that, and I'm sure there are plenty of you that you're looking to change your relationship with money. One of the things I love is encouraging people to have money conversations. I recently started interviewing my own clients to have candid money conversations with them.

So, I started a series called Wealth Over Now Money Files. So wherever you listen to podcasts at, you can listen to me talking to my clients about the successes that they've had in working with me and my one-month intensive. Some of them have worked with me for over a year, but I created that series because I wanted other people to be able to hear that I'm not alone. Especially because a lot of the people that I work with are very type-A individuals.

But finances are like the one thing that they're like, I don't know why I can't figure this out because I have multiple degrees and this just shouldn't be happening to me. So that's available to you. And then if you are looking to connect with me, and learn more about my services, you can go over to my website at wealthovernow.com

Gresham Harkless 15:49

Awesome. We will definitely have the links and information in the show notes just so that everybody can follow up with you, and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Outro 15:56

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast, powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase it's a community.

Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and everywhere you listen to podcasts, subscribe and leave us a five-star rating. Grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co.

This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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