Listen On
| Immigrant Entrepreneur: | Fiona |
| Company: | themillennialmoneywoman.com |
| Place of birth: | Germany |
| Employees: | 0 |
| Age started business: | 25 |
Show notes
Fiona had no idea that she was ever going to land in the finance world. In fact growing up, she wanted to become a paleontologist but after seeing what her grandparents went through with their personal finances she decided that she wanted to help as many people be financially independent.
She bought her house at the age of 23, she started her blog at the age of 25.. during the pandemic! This young lady is about to tear up the finance world before you know it.
This episode will truly inspire you in so many ways!
Quotes by Fiona
No matter what age you are, you can do whatever you set your mind to.
Every single day I was reminded of my goals.
You are able to be the master of your own destiny.
Your own failures and your successes are in your own hands.
I don’t think I ever took it to heart how important it is to network.
Networking improves your chances in your success.
I embrace failure… a lot of it is about mindset.
Being successful in business is all about communication.
If you are not a native English speaker, learn English and immerse yourself in this language.
It’s very important to get to know how different people think.
Dedicate 100% of your time to whatever it is that you want to do.
Whatever it is, you truly have to love it and you know that it’s your purpose.
Anyone can be a millionaire.
Anyone can be successful, it’s all about changing your mindset and realizing you can do it if you set your mind to it.
Where to find Fiona
The Millennial Money Woman | Twitter | Pinterest
Mentioned in this episode
Self lender: https://www.self.inc/
Recommended books:
(Amazon affiliate links included – thank you!)
[read more] Alina Warrick (0s):
Welcome to the Immigrant Entrepreneurs Podcast Episode 25. My name is Alina Warrick and today I have the pleasure to have Fiona from The Millennial Money Woman blog on the show. She came to the States from Germany and growing up she always wanted to become a Paleontologist. She ended up going to school to study creative writing and English, but little did she know that her passion was quickly going to fall into the finance world. Fiona didn’t know anything about finance, but got herself completely immersed in learning, everything about it.
Alina Warrick (41s):
She got her masters degree in finance and took on jobs out of school to learn all of the ins and outs about the finance world. Well, at 25 years old, Fiona launched her new blog called The Millennial Money Woman to transpire the finances of the millennial generation. Her journey to success is definitely going to inspire you in many, many ways. Now stick around to the very end to hear how many hours a week she puts in her business. So let’s dive right in. Alright, Fiona thank you so, so much for joining me on my Immigrant Entrepreneurs podcast, and I’m truly excited to hear all about your journey.
Alina Warrick (1m 29s):
So how are you doing today?
Fiona (1m 31s):
Alina, thank you so much for having me and for inviting me on your podcast. Really looking forward to talking and I’m doing very well.
Alina Warrick (1m 39s):
So let’s dive right in. Oh, let’s talk a little bit about your Immigrant journey. Tell us where you’re from and when did you come to the States?
Fiona (1m 47s):
Sure. So I actually grew up over in Europe. I came from Germany. That’s where I grew up my entire childhood. That was my first language. Grew up with the customs of Germany and I was about six or seven years old when I moved to the United States. And you know, I think it was wonderful to grow up in a different country just because you are able to kind of experience the customs and traditions of another world. But yeah, now I’m in the United States and I love it.
Alina Warrick (2m 19s):
So I’m assuming you came with your family?
Fiona (2m 21s):
Absolutely. Yes. So it was a decision from my parents at the time and it was my father’s job opportunity in the United States essentially. Right. So more growth opportunity, more work. And I think that’s kind of almost everyone’s dream to, you know, come to the United States and buy a house. We didn’t have a house over in Europe. We had a small apartment and in the United States we were able to afford a house and you know, just a lot more growth opportunity and it was kind of a blessing, honestly.
Alina Warrick (2m 52s):
Yeah. So what type of work does your father do?
Fiona (2m 55s):
Sure. So he’s in technology and although Germany obviously is known its engineering product. In America they wanted to expand essentially and bring some of that expertise over to the States and he was able to help out there, so it’s been very difficult obviously for all of us because of the language. So, I mean, for my parents, obviously to coming from Europe and it was a new chapter in their lives to learn a different language. And same for me because I didn’t know any English at the time either.
Alina Warrick (3m 26s):
So your parents came in and not knowing any English.
Fiona (3m 29s):
That is correct. Yes.
Alina Warrick (3m 31s):
What was his job in English or in German?
Fiona (3m 37s):
Well, yeah, so originally, it was German, but at the expectation was that you would learn English like ASAP, essentially. And so that’s what he ended up doing. And just seeing him be able to learn a new language, like fully immerse yourself in this language being, you know, I don’t know, mid 30, 40 year old adult at the time and learn it within a few weeks. I mean, at least proficiency-wise, I thought that was incredible. I was probably yeah, six, seven, eight at the time. And that was so inspiring to me, you know, it really just shows that no matter what age you are, no matter how old you are, whatever you do, you can do whatever you set your mind to. And that was kind of that first step that I needed to start trying to level up and really try to attain higher and better goals.
Alina Warrick (4m 25s):
Yeah. That’s awesome. So I do want to ask you what was it like growing up in Germany? So I just want to hear what parts of Germany do you remember?
Fiona (4m 33s):
Definitely. Yeah, so I mean we visited every year. We still do so it’s, you know, I definitely go back. My entire family is still there, but growing up in Germany, I think the number one thing was that everything was a lot closer. In America it seems like, I mean, unless you are living in this city, like directly in the city, everything else was just so far away. I mean, when we’re talking, you know, your pharmacy, we’re talking your schools, your college, whatever it is, everything just seems so far away, like you have to get into a car, you can’t just walk to your grocery store. And that was the very big thing in Germany. We didn’t, I don’t even think we had a car back then, it was a bicycle and we could walk everywhere and we weren’t located directly in the middle of a big city.
Fiona (5m 20s):
It’s just, everything is so much closer on foot. And I think that, that kind of contributed to us having a lot more exercise in Europe, to be honest, we just walked everywhere.
Alina Warrick (5m 31s):
Yeah, that’s why everyone is so fit in Europe.
Fiona (5m 34s):
Yeah.
Alina Warrick (5m 35s):
And I know, like when I went to Moscow, I would see people like walking everywhere, but they weren’t in flip-flops or like sneakers. They were really full blown dressed up, their hair done, to walk to the grocery store and come back.
Fiona (5m 51s):
You know, you make a great point, Alina, yes. Like I think that’s so true. Looking at just the clothing style too, right. Like you said, when you go to a school, for example, even if it’s just high school, the kids are really properly dressed. Like even if its not a private school, it’s public, like they’re, well-dressed, they respect. Like I think that there’s just a very different sense of style, sense of possibly culture when interacting with adults in Germany or at least back when I was young. That’s how it seemed like. Yeah. So you’re right.
Alina Warrick (6m 23s):
Tell me a little bit about the struggles that you had to go through when you first immigrated. And I know that you’re a super young, but for me, I know when we first immigrated, I was four years old and I didn’t learn any English until I was dropped off by my parents at grade school. It was like, good luck. So was that similar to you, did you have any other struggles?
Fiona (6m 44s):
Yeah. So there were definitely a few, I mean, like you said, the language barrier was certainly the number one struggle there just because, you know, we didn’t really come from an English household, at all. Although English, at the time it was definitely on the uptick in terms of in Germany, learning that in schools. But I was just, like you said six at the time, so we didn’t learn any of that. But what I ended up doing was actually, I’m not sure if you remember these Disney video tapes, right? Like the video cassette, it was like Cinderella or whatever it is, this young kid movies. I actually watch those day in and day out. Like when I first came to America, just to like learn the language because that language is very basic, so I just try to absorb the English language through that because I saw those videos in German.
Fiona (7m 29s):
So I knew what it was about. And then kind of listening to the words on repetition, I kind of realized, okay, this is what this word means in English. And I was able to kind of pronounce it and say it really as the movie was playing along. So that was kind of how it was to learn English and school obviously too.
Alina Warrick (7m 46s):
Yeah I love that. So before you tell our listeners about your company, tell me about the path you took. Did you try to go into any other fields before starting your business?
Fiona (7m 58s):
Certainly. Yeah. So it’s funny that you say that because honestly I would have never thought of myself as a.) a Blogger and b.) in Finance. Like I,when I grew up, I never thought that was my career path. Actually, when I was young, ever since I was young, I was always really interested in Geology and Paleontology and Archeology, kind of that area. So I was actually studying to become more of a Palaeontologist than anything else. And in college I actually studied more along the lines of creative writing, English, that type of line. And although I really enjoyed it, I felt like something was missing like, although writing is my passion, I didn’t really know like what I could pair writing with.
Fiona (8m 43s):
So there was a time I took kind of like a week of hiatus for a week and I really stepped back and really tried to reflect on who I am, what I want to gain out of my life. And I was probably like 21 or 22 at the time. And just wanted to really figure out what do I want to leave behind when I leave this world and we don’t know when that’s going to be, and that’s when I realized, Hey, I want to be able to help people sort out their financial lives. And on one hand I didn’t really know anything about finance, but I did know that if you don’t know enough about finance, it can ruin your life. And I saw that firsthand through my grandparents, they worked every single day, they build a business together.
Fiona (9m 24s):
It was a small family business. And because of some poor financial planning, they lost literally everything and more, right? Yeah, it was terrible. And they had to work literally until the day they died. And I saw that and I think that was kind of the seed that had me realize I don’t ever want that to happen to me in my family or anyone else for that matter. And that was kind of that push where a.) I realized that was good in English. And I enjoyed writing and b.) I want to help out people when it comes to finance, so they make better decisions that, you know, ultimately can help them reach their goals, whatever that may be. And so those two passions together and the writing and the finance I studied, I learned, I got my master’s in finance, a personal financial planning and my CFP degree.
Fiona (10m 7s):
And then I started this website.
Alina Warrick (10m 9s):
Got it, got it. So what was your first job out of school?
Fiona (10m 13s):
My first job out of school was actually in a boutique wealth management company. So I work with these fantastic individuals’. They knew the ins and outs of finance. I mean, it was incredible. We’re talking from a state planning to tax planning to investment management, you name it. It was just the whole, it was a plethora of financial ideas. And I was like I said, I studied English at the time. So going from English into finance, it was like a totally different language. And I knew in order to be proficient in finance, I actually had to get my master’s degree because I want it to be able to speak the same language, as my colleagues did. And that was kind of the impetus there to study for my master’s degree while working full-time.
Fiona (10m 57s):
So it was, it was definitely a hard lift, but I would never change anything about it because I’m so thankful to that hard work back then to bring me to where I am right now.
Alina Warrick (11m 7s):
So at what point in time in your career, did you decide to, okay, I’m gonna leave the corporate world, I’m going to leave this job and I’m going to do this blog. Was it simultaneously, or was it at a point where you were like, I’m just going to quit and do it full time?
Fiona (11m 22s):
So this is a great question. It was actually at the start of the pandemic. So when I realized that there were so many people out there struggling because people were laid off, people lost their jobs, they were suffocating in debt. Like I had friends literally email me and text me saying, Oh my gosh, Fiona I lost my job. Now I have a $110,000 of student debt. And as part time I’m working as a maid in a hotel, this is a true story. I mean, she couldn’t sleep at night. The girl who texted me this and it’s like, this is heartbreaking because the average person just isn’t taught about personal finance. And so when I kind of heard these really touching close stories about these financial plights.
Fiona (12m 9s):
I realize that it was time to step up, I guess, and try to spread or try to provide a little bit more insight to people who are in our generation, right? Like the millennial young professional generation. And I guess I should backtrack and say that it was the pandemic as well as a really good experience I had. I co-founded a non-profit in my local community, very, very small, but the goal of this nonprofit was to help young professionals gain a little bit of financial literacy. So every year I helped about five young professionals kind of speed up their game on personal finance. And I work very close with them and just seeing firsthand how that conversation positively impacted these young professionals’ lives.
Fiona (12m 54s):
It was so touching and that’s kind of what made me realize I needed to step this up to a national level or whatever it is, right at international level with a website where I can reach everyone and hopefully help just a little bit improve their financial literacy.
Alina Warrick (13m 7s):
So what type of, is it coaching? Do you do coaching or services or do you do group environment? What type of business model do you have?
Fiona (13m 17s):
The first and foremost goal of my website is to help young professionals kind of decipher the very often murky waters of finance. Because like, for me, when I first entered finance, it was a totally different language. And I know like right now because I’ve been in finance for awhile now. I understand it. Its very easy to me to understand, but for the everyday person, Oh my gosh, everyone speaks in what code abbreviations like your RMD of the 401k in to the IRA or like, Oh my gosh, what does it mean? So, my goal is to really help decipher this cryptic language, if you will, and really break down in these difficult concepts into more relatable ideas to the general public.
Fiona (14m 1s):
So I do that. I obviously create these blog posts and there are very in-depth, very analytical. And then in order you might be asking how do you actually make money. And I do that by partnering with affiliate companies that are actually good, like good affiliate companies that I’ve used myself before. And you know, a lot of that is doing my research beforehand. I might’ve had no experience with them five years ago, like a student debt financing company. And I know like, okay, this is definitely a good resource for anyone who wants to consolidate or refinance their student loans. So I contacted us to be a part or a potential affiliate partner. We got on the phone, we can talk about potential business opportunities, et cetera.
Fiona (14m 42s):
And then after considering, you know what we can do moving forward, that’s when I then include them on my website as an affiliate partner. So it’s, it’s very time consuming because I want to make sure it’s the right fit for my demographic, my audience, but 9 times out of 10, it is. And I’ve never heard anything bad so far.
Alina Warrick (14m 60s):
You know what, pandemic and finance goes very well hand in hand together. So I think you found your perfect niche to be in and I think it’s going to be bulletproof because everyone has financial questions and problems that they’re seeking every single day and especially during the pandemic. So good job.
Fiona (15m 19s):
Thank you so much.
Alina Warrick (15m 22s):
So Fiona, how old were you when you started your business?
Fiona (15m 25s):
Sure. So I was 25 years old when I started my business. That’s when I actually started it. When I thought about it, I must have been probably 21 or 22. I just never actually had the guts, like the courage to put that first foot forward and open it. Right. I mean, it doesn’t take that much. I was just afraid of failure to be very honest. I was like, Oh my gosh, what if I open it? What if I put in so much time and money potentially. What’s gonna happen? What if it fails? I would of just wasted everything. So I think it was just the fear of failure that really held me back and my early 20’s and finally the pandemic, right. That was like the push. And I was like, all right, I’m going to go do it.
Alina Warrick (16m 5s):
And hey twenty-five is a really young too. So you’re already ahead of the game.
Fiona (16m 9s):
Thank you. I appreciate Alina.
Alina Warrick (16m 11s):
So Fiona, I was reading through your website and you mentioned that you bought your first house at 23 years old.
Fiona (16m 19s):
Yes, I did.
Alina Warrick (16m 20s):
Tell me about that. That’s very young and that’s a great accomplishment.
Fiona (16m 23s):
Oh thank you. Yeah. So yeah, I know a lot of people like, it’s difficult to, especially nowadays like in the market and the housing market to find a house. But I think what helped me accomplish this goal, purchasing a house at such a young age is I knew what I wanted from a very, very young age. Like I think I was 17, 16 or 17 and I wrote down a list of goals that I wanted to accomplish. And I knew about this method of writing down your goals from a book that I had read previously. So it was kind of like a personal self help book. And it said in order to truly realize your goals in the future, you need to write them down and you need to be as specific as possible and in schools, so you make them happen.
Fiona (17m 9s):
And so I follow the advice of that book. I wrote down my goals, a.) graduate in college early, b.) finding a job at 21 or 20 and c.) purchasing a house at 24. So it was actually a little bit early at accomplishing that goal. But how I did that was I saved, I worked 40 hours a week while I was in college full- time. And I graduated two years early in college. I knew that if I stayed in college four years, I would obviously take on a lot more debt, right? For housing, for food. And I wouldn’t be making as much money as I could have if I wasn’t in college and fully dedicated myself to my career. So in my, at least my undergraduate, so I worked full-time, paid off my college debt, consolidated 4 years into 2.
Fiona (17m 52s):
Got out, got a good job, in finance. So I transitioned like 180 degrees, right from English to Finance. And they believed in me. I mean, obviously it was also to do with luck. If they didn’t believe in me, then, you know, I would have probably not been in such a fortunate position, but they did. And I worked harder than anyone else, stayed there longer than anyone else. I wanted to prove myself. And they then invested in my masters degree and
Alina Warrick (18m 19s):
And, I am sorry, who is they?
Fiona (18m 21s):
The company that I worked for, right out of college.
Alina Warrick (18m 25s):
Oh okay.
Fiona (18m 26s):
Yup. And they really supported me and I saw, you know, it’s possible to reach your goals. And finally, I had enough money saved for a down payment for a home. And at 23 I was fortunate to find this great deal. And I was able to negotiate the price down a little bit, which also obviously helps. So, you know, there’s obviously some luck in there as well. It wasn’t just playing out, you know, finding a house, go buy it. There was some of luck in negotiating, but at the end I was lucky and I was able to purchase a house at 23. Yeah.
Alina Warrick (18m 57s):
Wow. That’s awesome. You know what I want to, you mentioned a few powerful things. Well the first one is, actually the very first one that I wanted to talk about is of the writing down goals. And I think that part is so, so crucial in any stages of life. I’ve had one Immigrant Entrepreneur that comes to my mind is Sean Conlon, he came dirt poor to America in 1987, something like that, ’89. And he started writing letters to his parents saying, I am going to make it big in America and I’m going to retire you and I’m going to buy you a house. And this is when he was writing this, he was dirt poor and he ended up going big.
Alina Warrick (19m 42s):
He ended up being a multimillionaire within a decade and over succeeded his goals. But, what you mentioned is so, so powerful and just want to hone in on that and just say that, you know, it’s amazing. And a lot of people take it for granted. And I think that writing down goals, means nothing, but you’re showing proof and many, many other people are showing proof that it’s actually powerful to do that takes some time and then go and do some action plans, which is exactly what you did.
Fiona (20m 17s):
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah you know, I actually was among those people that thought writing down goals is, you know, worthless, but then I was like, what the heck? Why would I want to spend extra time to write down goals? But you know, in the end, I decided after reading these books, like, okay, why not give it a try? What does it going to take me like 10 minutes, maybe to think about my goals and really be specific with them. I did write them down. And I also mentioned to put these goals in a place where you can truly see them, every single day, be reminded of your goals every single day. So I ended up putting them on my bathroom mirror and I like pasting them on there with like a little piece of tape. And every single day I was reminded of that and just seeing it every single day, I knew I’m one step closer, I’m one step closer.
Fiona (21m 4s):
So yeah. It’s so powerful. That tool. Absolutely.
Alina Warrick (21m 7s):
So do you mind sharing the book that you read?
Fiona (21m 9s):
Yeah. So there are several, one is the Millionaire Next Door. The second is the Millionaire Mind, extremely powerful, I think anyone who hasn’t started a finance book go for this one. It is incredible. And the third book that I really truly take to heart and I’ve probably read like four or five times is the Behavior Gap by Carl Richards. And I recommend this everywhere. It’s a very easy to read book. It’s like 200 pages. I’m not affiliated with him at all. I don’t get any money with us, but it is truly an incredible book. It talks not so much about finance, like in dollar signs and cents. What it talks about is the emotional relationship that we have with our money.
Fiona (21m 54s):
And it tries to kind of like debunk a couple of theories, why people lose so much money when the stock markets crash. It’s because they don’t have that longterm mindset. It’s because they’re very greedy, right. And they’re worried they’re gonna lose their money. So they sell out of it instead of looking in the long run and say, okay, I’m 35 right now. It doesn’t matter if my portfolio drops, I’m going to be retiring at 60 or 65 or 70. So let’s keep on going investing. And it’s just such a good book. And he also describes a little bit about goal setting and really, truly being as specific as possible when it comes to setting those financial goals. It’s such a good book.
Alina Warrick (22m 31s):
I’ll leave that in the show notes afterwards. And so thank you. Thank you so much for sharing that.
Fiona (22m 36s):
Definitely.
Alina Warrick (22m 37s):
Fiona, where do you think you got your entrepreneurial drive from?
Fiona (22m 41s):
I really truly accredit it to my mentor. I met my mentor when I was probably 13 or 14, very fortunate. So I’m, gosh, where did I meet him? I think it was just at a public function and he’s probably 75, you know, fairly older, but I think what he was at that point in his life, he was looking to start giving back to the community in terms of helping young potential, aspiring entrepreneurs find their path, find their passion and purpose and kind of guiding them and navigating them through life. And so it was pure luck to be very honest, but at least the meeting was pure luck, but then I took it from there and I think he was able to truly help me understand the positives and the drawbacks of entrepreneurship.
Fiona (23m 27s):
He’s been a successful entrepreneur himself opened, I don’t know, 17, 20 businesses on his own. Sold out of many, I mean this extremely successful guy and he was, you know, he’s still working and he’s going to work on until the day he dies. He loves working. Like he truly loves it. But you know, I think what really, what he taught me was that a.) you have to love what you do. You can never be successful at something you don’t like doing and b.) You have to, in order to be successful, you have to absolutely out work every single person. And that doesn’t mean work longer per se, what it means is work smarter. And by that he just taught me some of the things that you never thought about when it comes to entrepreneurship, like a.) how to network properly, b.) how to properly shake someone’s hand.
Fiona (24m 16s):
I mean, now I know post-COVID would probably won’t be doing that, but pre COVID, right? Like having that strong handshake, looking someone in the eye, the posture in a meeting room versus the posture outside what to say in certain situations, how to be politically correct if someone, you know, ask you an uncomfortable question of like, about finance or politics or whatever, or religion, whatever it is, he was really able to help me kind of form this personality, this identity that I don’t think I would of had the chance to see just by watching him interact with other successful businessmen. And then kind of through that interaction and watching and observing, I realized what entrepreneurship is all about.
Fiona (24m 57s):
Like you got to set your own hours, you are able to be the master of your own destiny really, like your own failure and your own success is in your own hands. It truly is. And I think that is what truly attracted me to entrepreneurship because I get to decide what’s going to happen to me. I can be successful or I can be more of a failure.
Alina Warrick (25m 17s):
Wow. That’s amazing. And those are just some things that we normally don’t think about. Like the handshake, the posture, what you’re mentioning. I think it’s subconsciously not there for us, but we have to keep reminding ourselves, like you mentioned, Hey, you have to be direct and be politically correct. Because a lot of times when we do meet people we’re very laid back these days, I feel like.
Fiona (25m 44s):
We are.
Alina Warrick (25m 45s):
And the fact that you got to get that mentorships at such a young age. That’s so, so amazing. So that’s awesome. So if you want to, did you have to raise any capital to start your business?
Fiona (25m 57s):
Because my business is an online business. I was fortunate to not have to raise capital, and this was actually something I was considering before opening up an online business. That was, I’ve always been kind of, you know, interested in starting a business period, not necessarily online, but like before I was thinking about it actually starting a furniture business, like for students in college. And so I, you know, was dabbling with a couple of angel investors and trying to exchange contracts, et cetera. Point being, I realized that that would require a lot of capital. And I thought about it. I really thought about my business plan because they knew the capital we’re talking about multiple million dollars to actually fund this business idea.
Fiona (26m 39s):
And although it could have been very successful, I thought about how can I maximize my profit, right, without actually trying to raise so much capital and then, you know, being on the hook for possibly the business failing. I’m more of a conservative person, which I’m sure you’ve found out by now. So I tried to figure out kind of like a happy in between, like what can I do where I can be my own boss and still have flexibility without having to have a potential liability in terms of the capital, right. So I was able to think, and kind of pivoted toward this idea in terms of a blog, right? So obviously a huge transition furniture to online business, but I think every business and every successful business owner for that matter has a pretty pivotal moment when it comes to running their business.
Fiona (27m 23s):
And, you know, I would just mention Jeff Bezos who started his business with, you know, books, originally selling books, and now it’s totally pivoted to something very different and it’s more successful. So to answer your question, long story short, no, I did not have to raise any capital for this business.
Alina Warrick (27m 40s):
That is awesome. We love to hear that, but it was just shows to all of the immigrants listening that they can start where they’re at. They can just start and pursue their dreams with what they have. So that’s awesome.
Fiona (27m 53s):
Absolutely.
Alina Warrick (27m 54s):
So Fiona, looking back at your immigrant entrepreneurial career and knowing what you know now, would you want to change anything or do anything differently? And I know you’re still kind of, fairly new to the entrepreneurship, but just take a moment to look back. Do you think you would change anything in the beginning stages?
Fiona (28m 12s):
Honestly, at the beginning stages? No, because I must have worked probably like, I don’t know, over a hundred hours a week on this. I mean, like, I can’t even tell you how long, how much I, where I still work this much, but I love it. Right. So I think I’m very fortunate to have found something that I truly love. And I’m passionate about, were working at a hundred, I don’t know, 20 hours or whatever it is the week on this. It doesn’t bother me. Like it’s okay with me, but would I change anything? No, not at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. However, I would change starting probably in high school and college. And what that is, is my networking, because I don’t think I ever took to heart how important it is to network and how important it is to maintain a close network and, you know, take care of your network because in the end a network can really help you improve or succeed or improve your chances of success in your business or in your career.
Fiona (29m 12s):
Even if you work a 9 to 5 job, you might love it. Right? I mean, there is no such, there’s not a bad reason why not to stay in your 9 to 5, if you love it, then good. But the point is, if you network, chances are, you probably have an increased chance of success in whatever you do. And I think that was such a powerful thing that I learned out of college. And I wish I knew that earlier, to be very honest with you, Alina. And so that’s the one thing that I would, I wish I could go back and truly take care of my network even from a young age.
Alina Warrick (29m 45s):
Yeah. So it’s a valuable advice. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Fiona (29m 48s):
Yeah, definitely.
Alina Warrick (29m 49s):
Fiona, I am really interested to know how do you look at failures and how do you overcome them?
Fiona (29m 54s):
Sure. So I think it’s funny. I learned this from actually one of the books that I was reading it. I forgot which on but
Alina Warrick (30m 1s):
You read a lot of books, that’s awesome.
Fiona (30m 3s):
I do. I do. Yeah. You should see my closet at home. There’s so many books,
Alina Warrick (30m 8s):
Good, good.
Fiona (30m 10s):
But essentially I think it all starts by the way you even phrase the word failure. So I learned that obviously failure has a negative connotation. So anything that follows the word failure, like I failed this business or I failed etcetera, you know, like your brain automatically has kind of like that negative tint to it, or like the negative tilt to that phrase or word that you associate with failure. So what I try to do is instead of saying the word failure, I try to tell myself like, okay, instead of failing, you know, at this business, it was a learning opportunity. So any time I am not able to succeed or live up to my expectation, I try to, instead of framing it as a failure, I try to frame it as a learning opportunity.
Fiona (30m 54s):
So I think that just, like for me personally, that really works well because I personally get very discouraged, and de-motivated when I know I “failed at something”. But when I reframe that to a different mindset, when I say that this was a learning opportunity, because maybe I didn’t work hard enough, maybe I didn’t do my research well enough, or maybe I didn’t network enough, whatever it is, now I know. Okay, for the next business venture, I need to a.) network more. I need to b.) work harder or maybe work smarter instead of longer hours, or maybe try to consult someone on the outside to help me. But the point is, I think I’m able to kind of like excel in certain areas where others would probably not excel because of my mindset in terms of failure.
Fiona (31m 42s):
So I embrace failure or these learning opportunities rather than being brought down by them. I kind of like try to, you know, figure out, I try to analyze why something didn’t work. And I try to provide solutions for myself, like, okay, this didn’t work because of a, b, and c. And then for the next step, I try to implement the solutions for a, b, and c and then hopefully try to improve on, you know, my last failure essentially. So it’s, I think a lot of it is just about mindset, really trying to extract that opportunity out of a failure and then try to capitalize on that opportunity.
Alina Warrick (32m 18s):
So, so powerful. Thank you. So let’s switch gears and talk a little bit about successes. Are there any successes that you would like to outline from your Immigrant Entrepreneur journey?
Fiona (32m 30s):
Yeah, certainly. So I think my successes which I’ll definitely share, I think it all comes back to again, like just finding that passion and what you love to do. And I know like a lot of people are going to be like, this is so cheesy, but it’s not cheesy. Its true. Right? Like if you truly love what you do, it doesn’t matter how much time you put into it or effort because you know, it’s what you love. And so, as you I’m sure know, I love finance and I love writing. So after, I think it was just five months of starting my website, I was given the opportunity to write for Forbes magazine and I don’t, like most writers that work in finance, there are not offered this opportunity so soon after starting a writing venture.
Fiona (33m 15s):
I mean it was just so incredible. But I think the reason why I was fortunate enough to have a writing opportunity for Forbes was because of the way that this person that read through my website and I really liked my articlearticless. They contacted me on a phone call. They want to know more about me and they really enjoyed like that passion, they truly heard that I was passionate about what I’m doing and it wasn’t necessarily, and it just to, you know, publicize, which obviously is a great benefit, right? Obviously the population, the publicity, but she realized like, okay, this person actually like loves what they’re doing. They’re not just like trying to do another thing, trying to make more money, et cetera, et cetera.
Fiona (33m 58s):
She actually likes it and reading through my article, et cetera. Like they, I think they really saw that come out and that’s why I was offered this opportunity for Forbes and my other success was also a writing opportunity through Budgets are Sexy, which is another kind of like personal finance blog, but it’s pretty big in the finance world at least. And the same thing happened. The, I don’t know, the curator or the owner of the blog, he reached out to me because he read through my blog and my website and really liked, kind of like the breakdown, the writing style, the creativity and all that, and like the passion as well and that kind of lead to that opportunity. So I would say, although those are huge successes within just five months of, you know, starting my website, I would truly attribute it not so much to it, to anything else except just the passion.
Fiona (34m 48s):
So again, it comes down to do you truly love what you’re doing and do you plan to stick by it, even through the lulls or the downsides or through the highs, its just a matter of consistency and truly like pursuing what, you know, you love.
Alina Warrick (35m 2s):
It’s so refreshing to be reminded of that because a lot of entrepreneurs might be listening to this and they’ve been doing their business for 10, 15, 20 years and you’d be, you know, they kinda lose that passion. So thank you so much for refreshing us with that because we need to hear that. I mean, we all kind of, know it on the back of our heads, but when we’re doing this for so long, we kind of just tend to lose the passion and, right in the back seat, but we gotta jump in the front seat and go full force.
Fiona (35m 35s):
That’s right.
Alina Warrick (35m 37s):
So Fiona is giving back either volunteering time or giving back to the communities, something that is part of your business values.
Fiona (35m 45s):
Absolutely. So I think it was three years ago. I co-founded this nonprofit, small nonprofit in my local community and I continue to give back, I work with the Boys and Girls Club. I work with Big Brothers, Big Sisters, you know, I try to really truly help for especially the organizations where possibly, you know, the kids are, you know, maybe underprivileged, maybe don’t have the same access that other kids have, right. I mean we’re talking internet access, we’re talking access to laptops or computers, just some really basic things that I think a lot of us take for granted. And I know that not everyone has that and not everyone has an equal opportunity and I’m very aware of that.
Fiona (36m 28s):
So my goal is to always, always, always give back to the community because I think although the website is obviously incredible to have and hopefully impact positively other people’s lives, financially speaking, having that person to person touch like truly talking to someone like face to face, I think that’s a lot more powerful obviously, right. A face to face is typically more powerful than just a website. So I think just being able to talk to kids and maybe small seminars, that’s what I’ve done before or have like small classes, like 10 classes, 10 people in one class, 10 little kids and kind of telling them about finance, trying to make it fun, spice it up and I truly think like growing up a lot of kids unfortunately get that like negative twist when it comes to finance.
Fiona (37m 18s):
And it honestly, I think part of that has to do with the media. Like they I think a lot of times, at least when I listened to movies or watch movies or what not, I always here like the word budget as like a negative connotation or like finance, like boring. It’s like, guys, this is like your life here. This helps you improve your chances of success. So I try to like kind of change their mindset on finance because again, like a lot of financial success has to do with mindset. So I try to kind of help them realize like anyone can be successful. Anyone could be a millionaire. Even if you save five bucks a day or 10 bucks a day or whatever it is, like you can be successful. It’s just a matter of changing your mindset and realizing you can do it if you set your mind to it.
Alina Warrick (38m 2s):
Fiona, I do have a question, what do you think about credit cards? Because both my husband and I have absolutely no credit cards and I feel like we were in a position to like avoid credit cards at all costs. But what are your thoughts about credit cards? And do you think that it is a benefit to a financial success or a detriment?
Fiona (38m 25s):
That’s a really good question, Alina, I think, okay. So to answer your question, I think it goes, credit cards are kind of like a double-edged sword and that’s because if you, first of all, you have to know yourself, right? If you know that you can’t be trusted with a credit card, because if you like see something and you know, you have a, like a piece of plastic in your hand and you can go swipe it and buy anything you want. Chances are credit cards are probably not the best option, maybe a debit card or maybe just cold, hard cash. But I do think like it, I guess it depends on your financial goals, right? So if you wanna purchase a house, if you want to purchase a car, and you don’t have the cash to purchase it outright in cash, or if you want to rent a new apartment or whatever it is, a lot of times, even employers, new employers, they might look at a credit report, right?
Fiona (39m 15s):
They want to see your credit score, they’ll run some credit checks. And in that case it would be important to have at least a history that shows that you are a reliable individual because you pay your bills on time and you don’t max out your credit cards. So I think in that aspect, it would be important to have one, maybe two credit cards. So what I often recommend to individuals like in that situation, and I can, I’m thinking of one specifically, she was a recent college graduate. Absolutely no credit needed a new car. And you know, the car dealer saw her coming miles away. They knew she was going to be their first victim.
Fiona (39m 55s):
So she ended up getting a car $15,000 car, right? So nothing special, used even, but they put a 20, I think it was 7 or 29% interest rate on that car. I mean, like we were talking, compare that to a regular 2 or 3% interest rate on a car, this was 27, 29%, whatever it was, it was just insane. But that’s because she didn’t have the credit. So ways to kind of get around that is, there are ways to like build credit even without a credit card. And again, I’m not affiliated with these guys, but they are one is called Self, it’s I think it’s Self Lender or Self. And what they do is you essentially have this account with them.
Fiona (40m 39s):
You put in, or you agree to pay a thousand dollars? Let’s say over a six or 12 month period. So every month you pay $40 to this certificate of deposit, right? With that is in your name. So you get your money back after the six or 12 months. But the point is after that term is up, Self, this Self Lender records your payments, records that you were not late at all in payments, and that is then transmitted to FICO or to your credit report. So it actually records that, okay, you do pay back to the lender or to your self in this case and you are a reliable person.
Fiona (41m 24s):
So that’s a way to actually help establish your credit, helped build your credit. So that’s one way to do it without actually taking on credit. Another way is just going out and like getting a store card. You have to be, you can’t be a minor, so you have to be 18 or older when you do that. But I do that to like when I first started looking for credit, like building my credit and history is like, I think 35% of your overall credit score. So it’s very, very important to establish a credit history among other things. Because it really weighs heavily on your credit score. So, you know, for example, I went to, I don’t know, I think it was like Best Buy or Macy’s right. I had to get business clothes.
Fiona (42m 5s):
It was something I had to do. And I was able to open up a store card purchase, you know, 50 bucks of business clothes or whatever it was discounted and then pay that off. But the fact that I was able to pay that off every month showed again and transmitted to my credit score and it showed, Okay, she is a reliable individual. She started her credit history. So that kind of builds that credit to indirectly without actually getting a credit card. But it does actually indicate that you are reliable. In other words, you will get a lower interest rate or possibly a lower interest rate if you were to apply for a house like a mortgage or whatever. But you know, I think in the long run, would it make sense to get at least one credit card, likely?
Fiona (42m 44s):
Yes.
Alina Warrick (42m 45s):
Got it.Got it. Thank you so much. So do you have any other business books that you would recommend to our listeners?
Fiona (42m 54s):
Any other business books? Yeah. There, there is one actually I want to say it’s called the Richest Man in Babylon and this is a really, really deep and powerful book for those who, you know, want to know. It’s not just, again, it’s not about finance specifically. It’s not about like numbers and credits and interest rate. It’s again, a lot more to do with emotions. And it’s more about to do with the rationality when it comes to finance, it’s extremely powerful. There are some parables in there, lots of story. There’s also obviously financial advice that relate to these stories, but it’s very easy to read as well.
Fiona (43m 37s):
And yeah, that’s one of the books that I would highly recommend.
Alina Warrick (43m 40s):
So Fiona, what is next for you and what are some business goals? Why, what’s next for you?
Fiona (43m 46s):
Yeah. So obviously I’m always going to be improving my website. The Millennial Money Woman so that is number one on the books. So always improving getting blog posts out there, probably publishing two to three a week and then, like yourself, I really enjoy talking to fellow minded individuals and kind of getting their perspective on finance as well as sharing my unique twist from my background as well. So really trying to push that and get out more in the community and hopefully have additional writing engagements like the one with Forbes and Budgets are Sexy.
Alina Warrick (44m 19s):
Yeah. I love it. I love it. So, what are some things that you would advise the next aspiring immigrant that wants to start their own business listening to you right now?
Fiona (44m 30s):
Definitely. So if you are not a native English speaker, I would suggest number one, learn English, immerse yourself in this language because it was just very important to learn it and truly apply it and communicate with others. That’s number one. So learn the language, number two would be to network and to truly try to communicate effectively with individuals from anywhere from every single type of social sphere, I guess, because I think the more you understand how each group per se talks and how each group thinks, I think the better you will be and the more well-rounded you will be as a person.
Fiona (45m 10s):
So for example, if you can talk to IT specialists and accountants and finance people and athletes and, you know, cheerleaders or whoever like a huge variety of people, if you are able to talk to them effectively, the world is literally yours for the taking because in the end business and being successful at business, what I’ve learned, at least it’s all about communication because in the end that’s how you make a contract, right? Communicate to the person you talk in their language. And that’s what I think it’s very important to network and get to know how different people think. So that’s number two. And then the third one is just simply dedicate 100% of your time to whatever it is that you want to do.
Fiona (45m 52s):
If you want to become a, an ice fishing pro, then dedicate 100% of your time to that. Don’t let other distractions pull you away from it. If you want to become a finance blogger, like me, 100% of your time needs to go to that. And again, that needs to be something that you love, obviously, because if you hate it, you might be able to dedicate a hundred plus hours a week now, but in 10 years from now, you’ll likely be exhausted. So just make sure that whatever it is that you dedicate your time to. That you truly love it. And that you know that this is your purpose.
Alina Warrick (46m 23s):
That’s so, so powerful. Thank you.
Fiona (46m 26s):
My pleasure.
Alina Warrick (46m 28s):
All right. So, Fiona, to wrap it up, I have some super, super fast questions for you. If you are okay with that?
Fiona (46m 34s):
Definitely, let’s do it.
Alina Warrick (46m 35s):
Okay. What time do you normally start your day?
Fiona (46m 38s):
Between 3:30 and 4 in the morning.
Alina Warrick (46m 42s):
What? Do you sleep?
Fiona (46m 47s):
I do. I go to bed really early. So like at eight o’clock at night, I’m out.
Alina Warrick (46m 52s):
Hold on. I’m trying to count how many hours of sleep is that?
Fiona (46m 56s):
I think it’s like seven, eight or something like that.
Alina Warrick (47m 2s):
Wow. That’s amazing. And how long have you been doing that?
Fiona (47m 6s):
Oh, that’s probably been since I was 18. So gosh, almost 10 years now.
Alina Warrick (47m 10s):
Wow.
Fiona (47m 11s):
Yeah.
Alina Warrick (47m 11s):
Okay, so how many employees do you have?
Fiona (47m 14s):
Right now, it’s actually just me and I like it that way, just because I can keep my voice, my message the same, its very streamlined it. But as I grow more, which I have actually been feeling a lot of growing pains lately, I might be looking for one or two writers to help, but right now I just really want to focus on that streamlined voice.
Alina Warrick (47m 35s):
And how often do you watch TV in a week?
Fiona (47m 38s):
Ooh, ah, gosh, hours in one week. I would probably say maybe like two, like, I mean I try, you know, like I try to watch like five minutes of TV at night when I’m wrapped up with work and I just fall asleep, but it was really.
Alina Warrick (47m 59s):
No time for the TV.
Fiona (48m 0s):
Yeah.
Alina Warrick (48m 2s):
And lastly, how many hours of work do you normally put in say in a week?
Fiona (48m 7s):
I’d probably say between 122 to a 130 hours.
Alina Warrick (48m 11s):
Oh my goodness.
Fiona (48m 14s):
Yeah. You’d, you top it off out of all of the episodes I have ever done on this show.
Alina Warrick (48m 21s):
120 – 130 hours a week.
Fiona (48m 26s):
Yeah. That’s probably because I mean there are some weeks where its probably a hundred, but yeah, it’s a lot.
Alina Warrick (48m 33s):
What is your social life like?
Fiona (48m 35s):
None. It is there like with COVID I don’t really have, like, you know, we’re always from home anyway. So I don’t really like to get out that much, but yeah. You know, it’s a lot of work, but yeah, sometimes at night I get so excited about the website. Like I’m in bed at eight, but to be very honest, like I can’t even like go actually sleep at eight o’clock because I’m so excited about the work that I’m like, Oh my gosh. So then I’m in bed. But I’m like working on my computer in bed because I’m, Oh my gosh, I just want to get this done. And then by the time I know it’s like 10 o’clock and I’m like, Oh my gosh. And I have like five hours or four hours of sleep.
Fiona (49m 15s):
That’s just insane.
Alina Warrick (49m 17s):
And you still wake up at 3:30 the next day?
Fiona (49m 20s):
Yeah,my body is just programmed, I mean4:00 maybe. But yeah, my body is just like programmed to wake up early. That’s right.
Alina Warrick (49m 26s):
Wow. Wow. You are such an inspiration. That’s amazing. That’s amazing. Well, Fiona, thank you so so much for coming onto the Immigrant Entrepreneurs podcasts, you are truly going to inspire so many listeners listening to us right now. You are so full of energy and you’re definitely improving the millennials financial mindset and successes through your business. So I wish you the best of luck and I hope you that you keep on going, probably not that as a high-speed rate, but I wish you the best of luck. And thank you so so much for coming on my show.
Fiona (50m 3s):
Thank you so much for having me, Alina. It was an absolute pleasure.
Alina Warrick (50m 6s):
Thank you. Thank you so much. Alrighty guys, thank you so much for tuning in. And I just wanted to ask if he can give me a quick shout out wherever you’re at listening to this podcast. I’d love to give you a shout out as well on a future episode of mine. Also, if you are listening and you are an Immigrant Entrepreneur and would love to be featured on my show, send me an e-mail and we’ll get connected. I’ll see you guys all, next time for another exciting and impactful episode, take care. [/read]
