Glenn Harper [00:00:04]:

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another edition, the Empowering Entrepreneurs Podcast. I'm Glenn Harper.

Julie Smith [00:00:09]:

Julie Smith.

Glenn Harper [00:00:09]:

What's going on, Julie?

Julie Smith [00:00:10]:

Well, you know, it's been really rainy here, and it's supposed to be summer, so I don't know what to do with myself because we've been stuck inside for the last six months. Anyways, well, I got to be on.

Glenn Harper [00:00:21]:

The golf course yesterday, and even with the Canadian fire smoke, it was still a beautiful day. So finally summer has reached us in Columbus.

Julie Smith [00:00:28]:

Good for you. So I think we wanted to, you know, dive deeper into something Glenn has kind of coined the spending of chicks and dudes and kind of mindset and the thoughts of it and kind of how it pertains to entrepreneurs, because we definitely think differently when it comes to money and how that works. And it's just really interesting, especially as we've gone through these things with entrepreneurs of just sometimes the stereotypists is true.

Glenn Harper [00:00:58]:

It is. And you know, we. We look at this as in most people's household, you know, the chick and the dude, they're married, whatever that looks like. And the money is always like the biggest problem that comes up for whatever the reason is and how that works is if everybody has real jobs, they have a set amount of income that comes in. And in America, we're just good at that. Whatever we make, we always spend a little bit more. We always leverage ourselves a little bit because we have that steady income coming in and that works all fine and dandy and everybody's upset because we're spending more than bringing in, but it's just the way it is because we can rely on that. We can leverage ourselves.

Glenn Harper [00:01:34]:

Well, when you're an entrepreneur, you have these ups and downs of income. Well, if your lifestyle is this and your income's high, that's great. But as soon as your income goes low, now what do you do? So you're in a. In a pickle. What we try to do is try to encourage our entrepreneurs. They gotta work with their spouse at home to set up what is the bare minimum we need to live on and that bare minimum we need to live on.

Julie Smith [00:01:56]:

I hate the word bare minimum. It sounds like we're not thriving. We're surviving.

Glenn Harper [00:02:00]:

Well, we have to.

Julie Smith [00:02:02]:

What if that cut into your budget of cotton T shirts?

Glenn Harper [00:02:05]:

That would not be.

Julie Smith [00:02:06]:

See, now you would take it from bare minimum and you would raise the bar.

Glenn Harper [00:02:09]:

Itchy and anxiety here. So what happens is with a bare minimum says, like, what is our fixed expenses at home? And we. And the money comes from the business into the joint account. And these are our fixed expenses. This is our mortgage, our utilities, the car payments, the insurances, all the things. Okay? Then we have two bank accounts that are set up. One for the chick and one for the dude. And then we call that the discretionary spending.

Glenn Harper [00:02:35]:

And whatever goes in there, whatever we each need, usually, we try to make it equal.

Julie Smith [00:02:40]:

So I just have a question, because I feel like what's mine is yours and what's yours is mine. So do I technically have access to both?

Glenn Harper [00:02:49]:

That's a rule. That what is mine is yours, what's ours is yours, and what yours is yours. That's a rule. Okay, so knowing that when we set this thing up, it's sort of thing where each of us can spend unfettered whatever we want when we spend it out of the joint account. As a rule, whatever money is in there always gets spent every month. That's just the way it is. And 99% of our clients and people's households, they just spend all this money because it's available. Well, once we say, hey, let's analyze that a little bit deeper, what ends up happening in that joint account without separating it out? And money goes in.

Glenn Harper [00:03:26]:

The chicks spend 50 things a month. 10 bucks at Walmart, $15 at Starbucks, $40 at Target. All the little things, they are nickel and dim in it all month long. The dude's looking at the bank statement going, where? What? Bang, bang, bang. It's like a slot machine. Bang, bang, bang, bang. What is going on here? Well, the dude doesn't spend any money but, like, three grand for a set of golf clubs, $2,000 for a stereo. You know, we don't.

Glenn Harper [00:03:53]:

Guys don't spend small amounts. They spend big amounts. The end of the month, it ends up being about the same amount. But the chick looks at the dude and goes, you're spending all this money on 2000 on golf clubs. And he's like, well, you just spent 50, 50 times at Target for $40, and we're arguing over something that should be our.

Julie Smith [00:04:10]:

Sometimes I think the argument comes from, you know, as a chick running a household with children. Like, a lot of my $40 at Target is because the kids needed new swimsuits because we're going on vacation or, oh, we needed milk and cereal. And I feel like sometimes that falls into the chick's plate, unfortunately, you know, how do you differentiate who's paying for what? Who's paying for the vacation?

Glenn Harper [00:04:35]:

Easy question. So the grocery budget says, hey, look, we're going to spend whatever the number is. 300 bucks a week on the groceries. I don't know. It depends on your size of family. But that's our number. And when we go to Kroger, that's what we spend. We don't go into kroger and spend $700 when it's only $300.

Glenn Harper [00:04:51]:

Budget. Other things that kids like, hey, we need. We're going to have to spend $200 a month on kids clothes. Make up a number. You have to agree on it.

Julie Smith [00:04:59]:

So.

Glenn Harper [00:05:00]:

So we know what to fund that main account is. Okay. Once we know how to fund that main account, then that's just the number, and that's what we spend. The discretionary spending is for all the other things that you think you might need. Again, as a dude, we're probably not thinking that way. But you're not thinking about the things we think we might need either.

Julie Smith [00:05:18]:

Yeah, I don't think about golf clubs that I need.

Glenn Harper [00:05:20]:

And as a dude, we don't really care what you spend it on. You probably don't care what we spend it on. But if we have our core quote allowance or budget, whatever that number looks like, and it's sitting in that account, it's an amazing phenomena that happens every time. If it's all in the joint account, we will always spend whatever's in there until it's gone the second we come down here. And we have our own discretionary chick and dude account, the chick's account. If they know that I'm only getting 2,000amonth, I'm making up a number here. That's all they get to spend on discretionary. Chicks always have money left over.

Glenn Harper [00:05:52]:

They won't spend it to zero because they just know they're better budgeters and planners than dudes are. Dude, if I got two grand in my account, I guess I'm spending two grand this month. And I'll find a way to spend it because it's been allocated to me. When it's up here, I might not spend it, but when it's in my own account, I'll probably spend it. I won't have any money left, and that's okay. I'll make coffee at home. So it's. And what it does, it takes the whole dynamic of arguing with a spouse about how we're spending our money.

Glenn Harper [00:06:20]:

We just agree on what the fixed expenses are, and then we agree, what's our discretionary spending? And we fund those accounts and that's it. And then as we get more money available now it's like conversations. Well, we were spending 4,000amonth. Now we only need three. Well, let's say that extra thousand in the business, and we'll put that into our vacation fund. Well, you put $1,000 a month in a vacation fund, we got 12 grand to go to Disney or wherever we're going to go. That's awesome. And.

Glenn Harper [00:06:48]:

But if we were just to take the extra thousand a month and put it in the joint account, it just gets blown on whatever. We have nothing to show for it at the end of the year. At the end of the month, it just disappears. It's just the weirdest thing. But I'm telling you, if you try this strategy, it will work.

Julie Smith [00:07:02]:

So are you suggesting that the husband and wife sit down with an Excel spreadsheet on what those fixed expenses are to figure out that joint account, and then the rest is just. There's. There's no. No one has to account for anything.

Glenn Harper [00:07:15]:

So it's funny you say, because, you know, as a bean counter who doesn't love a spreadsheet, right? But most chicks probably don't like the spreadsheet. They already have it up in their head. They're already doing the math. What has to happen is we're just putting a boundary on each other of saying, as a chick, this is your spending boundary. We agree to it. You agree to it. This is. As a dude, this is my spending boundary.

Glenn Harper [00:07:36]:

I agree to it, and we just go do what we do. And it's highly probable that the end of the quarter, if everybody holds true to their guns and does what they're supposed to do, if, even though this is our living cost of living at home, but our business is doing this, we still have enough to take out. So we're not stressed about having money because our budget is enough that we're living within our means. The extra and the extra that the chick never spends, it's the craziest thing. She might even be willing to say, hey, let's put that toward the vacation and let's get an upgrade to first class or get a room with a balcony. It means something. The money means something. If it just goes in the vortex of doom in the joint account, it just goes like, we don't even know what we spend it on.

Glenn Harper [00:08:19]:

When I say we, this is every couple out there. They can't even imagine where the money goes. And it's just the biggest source of contention generally with money is the uncertainty of when we get it, if we're up or down. And if it's there, it just gets spent.

Julie Smith [00:08:32]:

I mean, it's interesting. Definitely golf clubs nor cotton T shirts filter into how I am spending my money. But.

Glenn Harper [00:08:39]:

And again, there's going to be. The jorts are coming back, so just be ready for that. It's going to be a thing.

Julie Smith [00:08:43]:

I think the women will revolt on that.

Glenn Harper [00:08:45]:

They probably will. And again, in part of that thing too is trying to agree what is a joint expense. And as again, in each relationship, sometimes the dude is like the money savvy person and they want to be involved in that. Other times it's the chick that's the money savvy person and they want to budget that. It doesn't matter which one it is. It's just that we all got to agree to it. You know, some guys are like, I don't want anybody. Just can I have 10 bucks in my wallet for the week? And I'm good.

Glenn Harper [00:09:12]:

Other dudes are like, man, if I don't have a bunch of money in my pocket, I can't, I can't function. And checks are the same way. You want to be able to know you can go buy what you want within budget, but it's not unlimited. Because if it's unlimited now, it puts the pressure on whichever other spouse is trying to make that budget happen. And now we're like short. Like, where's the money going to come from? We're short. We're going to bounce checks. What do we do? Takes all that off the table.

Julie Smith [00:09:34]:

I don't think people really write checks anymore.

Glenn Harper [00:09:36]:

Well, you know what I mean, Maybe the credit card goes a little bit long, whatever that thing is. Checks were a thing back in the day.

Julie Smith [00:09:43]:

Yeah, I guess. Well, I guess that's just another episode of Empowering Entrepreneurs and you know, the chicks and dude spending and what that looks like and how it all works. And I mean, I guess we've done it enough to know that it usually does work that way. Although, you know, I'm still trying to do a survey to get, you know, the vacation money in the joint account.

Glenn Harper [00:10:06]:

But, well, that's a separate account for the vacation account.

Julie Smith [00:10:08]:

We'll work on that.

Glenn Harper [00:10:09]:

That's another episode. But I promise you, if you, if you go into this with your spouse and you are genuine in both of you, that we have to control our spending so we can not be negative every month and we can have extra money to do something memorable. Buying another widget at Walmart is not going to make your life memorable. But if that money gets set aside and we go on vacation, we put an addition to the house, we buy a new car, those things mean something. So it's about getting more value out of your money versus just it comes in and it spends it and it doesn't matter if you make a million a year or ten bucks a year. The premise, the scientific law that I've deemed it that way, it's the universal truth. All right, well so I'm looking forward to everybody feeding back on this and saying yes, we tried it. It was amazing and it took all these things off the table.

Julie Smith [00:11:01]:

I really think the only thing that's going to come out of this is that the women make a rule that no jorts are allowed to come out of any account.

Glenn Harper [00:11:07]:

And listen, if that's what it has to be for the bigger goal, the dudes will sacrifice it. It's okay. Well there we have it. So there's another sterling real life example everybody gets to use from the Empowering Entrepreneurs podcast. I'm Glenn Harper.

Julie Smith [00:11:20]:

I'm Julie Smith