All About Community with the Happy Hour Ladies
Today is the last Friday of the month and my regular listeners know that on the last Friday of the month, I host the happy hour on the podcast where I gather great friends with me to drink cheap drinks and talk about money topics. This month begins a three-month-long effort for me and The Financial Gym team to connect again in person with our community. In partnership with Community Spirit Vodka, we’ll be touring 9 cities and bringing our community together for the first time in almost three years. It’s an exciting time for us and I wanted to spend this month on the podcast talking about community and the importance of it. The Happy Hour ladies join me today to talk about the important communities they are a part of and how they have changed their lives.
What are we drinking?
Melanie from The Mental Health and Wealth Show: Glass of Water w/ Raspberry Vinegar and Lime
Kassandra from kassandradasent.com: Bailey’s Style, French vanilla blend drink
Joy, Head of Trainer Academy at The Gym: Water from her water bottle in the NY hotel room
Shannon: Community Spirit Vodka
Podcast Notes
With the Community Spirit Vodka roadtrip in progress, Shannon wanted to reflect on all things community with the Happy Hour Ladies. She has been thinking a lot about real life communities and how there is something so special about being physically with a group. It’s something that’s been missing the last few years.
In 2017, Melanie and the people in her circle were feeling angry and wanted to take action. She wanted to create a space where women could talk about money and feel safe. Lola Retreat was born and they had four great events over two years. (Check out the past events here in the archives)
She’s recently found herself part of new communities including in real life boxing classes, the online sober curious community, and the celiac community after being diagnosed earlier this year. All of them have been unique, new adventures.
Kassandra’s definition of community has evolved. In addition to being part of the online blogging community, a huge aspect of her role with The Plutus Foundation is their city-to-city program, Plutus Voices. There is something so special about meeting people where they are, and helping them resolve their issues. It is good for our mental, spiritual, and physical well-being.
For a lot of people, their physical communities shifted during the pandemic. Some people moved, and even if you didn’t, the folks around may have.
Joy had her human design chart read this week, and community was a big theme. It’s how she experiences heaven on this Earth. She has been able to cultivate community in a few different ways. To find friends locally, she hosted some groups she met through church. She was also able to meet people through her yoga teacher training.. Joy is a quiet extrovert, which can be a challenge at first when trying to make new friends.
Shannon’s favorites are The Financial Gym and The Martinis and Your Money communities. When they were designing the physical Financial Gym locations, they wanted it to feel welcoming, safe, and fun. It was built for community events. Ever since closing the spaces at the beginning of the year, Shannon has been wanting to plan a tour.
With Community Spirit Vodka, the road trip kicked off in Portland last week. It was such a beautiful, special night and her soul was smiling as she watched the group of people together. Financial wellness is what ties everyone together and even though they weren’t in The Financial Gym, she knows The Financial Gym Community is alive and well.
When communities may no longer be serving you:
Kassandra has learned to not stick around when things are not serving her.
When Shannon was getting financially healthy, she lost some friends along the way. As you grow and shift, your community will shift as well.
Joy will ask clients how reflecting on the spending makes them feel. If hanging out with friends makes you feel resentful of that money spent, it’s time to evaluate the friend group.
This can apply to social media as well. The communities are great, but you can get trapped in the echo chambers of people who are trying to sell you things or encourage you to spend money to keep up. If social media is making you feel negative, unfollow, block, and mute whatever you need.
How to build new communities and make friends as an adult:
It can be challenging to make new friends as an adult, especially as an introvert.
Growth comes from being uncomfortable. If making new friends scares you, lean into it. It gets easier with more practice.
Try meeting or saying hello to your neighbors. Joy has a great relationship with her neighbors and it’s helped her learn to ask for help and receive it.
Channel the childlike innocence of asking someone to be your friend.
Find groups of people interested in the same hobbies as you. It can be a running group, pottery class, or The Financial Gym Roadtrip with Community Spirit Vodka
Takeaway:
My biggest takeaway is that you, my community of podcast listeners, have played such a big part in my life these last eight years. There have been so many dark days and hard times along my journey and I have felt you supporting me, uplifting me, praying for me, and encouraging me along the way. I am so thankful for you allowing me into your lives and coming into mine. Thank you for making up one of the most special communities I’ve ever been a part of.
If you have any topics you would like me to cover on this podcast, or if you’d like to get in the financially naked hot seat, I encourage you to email me at Shannon@fingyms.com, or join the private Martinis and Your Money Facebook group, and let me know what you want to hear.
My biggest goal for The Financial Gym right now is to grow our Certified Financial Trainer Licensing Program. This program is built off of over 10 years of working with tens of thousands of people getting them financially healthy. My goal is that every financial advisor, planner or coach has our certification. Our approach to financial wellness is revolutionary and it’s important for me and my team that anyone who plans to work with people around their finances understands the important lessons we’ve learned along the way. I always say the problems are the same, the zeros are different. If you’re a personal finance nerd with a passion for helping others, this is the course for you. If you’re a financial professional helping others, this is the course for you. If you’re working with a financial professional, you should insist that they get this designation so that they can become more holistic in their financial planning. So head over or send friends to financialgym.com and under our services, you’ll find more on the certification program.