1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:28,400 Hello, hello everybody and welcome to a brand new episode of live with Dr. Andre. 2 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:32,480 Hey listen, thank you guys so much for tuning in to our show tonight. 3 00:00:32,480 --> 00:00:37,360 I want to give a special shout out to my pack buddies who are listening from Middle Georgia. 4 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:40,720 Stephanie, Steven, Jason, Michelle. 5 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,720 Michelle, I know you're not listening, you're probably in the bed, but I love you anyway. 6 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:48,560 Shout out to my friends and family in Georgia and Puerto Rico. 7 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:52,960 Edwin, Nott, Peff, Brian, Butch. 8 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:55,840 I also want to shout out my friend Reggie as well. 9 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:56,800 I think he's listening. 10 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,600 Reggie is a good friend and mentor. 11 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:06,160 He was my executive coach during a critical time in my career when I was deployed overseas. 12 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:13,200 And his mentorship played a huge role in helping me to develop the mindset that would help me attain 13 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,640 and sustain the success that I'm enjoying in my career today. 14 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:18,240 So thank you Reggie. 15 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:22,400 And if you're interested in executive coaching for yourself, reach out to me. 16 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:24,240 I'll get you connected with Reggie. 17 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:33,200 His services are not cheap, but it's definitely money well spent and an investment in your personal development. 18 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:37,840 Let me give one last shout out to my international audience. 19 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:45,200 Wherever you may be listening from tonight, thank you so much for your listenership and for supporting the Artist First Radio Network. 20 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:47,200 And hey, listen, I'm going to try something different. 21 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:52,240 If you guys want to interact with this live broadcast with a comment or question, 22 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:54,480 text the show. 23 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:56,960 A lot of you have my number already. 24 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:02,960 Text the show at 678-549-2763. 25 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:04,720 I got my phone set up right here. 26 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:06,000 I can see all of your messages. 27 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:07,280 So text away. 28 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,320 I'm going to try not to get too distracted with it. 29 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:15,120 But yeah, if something's on your mind, shoot me a text and I'll shout you out or at least try to. 30 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:27,120 Okay, so in case you missed it earlier this month, I made a guest appearance on the February 10th episode of the Author's First Radio Show. 31 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:36,080 It's one of the oldest shows on the network and has been featuring and promoting independent authors since 1997. 32 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:39,120 That's the year I graduated high school. 33 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:41,120 I'm getting really old. 34 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:45,120 But nonetheless, it was a pretty interesting interview. 35 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:57,120 I got an opportunity to talk a little bit about my background and some of the life experiences that led me to becoming a published author of three books, including the controversial How to Data Married Man. 36 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:59,120 We talked at length about that. 37 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:05,120 I'm actually working on a sequel to that book, which should be out like late this summer. 38 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:07,120 So more to come on that. 39 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:09,120 But it was a great interview. 40 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:15,120 The show was hosted by the great Scott Zalasko, aka Z-Man. 41 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:19,120 He wears a lot of hats on this network. 42 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:35,120 He's essentially the mastermind behind the Artist's First Radio Network and somehow manages to engineer, host, produce most, if not all, of the plethora of radio shows on this network. 43 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:39,120 He's very mysterious, though. 44 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:45,120 Like, I've been a member of this network for about four years now. 45 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:47,120 And do you know I've never met this man? 46 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:49,120 I don't know. I don't even know if he's real. 47 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:51,120 He could be a hologram for all I know. 48 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:53,120 He's kind of like the Wizard of Oz. 49 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:55,120 I've only heard his voice. 50 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:59,120 I can't find a picture of him anywhere. 51 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:03,120 We live in the same state now and I've still never laid eyes on this man. 52 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:11,120 I'm just going to show up to the studio one day, unannounced, and see what I can find out. 53 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:13,120 I need to know what's going on the more I think about it. 54 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:19,120 Make sure I'm not part of some weird cult organization. 55 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:21,120 And if I come up missing, y'all already know what's up. 56 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:27,120 I went digging around, found out some stuff I wasn't supposed to find out and got messed up. 57 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:35,120 Just go to artistfirst.com and find the address to the studio and tell the authorities this is where I went. 58 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:40,120 Or go to the site and click on the Project Eurancia link on the website. 59 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:43,120 Maybe one of the Project Eurancia people got to me. 60 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:47,120 I'm just saying there may be some clues if I come up missing. 61 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:53,120 Start first with Artist First and Project Eurancia and then go from there. 62 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:57,120 Anyway, I'm so easily distracted. Y'all, what was I talking about? 63 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:01,120 Oh, yes. Y'all need to go listen to that interview I did on Artist First. 64 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,120 It was really good and I enjoyed it. 65 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:11,120 I don't normally talk about my personal business, but whenever I do, it's for a good cause. 66 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:18,120 I really want people to as much as possible learn from some of the mistakes that I've made. 67 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:25,120 In that regard, I'm not special or unique. We've all done dumb stuff in our lives. 68 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:32,120 We were grace of God, made it through some really brutal traumatic things and lived to tell about it. 69 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:36,120 That's kind of the why behind all of my books. 70 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:42,120 And granted, it may not be a book for you. It may be something else, a YouTube channel. 71 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:51,120 It could be a blog. Hell, it could be stand-up comedy or being a motivational speaker or just a mentor. 72 00:05:51,120 --> 00:06:02,120 Maybe it's a combination of all of those things, but at any way it goes, I encourage you to in some way try to be of service to your fellow man 73 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:10,120 and lend your talents and live your life experience to try to improve the lives of others. 74 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:16,120 So if you'd like to listen to that interview, go to artistfirst.com and then scroll down a little bit. 75 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:21,120 And on the left-hand side of the page, you're going to see weekly program schedule. 76 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:31,120 And to the right of that, you're going to see Click for All Music Specials in Artist First Shows, or Authors First Shows, rather. 77 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:35,120 The words, Authors First is going to be in a blue hyperlink. 78 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:40,120 Click on that, and it's going to take you to that show's home page. 79 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:43,120 And you should see my book featured at the top of the page. 80 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:51,120 If it's not, all the interviews are in alphabetical order, so just scroll down to the Jays and look for Dr. Andre Gerry, 81 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:54,120 and then click the link, and then there you go. 82 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,120 Okay, so let's get down to business. 83 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:06,120 So for tonight's show, the topic I was going to cover was supposed to be the new trend of underconsumption. 84 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:15,120 And we're still going to talk about that in the next segment, but first I wanted to talk about a hot topic in the news that's been trending, 85 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:20,120 and it's actually impacting many of my colleagues in federal civil service. 86 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:34,120 So as many of you know, there's been an onslaught, an unprecedented onslaught of executive orders coming out of the current administration, 87 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:40,120 and several of those executive orders have directly impacted federal employees. 88 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:52,120 Among the first of these executive orders was a hiring freeze across all federal agencies, meaning anyone with hopes of joining the federal workforce, 89 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:57,120 or those who perhaps have already started the hiring process. 90 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:04,120 If they weren't fully onboarded by January 20th, they're not going to be hired. 91 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:08,120 Then there was this second wave of executive orders. 92 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:14,120 I started calling them executive attacks because that's how they started to come across. 93 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:22,120 But this second wave of executive orders was the return to work order. 94 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:29,120 So that made all existing telework agreements that were in place null and void. 95 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:35,120 So any existing telework agreements that were currently in place, they had to be terminated. 96 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:41,120 It doesn't matter really if you were hired onto a telework position. 97 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:45,120 All of those agreements were terminated. 98 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:51,120 And we all had to return to work by the February 6th deadline. 99 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:54,120 There were no exceptions to this. 100 00:08:54,120 --> 00:09:02,120 So as you can imagine, this caused a lot of angst and a lot of confusion in the workplace. 101 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:05,120 And our leaders were struggling. 102 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:14,120 And truthfully, they're still struggling with this, with trying to find adequate space for everyone to return to work simultaneously. 103 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:25,120 The majority of us have, you have to remember, we've been on some sort of telework or a hybrid telework status for almost like five years. 104 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:30,120 So this was a very sudden change from our normal posture. 105 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:43,120 And it was a huge undertaking for our senior leadership in terms of trying to reach full compliance with and implement the president's executive order on such a tight expense. 106 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:50,120 But somehow we were able to make it over that hurdle. 107 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:52,120 We got everyone back to work. 108 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:56,120 We all agree that it sucks coming back to work every day. 109 00:09:56,120 --> 00:10:03,120 But we all made whatever arrangements we needed to make and, you know, we returned to work. 110 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:06,120 So we're doing our best with it. 111 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:08,120 It sucks. 112 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:12,120 But we understand that we were spoiled for a long time. 113 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:16,120 We had it good, you know, but it, telework is over. 114 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:18,120 So we got it. 115 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:25,120 But before we could really settle back in and adjust to our new normal, we got hit with it. 116 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:29,120 We got hit with another executive order. 117 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:35,120 And this time it was the deferred resignation program. 118 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:44,120 Now the deferred resignation program was rolled out by the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE. 119 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:46,120 Is it DOGE or DOGE? 120 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:55,120 But their main objective is to cut as many federal jobs as possible. 121 00:10:55,120 --> 00:11:07,120 You know, so they understood that having people return to work would result in a lot of resignations and early retirements and all of that type of stuff. 122 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:16,120 So the deferred resignation program was their way of sort of incentivizing early retirement. 123 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:22,120 So they were basically saying, okay, listen, we know a lot of you guys don't want to return back to the office. 124 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:25,120 So here's what we're willing to offer. 125 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:31,120 If you accept the deferred resignation program, we won't make you return to work. 126 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:35,120 We'll just put you on administrative leave status. 127 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:42,120 We'll pay you your full salary, but you must resign in September of this year. 128 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:45,120 No exceptions. 129 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:49,120 And you know, actually I thought that was a pretty good deal. 130 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:53,120 A lot of people took advantage of that program. 131 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:56,120 Because think about it, you get, what is it? 132 00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:58,120 It's almost March. 133 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:03,120 You get paid to stay at home or do whatever you want to do for seven months and do nothing. 134 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:06,120 Get paid your full salary. 135 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:08,120 I almost took it. 136 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:18,120 So I mean, if you were someone who was retiring this year anyway, then you know, that's a pretty good deal. 137 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:22,120 So a lot of people opted into that. 138 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:28,120 But I guess the powers that be, you know, they didn't quite hit the numbers they were hoping for. 139 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:34,120 So the administrative came out with another executive attack. 140 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:40,120 And this one was laying off all federal employees who were in a probationary status. 141 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:47,120 Okay, meaning employees who don't have a, they're in a non-protected status. 142 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:53,120 And they have less than 24 months of creditable service with the federal government. 143 00:12:53,120 --> 00:13:02,120 So that's around 75,000 federal employees who are slated for termination. 144 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:11,120 Of that 75,000, about almost 20,000, I think it's about 19,000 worked for the Department of Defense alone. 145 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:20,120 And out of that 75,000, 12,000 have already been terminated as a result of this executive order. 146 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:22,120 And it didn't stop there. 147 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:31,120 For those of us who are left, I'm sure you heard on the news about the now infamous OPM email. 148 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:33,120 OPM is Office of Personnel Management. 149 00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:40,120 It's kind of like our central HR department for all federal employees. 150 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:46,120 But this infamous OPM email that went out to all the remaining federal employees, 151 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:56,120 and it demanded that we send five bullets outlining our accomplishments from last week. 152 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:58,120 Okay. 153 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:03,120 This email was sent out over the weekend. 154 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:05,120 Some people got it on different times. 155 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:09,120 Mine came on a Sunday at 3.03 a.m. 156 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:20,120 And oh, by the way, the email stated that we were to reply by 11.59 a.m. on the following day, which was a Monday. 157 00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:23,120 So it was just weird. 158 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:30,120 The tone of the email was very childish and informal and unprofessional. 159 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:40,120 It almost came across like a tweet, like an impulsive tweet that someone sent from their phone or something. 160 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:48,120 Any government, any official government email or correspondence of this nature, 161 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:55,120 and with this type of sensitive directive, it should have been sent during business hours and on a weekday, 162 00:14:55,120 --> 00:15:00,120 not during the weekend, not on a Sunday. 163 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:04,120 Secondly, there was no signature. 164 00:15:04,120 --> 00:15:08,120 Like, who did this directive come from? 165 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:11,120 What's happening here? 166 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:13,120 You know, we were also confused. 167 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:20,120 And understandably, the federal workforce is kind of like in a state of panic right now. 168 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:23,120 No one really knew exactly what to do with that email. 169 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:25,120 We didn't know if it was a hoax. 170 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:27,120 We didn't know if it was a cyber attack. 171 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:30,120 We didn't know whether we should respond or not respond. 172 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:35,120 A lot of people, they were afraid not to respond because in the email, 173 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:41,120 it stated that a non-response would be considered a resignation. 174 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:52,120 So initially, we were told by our local leadership to stand down to not reply and to await, you know, further guidance. 175 00:15:52,120 --> 00:16:01,120 Shortly after that, very early in the week, we received some clarifying guidance from the Secretary of the Air Force and the Under Secretary of Defense 176 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:09,120 that, one, a non-response to that email would not be considered a resignation. 177 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:10,120 So they clarified that. 178 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:16,120 Two, if individuals did respond to the email, that's totally fine. 179 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:18,120 Not going to be penalized for it. 180 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:32,120 Three, for those who have not yet responded to the email, you are still directed to hold your responses and not send an email or a response back. 181 00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:37,120 You know, so that's the current guidance that we have about that weird, strange email. 182 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:52,120 And in my opinion, I think what's happening right now is there's a sort of a power struggle that's going on among some of the federal agencies in terms of how, you know, 183 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:59,120 directives to the workforce are taxed down and, you know, under what authority are they taxed down. 184 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:05,120 You know, and to be quite honest, I think a lot of our senior leaders are just getting sick of all of this. 185 00:17:05,120 --> 00:17:16,120 They're getting sick of it because they're the ones who are having to manage and implement all of these rapid-fire executive orders. 186 00:17:16,120 --> 00:17:22,120 You know, and many of those orders are calling for immediate implementation. 187 00:17:22,120 --> 00:17:34,120 And so our senior leaders, they're the ones who are having to field all of the hard and difficult questions that are constantly coming, you know, at them from the workforce. 188 00:17:34,120 --> 00:17:42,120 About what's happening, you know, you know, how's this going to impact me and my job? Do I still have a job? 189 00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:51,120 There's so many questions. And a lot of my colleagues in the Department of Defense are really concerned, mostly about their livelihood, sure. 190 00:17:51,120 --> 00:17:57,120 But also about our military readiness. 191 00:17:57,120 --> 00:18:09,120 You know, the work that we do in the Department of Defense, it directly supports our military and it keeps our country protected from all sorts of threats. 192 00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:13,120 We oversee activity across all of the armed forces. 193 00:18:13,120 --> 00:18:26,120 We're talking about the Army, the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, the Space Force, as well as some intelligence and cybersecurity operations. 194 00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:42,120 So I say that not to minimize the contributions and the work that employees and other federal agencies do, but the DOD is unique in that our work directly supports national security. 195 00:18:42,120 --> 00:18:52,120 So, yeah, there's a lot of fear and anxiety gripping really the nation right now. 196 00:18:52,120 --> 00:19:01,120 And in my opinion, this is exactly what they want. I think they want fear and panic and chaos and confusion. 197 00:19:01,120 --> 00:19:14,120 Certain people, certain types of people thrive on that type of environment, you know, because if someone can make you fearful, then they can control you, right? 198 00:19:14,120 --> 00:19:25,120 So keep that in mind when you're witnessing all these things that are happening right now and when you're watching the news, which I really wish you wouldn't. 199 00:19:25,120 --> 00:19:32,120 You know, and I talk about that in my new book, Unlocking Your Best Life, 10 Power Moves That You Can Make Today. 200 00:19:32,120 --> 00:19:36,120 It's available now on Amazon. I really encourage you to go and get your copy. 201 00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:59,120 In this book, I talk about how toxic news programs are and how you can quickly improve your life and really your overall well-being by doing something so simple as just stop watching the news or at least significantly reducing your consumption of it. 202 00:19:59,120 --> 00:20:10,120 And I know a lot of things, you know, a lot of the things that people will say is, how am I going to know what's going on? You know, the same stuff is going on. 203 00:20:10,120 --> 00:20:21,120 You're not going to be missing anything. It's a bunch of misinformation and disinformation and fear mongering, wildfires and crimes and layoffs and climate change. 204 00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:30,120 What else? Inflation, unemployment, that's what's going on. You're not missing anything. It's just a headache. 205 00:20:30,120 --> 00:20:40,120 And let's say you do watch the news every day and keep informed about what's happening. How do you feel? Do you feel better? 206 00:20:40,120 --> 00:20:53,120 Can you realistically do anything to change any of this stuff? Besides worry about what's going to happen next? What's going to happen to my family? What's going to happen to my job? What's going to happen to my investments? 207 00:20:53,120 --> 00:21:01,120 All this stuff, none of which you can change. Whatever is going to happen is just going to happen. 208 00:21:01,120 --> 00:21:15,120 You know, people make themselves physically and mentally sick, meditating on all of this fear. And like I said, that's exactly what they want because then they can control how you move. 209 00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:23,120 You know, you're going to cling on to that job that you hate because you're afraid of not having a job and being able to pay your bills. 210 00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:38,120 You're not going to invest your money because you're afraid of the stock market crash or the economy crashing and stuff like that. You're not going to invest in real estate because you're hearing that there's a housing market crash coming or a recession. 211 00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:46,120 And some of that stuff probably is going to happen. You know, I think that's what all of this is sort of driving towards. 212 00:21:46,120 --> 00:22:08,120 I think they're trying to manufacture a recession with all of these layoffs and inflation and misinformation and cutting all of these programs that help people and, you know, all these things that cause further division and chaos and confusion. 213 00:22:08,120 --> 00:22:18,120 Just start reading Project 2025. I know people are so tired of hearing about that, but in your spare time, just read through it so that you know what's coming down the pipeline. 214 00:22:18,120 --> 00:22:26,120 Don't be caught off guard by it. They put it all out there for you to see. There's nothing hidden anymore. 215 00:22:26,120 --> 00:22:35,120 So just take some time and educate yourself about it so you can understand what the agenda is, the new agenda is this country. 216 00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:52,120 And remember, this is what the people want it, right? This is who we collectively elevated to power again. So whatever happens, just, you know, it just happens and no one should be caught unawares because it was all out there for us to examine. 217 00:22:52,120 --> 00:22:56,120 We had over a year to look into this stuff, you know. 218 00:22:56,120 --> 00:23:05,120 So I want to talk to my colleagues in the federal workforce for a second. For those of us who still are left and have our jobs. 219 00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:16,120 Okay, so listen, the writing is on the wall, folks. It's only a matter of time before they find some type of way to terminate us all. 220 00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:26,120 If you read Project 2025, part of this administration's agenda is to quote unquote drain the swamp. 221 00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:37,120 The president has been talking about doing this ever since he was campaigning for office the first time. And a lot of you just look past it and support him anyway. 222 00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:51,120 But he planned to come for the federal workforce. It's all been a part of his plan for a long time. You know, I don't understand how people can vote against their own interests. 223 00:23:51,120 --> 00:23:57,120 But, you know, because there are so many misinformed and, you know, a lot of people are just hateful in this country. 224 00:23:57,120 --> 00:24:07,120 We're all having to endure and suffer the consequences that are going to come with having this type of administration. 225 00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:20,120 So to my federal civil servants, according to their playbook, they fully intend to eventually replace federal civil servants with appointed positions. 226 00:24:20,120 --> 00:24:29,120 Okay, that means in the very near future, there's going to be no more federal civil service as we knew it. 227 00:24:29,120 --> 00:24:39,120 Right now, they're in the process of phasing all of us out. And there's no sense in clinging to the hope that our jobs won't be impacted. 228 00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:43,120 It's going to be impacted. It's going to be impacted. 229 00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:53,120 So for my colleagues out there who've inclined their ear and don't want to be caught off guard during this unprecedented time, 230 00:24:53,120 --> 00:25:04,120 I'm going to talk about five things that you probably need to do this week to make sure that you're prepared for an eventual layoff. 231 00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:06,120 Okay. 232 00:25:06,120 --> 00:25:10,120 First thing you want to do is print out all of your personnel documents. 233 00:25:10,120 --> 00:25:13,120 Even our leadership sent out guidance saying this. 234 00:25:13,120 --> 00:25:26,120 You know, your SF50, all of your training certifications, your civilian career brief, your performance appraisals, your personal development stuff, all your certificates, 235 00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:34,120 print all that stuff out, all of the HR documents that you wouldn't have ready access to without your login credentials. 236 00:25:34,120 --> 00:25:39,120 Print all of that stuff out and put it in a folder and keep it with you at home. 237 00:25:39,120 --> 00:25:42,120 Second thing you need to do is update your resume. 238 00:25:42,120 --> 00:25:46,120 Some of you have not updated your resume in almost a decade. 239 00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:50,120 Resumes are stressful enough to try to put together. 240 00:25:50,120 --> 00:25:58,120 The last thing you're going to want to try to do is rush to put together a half-assed resume that's outdated. 241 00:25:58,120 --> 00:26:03,120 It doesn't have the proper keywords and it is poorly formatted. 242 00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:09,120 Matter of fact, if you haven't updated your resume in about three or five years, just don't even fool with it. 243 00:26:09,120 --> 00:26:15,120 Use AI tools to help you write it or you can hire someone to write it for you. 244 00:26:15,120 --> 00:26:19,120 I think Siteslight indeed has a resume writing service. 245 00:26:19,120 --> 00:26:29,120 But listen though, if you do that, you have to read and study and know your resume. 246 00:26:29,120 --> 00:26:35,120 The hiring managers are going to make you talk to what's listed in your resume. 247 00:26:35,120 --> 00:26:38,120 You don't want to be embarrassed in your interviews. 248 00:26:38,120 --> 00:26:42,120 If you have someone else work on your resume, that's totally fine. 249 00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:46,120 That's what most people are doing nowadays unless you're just a stellar writer. 250 00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:51,120 No shame in that, but just know what's in there and be able to talk to it. 251 00:26:51,120 --> 00:26:55,120 Third thing, update your LinkedIn profile. 252 00:26:55,120 --> 00:27:03,120 LinkedIn is the place to be if you're looking to get hired, especially in the private sector. 253 00:27:03,120 --> 00:27:13,120 Every job that I've gotten in the private sector since 2017 have been from initial contact on LinkedIn. 254 00:27:13,120 --> 00:27:19,120 Corporate recruiters, they love LinkedIn because it makes their job easier. 255 00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:27,120 They're able to pre-screen applicants much more efficiently than the old way. 256 00:27:27,120 --> 00:27:33,120 On LinkedIn, you can review a person's work history, their background, their education. 257 00:27:33,120 --> 00:27:38,120 You can see what their affiliations are with other professional organizations. 258 00:27:38,120 --> 00:27:44,120 They can analyze your posts and read your comments and just try to determine up front 259 00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:48,120 whether this person is an idiot or they are big. 260 00:27:48,120 --> 00:27:55,120 Do they have some messed up views that aren't aligned with their company's values? 261 00:27:55,120 --> 00:28:04,120 They can see your picture and get a more holistic view of a prospective employee. 262 00:28:04,120 --> 00:28:11,120 By now, we all know that DEI is no longer a thing, diversity, equity, and inclusion. 263 00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:14,120 Thanks to our current administration, they did away with that. 264 00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:22,120 If a company is actively looking to hire more minorities or less minorities, you never know, 265 00:28:22,120 --> 00:28:31,120 then they can clearly see from your picture whether or not you fit as their ideal candidate that they're looking for. 266 00:28:31,120 --> 00:28:37,120 It's just a very useful and popular tool for recruiters now. 267 00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:46,120 I'll be honest with you, if I was a hiring manager or a recruiter, I don't think I would even entertain hiring anyone 268 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:53,120 who didn't have an active LinkedIn page because then what are you doing? 269 00:28:53,120 --> 00:29:02,120 You're looking to get hired, but you have no visibility on the top platform for networking and job searches. 270 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:09,120 Okay, all right, thank you. Another one is nd.com. 271 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:11,120 I mentioned that one earlier. 272 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:18,120 nd is actually the most visited job search website in the world. 273 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:25,120 It has a vast database of job listings across various industries. 274 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:32,120 If you're looking for a job in virtually any industry, then you definitely want to start there. 275 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:40,120 It doesn't have the same networking component that LinkedIn has, but this should be like your go-to website 276 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:45,120 for finding out what jobs are currently available in your industry. 277 00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:49,120 Another one is clearancejobs.com. 278 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:56,120 Now, clearancejobs.com, they should be paying me for this. nd, clearancejobs.com. 279 00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:59,120 What's the other one? LinkedIn? Y'all need to be paying me. 280 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:02,120 clearancejobs.com is the number one network. 281 00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:09,120 It's a career network for professionals that have an active security clearance with the government. 282 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:20,120 This is where recruiters can connect with job applicants and candidates who already have security clearances. 283 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:28,120 These recruiters, they're trying to bring in people on behalf of employers who have required 284 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:31,120 classified work that they need to have done. 285 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:35,120 The applicants either have a secret, top secret. 286 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:44,120 What's the other one? A TS, SCI, polygraph, various levels of clearances that government employees have, 287 00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:46,120 depending on the work that they do. 288 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:56,120 So, for clearancejobs.com, these are going to be your jobs that are in defense, intelligence, cybersecurity, 289 00:30:56,120 --> 00:31:05,120 government contracting, anything dealing with very sensitive, classified information. 290 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:13,120 People like myself and my colleagues in the Department of Defense, it's very similar to LinkedIn in that 291 00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:20,120 candidates can work with recruiters and you can work with them directly and you can receive direct job offers 292 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:25,120 and you can sort of bypass traditional hiring processes. 293 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:31,120 So, it's a very valuable tool if you have an active security clearance. 294 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:33,120 So, don't sleep on that. 295 00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:40,120 And by the way, let me say this, if you already have an active security clearance, 296 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:44,120 I wouldn't worry too much about all these layoffs and stuff. 297 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:48,120 I wouldn't be concerned about finding a job in the event that you are laid off. 298 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:56,120 Your security clearance actually makes you extremely marketable in today's environment and in the private sector. 299 00:31:56,120 --> 00:32:02,120 I know a lot of people have been wondering with this current climate that we're in, 300 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:14,120 with the government cuts and all the layoffs and stuff, if defense contractors even steal a hiring, they are, they definitely are. 301 00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:24,120 Here are just a few of the defense department contracts over 7.5 million that were awarded recently on November, not November, 302 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:28,120 child, February 19. 303 00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:30,120 Okay, I looked this up earlier today. 304 00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:39,120 Most of these contracts are going to require some component of people and support and staffing. 305 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:46,120 Okay, so we got the Army, their contract was 317 million plus. 306 00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:51,120 The Navy, 337 million plus. 307 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:54,120 Missile Defense Agency, 99 million. 308 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:59,120 DoD Chief Information Officer, 44 million plus. 309 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:05,120 DLA, the Defense Logistics Agency, 140 million plus. 310 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:11,120 All of these contracts, they're going to require people and support and staffing. 311 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:17,120 So even with all of these cuts and everything, contracts have been let. 312 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:23,120 Companies still have to honor the contract awarded to them. 313 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:29,120 And the Department of Defense and these agencies, they still have to honor those contracts that they let. 314 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:37,120 And the defense contractors still do have and will continue to have personnel turnover. 315 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:39,120 They're going to continue to be hiring. 316 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:45,120 So these defense contractors are not going anywhere anytime soon. 317 00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:51,120 So definitely start networking with recruiters and HR professionals. 318 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:54,120 Start applying for jobs now. 319 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:58,120 It's always easier to get a job when you already have one. 320 00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:01,120 Start taking interviews now. 321 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:13,120 If you remember in a previous show, I told you all about a former colleague of mine who shared with me that he regularly took interviews while gainfully employed. 322 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:16,120 And you know, he'd get offers. 323 00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:19,120 And you know what he'd do with those offers? 324 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:26,120 He'd collect all those offers and he'd leverage them during his performance reviews. 325 00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:33,120 And he'd use them as a negotiation tool for salary increases and sometimes even promotions. 326 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:35,120 And I just thought that was brilliant. 327 00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:37,120 You can learn from anyone. 328 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:40,120 This guy was like 10 years younger than me. 329 00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:46,120 You know, but because he was able to demonstrate to his current employer look, 330 00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:54,120 here are job offers from some of your competitors who are willing to pay me ex-salary. 331 00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:58,120 Can you exceed this or at least match it? 332 00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:01,120 What are they going to say? No. 333 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:07,120 So, you know, and obviously this is only going to work if you're a top performer, which he was. 334 00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:10,120 He was a top performer for sure. 335 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:22,120 And this is not going to be as effective of a strategy in the public sector because of course your salary increases are confined within your grade and your steps. 336 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:31,120 But once you transition to the private sector, you're going to be better able to negotiate your salary and your raises. 337 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:39,120 So leverage your experience and your security clearance and ask for the salary that you want. 338 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:45,120 And go ahead and start networking now and keeping your eye out for contracting jobs. 339 00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:51,120 Talk to some of the contractors on your team or the ones that work in your area or your building. 340 00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:58,120 Find out what company they work for and just ask them, hey, how do they treat you guys? 341 00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:03,120 Because a lot of them will be straight up with you and they'll tell you, oh, my company sucks. 342 00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:05,120 I'm trying to get on with another company. 343 00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:09,120 Or they'll, you know, say, hey, my company is great. I love it. 344 00:36:09,120 --> 00:36:15,120 But the point I'm driving at is you need to take advantage of your employee status now. 345 00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:21,120 Because like I said, it's so much easier to get a job when you already have one. 346 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:26,120 So start laying the groundwork now. Don't wait until you've been laid off. 347 00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:34,120 Because then you're going to be operating from this place of lack and panic. 348 00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:39,120 Your energy is going to be off. Your energy is just going to be different. 349 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:42,120 And the recruiters are going to pick up on that. 350 00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:47,120 And they're going to know that you're recently laid off. 351 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:51,120 They're going to know that you're desperate to reenter the workforce. 352 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:59,120 So your negotiation power is going to be diminished. 353 00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:05,120 Because their point is going to be, look, if you don't accept this offer, 354 00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:09,120 there are a thousand other laid off federal employees who will. 355 00:37:09,120 --> 00:37:14,120 You know, you get what I'm saying? So get your resumes together. 356 00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:20,120 Okay. Start applying now for jobs while you're not under duress. 357 00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:26,120 Start taking interviews. Use the interviews as practice. 358 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:30,120 You know, ask for the salary that you want now. 359 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:33,120 But you have to do your research. 360 00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:38,120 Research what the average salary for the job title and the position is. 361 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:44,120 And factor in your years of experience and education. 362 00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:52,120 I typically like to ask for 20, anywhere between 20,000 to 40,000 above whatever the average is. 363 00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:55,120 Because they're going to negotiate you down. They just are. 364 00:37:55,120 --> 00:38:01,120 So always shoot for higher than the average salary. 365 00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:07,120 The next thing you need to consider doing is putting together an action plan 366 00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:12,120 that details exactly what you're going to do, 367 00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:17,120 what steps you're going to take in the event that you're terminated or laid off. 368 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:20,120 Because if it happens, it's going to be instant. 369 00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:25,120 So here are just some basic things that you're going to want to do. 370 00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:29,120 You're going to want to file for unemployment immediately. 371 00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:36,120 The state unemployment agencies, they will be very familiar with what's happening 372 00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:39,120 with all the federal layoffs and all of that. 373 00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:43,120 And they should be able to expedite your approval fairly quickly. 374 00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:50,120 But while you're on unemployment, you need to maximize your time on unemployment. 375 00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:57,120 Take advantage of those courses and those workshops and those certificates that you're able to get. 376 00:38:57,120 --> 00:39:03,120 They have a lot of different tools for people who are re-entering the workforce. 377 00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:06,120 So take advantage of those. 378 00:39:06,120 --> 00:39:16,120 Apply for jobs every day, at least three to five applications you should submit a day while you're on unemployment. 379 00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:19,120 Use that time to network. 380 00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:26,120 Okay. There's a lot of networking opportunities with fellow people who are trying to enter. 381 00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:30,120 They can kind of put you on to, hey, I heard this company was hiring. 382 00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:34,120 This person is looking for, they're not looking for low justitions, 383 00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:37,120 but I heard that they need engineers, that type of thing. 384 00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:38,120 Talk to people. 385 00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:45,120 A lot of people will be in your same situation and you can kind of glean from each other and help each other. 386 00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:47,120 I already mentioned this, take interviews. 387 00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:55,120 Even for jobs that you know you don't really want, the point is to use them as practice. 388 00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:57,120 You'll get your spiel down. 389 00:39:57,120 --> 00:39:59,120 You'll get your flow down. 390 00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:03,120 So when you really have an interview for the job that you actually want, 391 00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:11,120 you'll be so much more relaxed because you would have been in countless video interviews, panel interviews, phone interviews. 392 00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:13,120 You'll just have it down pat. 393 00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:16,120 You won't be so green and new. 394 00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:18,120 Okay. 395 00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:22,120 Another thing, volunteer your time. 396 00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:30,120 And this one is important because recruiters and hiring officials and HR people, 397 00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:36,120 they don't really like to see gaps in employment when they're looking at your resume. 398 00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:45,120 You know, they're not going to necessarily know or care whether you were fired, laid off, had an illness, 399 00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:49,120 took time off to care for a child or an aging parent. 400 00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:56,120 All they're going to see is that this person has a three-month gap in their employment history. 401 00:40:56,120 --> 00:40:59,120 They're going to think something's wrong with you. 402 00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:01,120 I'm just telling you how they think. 403 00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:03,120 They're going to think something's wrong with you. 404 00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:06,120 They're going to question your suitability for employment. 405 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:09,120 They're going to question your reputation. 406 00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:11,120 You know, what's wrong with this person? 407 00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:12,120 What do they do? 408 00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:16,120 They're just going to question your overall employability. 409 00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:25,120 And so, you know, a lot of times you'll be looked over for jobs without actually realizing that you were looked over. 410 00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:34,120 You know, the hiring managers would have to take a special interest in your application or overlook that gap 411 00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:42,120 and say, look, I'm going to call this person in for an interview so that you have the opportunity to explain that gap in your employment. 412 00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:49,120 But all of this can be avoided if you would just volunteer a little bit of your time to like a nonprofit or something 413 00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:57,120 or another organization shortly after or preferably before you get laid off. 414 00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:04,120 So that way, you know, instead of having this glaring gap in employment on your resume, 415 00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:13,120 you can demonstrate that you remain productive and active, you know, while exploring other opportunities. 416 00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:20,120 Not to mention, a lot of times these volunteer positions can serve as networking opportunities themselves. 417 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:25,120 And they can kind of put you in the forefront and in front of some key connections 418 00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:31,120 that could very well lead you to your next big opportunity. 419 00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:38,120 Like it says in the word, for who has despised the day of small beginnings, I love that scripture. 420 00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:44,120 So don't look down on volunteerism and giving your time. 421 00:42:44,120 --> 00:42:50,120 That stuff can small hinges swing big doors is a quote that I love. 422 00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:59,120 Okay, so another thing that you can do is you can start a business or a hobby or even a YouTube channel. 423 00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:03,120 That might be the route for you. A lot of these content creators on YouTube, 424 00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:17,120 they're bringing in like on the low end $1,000 a month up to $5,000 to $10,000 a month just through like ad revenue using YouTube's partner program. 425 00:43:17,120 --> 00:43:22,120 You know, that may be something you may want to look into. I'm looking into it myself. 426 00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:31,120 Blogs are still very popular content right now. People aren't watching TV like they used to. 427 00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:37,120 I know I'm not. You know, many folks are, they're, they're gravitating to different things now. 428 00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:45,120 They're gravitating to real people who are sharing real stories about their journey on their YouTube channels. 429 00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:51,120 And I've seen it. Some of these, some of the number of views these people get are insane. 430 00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:58,120 And you know, these people are getting paid. Folks are making a really great living just sharing their lives with people. 431 00:43:58,120 --> 00:44:07,120 So I'm not going to go off on a tangent about that, but it's certainly something you could, you know, take a look at. 432 00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:17,120 It may be something there for you. This is one of the more important things you need to, if you ever get laid off, you need to, you need to do this anyway. 433 00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:24,120 But particularly if you get laid off, you need to make a budget and you need to significantly reduce your expenses. 434 00:44:24,120 --> 00:44:36,120 That's just common sense. If you're losing a source of income, even if it's temporarily, you're going to have to cut back on a lot of things. 435 00:44:36,120 --> 00:44:43,120 And that leads me to the next topic that we're going to cover in the next segment, which is the underconsumption trend. 436 00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:50,120 That's been, it's becoming really popular with a lot of people, especially in this current environment. 437 00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:57,120 I can't wait to tell you guys about it. Let's do this. Let's take a quick break. I talked for 45 minutes straight. Wow. 438 00:44:57,120 --> 00:45:02,120 Let's take a quick break and listen to one of the tracks from my new album, Wish You Were Here. 439 00:45:02,120 --> 00:45:08,120 It's available on all streaming platforms. So just grab a glass of wine. We're probably going to go over today. 440 00:45:08,120 --> 00:45:13,120 Go grab a glass of wine. Enjoy this song. We'll be right back. 441 00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:41,120 Blue sky from paint. 442 00:45:42,120 --> 00:45:45,120 Can't tell if we feel 443 00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:49,120 From a cold still around 444 00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:52,120 A smile from a bell 445 00:45:52,120 --> 00:46:08,120 Do you think you can rest? 446 00:46:52,120 --> 00:47:03,120 Did you betray your heroes ago? 447 00:47:04,120 --> 00:47:07,120 Hot ass is the tree 448 00:47:08,120 --> 00:47:11,120 Hot air for a cool breeze 449 00:47:12,120 --> 00:47:14,120 Cold cover for a chain 450 00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:18,120 Did you exchange 451 00:47:18,120 --> 00:47:21,120 Walk on part in the war 452 00:47:22,120 --> 00:47:26,120 For a lead role when I came 453 00:47:27,120 --> 00:47:33,120 How we, how wish you were here 454 00:47:34,120 --> 00:47:37,120 We're just two lost souls 455 00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:39,120 Living in a fishbowl 456 00:47:40,120 --> 00:47:42,120 Year after year 457 00:47:43,120 --> 00:47:46,120 Running over the same old ground 458 00:47:46,120 --> 00:47:48,120 Whatever it is 459 00:47:49,120 --> 00:47:51,120 Like the same old feet 460 00:47:51,120 --> 00:48:17,120 Wish you were here 461 00:48:17,120 --> 00:48:22,120 We're just two lost souls 462 00:48:23,120 --> 00:48:26,120 Living in a fishbowl 463 00:48:27,120 --> 00:48:32,120 How we, how wish you were here 464 00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:35,120 We're just two lost souls 465 00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:38,120 Living in a fishbowl 466 00:48:39,120 --> 00:48:43,120 How we, how wish you were here 467 00:48:43,120 --> 00:48:48,120 We're just two lost souls 468 00:48:49,120 --> 00:48:52,120 Living in a fishbowl 469 00:48:53,120 --> 00:48:58,120 How we, how wish you were here 470 00:48:59,120 --> 00:49:04,120 Fall so you think you can tell 471 00:49:05,120 --> 00:49:08,120 Heaven from hell 472 00:49:08,120 --> 00:49:12,120 Blue skies from pain 473 00:49:13,120 --> 00:49:15,120 Can you tell a green field 474 00:49:16,120 --> 00:49:19,120 From a cold steel rail 475 00:49:20,120 --> 00:49:23,120 A smile from a bell 476 00:49:23,120 --> 00:49:38,120 Do you think you can tell 477 00:49:53,120 --> 00:49:58,120 How we, how wish you were here 478 00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:02,120 We're just two lost souls 479 00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:06,120 Living in a fishbowl 480 00:50:07,120 --> 00:50:12,120 How we, how wish you were here 481 00:50:13,120 --> 00:50:16,120 We're just two lost souls 482 00:50:17,120 --> 00:50:20,120 Living in a fishbowl 483 00:50:20,120 --> 00:50:25,120 How we, how wish you were here 484 00:50:26,120 --> 00:50:29,120 We're just two lost souls 485 00:50:30,120 --> 00:50:32,120 Living in a fishbowl 486 00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:36,120 How we, how wish you were here 487 00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:39,120 We're just two lost souls 488 00:50:40,120 --> 00:50:42,120 Living in a fishbowl 489 00:50:43,120 --> 00:50:46,120 How we, how wish you were here 490 00:50:46,120 --> 00:50:49,120 But no, thank you for staying with us through the break. 491 00:50:50,120 --> 00:50:54,120 If you're just joining us, we've been talking about these mass layoffs 492 00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:58,120 that's been hitting the federal government sector hard lately. 493 00:50:59,120 --> 00:51:05,120 It's been impacting tens of thousands of federal workers across numerous federal agencies. 494 00:51:06,120 --> 00:51:13,120 It's part of a broader initiative by the current administration to reduce government size and spending. 495 00:51:13,120 --> 00:51:21,120 These layoffs are being implemented by the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE. 496 00:51:22,120 --> 00:51:25,120 And it's led by everyone's favorite billionaire. 497 00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:30,120 I'm not even going to say his name. I'm not going to say his name or the other guy's name on this show. 498 00:51:31,120 --> 00:51:34,120 I said it before, I'm not going to say it today because when I say the names, it pisses me off. 499 00:51:35,120 --> 00:51:37,120 So you all know who I'm talking about. 500 00:51:37,120 --> 00:51:43,120 Right before the break, I spoke candidly to my colleagues in the federal workforce. 501 00:51:44,120 --> 00:51:46,120 And I offered some advice on how to pivot. 502 00:51:47,120 --> 00:51:50,120 I think we all need to try to just accept what's happening. 503 00:51:51,120 --> 00:51:57,120 We need to pivot from what I consider to be the inevitable termination of our current positions. 504 00:51:58,120 --> 00:52:01,120 Okay, it's going to happen. 505 00:52:01,120 --> 00:52:09,120 I talked about having a plan in place for steps that you're going to need to take in the event that you're terminating. 506 00:52:10,120 --> 00:52:13,120 And you don't necessarily have to be a federal employee to implement these. 507 00:52:14,120 --> 00:52:17,120 I mean, they apply to everyone who happens to be laid off. 508 00:52:18,120 --> 00:52:20,120 I'll just recap briefly for anyone that may have missed it. 509 00:52:21,120 --> 00:52:23,120 If you laid off, you need to do this immediately. 510 00:52:23,120 --> 00:52:35,120 Okay, file for unemployment, maximize your time on unemployment by taking their courses and their workshops, get your certificates, get brushed up on your Excel word, all that good stuff. 511 00:52:36,120 --> 00:52:43,120 Network, you know, take interviews, volunteer your time, consider starting a business or a hobby or a YouTube channel. 512 00:52:43,120 --> 00:52:52,120 You want to keep your mind engaged because it's very easy to fall into a depression when you've experienced a layoff, trust me. 513 00:52:53,120 --> 00:53:00,120 And then most importantly, make a budget and significantly reduce your expenses. 514 00:53:01,120 --> 00:53:05,120 Now, I'm going to argue that that last one is the most important, right? 515 00:53:06,120 --> 00:53:10,120 Particularly when we're talking about a situation where you could be terminated or laid off. 516 00:53:10,120 --> 00:53:19,120 I was laid off back in 2018 when I left the federal government the first time to work for one of the big four accounting firms. 517 00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:29,120 And let me tell you, that was a devastating ordeal because I had so many overhead expenses. 518 00:53:30,120 --> 00:53:32,120 I had car payments, plural. 519 00:53:33,120 --> 00:53:37,120 I had car insurance, car maintenance, house maintenance. 520 00:53:37,120 --> 00:53:41,120 I had a mortgage. I had my condo and PR in Puerto Rico. 521 00:53:42,120 --> 00:53:45,120 I had to pay rent on it in the associated bills with that. 522 00:53:46,120 --> 00:53:51,120 I had my mom's rent. My mom was a widow. I was taking care of my mom financially. 523 00:53:52,120 --> 00:53:56,120 I had a business venture that was a money pit. 524 00:53:57,120 --> 00:54:03,120 Not because it was a bad business concept, but because I had a bad, bad business partner. 525 00:54:03,120 --> 00:54:07,120 And that was my fault. That's a whole other hour long show. 526 00:54:08,120 --> 00:54:14,120 I might do a show about that next month and talk about that because, like I said, I only tell my business if it can help other people. 527 00:54:15,120 --> 00:54:25,120 So, yeah, that might be the next show, but because it was a cautionary tale for anyone that's an entrepreneur and that goes into business with so-called friends. 528 00:54:25,120 --> 00:54:40,120 But anyway, I said all that to say I had a lot of financial obligations during that era, and I just simply was not prepared for a worst-case scenario like being suddenly laid off. 529 00:54:41,120 --> 00:54:44,120 And so I certainly don't want that to happen to you. 530 00:54:45,120 --> 00:54:53,120 Being laid off can be really detrimental to your finances and to your health and to your family if you're caught off guard and caught unawares. 531 00:54:53,120 --> 00:55:06,120 So for my colleagues in the federal workforce who may be listening tonight, this is not the time to sit idly by and hope that our jobs won't be impacted. 532 00:55:07,120 --> 00:55:10,120 Your job is going to be impacted. It's going to be impacted, okay? 533 00:55:11,120 --> 00:55:14,120 I'm not trying to be a pessimist, but I see the writing on the wall. 534 00:55:14,120 --> 00:55:23,120 And like I said, this administration fully intends to replace all federal civil servants with appointed positions. 535 00:55:24,120 --> 00:55:29,120 So they're slowly phasing us out. It started with the hiring freeze, right? 536 00:55:30,120 --> 00:55:32,120 Then after that, it was the return to work order. 537 00:55:33,120 --> 00:55:34,120 Then it was the DEI stuff. 538 00:55:35,120 --> 00:55:37,120 Then it was the deferred resignation program. 539 00:55:37,120 --> 00:55:43,120 Then it was the termination of probationary employees. 540 00:55:44,120 --> 00:55:45,120 Then what was it after that? 541 00:55:46,120 --> 00:55:49,120 That weird email, what did you do last week? 542 00:55:50,120 --> 00:56:00,120 Is this to lump all government employees together in one stereotype and write us all off as lazy and feckless and inept and unproductive? 543 00:56:01,120 --> 00:56:05,120 Some of the most intelligent people I know work in government. 544 00:56:05,120 --> 00:56:10,120 Are there some lazy, feckless, inept, unproductive government employees? 545 00:56:11,120 --> 00:56:12,120 Yes, absolutely. 546 00:56:13,120 --> 00:56:14,120 Mostly at Robbins Air Force Base. 547 00:56:15,120 --> 00:56:16,120 Andre, that was terrible. 548 00:56:17,120 --> 00:56:18,120 You are terrible. 549 00:56:19,120 --> 00:56:21,120 That was so terrible, but I'm telling the truth. 550 00:56:22,120 --> 00:56:23,120 Tell me if I'm lying. 551 00:56:23,120 --> 00:56:34,120 The point that I'm making here is the current administration is going to keep going with this until there is no more federal civil service. 552 00:56:35,120 --> 00:56:37,120 It's going to be something like federal appointed service. 553 00:56:38,120 --> 00:56:42,120 You know, I'd give new jazzy names and stuff like DOGE. 554 00:56:43,120 --> 00:56:44,120 What is even that? 555 00:56:45,120 --> 00:56:48,120 So my whole point is like, what is the next phase? 556 00:56:49,120 --> 00:56:51,120 Who are they going to go after next? 557 00:56:51,120 --> 00:57:01,120 Is it employees that are on training or developmental programs like the PAC program, which is the program that I entered the federal workforce in? 558 00:57:02,120 --> 00:57:07,120 You know, Copper Cap, or there's a ton of these developmental programs. 559 00:57:08,120 --> 00:57:10,120 Are they going to come after those employees? 560 00:57:11,120 --> 00:57:14,120 Are they going to come after underperforming employees? 561 00:57:14,120 --> 00:57:20,120 Are employees with disciplinary issues in the past year or two years? 562 00:57:21,120 --> 00:57:23,120 I mean, where are they going to go with this? 563 00:57:24,120 --> 00:57:26,120 Employees with less than five years of credible service? 564 00:57:27,120 --> 00:57:31,120 They're just going to keep on going until all of us are gone. 565 00:57:32,120 --> 00:57:38,120 And I know I'm probably beating a day of horse here, but I just really want you guys to wake up and get this. 566 00:57:39,120 --> 00:57:42,120 These people who are in power now, they don't care about you. 567 00:57:42,120 --> 00:57:48,120 They don't care about your families or your bills or your extenuating circumstances. 568 00:57:49,120 --> 00:57:50,120 Nothing. 569 00:57:51,120 --> 00:57:53,120 They don't want you to be middle class. 570 00:57:54,120 --> 00:57:57,120 They don't want you to be financially savvy and financially free. 571 00:57:58,120 --> 00:58:03,120 They want you to be poor and sick and dependent on the government. 572 00:58:04,120 --> 00:58:08,120 They want you to be unenlightened and lazy and just mentally lethargic. 573 00:58:08,120 --> 00:58:16,120 They want you to be in debt, fearful of your future, fearful of your neighbor, anxious, pessimistic, divided. 574 00:58:17,120 --> 00:58:19,120 That's just the real truth, guys. 575 00:58:20,120 --> 00:58:21,120 We've got to wake up. 576 00:58:22,120 --> 00:58:26,120 America that we used to know is done. 577 00:58:27,120 --> 00:58:28,120 We're not going back. 578 00:58:29,120 --> 00:58:33,120 It's just a different type of order and structure. 579 00:58:34,120 --> 00:58:36,120 And that's taking place right now. 580 00:58:36,120 --> 00:58:38,120 We're watching it unfold. 581 00:58:39,120 --> 00:58:40,120 So we need to wake up and pay attention. 582 00:58:41,120 --> 00:58:47,120 Let me go ahead and talk about this under consumption stuff really quick because we're at 9 o'clock now. 583 00:58:48,120 --> 00:58:49,120 I'm not going to over glamorize this. 584 00:58:50,120 --> 00:58:51,120 It's nothing new. 585 00:58:52,120 --> 00:58:54,120 Everyone's saying it's the latest trend and all of that. 586 00:58:55,120 --> 00:58:59,120 It's nothing but good old fashioned frugality and common sense. 587 00:59:00,120 --> 00:59:02,120 Stop buying stuff you don't need. 588 00:59:03,120 --> 00:59:04,120 Stop consuming. 589 00:59:04,120 --> 00:59:10,120 If you got Kanye West money and Jay-Z money, okay, all right, bet, consume. 590 00:59:11,120 --> 00:59:12,120 Consume all you want. 591 00:59:13,120 --> 00:59:24,120 But if you're middle class or upper middle class, definitely if you're low income or in a fixed income situation, you got to stop buying all this necessary stuff. 592 00:59:25,120 --> 00:59:26,120 Be mindful of what you're consuming. 593 00:59:27,120 --> 00:59:28,120 This is not the time. 594 00:59:29,120 --> 00:59:31,120 Right now everything may seem okay. 595 00:59:31,120 --> 00:59:34,120 But very soon we're going to be in a recession. 596 00:59:35,120 --> 00:59:38,120 I think we're going to be in a recession like we never have been in before. 597 00:59:39,120 --> 00:59:44,120 And I'm talking about food shortages and crime, inflation, worse than what we're seeing now. 598 00:59:45,120 --> 00:59:47,120 It's going to get really bad. 599 00:59:48,120 --> 00:59:57,120 So now it's the time to quietly stop pal kenguas and water and non perishables and learn to grow and cultivate your own food. 600 00:59:57,120 --> 01:00:02,120 Even if it's just a few tomatoes and herbs in the backyard or something on your porch. 601 01:00:03,120 --> 01:00:09,120 And I know we're not accustomed to food shortages and stuff like that in this country. 602 01:00:10,120 --> 01:00:14,120 But if I were you, I'd start preparing now. 603 01:00:15,120 --> 01:00:16,120 And here's another thing. 604 01:00:17,120 --> 01:00:25,120 If you don't already have your passports for yourself and for everyone in your household, now's the time to start working on that. 605 01:00:25,120 --> 01:00:32,120 Because government agencies right now, they're hemorrhaging manpower and hemorrhaging personnel. 606 01:00:33,120 --> 01:00:43,120 So relatively routine tasks like processing a passport application is going to kind of be more arduous and a bit more delayed. 607 01:00:44,120 --> 01:00:48,120 You know, on a good day, it took them forever to process a passport application. 608 01:00:48,120 --> 01:00:55,120 So you can imagine now, you know, how prolonged the process could be with all of these doge layoffs. 609 01:00:57,120 --> 01:01:07,120 And another reason why I feel like it's important to make sure that you and your immediate family has your passports is so that, you know, in the event you need to quickly get out of dodge. 610 01:01:08,120 --> 01:01:14,120 When it starts to really get bad here, everybody's going to be scrambling and trying to get a passport. 611 01:01:14,120 --> 01:01:25,120 And it could be nearly impossible to get one, you know, or we may end up in, you know, a more dire situation where passport access is temporarily restricted or unavailable. 612 01:01:26,120 --> 01:01:33,120 So really start to think about those types of things and put together a disaster preparedness plan. 613 01:01:34,120 --> 01:01:35,120 I know I sound like a doomsday theorist. 614 01:01:36,120 --> 01:01:38,120 I know, I know, but just hear me out. 615 01:01:39,120 --> 01:01:42,120 Trust me, I know what I'm feeling and sensing. 616 01:01:42,120 --> 01:01:45,120 Okay, so back to under consumption. 617 01:01:46,120 --> 01:02:00,120 This is something that I had to learn the hard way because like I mentioned before, when I was laid off the first time, I had so many unnecessary financial obligations and I just was not well positioned for an emergency. 618 01:02:00,120 --> 01:02:11,120 Yeah, I had like six months of savings, but when your income suddenly stops and you have all of these bills, that money is going to get depleted fast. 619 01:02:12,120 --> 01:02:14,120 And so my whole thing is I don't want this to happen to you. 620 01:02:15,120 --> 01:02:16,120 I've lived through this. 621 01:02:17,120 --> 01:02:24,120 If you don't already have three months of reserves and cash that can sustain you temporarily until you sort of get back on your feet. 622 01:02:25,120 --> 01:02:27,120 This should be like priority one. 623 01:02:27,120 --> 01:02:28,120 Really quick. 624 01:02:29,120 --> 01:02:35,120 If you don't know how to put together an emergency fund, go to YouTube, YouTube University, figure it out. 625 01:02:36,120 --> 01:02:43,120 But basically all you're going to do is you're going to total all of your monthly bills that absolutely have to be paid without question. 626 01:02:44,120 --> 01:02:53,120 Your mortgage, your rent, your car payment, your car insurance, your groceries, not credit card, fuck the credit card, Netflix, Amazon Prime. 627 01:02:53,120 --> 01:02:56,120 Forget all of that when you're struggling. 628 01:02:57,120 --> 01:02:59,120 Total all of your necessities only. 629 01:03:00,120 --> 01:03:02,120 Say it all comes to $2,000 a month. 630 01:03:03,120 --> 01:03:04,120 Okay. 631 01:03:05,120 --> 01:03:07,120 Get to three months of that. 632 01:03:08,120 --> 01:03:10,120 So start building to $6,000. 633 01:03:11,120 --> 01:03:15,120 Once you get three months of reserves, your next goal should be six. 634 01:03:16,120 --> 01:03:17,120 After that, work on 12. 635 01:03:17,120 --> 01:03:26,120 Haven't been laid off before and haven't, you know, gone through the worst financial crisis in my life as a result of it. 636 01:03:27,120 --> 01:03:32,120 But with the help of God, I was able to rebuild it, you know, better than I was before. 637 01:03:33,120 --> 01:03:39,120 But I promised myself that I would never allow myself to be in that type of situation again. 638 01:03:40,120 --> 01:03:43,120 And not that I wouldn't get laid off or anything like that again. 639 01:03:43,120 --> 01:03:48,120 That can happen to anybody. That's the type of stuff that's beyond our control. 640 01:03:49,120 --> 01:03:57,120 But what messed me up was that I was over leveraged in terms of debt and I was ill prepared for an emergency. 641 01:03:58,120 --> 01:03:59,120 I thought I was invincible. 642 01:04:00,120 --> 01:04:05,120 So let me just give you a few under consumption strategies that I live by now. 643 01:04:06,120 --> 01:04:11,120 Because when I first read up about this a few months ago, this so-called new trend, 644 01:04:11,120 --> 01:04:16,120 I was like, this isn't new. I've been doing this. 645 01:04:18,120 --> 01:04:22,120 So anyway, drive a used car that you can pay for in cash. 646 01:04:23,120 --> 01:04:25,120 Car payments are just too high. 647 01:04:26,120 --> 01:04:36,120 Y'all remember when car payments used to be like reasonable, it used to be like $2.37, $3.34, maybe $4.25. 648 01:04:36,120 --> 01:04:43,120 But car payments now are like, you got a good car payment if it's five something. 649 01:04:44,120 --> 01:04:48,120 Like car payments are like $7 and $8 and $900 a month. 650 01:04:49,120 --> 01:04:54,120 And in that dimension, you got full coverage, insurance is high if you're going to go for a new car. 651 01:04:55,120 --> 01:05:01,120 At this point, I didn't have the car. I didn't have all of that. I don't need to impress anybody. 652 01:05:01,120 --> 01:05:07,120 I wouldn't got me some cash cars. Right now, I'm down to one car. I sold a truck. 653 01:05:08,120 --> 01:05:17,120 Yes, Peppy, I sold a truck. I sold it. I don't need two cars. It's just me. Why do I need two cars? 654 01:05:18,120 --> 01:05:25,120 So yeah, I'm downsizing. I live right across the street from Wright Patterson Air Force Base. 655 01:05:25,120 --> 01:05:30,120 I can walk if I want. Why do I need two cars? I'm not going to do this. 656 01:05:31,120 --> 01:05:40,120 Another thing I do, live where you rent. Rent where you own. I know you guys have heard that before. 657 01:05:41,120 --> 01:05:46,120 Right now, I live in a modest one bedroom apartment. It's right across the street from the base. 658 01:05:46,120 --> 01:05:55,120 Nothing glamorous, but very low overhead. The house that I own, I rented out. 659 01:05:56,120 --> 01:05:59,120 I've had a tenant in there for years. That's a revenue stream. 660 01:06:00,120 --> 01:06:03,120 Rental properties help you to offset your tax liability. 661 01:06:04,120 --> 01:06:09,120 So, you know, if you're a high wage earner, you know, they're going to be coming for you with the taxes. 662 01:06:09,120 --> 01:06:16,120 So, you need to have something that you can hedge against, you know, the tax bracket that you're in. 663 01:06:17,120 --> 01:06:22,120 Having a rental property is one of the best ways you can go about that. You can put that in your toolbox. 664 01:06:23,120 --> 01:06:29,120 Another thing you can do is buy and bulk. If you've got a SAMS card or a Costco membership, use that. 665 01:06:30,120 --> 01:06:35,120 Buy items that you get frequently in your home that you know you use. Buy them and bulk. 666 01:06:35,120 --> 01:06:42,120 Because that way you can hedge against pricing increases. You don't have to worry about, oh, this week eggs are this price. 667 01:06:43,120 --> 01:06:49,120 Or this week toilet paper is this price. You buy them and bulk. You pay one price for it. You're good for three, four months. 668 01:06:50,120 --> 01:06:56,120 You know, so it's going to cost you a little bit more on the onset, but in the long term you save money. 669 01:06:57,120 --> 01:07:01,120 And you're going to save gas because you're not running to the store every week. You get it? 670 01:07:01,120 --> 01:07:07,120 You know, just simple stuff. I don't buy designer clothes. Bump the designer clothes. 671 01:07:08,120 --> 01:07:18,120 You know, I'm not even embarrassed to say I bought 20, maybe 20 shirts this past weekend. Guess where they came from? 672 01:07:19,120 --> 01:07:28,120 Goodwill. I don't care. You will never tell. Those shirts look good. I got them all from Goodwill. 673 01:07:28,120 --> 01:07:34,120 I know how to shop. I know how to save money. I shop at Goodwill. I shop at Marshalls. I shop at TJ Maxx. 674 01:07:35,120 --> 01:07:46,120 You will never be able to tell because I sit on that and you just, you kind of spend money and splurge on pieces. 675 01:07:47,120 --> 01:07:56,120 Buy you a nice watch. Buy you a nice hat. Where LaCoste glasses are, like right now I have on my metal Ray-Ban glasses. 676 01:07:56,120 --> 01:08:05,120 I can spend $300-400 on that because I got 20 shirts for $70. You know, buy you some nice shoes. 677 01:08:06,120 --> 01:08:12,120 If you got nice shoes, a nice watch, nice glasses, nice hat, people ain't going to be studying your clothes. 678 01:08:13,120 --> 01:08:16,120 Just make sure they're clean and make sure it looks good. You ain't got to be flossing for nobody. 679 01:08:17,120 --> 01:08:23,120 What I want to pay for these labels for? Fuck these labels. I'm trying to save money. I got goals that I'm trying to do. 680 01:08:23,120 --> 01:08:34,120 You know, if you have to wear a uniform to work, khakis, white shirt, you know, it's not a fashion show. I'm over all this stuff. 681 01:08:35,120 --> 01:08:47,120 Another thing you can do is leverage your situation. If you are blessed, and I'm telling you you're blessed, if you have a two income household where your wife got a good job, you got a good job, 682 01:08:47,120 --> 01:08:57,120 you got a good job, y'all should not be living off of both of your salaries. Take one of those salaries and invest it and live off of the other spouse salary. 683 01:08:58,120 --> 01:09:07,120 That's how you really do it. If you have a two income household and you can't cover all your bills with one of y'all salary, you're living above your means. 684 01:09:07,120 --> 01:09:21,120 Take one of those salaries, pay down your student loans or your other bad debt, or if you don't have any debt, then invest all of that money and just live off of that one income. 685 01:09:22,120 --> 01:09:26,120 You'll get rich so fast, I'm telling you. 686 01:09:26,120 --> 01:09:36,120 Invest one salary, live off of the other, and like I said, use one salary to pay down debt, live off of the other. That's how you do it. 687 01:09:37,120 --> 01:09:45,120 Meal prep, I only eat out once or twice a week. Just buy groceries, just cook. Just stop being lazy and just do it. 688 01:09:45,120 --> 01:10:00,120 Don't fall in this crap and get you a partner or a spouse or a husband or a wife who isn't materialistic or vain and someone who shares your values and your long term goals. 689 01:10:01,120 --> 01:10:06,120 Someone that, they just get it. We're not going to be wasting our money on depreciable assets. 690 01:10:07,120 --> 01:10:11,120 We're going to be investing in real estate and investments that we'll appreciate over time. 691 01:10:11,120 --> 01:10:18,120 We're going to be paying down bad debt. We're going to be a blessing to others as the Lord leads us to. 692 01:10:19,120 --> 01:10:29,120 So get you someone that gets it because when you have a spouse that's a spin thrift and you're frugal minded, it's just going to be hell. 693 01:10:30,120 --> 01:10:33,120 You just might as well get a divorce now. It's just going to be hell. 694 01:10:33,120 --> 01:10:40,120 So that's just a few things. I don't want to go off to, Z was so nice to give me some extra time, but I want to abuse it. 695 01:10:41,120 --> 01:10:51,120 Listen, I'm going to go ahead and wrap up for tonight. That's pretty much all I wanted to cover for tonight's show, but I really appreciate you spending a little bit of time with me this evening. 696 01:10:52,120 --> 01:10:58,120 I hope you were able to take away at least some good information that's going to help you and your family in the event of a crisis. 697 01:10:58,120 --> 01:11:05,120 These are some really interesting times that we're living in, but remember that God is in full control. 698 01:11:06,120 --> 01:11:14,120 We just have to accept whatever He allows. His ways are higher than our ways. 699 01:11:14,120 --> 01:11:28,120 So a lot of times we're not going to understand why He allows certain things to happen or why it sometimes appears that the wicked continue to just do evil without consequences. 700 01:11:29,120 --> 01:11:32,120 But don't let your faith be tested in this season. 701 01:11:33,120 --> 01:11:38,120 No weapon formed against you shall prosper. Stay resilient and expect good things. 702 01:11:38,120 --> 01:11:49,120 Even with all this crap going on, expect good things to happen. Expect God's goodness and for Him to continue to shield and protect you the way He has your entire life. 703 01:11:50,120 --> 01:11:53,120 He shielded and protected you your entire life. 704 01:11:54,120 --> 01:11:59,120 So what are you worried now? So 40, 50 years, He's just all of a sudden just going to stop taking care of you. 705 01:11:59,120 --> 01:12:08,120 That's not God's character. He got you to this point and He's going to carry you on through. So don't acquiesce to fear, okay? 706 01:12:09,120 --> 01:12:19,120 Listen, I'll be back next month. Be sure to join us every 4th Wednesday at 8pm Eastern, right here on the Artist First Radio Network. 707 01:12:19,120 --> 01:12:29,120 Alright, I love you all. Good night everybody. 708 01:12:49,120 --> 01:12:59,120 .