EPISODE #2: WHO AM I LISTENING TO?

“Hey guys. Welcome back. Last week we hit the ground running. I hope you’ve taken the time to implement the three strategies that I gave you to get started this year. If you haven’t, right now’s the time to do it. Look, if you’re driving, keep going, but if you’re home, stop what you’re doing and get started right now. No seriously. Right now, hit pause I’ll wait. 

Great. You’re back!

I thought I’d introduce myself this week. I’m Laura Sexton. I am a money coach who is focused on debt elimination and money mindset. I am also a wife and a mom to four amazing little kids. I have a six-year-old, a three-and-a-half-year-old, a two-year-old, and one brand new baby girl. 

I’m originally from the great state of Texas, but I’m currently living in Southern California. I came out here in 2010 to be an actress and I absolutely loved my acting career. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. That said I very quickly learned what it meant to be a starving artist. And I had to work my butt off to cover just my basic living expenses. 

I had to do that because I had sky high student loans that I was paying back. I had multiple credit cards that I was paying constantly. And I was just living the normal life. The normal life of a 20 year old, where I would make money at my job and then I would eat it or drink it or buy myself a new dress because I felt like I needed it. 

I spent all of the money I could on my acting career. I bought headshots. I paid for reels. I paid for acting classes and workshops. If you could do it and spend money on it. I probably did it. 

I would not have traded the time and the learning that I did during that period of my life. But let’s just say, when I met my husband, I had a really big turn and I became… well, I became a real adult. And I’m happy that I did that because now I get to be here with you. 

So in 2020, I decided I was going to put acting on hold.  You can always go back to an acting career because, well, everybody needs a grandma in a movie, right? So I put my acting career on hold and decided I was going to focus on being a writer. 

Now at this point, I was completely debt-free and it was possible for me to quit my job and focus on my writing. I had a feature film that was ready to go out, and I had a producer who wanted to make that film come to life. And so, the beginning of the March, I had my first feature film under contract. I was just waiting on that contract to come back from the lawyers so I could sign it and get paid. And then… do you guys remember what happened March 2020?

Yeah. The whole world shut down. And Hollywood shutdown. And my big dream, my big break… it fell apart. And while my dream was falling apart, my friends, my actor friends, there whole lives were falling apart because you see, they were still living that starving artist life. My acting friends were still working their jobs and eating and drinking their money away, paying all of their loans and car payments and living in apartments that were way too expensive for an actor to be living in. They were normal. I had been normal once. I know what that’s like. But they all started reaching out to me because I had been very public about paying off my $372,347 in debt. 

Now it had taken me three years to pay that off. It took me 36 months – almost exactly. So, they knew it wasn’t going to be something they were going to get through quickly. But they knew that I could give them hope. And they knew I could give them peace. And there’s absolutely nothing. I want more than for you to have hope and for you to have peace. And that is why I’m here with you today. 

So when I started coaching my friends on their budgets and their mindsets, I found out that coaching was actually a career. This was something I could do. And it was something that I loved to do. 

Later that year, I decided to enroll in Financial Coach Master Training with Dave Ramsey’s organization. I had used Dave Ramsey’s Seven Baby Steps to help me get out of that massive amount of debt. And – let me just tell you – those seven baby steps – they work! And when I work with clients, I tend to throw those in because why fix what’s not broke? 

But in January of 2021. My world came to a crashing halt. My five-week-old baby boy had to go in for emergency surgery. It was very scary. My new career had to go on hold. 

And the only thing I was concerned about was whether or not this baby boy was going to be okay. And let me tell you, when I say the only thing I was concerned about – I mean, I didn’t have to worry about the money. He was in the hospital for over a week. He had to have emergency surgery. It was very scary. 

He’s totally fine. Now he’s two years old runs around. Very active. He is happy and healthy. But I never had to worry about the money because I had money set aside. 

You see, one of the things I do after I help people get out of debt. I get them situated with a three-to-six-month emergency fund. And I had that. I have this money sitting aside, even if I didn’t have insurance, I would have been able to cover a hundred percent of the cost of this hospital staybecause I had set myself up for a future with peace. I had planned ahead and now that’s what I coach people to do.

The hope and the peace that I felt on that hospital floor… Let me tell you I was the only one in that entire hospital that felt that hope and peace that day. At least on that floor with those small children. I’m not going to let anybody I talk to from now until forever. Live under that stress without knowing there’s a way out. I’m telling you if you were stressed about money there’s a way out. 

So now I’m a financial coach. This is what I do for a living. This is what I love doing. 

When I started, I thought I was going to be a financial educator. I thought it was going to be helping people make budgets and help them get out of debt. And do that very tactical money side of things. 

But money; it’s only 20% math. The other 80% is your mindset and your habits. I’ll tell you right now, I’m going to help you with that 20%. When we talk in this podcast, we’re going to talk about the math side, the solving for the wealth. I want you to solve for wealth, and I want you to solve for abundance. 

And when we come to the other 80% what we’re going to be solving for are very different things. We’re going to be solving for financial peace. We’re going to be solving for joy and creativity. We are going to be solving for financial freedom. Unity. An abundant life and a generous future. 

That’s what I really want for you. I want you to live a rich, abundant life, and that doesn’t just mean, oh, look at all this money I have in this bank account. I can’t wait to share this with people. 

An abundant life could be on Sunday nights, I don’t stress about having to wake up tomorrow and go to work. 

An abundant life could be, I have a bunch of things that I have to get done. And I know that I can just sit here with my grandma and let her talk to me about whatever it is. Whatever story she wants to tell me. 

I don’t have to stress about whether or not I got that project done. Especially now that I’m my own boss. I’d give anything to go back in time to sit down in the kitchen with my grandma and hear her tell me stories about growing up and how life was different then and what she loved. That would be so cool. 

But I can’t do that because I was so worried about which flight can I take that’s going to be less expensive. And I was nickel and diming and making $20 decisions when my life could have been abundant and full, and I could have been making $20,000 decisions instead. 

And as any financial coach. I am not an investment professional. I don’t sit down and tell you, oh, this is the fund that you should be in. And this is the investment that I think is ready…  I don’t do investing. 

I can help you think through what would be best for you and what situations are best for your current time in life. We can talk 529 plans. We can talk 401ks, Roth IRAs. We can talk all of these things on a broad level, but I can’t get nitty gritty and down into the details with you. I’m not licensed.  

Also, I don’t sell insurance as a financial coach. I can help you set up the things that you need. Like term life insurance, disability insurance, things that you need in your life, health insurance, car insurance. You need insurance! But I don’t sell it. 

I just want to let you guys know that. 

I can help you put your team in place though. I can help you find those investment professionals that are going to be able to get nitty gritty with you. And I can help you find the insurance professional that is going to get you the best deal for you. Not the best deal for them. And I can help you get an estate planner and a real estate agent and a tax pro. People in your corner who are going to teach you about money. Not people that are going to talk down to you, not people who are going to tell you what to do with your money. 

No. 100% of the time, your money is your responsibility. There should never be a time that you say, well, I gave it to my investment professional. They’re going to handle it. Yeah, no, that’s not how this works. That’s how Johnny Depp lost $700 million back in the beginning of the 2000s. $700 million because he gave it to a guy and said, here you manage this. And then that guy managed to put all of it in his pocket and ran off.

If you are not paying attention to your money. You were doing yourself a disservice.

I absolutely adore being a financial coach. I love working with people one-on-one, or two on one if you’re a couple. I love seeing the light bulb moments and clients go from feeling anxious or guilty to in-control and peaceful. Even joyful about their money. One of my clients was going through a divorce. She was going on a cross country, move, changing jobs. Changing states. Everything was changing. While we were working together, she paid off all of her consumer debts. And she called me, and she said to me, “I knew it would feel good. I just didn’t know it could feel like this.” She let out a huge sigh and then she giggled. She was so giddy that she actually giggled.

And then she started her life with a new name, a new job, a new city. Completely free. To make all of her own choices.

Coaching one-on-one has been life-changing for me and for my clients. And now I get to talk with so many of you all at once. This is amazing that this is even possible. But I still want to make sure that you get what you want and what you need out of this podcast. So I’m going to go ahead and invite you to send me a DM on Instagram or send me an email. Connect with me in some way. And ask me a question or give me a scenario, or if you want to come on this podcast with me and talk through a life situation let’s do it.

This podcast is for you for your encouragement, for your financial growth. I would love to make a podcast just for you. So please, please, please reach out. I want to be the biggest benefit to you that I can be.

All right, guys, that is all that I have for you this week. Please come back next week where we talk about how life looks when debt is no longer an option. I’ll talk to you soon.”