Living Boujee & Balanced book review

If you have no idea what to do with money, you just get paid, pay all your bills, and you're in a really good mood on payday. Then all the bills are paid, you've got no money left, and suddenly you're in a bad mood. If that sounds familiar, this book might be exactly what you need.

Today we're talking all about mindset. Success mindset, entrepreneur mindset, and money mindset.

Quick, quick, quick...off the jump, I have to tell you that Raquel was actually my first boss when I decided to become a freelancer.

I found her through YouTube when I was just getting into watching YouTube a few years ago. Then I followed her on Instagram. One day she posted that she was hiring, and I don't think I've ever submitted a résumé and written a blurb so fast.

She hired me.

I was an intern with her for about three months, and then I became her paid assistant.

She did not ask me to do this book review.

She even wrote a little note in my copy that says, "To Kyla, keep going sis."

The first time I read the book, I was reading it so I could write blogs for her website. I approached it in a very intellectual way.

What's in this chapter? What details can I write about? How am I going to get 1,700 words out of this?

Recently, I picked it up again because changing your mindset requires repetition.

You read something, you improve, and then you go back to regular life.

Then you read it again, improve a little more, and go back to life again.

Sometimes you have to keep rereading, keep implementing, and keep asking yourself, "How does this help me now?"

Because 2024 Kyla is not the same as 2021 Kyla.

Back then, I had just left a business where I'd worked for five years. My father had passed away. I was starting with a new company. I was bursting with excitement about becoming an entrepreneur, but I was also terrified.

When Raquel said she'd hire me, I thought, "I want to work with her. She never has openings. I've never done this before. Please don't let me screw this up."

Thankfully, I didn't.

Working with her helped me take a huge leap.

One thing I really appreciate about this book is that, while it isn't technically a workbook, it constantly asks you to stop and be honest with yourself.

What's your relationship with money?

What's your first memory of money?

Sign this agreement with yourself that you're committed to changing your relationship with money.

Those are the kinds of exercises I need to revisit because my relationship with money keeps changing.

I think about how I feel about paying myself now. How I think about earning money now.

I'm not the hustle, hustle, hustle, sleep three hours a night entrepreneur anymore.

I'm in my soft entrepreneur era.

I'm sleeping eight and a half hours because I'm going to be crabby with my clients if I'm exhausted.

I'm paying assistants to handle the 80% that I shouldn't be doing because I value my time differently now.

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My favorite chapter is Chapter Five: Where Did It Start?

Raquel asks, "Do you remember your first memory of money? Let's talk about it."

I don't remember my very first memory of money, but I do remember my dad being between jobs for a while.

He worked overnight shifts at UDF stocking milk, and then he'd work another shift at McDonald's.

I remember him coming home with bags full of breakfast sandwiches that hadn't sold, and we'd eat those.

I don't remember thinking much about it as a kid.

I don't remember my parents talking to us about money. I don't remember them being stressed about it or excited about it.

I think they just handled it privately.

I also remember shopping at thrift stores because my mom would always say, "You always find the brand names."

Sorry...I'm buying the jeans that cost $1.25 instead of $80.

Every time I reread this chapter, another memory comes back.

How did those experiences shape the way I think about abundance?

How did they shape the way I think about fast food?

How did they shape the way I think about money?

"Believe it or not, you already have a money mindset."

I have to give Raquel credit. The book is really honest. If you read it and actually do the work, it will change your money mindset.

It has to.

It's a self-discovery book. It even says so on the cover.

Even if you have no idea what a money mindset is, this book will help you.

If you already think you have good money habits, it'll probably confirm them. And if you're the kind of person who gets excited on payday, pays every bill, and then wonders where all the money went, this book will help you too.

Wherever you are financially, you already have a money mindset.

The question is: what is it, and how can you improve it?

One last confession.

I once ate ramen noodles for a month so I could figure out just how much money I was spending on DoorDash and Uber Eats.

No shade to either of them. We love convenience.

I just had to get my money together.

I'm constantly evolving, and books like this remind me that our relationship with money evolves too.

https://youtu.be/qZ_HD9h3ZXg?si=IBe4K4CsqhomJOBm

Until the next book review, 

Kyla