Welcome to a new year and a new decade. Bobbi shares some personal news and insights, and then some big changes coming to the podcast, the financial grownup community, and her other podcast, Money with Friends.
Happy New Year. I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and maybe some vacation time with friends and family or however you wanted to celebrate- even if your holidays were solo or whatever- because as a grownup you should be able to celebrate however you want.
This is a special episode and I’m going to be talking first about some personal decisions I am making and then some decisions having to do with changes here at financial grownup and with my other podcast Money with Friends.
First- the personal. Today, the day this episode is being released, is my birthday. And the crazy thing is that despite being married, and being a mom, a stepmom and having my dog waffles.. I still am coming to terms with the fact that apparently I am a grownup.
I am also coming to terms with the fact that I am tired of being overwhelmed and exhausted. At one point last year, I was offered an opportunity by a friend of a friend that I really wanted to do, and I was so busy- I literally just wrote back something like- want to but in overwhelm. It may have even been just the word overwhelm. Between all my business related projects and my personal responsibilities to my family and friends, and just way too many things I said yes to, I was going from early in the morning until I collapsed into bed at night. And that’s not a good state for anyone to be in. And so I need to stop the overwhelm.
Some of you may have noticed that my instagram got reeeallly quiet in the last 2 weeks of 2019. We were running encore’s of the podcast and I just decided not to share my general personal activities while on vacation- at least not in real time. As has become a thing to say- I wanted to be present with my family. I’m sure it will kill any positive algorithm related momentum because instagram does not like it when you are not active, but I wanted to see how it felt to just not participate. I also didn’t look at what my friends or anyone I follow were up to. Mixed feelings. The truth is I enjoy seeing what my friends are up to. I like knowing where they are going when they travel and what family milestones they are celebrating or just feeling connected even when we are all busy. But it is also time consuming Same thing with posting- love sharing but taking a break freed up lots of time- even if I did use that time to not be all that productive over break. Taking a break, over a vacation break, is a good thing. I’m glad I did it.
I’m also trying to figure out WHAT to post. I tend to post a lot about my podcast guests because I think they are amazing and really want to get the word out- and I love supporting their projects. and I’ve been shy about going on camera myself and talking too much about my own life on instagram stories.. but I’d love to hear more about what you guys want. Maybe DM me now that I’m back online- I’ll look out for the notes I promise.
On that note, I am going to start sharing more about the things that I use on a personal level. If you are signed up for what used to be the financial grownup newsletter- and I know you haven’t gotten one since 2018- you will soon get something my assistant Ashley and I have been working on for quite some time called The Grownup List- and it will be a very short resource of things I enjoy that you may want to incorporate into your own grownup life. If you want to get on the Grownup List- just go to my website bobbirebell.com and you will see the sign up button. There’s also a link in my Instagram bio at bobbirebell1. I would love to include listener suggestions- so feel free to be in touch at hello@financialgrownup.com if you have ideas to include.
So now let’s talk about the podcast. I started the podcast about 2 years ago. This is episode 267. I can’t even believe it. My editor Steve Stewart- made a great suggestion to share some of my favorite episodes and I was going to- then came that overwhelm I was taking about! It’s like choosing your favorite children. What I will do is remind you that if you want to learn more about a topic or a guest- go to my website, bobbirebell.com/financialgrownuppodcast and use that search bar - it’s a great resource and can help you find an episode that hits that topic. You can listen or just read the transcript in the show notes.
I have also felt that because I have been putting out sooo many episodes each one doesn’t always get the attention it deserves because there is always a new one that kind of bumps it from the top of the feed, and from my focus on promoting it. So- I’m going to focus on releasing just one episode a week going forward. As of now that will be on Tuesdays.
It will also give me and my social media channels a break from what I sometimes feel is a lot of well.. promotion. Maybe leave a little more space for more content just about life and other things I want to share with all of you.
I also want to make time for my other projects including my next book- which is going to be a parenting book- more on that to come- and I also am fortunate to work with some prominent brands helping to get their message out, and I enjoy speaking to groups so I want to make sure to keep time for those projects as well. And be in touch if I can be helpful in those areas- if you have events coming up where you need an emcee, a speaker or moderator.
Finally- exciting news about my other podcast Money with Friends. I hope if you are not already subscribed, you will do so. I’m so proud of how Money with Friends has evolved over the last 7 months since we launched in June. It is now 6 days a week - don’t worry - we batch record so we don’t get overwhelmed). And it is also a short podcast like this one. My co-host is Joe Saul-Sehy - who some of you may know from his other podcast Stacking Benjamins. We have been recording on Facebook Live but we will be moving to YouTube imminently so please go subscribe to the Money with Friends YouTube channel we started so you can watch us record live- we actually take questions and comments form the audience. You can also be part of the show by participating in our instagram stories polls and questions- the handle is @moneyfriendspod. We also have a cast of thought leaders who come in to co-host with us- journalists, shopping experts, Real estate entrepreneurs, CFP’s and so on, so you get to ask them questions as well. Right now we are putting together the cast for our third season and it is looking to be amazing.
Money with Friends has been growing faster than Joe and I ever imagined- there have been a lot of unexpected twists and turns in the show’s short history- and we’ll be talking about that and revealing a lot of behind the scenes secrets-at Podfest in Orlando in early March- so let us know if you are going to be there- or if you are in the Orlando area. We are considering doing a meet up and would love to make it happen. You can DM us on our instagram at moneyfriendspod.
I want to finally thank all of you for being part of my grownup journey. I truly appreciate your support and look forward to us all growing together as the financial grownups that we are.
