Women, Books and Business Issue No. 11

Women, Relationships, Finances and Entrepreneurship

Author

Tashaya Singleton
February 19, 2025

INSPIRATION

“The best words for resolving a disagreement are,

I could be wrong; I often am. It’s true.”

—Brian Tracy

Women, Relationships & Finances

How To Budget Without Fighting

One of the first things any married couple should do is put all their cards on the table and set up a budget. If you set up a budget based on your joint goals, there shouldn’t be much to fight about. However, many couples do fight about money. Having a budget will help reduce the fighting if you can find common ground and agree when creating your budget.

Tips to help you manage your joint budget:

  • Write Down Joint Goals – What are your goals in life? What do you see your life being like now and in the future? It’s important to remember that goals need to be based on reality to work, so you can still be happy and work toward what you want together.

  • Create a Spreadsheet for Income, Investments & Expenses – Don’t try to memorize what you see regarding your accounts. Put it all into a spreadsheet or any system you find that helps. You should be able to see your income, investments, and expenses at a glance, including the budgeted amount and the actual amount spent as well as your pay down progress on paying off debt

  • Review Finances Together Regularly – Take the time together to review your finances and how you’re both doing on a regular basis. You can do this monthly, but at a minimum it should be done quarterly. How often you review your finances will depend on your specific situation, as well as how much control you both need to make sure you stay on track

  • Consider Getting Professional Help – If you’re having issues deciding things determined then get some professional help. A financial professional can help you create a customized budget that will help you reach your goals, so this will minimize fighting because you can always blame them

  • Be Considerate & Flexible – Start from where you are so if you’re in debt, even if it’s just one of you at fault, let it go and begin again from now to a successful financial future

  • Each Person Needs Their Own Spending Money – Your plan should always include a line item so each of you gets some fun money, that you can spend any way you want to. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but it needs to be fair and equitable

Fighting over money can be minimized, or possibly eliminated, when you and your partner are on the same page. With joint goals, each person having input, and jointly accepting responsibility, your fighting should be reduced tremendously.

LEADERSHIP & BUSINESS

What You Should Know About Entrepreneurs

During this uncertain time when people are being laid off from jobs that were once considered safe, entrepreneurship is being considered as an option and this information is to help you make a good choice for yourself and your family with wide open eyes. So, let’s talk about some of the myths and get them straight.

It Costs a Lot of Money to Get Started – In all honestly, you can start a business with very little money. But you will need to be willing to spend something. You can easily start a small online business for fewer than 100 dollars – that’s really nothing in the scheme of things. Of course, if you want to start a bricks and mortar business, it will cost more, but it doesn’t have to be expensive. For example, if you start a restaurant, you can get used equipment if you take your time sourcing the equipment. Don’t let money get in your way.

Introverts Can’t Be Successful – Surely by now you know this one is not true. Look at the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg – he may be one of the most famous introverts of all. He created one of the best communication tools for other introverts. With the advent of social media, introverts can become very successful entrepreneurs, too.

You Need Extraordinary Talent – There are many examples of talented failures. You may even know some. Amy Grant is an American singer and song writer who is worth over 55 million dollars. She once joked about the fact she had very little talent as a singer, but she took her “three octaves” and went for it. How can you take what you have and go for it?

Starting a Business is Easy – It’s not easy if you are doing it right. You need to study the market, your competition, and your own skills and figure out how to go about it correctly with the right product or service that is something wanted and needed.

Good Products/ Services Mean Success – Even if you have great products and services, if you don’t then follow through and market so that you can get the word out, you will still not be successful. There is no “build it and they will come” in the business world.

My Schedule is All Mine – Yea. No. That isn’t happening. Let go of the idea of balance, at least in the beginning of your business startup. Instead, realize that you can juggle things enough so that you won’t miss little Jonny’s recital, but you will have to work late to make up for it.

I Need to Do it All Myself – If you go in with this idea, you’re going to quickly get overwhelmed and then miss out on opportunities to innovate and create value – these are the main jobs of any successful entrepreneur.

More Is Always Better – Many times when a new entrepreneur starts out they make a mistake trying to be everything to everyone. Remember, niching down is imperative and this includes choosing a well-defined niche audience and distinct products and services expressly for them.

Let go of these myths and focus on the things that are most important for every entrepreneur. That’s recognizing opportunities, identifying innovation and creating value for your audience.

Recognizing Opportunities

You can probably look back over your life and see plenty of missed opportunities, both personal and business. But how can you get better at knowing when a real opportunity is knocking on your door so that you don’t pass it by?

Let’s realize that no opportunity is perfect. An opportunity that you pass up may not be the right opportunity for you. By passing on something that someone else turns into a success doesn’t mean you’re a failure, but you can learn from it, so that next time you’ll get better choosing the right opportunity for you.

Creating Value

This is one of the most important aspects of your job as an entrepreneur. Create value for your audience. If they feel as if you heard them, and you create products and services that matter to them, that you also ensure they know about, you’ll be successful.

Finally, the best thing you can do for your entrepreneurial mindset development is to get started. Don’t put it off until everything is perfect. Do what you can to move forward a little bit each day. Read, The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, the publisher of Success Magazine, and you’ll see that the only thing stopping you is your mindset, not your abilities.

INSPIRATION

“The most important single ingredient

in the formula for success is knowing

how to get along with people.”

—Theodore Roosevelt

BOOK OF THE MONTH

“Super Rich” by Russell Simmons is our book of the month. This book is about finding your inner power and using it to create the life and success you desire.

In the chapter The Work That Pays, Russell Simmons reminds us that doing our work to the best of our ability is a form of prayer. He lets us know we should focus on doing our actual work instead of being preoccupied with the results, and then there will be no limit to the level of success we can reach. With this mindset we will see the fruits of our labor and be rewarded with freedom, happiness, money and recognition.

In Being a Business Yogi, he talks about entrepreneurs creating a product or service that they believe in and the world really needs. By doing this you will find an opportunity that reflects your passion, keeps you motivated and provides long-term success. As a litmus test, to make sure you’re moving in the right direction, Russell Simmons says to ask yourself “By selling this product or taking on this job or accepting this position, will I be promoting short-term happiness that will eventually lead to suffering or am I selling a source of long-term happiness that I can take pride in?”.

Russell reminds us in the chapter Building Bridges, that to achieve success we should always be building relationships with others on the common grounds we share, which gives credence to the saying “your network is your net worth”. To create lasting relationships, we should show compassion, empathy and understanding to one another as well as engage in open dialogue. Quality communication is important to the success and longevity of any relationship, whether personal or business.

Super Rich, by Russell Simmons, is a good read. This book will help you to understand that being rich isn’t just about having material possessions, it is about valuing yourself and the intangibles in life.

Tashaya J. Singleton is a Financial Wellness Coach for Women, with over two decades of experience in the financial services industry. She specializes in helping women take control of their personal financial economy and life.

Here are ways she can help when you are ready:

2. Buy the book The Financial Reset Plan. It’ll help your take control of your personal economy and life

3. Subscribe to the Women, Books and Business newsletter

4. Email her with the subject line “Clarity” if you’d like help moving forward in the areas finance, business or leadership