Here is a transcript of the latest interview I had with Five Rings Financial Money Coach, Kristen Judd.
Janine: Today I’m here with my dear friend, Kristen Judd. We’ve known each other for about five years now. And what was really fun as I got to meet her at a thing called Wine Women and Wealth. And the neat thing about Kristen is not only a she author and a contributing author of multiple books, but she also has created and is part of the Five Rings Financial agency and is an Executive President there.
Janine: And so, to say that we’re both women of money and wealth and living the good life our way is kind of the understatement. Thanks for being with us today Kristen.
Kristen Judd: Thanks for having me. I’m excited.
Janine: I know it’s going to be fun. So first of all, you know, people kind of look at you and they see, “Oh, yeah, Executive Vice President, yada, yada about this great agency.” And I’m like, “Hey, did you know she was also an author?” So, tell us a little bit about your journey. Did you ever think you would be like an author of money books of all things?
Kristen: Well, and it’s funny because I don’t think I ever really aspire to say, “Oh, yeah, I’m going to write a book one day.” And oddly enough, the first one that I wrote. It wasn’t one. I kept getting nudges, right? Like you need to put this out there and I’m like, “Yeah. No, it’s not that bit.” I just want, “It’s mine.” You know, like I just use it for me and kept getting signs like, “Oh, yeah, you should do that. Oh, yeah, you should do that.” And so like, “Okay, fine. I’ll do it.”
Kristen: And in about three, four weeks got it done. Did the self-publishing thing and very selfishly I did it for me. But then obviously then I had to share it because it wasn’t necessarily geared towards money, necessarily. As far as like teaching people talking to people about money, but really about building habits and building a business.
Janine: Correct. Building habits and building a business. Funny how money manages to slide in there as part of the discipline. Part of the discipline required for you to be able to be the best business owner you can possibly be. So, when you were writing that first book and building a business. What was it that you were going through at that time that wanted you to focus on that?
Kristen: You know, I was definitely in a growth state of wanting to get to that next level. And in so disciplines been a big word lately. I’ve brought it up many many times as far as and being an entrepreneur requires you to be disciplined in a lot of different areas. And really figuring out which habits you need to hone and create and hold yourself accountable for because if we’re in business by ourselves, or even with a spouse or part of a team, you know finding that accountability. And personally, I’m not a very good accountability partner. That’s what I realized during this whole thing and said I get so like I’m driving with my blinders on I’m just going and but you do you and I’ll do me and so but I had to keep myself accountable some way.
Kristen: And this was a system that was shown to me by a business coach. Very simple and then I added a couple of other things to the system. But it created a ridiculous amount of intentionality. Was able to create so to speak I like to use the word create as far as asking the universe God whoever you want to call it. To help provide new clients, new agents, new whatever, and have them come into my life. So, it was just one of those things where I kept telling people about it and they were like, “Well, you should publish it.” And I was like, “But I don’t know if I want to do that.”
[laughing]
Janine: I don’t know if this is really my thing. I don’t know if being an author is really my thing.
Kristen: Yeah.
Janine: I think you and I both got shoved into author authorship with very reluctantly.
Kristen: Yeah.
Janine: It was my cousin, my students, and same for you. It was because of the people you were working with the kind of shoved you into that mindset or into that place. So, you said you’re talking, you were able to write it in three weeks. I had a similar experience. I was able to write mine in about two and a half weeks, three weeks everything I’d say three weeks. The very first book. After that, sometimes it got a little longer. But what was it about that, you know three-week period of time that you were able to just crank your book out like that?
Kristen: Well, mine’s a little bit more simplistic than words on a page. Mine is a lot more journal. It’s more like a journal. So, it’s like hey, you need to create this. Take, let’s tap into your subconscious by writing all of that. So, I didn’t have as many words. I just had to make sure all the formatting and all that kind of stuff made sense. And then I had my spelling right.
[laughing]
Kristen: Mine wasn’t quite as in-depth as say the kind of writing that you do. But learning the whole process of self-publishing. It’s kind of that probably took up more time than the next really putting together the book. But finding someone to design the cover. Getting the formatting, you know, all of that. That’s a process.
Janine: I agree. As any author will tell you, getting the book in the words down are great. And then once you get it down, you’re like take a breath, congratulate yourself, you finished your book. Now, it’s time to make your book look like a book. And that’s the challenge is that is the formatting and getting covers and oh my goodness. I thought the hard part was the actual writing it. We don’t like to share that, but it’s true. It’s like oh you think it’s hard writing the book. What do you get ready to start publishing that sucker, anyway? And so there’s always a learning curve. If you’re an author you will always be in a perpetual state of being a student because there’s always something new.
Janine: So, if you don’t mind before we go, I was just going to keep this short and sweet and that people know there are ways to write a book in two weeks, three weeks. It does not have to be arduous. I’ve heard authors say they were able to do it in 24 hours or 36 hours or over a weekend at a cabin. You know that when you sit down and say, “Okay, I’m going to write a book.” And when I get done and set the time for yourself, it’s amazing. And she said, “What comes out of your subconscious?” So, let’s talk a little bit where you and I met because that is where the rubber hit the road for you. And as relationship where we were like, okay, we’re going to do something together. And that was Wine, Women and Wealth. Tell me a little bit more about that group how it got started because that’s where I met you.
Kristen: Yeah, so Wine, Women and Wealth is part of just our way of giving back to the community as far as one just creating a community. We’ve had it part of our system so to speak for our company for probably close to 14, 15 years now something like that. But we really just wanted, one of the things that we noticed is that the financial services industry is very male-dominated. They speak male. We don’t understand them. They don’t understand us but our needs as females is very very different than our male counterparts. And we recognized it. And as women, we are starting more businesses than men are probably two to one.
Kristen: We’re starting to be in the space where we’re actually the primary breadwinner or we’re making all the financial decisions on our own. And so we know that if it isn’t happening this year, it’s probably happening next year or it’s already happened. But women are in control of sixty-seven. About probably 67, two-thirds of the money in the in the United States right now. And so, we wanted to create a space that was inviting and fun and relaxing. But also create Community. It’s a space where women can come from all walks of life and different phases of their life. And just come, drink wine, laugh a little, giggle little creates get some more connections with other individuals.
Kristen: Learn from each other, but it is centered around money. And so, we do have a conversation about money. It’s always different. Usually, it’s about the ooey-gooey side of money. The emotional piece. Nobody’s ever been emotional about money, right?
Janine: Right. Yeah, that’s not been my experience. I’ve been breaking down during my seminars and when I first started doing money and I was having people just literally break down bawling. I thought man, I must be an awful speaker. Little did I know that was actually giving them hope. It was just the way they released it. So yeah, it was quite a journey for me as a speaker when I started that part of the business. But when I met you at Wine, Women and Wealth, yes, you have a sponsor somebody there that selling the wine.
And yes, you have a sponsor for some of the food or something like that. And I thought that was wonderful so that you could help support some of the female-run businesses in your area.
Janine: And the other thing that I thought was so lovely was the fact that the women that came together, really knew they were there to help share. They really knew they were there to help not so much teach as this was my experience. You may want to look into XYZ and then just the sharing of resources like if you found that you needed something that was outside of that group. Did anybody know someone who is trustworthy? To me, that was the sheer power of the group you created.
Kristen: Yeah. It’s my favorite night of the month. Honestly, where we just get to be girls right like and be silly and fun. But then the other part is choosing that I really want women to walk away with some aha’s, some different thoughts maybe. Maybe even start this journey of making this shift or mending their relationship with money or whatever that looks like that’s really the whole goal. If we all lift up together and we’re all you know because I do I want everyone to start making more money. I want everyone to get into that space. So, we’ve had people come and walk away with a new job. We’ve had people come and collaborate.
Kristen: And so that’s how you and I worked collaboratively. We’ve been collaborating most recently in the last few months and stuff. But it’s just amazing. What kind of happens when you put a whole bunch of really like-minded, motivated at women and you can just you just kind of wait and watch and see what happens. That’s pretty cool.
Janine: I love the way that you’re very laissez-faire about it. But yet you have extreme structure in those events. It’s just done so well that most people don’t even know they’re being moved through one phase to another phase. And the thing that was brilliant for me was we had a young lady there that was 21 years of age had started her own agency to help parents with college-age children navigate the new systems of college. And then we had a 72-year-old who was starting her first business.
Janine: So, just the range of ages was wonderful, but all wanted the same thing. Everybody wanted, everybody else to succeed and they didn’t want themselves to fail and then you took that 9 minutes. That’s all the time you took out of that meeting. And in nine minutes, you shared a whole what I call a semesters worth of material on how you handle your long-term Investments. I was like, I wonder if these people understand just how brilliant you have to be to explain all of that stuff. So, whether anyone else got it, I got it and I was just like bravo.
Janine: So, that’s like I had to get you on the Writers Hour just because, just wanted to nothing else sing your praises and say that Kristen Judd knows what she’s talking about. And she also makes sure that you don’t overpay for insurance and that you don’t underpay for things that could come and bite you on the butt. And you wouldn’t know about it, right?
Kristen: Yeah.
Janine: So, I just wanted to share that little bit with you.
Kristen: Thank you. I appreciate that.
Janine: So, we’re can our listeners go if they want more information about what you do and how they get a hold of you?
Kristen: So, I am pretty much accessible everywhere or I try to be. So, you can find me on LinkedIn. You can find me on Facebook. Our business page is called Money Secrets or Learn Money Secrets. And you can connect with us there and I feel free to just call or text 303 446 195 or you can send me an email at Kristen at FiveRingsFinancial dot com.
Janine: That will be great and will go ahead and make sure we post this in the description as well. So Kristen. Thanks so much for your time today. Is lovely being able to chat with you about your book.
Kristen: All right, thank you. Awesome.
Janine: And this has been Janine Bolon with the Writer’s Hour Creative Conversations. Stay tuned for our next episode in a couple of weeks when we bring on yet another author with another amazing story.