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- [00:00]
Mikayla
Foreign.
- [00:04]
Courtney Johnson
Welcome to Slay the Gatekeeper. I'm your host Courtney Johnson and I am here to un gatekeep the gatekept. Thank you so much for being here. Enjoy. Okay. Mikayla, thank you for being here. I am so excited to have you on the podcast. I've learned so much from you over the last few years. And last week as I was working on my book, I had a stack of books from women I admire that I brought with me to my writing retreat. And break. Your budget was in there.
- [00:37]
Mikayla
Okay, love that. Thank you so much.
- [00:39]
Courtney Johnson
Sorry. Own your Money was in there.
- [00:40]
Mikayla
Own your money. Yeah, I gotta get you a copy of Own youn Career. I feel like that's super aligned. We'll figure that out after this. But yeah, I'm super excited to be on this show. It's an honor.
- [00:51]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah. Thank you for being here. It's actually crazy cuz the original person that recommended Own youn Money was Andrew Horowitz. Do you know him?
- [01:01]
Mikayla
No, I don't.
- [01:03]
Courtney Johnson
He runs a podcast, a really big finance podcast. Very bro y. And I was networking with him and he's just like, you got to read Own your money. It's the most like no BS accessible introduction. And yeah, that's actually why I bought it. I think that was before I even followed you, but great to have you here.
- [01:25]
Mikayla
Okay, love that. What a lovely compliment. I like, don't often talk about my books just because I feel like I talk about so many things. And yeah, both of my books, I mean, I'm biased, but I think they're both fab. So I'm glad that you really liked it.
- [01:38]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, I loved it. Okay, let's get into our cheat codes. These are quite spicy. Our first cheat code is this is this one. This one hurt me when I first saw it. And that is that shopping isn't a hobby. Tell me about this, Michaela. Why is shopping not a hobby?
- [01:57]
Mikayla
100%. So just in this era of social media, I feel like people have really made shopping to be something that we do in our free time. And shopping is more than just going online and buying things or like going to home goods and picking things up. I think shopping too is now categorized as consuming shopping content. And the reason why I think it's super important to not treat shopping as like something that you do in your free time. I mean, there's actually a couple of reasons. First, being that your free time is so valuable that there are so many other character enriching hobbies and activities and things that you could be doing besides Just buying things. But the other layer of it is that when you are perpetually spending money, you end up accumulating a lot of stuff that ends up just collecting dust in your home or your apartment. You know, you're buying things that you're not using. You're contributing to this capitalistic and consumerist society that we currently live in. And there's just so many downsides to treating shopping as something that you're doing all of the time. And so I like to focus on intentional shopping, which we can get into, although I'm not sure if that's another cheat code.
- [03:16]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, Something that's helped me with shopping because I used to be the girly that, like, would go to Target and HomeGoods and just browse and then buy things that I didn't need is that I encourage people to find what they like within shopping and bring that as a hobby. For example, if you're really into fashion, that that could be a great hobby. That could mean maybe taking a fashion class, maybe going to a fashion museum, maybe learning about textiles and going to a textile factory that could be going to some sort of, like, archival fashion club. Like, it can be things around just shopping for the thing. Right?
- [03:53]
Mikayla
100%. I used to be one of those people who, like, similar to what you said casually in my free time would be going to HomeGoods or going to Target just because I had an empty Sunday afternoon. And something that I really did focus on at the beginning of this year was using my free time to my advantage instead of sort of just biding my time on the weekends or when I was done working. And so using my free time to my advantage meant that I was developing hobbies that were helping me just develop as a person, because there's so many benefits to having strong hobbies, which is going a little bit off topic here, but when you're looking for ways to fill your time or, like, fill a desire or an urge, which is generally what shopping is, it's like you're seeking dopamine. You want to buy something because it makes you feel good in that moment, even if it's not something that you truly need or you truly wanted to spend money on. And usually down the line, it comes with some sort of crash or feeling upset or, like, guilty or disappointed in yourself. And that's totally normal. And I don't think there should be shame around spending money, but you can easily avoid that by channeling that energy into doing something else. So a couple of things that I do, I have at home, hobbies and I have out of home hobbies. And the ones that I'm choosing to do depends on what my mood is. So if I'm in the mood to just like be alone instead of going to home goods, I will do an at home, like solo hobby. So that could be cooking, that could be baking bread. I'm really into like sourdough and just bread in general. I crochet. If I want to get out of the house but still be alone, I'll go on a walk. Like I'll do something else. And if I'm going on a walk, for example, like I'll grab a coffee. So I'll buy something maybe. But it's not $100 on home decor or $100 just seeing what speaks to me at Target. And then, you know, my out of home hobbies, that's walking. Currently I'm in la, so like that was a lot of hiking, playing tennis, all different types of things that get me out. Being a little bit more social, getting, getting my mind off of the urge to go spend money. I'm not thinking about materialistic stuff when I'm playing tennis because like, I'm focused on something else. So really the goal is to just take your brain and occupy it elsewhere. And over time you realize like, oh, I can find that dopamine I'm seeking by doing like so many other things besides adding to cart. I also find too that sometimes adding to cart and then closing the window and walking away is really helpful because you still sort of get that. Like, I did the shopping, but I didn't actually press. And that has been like a strange little strategy that has helped me a lot when I'm like in the mood to browse, but I'm not particularly in the mood to purchase.
- [06:38]
Courtney Johnson
Have you used the tool locker before?
- [06:41]
Mikayla
No, but I feel like you've told me about it. Maybe somebody has.
- [06:46]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, it's really good. It's called wantlocker.com and you can create these little lockers. So as you're shopping online, you can save something to your locker. So it kind of feels like you have it. You've collected the thing and you can save it into a category or folder. So maybe the folder is like winter outfits or maybe the folder is like art for above my bed. And then eventually you have, you know, maybe 20 different options of art for above your bed that you thought was going to be an impulse purchase. But now since you've added them all to your locker, you can go and make a really informed decision because you have 20 choices, you've shopped around, you found the thing that you've really loved.
- [07:21]
Mikayla
Okay, I love that. I'm gonna have to look into it. I haven't heard of it. I was thinking of something else. But I love that because I have this concept that I talk about fairly often called an impulse list, where when you are, you know, scrolling on social media or you're browsing online, or you're, you know, looking at someone's Instagram stories and you see something that you really want, I always say, before you buy, add it to your impulse list, because. And it's just a note on your phone. And basically what that does is it. It gives you the opportunity to act on something because it's like, oh, instead of going to the browser, I'm going to the notes app on my phone. Like, you're still getting that experience of exiting and going somewhere else. And then you're essentially curating a list of things that have, like, stood out to you, things that you want. You're creating a little bit of distance from the purchase. And then if you're still thinking about it, you know, a couple days later, sure, consider buying it. But then if you're in a situation where you're ready to purchase something or maybe you want to treat yourself or, you know, whatever, you can go back to that list and you have a bunch of things that you've been wanting. I find it to be super helpful around Christmas and, like, birthdays and that kind of thing, when it's like, people are asking you if you want a gift, like, what do you want? And it can be hard to come up with something on the spot. You have a whole list, and it's like, this is something I actually do want, that I have been wanting. So similar.
- [08:43]
Courtney Johnson
That is such a good idea, especially for Christmas and birthdays, if you have, like, a partner, family, or friends that want to buy you things, so they're not buying you something that you're just gonna throw away or don't use.
- [08:53]
Mikayla
I'm so passionate about intentional shopping for Christmas because there's nothing. And, like, I say this sincerely in a nice way, but, like, there's nothing that bothers me more than someone buying me something that I don't want or will never use for so many reasons. One, because I don't like having items that I don't want to use. Like, I don't want it in my space. I have nowhere to put it. So that's one. But two, I don't want someone else spending money on me. And Spending their money that they work hard on on me, on something that I do not want and will not use. Like in my family over the last couple of years, we've had to come up with some really hard rules around Christmas gifts because know, people are in the giving spirit and they want to give something. But if you're going to spend money and you're going to give somebody a gift, even if you don't know specifically exactly what they want, like you really want to be thoughtful about it because you don't want to give someone something that sits in their closet and collects dust or that they return or they never use because that's useless to them. You've then wasted your money and it's like, okay, well, what was the point? So the impulse list has helped a lot because it can be hard to come up. Like with gifts, I never know what to ask for around the holidays. It's kind of like, yeah, I already like have everything that I need because I, I think about it. So I have found the impulse list to be really, really helpful.
- [10:14]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, I'll add a little cheat code to that. Is when I. Whenever I like something in a store, I have to keep walking around the shopping center or the mall or something. I cannot buy it right Then, like, I have to wait till after lunch or wait till I I get a coffee. And 90% of the time I'm not thinking about that thing at all. Because stores are literally designed to make you impulse purchase, from the scent to the music, to how they're speaking to you and the whole experience. So just take a step back. And if anybody listening to this is thinking of holiday gifts and they want a really good holiday gift that's going to be practical but a little luxurious. I really encourage you to find like a luxury grocery store near the person you're buying for. So maybe that's like an Erwan. Get them a $50 gift card, a hundred dollars gift card, and they can use it to actually buy groceries, which is practical. Or maybe they want to splurge on a really nice olive oil or something really nice for their kitchen that they're still going to use. That's always my go to for something people are going to use a hundred percent.
- [11:13]
Mikayla
Nobody's ever gotten me an Erewhon gift card. What a lovely gift.
- [11:17]
Courtney Johnson
Guys, get Michaela an Erewhon gift card. Yeah, it's so good, right? Because like you can use it practically, but also you can split splurge on that. The, the better coffee beans or the.
- [11:28]
Mikayla
It's so good.
- [11:29]
Courtney Johnson
Something, something. Okay, cheat code number two. I love this one. And that is do not spend money on things you're obsessed with or things that you feel like you need to. For example, a wedding. Or maybe it's something as simple as you don't really care that much about clothes and you don't care that much about. Or maybe, like me, I don't care about cars at all. All right. But I think it's really going back to zero and being like, what do I value and what do I not value? Because for somebody, having their dream wedding is actually really, really, really important to them. And for somebody like me, I'm like, I never want to have a wedding. It seems like a lot of stress, and that's like a societal pressure that's on me. So what do you feel about not spending money on things you're not obsessed with? And how do you figure out what you actually value and don't value?
- [12:14]
Mikayla
Yeah, a hundred percent. So Ramit Sethi actually has a line that he says often that's like, cut mercilessly on the things that you don't care about and spend frivolously on the things that you do. And I think that's a little bit extreme, but the premise behind it is really, really helpful and thoughtful in that when you are going through your life, it's really important to pay attention to the things you're spending money on that are truly important to you. And the way that you do that is being thoughtful and intentional, just on a day to day basis, not only when you're swiping your card, but also going back through your spending from the last week or the last month and looking through your credit card statement and really noting down when you're looking at transactions, what are the things that stand out to you and what are the things that you either forget about or make you feel kind of weird? Because there's so many transactions on a credit card statement that you look at and you're like, what was that? Like, I don't even remember doing that. And if that's the case, then that's probably something that wasn't super important to you. And on the flip side of that, there's probably so many things you can think of in the last month or two months or, you know, the last season where you had such a great time. Like, I think about two weeks ago, I did a road trip with my friend up to Monterey and we like splurged on our Airbnb and we just had the best time ever. And I look Back on that trip, and it was so lovely. I had such a great time. I can't wait to do it again. And then on the flip side of that, I look at, like, I bought some sweaters from Koss, and it's like, okay, well, I'm sure I'll wear these, but they're not the most important thing to me. Like, I needed them because I'm moving to a wintry place, but I don't need to do tons and tons of shopping. Like, that doesn't give me the feeling or the dopamine hit, as does, like, an experience or something like that trip. Same with going out to dinner. Like, for me, when I'm looking at times that I've gone out to dinner, I'm like, okay, like, this was $80. You know, it wasn't really worth it. I didn't need to get that second drink. Like, it didn't make any difference in my experience. So why am I spending my money on that? I'd rather have my friends over for dinner at my house or do something different or go on a hike and get coffee and maybe, like, lunch. So it's really thinking about what are the things, items, experiences, places that you are going to, spending money on that you remember and associate a feeling to? And those are generally the things that are the most important to you. For example, too. Like, on the topic of weddings, I think there's a lot of pressure, not only from society to have a wedding, like, if you are a bride, but also when you're attending weddings, to, like, look really good, to have a new dress, to have a new shirt or a new pair of shoes, and, like, to totally step out, especially for women, because, you know, people want Instagrams and you want to look good because you don't know who's going to be there and whatever. And I just think that that's so. Personally, I think it's ridiculous. Like, I have two wedding dresses that I wear to all of my weddings because I don't want to spend $150, $200 on top of the cost to just attend a wedding, because that's not important to me. So I really do think it boils down to thinking about experiences in your own life and how you feel during certain situations. Like, at a wedding, does anybody care about your dress? Like, has anyone ever complimented you on it? Like, have you ever thought about it at after the fact, three days later, are you getting texts from people saying, where'd you buy that? Like, probably not. Unless it's, like, a very specific look, which again, you're at a wedding, so you probably don't have a super specific look. So I don't know. I just think it's so important to think about those things and really pay attention to where your money's going. And you do that by, like, tracking your expenses and paying attention when you swipe your card.
- [16:06]
Courtney Johnson
Mm, I. Yeah, I've never heard of that before. Of going back to the feeling as you're reviewing your expenses. I think that's such a great cheat code. Okay, cheat code number three, buy high quality things. For example, maybe it's better to invest in one really good $500 winter coat rather than having a couple of $75 coats that don't really do the job that you kind of wear, you kind of like. And maybe you're gonna get rid of next year season. So how do you have intentionality behind buying high quality things? And how do you kind of switch from having a lot of low quality things to like, all right, I'm really going to invest in a piece that's going to last me forever. Or maybe I'm saying maybe it's like a kitchen. Kitchen pan or something. It doesn't have to be closed, but just these things we can buy for life. And by the way, if you guys haven't checked out the Reddit subreddit, buy it for life is really awesome.
- [17:01]
Mikayla
Oh, I need to look at that. Because this topic I'm so passionate about, and I'm gonna split it up into, like, clothes versus other items, and it all comes down to really, like, intentional splurging. So my big spending theme that I've started over the last, I'd say, like, year and a half, has been buying less, but buying better, meaning that I'm buying less items, but generally the ticket price of those items is slightly higher because it is a higher quality piece. And I think a cheat code for clothes specifically, if you want to know if something is high quality and worth your money, the very first thing you should be looking at before you look at the price tag is the material composition. Because if you look at material composition, it will eliminate 95% of purchases immediately from your radar. Because 95% of clothes are made up of some sort of plastic. Polyester, nylon, viscose, acrylic blend. If any of those materials are more than 10% of the item, it's bad. Don't buy it. Like it's literally cheap plastic that you're being overcharged for. If you are looking at the material composition, what you want to aim to do is buy clothing that is either anywhere between like 75 to 100% natural fibers, depending on the item. So the items are going to be different. For example, like with a jacket, you want the outside to be polyester because that's wicks water. You know, it's not absorbent. It's a protectant shell. Like, that's different. But for sweaters, for example, you know, if you. The example I always use is the Emil cardigan from Saison, which has been glorified as like, the nicest, best sweater ever. It's $205 and it's 30% acrylic. So that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Like, why are you paying $200 for an acrylic sweater? You should be paying $200 for a sweater from cost that is 100% wool. Or you can pay $250 for a sweater from cost that is100% cashmere. Why would you spend that same amount of money on acrylic? So when it comes to buying high quality items, it's really looking at the material composition. So natural materials are like 100% cotton, 100% wool, 100% cashmere. Great places to do that at our cost. J. Crew. Certain items from Aritzia, certain items from, like an Abercrombie, certain items from Ceson. The challenge is like, there's not one store that does everything perfectly. It's like individual items you have to pay attention to. But if you were to go and look at the tags on all of your clothes, even things you've spent a lot of money on, it's very, very likely that those items have these synthetic materials in them. And that is what keeps them from maintaining shape, wearing long season over season over season, and looking really cheap or low quality after a couple of washes. So that's something that, like, immediately you should be paying attention to with any sort of clothing purchase going forward and also cost per wear. So something that I, and I don't calculate that, but I think about the items that I'm going to be splurging on are items that I'm getting a certain specific type of wear out of. So sweaters, like, I'm wearing those often, but they're not getting beat into the ground. Usually if I'm wearing a sweater, it's like, you know, I'm either going out if I'm staying at home. I have certain sweaters for staying at home. But for a T shirt, for example, I'm not going to spend $100 on a white T shirt. A, because T shirts that are 100% cotton shouldn't cost $100, but B, because I'm wearing a white T shirt all the time. So since it's such a high wear item, even if it's 100% cotton, it's going to get worn down. Those are things that I know I'm going to be per repurchasing year over year over year. So I'll spend $30 on a white T shirt because realistically, if I were to spend $100 on a white T shirt next year, I have to get a new one anyways because it's going to be stained. Like, it's just really thinking about how frequently you're wearing items where you're wearing those items. Are they classic pieces that will or will not be going out of style? Like, there are a lot of factors to it, but at the end of the day, I think material composition is the very first, very, very first thing you should look at.
- [21:21]
Courtney Johnson
I'll throw out a shout out to one of my favorite stores. It's called Buck Mason. It's.
- [21:26]
Mikayla
Oh, I love Buck Mason. I never think of it though, because they only have. They have one physical store in L. A and it's on Abbot Kinney and like the vibes are off when you go in there. But I followed them on Instagram and like, I love the whole aesthetic of Buck Mason.
- [21:43]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, everything is 100% linen, cotton, wool or cashmere. And it's really reasonable prices. Like, you know, $200 for a sweater, $100 for a pair of pants that are 100% cotton. It's like $40 for a white T shirt. Like really reasonable prices. Definitely going to last a long time. Like most of my wardrobe is Buck Mason. I love them so much.
- [22:05]
Mikayla
Yeah. The thing about natural materials is that they aren't necessarily going to be like, they're not always going to be more expensive. The only natural materials that are always going to be a little bit pricier are going to be like the cashmeres and the wools and like, those are generally higher ticket items anyways for sweaters. Like, you know, if you're going to buy a nice sweater, it's going to cost more than $100. And I think people are willing to spend that money. You just want to make sure you're spending that money on something that's actually truly high quality and not just being posed as high quality from a brand that's considered to be luxe. That's not like an Aritzia or like a saison. Like, those stores have good things, but I would say probably like 30% of the things in those stores are good, and the rest of it is same price but no good. So when you look at the material composition, let's say you're impulse buying something and you're like, oh, I really shouldn't buy this immediately. Look at the material composition. I bet you that will just eliminate the need or desire to have it because it's probably made out of acrylic.
- [23:09]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah. Also, if you like. One thing I wish I would have known earlier, especially in my career when I was making very little money and shopping at Forever 21, entirely plastic clothing was. You can find high quality clothing on resale shops. Like, like the real, real thread up, you know, poshmark, all of that. You can buy a, you know, $50 cashmere sweater. Maybe it won't necessarily be in the color exactly or the shape exactly you like, but you can find it. And I wish I would have gone that route rather than shopping at that fashion. When I was younger, I spent so.
- [23:44]
Mikayla
Much money on clothes that, like, I just wore once maybe, and never wore again. I don't really buy, like, trendy quote unquote clothes anymore. Like, I buy classic things. I think part of it too. Reaching your late 20s, your brain's fully developed, you're thinking about your age a little bit more, and like, is this appropriate? And so I feel like that has sort of impacted my style a lot. But there are plenty of stores too, like you mentioned, where you can buy a hundred percent. I mean, maybe not always 100 cashmere, but like a hundred percent cotton. J. Crew was great. 100 cotton sweaters, Everlane. I recently got a few things from Everlane that have, like, completely blown my mind. Everlane has really great priced, high quality pieces, which I did not know. So I'm excited to have found some new stores. But yeah, you can definitely find things that are more reasonably priced. It's just a matter of looking at the material comp before you buy something, which nobody does.
- [24:43]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, that's important. Also, there's health risks for wearing too much polyester, especially near your genitals. So go check your underwear, ladies, and make sure it's not made of entirely plastic. I have one more random shopping cheat code before we get into career cheat codes, and that is to shop at your farmer's market. I don't know if you do this too, Michaela, but it is just so much more special and, I don't know, just unlocks A new level of like shopping mindfulness, because you're seeing the people that are creating or growing or nurturing your food or items. And it actually might cost a little bit more. In some places it can be cost prohibitive. But for me, what shopping at my farmer's market has done is like open up a new level of buyer consciousness. Is this something you do or encourage people to do?
- [25:33]
Mikayla
Yeah, 100%. So luckily, like having lived in LA now for a couple of years, like the farmers market culture here is, I think, part of the culture of the city. Like, there's farmers markets every Saturday, every Sunday, all over town. And so I don't buy everything from the farmer's market, but I do buy a lot of produce from the farmer's market and then like small specialty items. So, like I have an olive oil guy, I have a hummus and dip guy, I have a guy where I buy dates. And it's just really nice to go back to the same places and sort of have those relationships with the vendors. I have a vegan cheese lady that I like to go to. Like, I'm going to miss all of these when I move. But it does sort of like add in that layer of romanticizing the mundane things about life, which I think just sort of elevates everything that you're doing. And you know, you're going to the farmer's market and you're cotton sweater and you're feeling really good and you're like, okay, I'm making choices that are elevating me as a person. Not only in my appearance and how I dress and how I present myself, but also like how I feel my body and the choices that I'm making of bringing things into the home. That's something I feel like really strongly about is high quality food. Like, I do the majority of my shopping at Whole Foods. And I do think that people think that shopping at higher quality grocers is significantly more expensive. And there are things that are, but it's not as expensive as you would think. Especially because the cost of just regular grocery stores have gotten so outrageous. It makes these other stores feel normal. But I spend the same if I go to Whole Foods versus Trader Joe's. And I feel like when I go to Whole Foods, I make much more intentional choices because I don't feel like things are being thrown in my face the same way as they are at other stores. So, so, so, like little things you can do.
- [27:16]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, that's such a good tip. Especially. Yeah, now that groceries are expensive. Also shopping season, guys Shopping season makes things cheaper. Before we get into career, I'm curious, what things have you done that have you spent money on to invest in yourself that you feel like have paid off in your personal development or career? Has that been, like, courses? Have you worked with coaches? Has that been in your own health and fitness, like mindfulness? What are some things that you've invested in that you're really proud of and you would encourage other people, especially people maybe in their early twenties, to invest in?
- [27:51]
Mikayla
Yeah. So in terms of courses, the only courses that I've really bought, besides yours, so I did the LinkedIn accelerator, which was so helpful for me, was also Justin Welsh's LinkedIn course. He has two courses. He has the content course and the LinkedIn course, both of which I've bought and taken and have been super, super impressed with. So those are all the courses that I've done. I. I used to be more of like a serial course person, but I found that I didn't ever go back and revisit the content. So those are the ones that I think are the most worth it for, like, personal branding, career in general. In terms of items that have sort of, like, elevated my life, I have so many of them. So I'll share some of my, like, top ones first being my espresso machine. So, like, something that, when we're thinking about value categories, like, something that's really important to me is my morning. I know some people are like tea matcha people. I am not one of those. I am a coffee person through and through. And I like really, really, really dark, strong coffee. And if my coffee's not made correctly, it literally ruins my entire day. Like, it has to be how I like it. And so in order to solve that problem, I took it into my own hands. I invested in a setup. I buy the beans that are a little bit more expensive at a coffee shop here in LA that I like and, you know, I spend the money on that and it sets me up for a productive day. It makes me feel good. And I think those things are really, really important to spend money on in terms of, like, appearance. I think investing in your appearance is. It sounds vain, but it is essential because we are visual being. So your appearance really is like your first impression towards a new person, whether you like it or not. And that doesn't mean that I'm dressing up every day because I'm super, super not. And if you were to look at my social media, like, I'm definitely not dressed or presenting myself the best every single time. But I have made intentional choices to like, help with my skin care and to take care of my hair and to be physically fit. So I spend money on Pilates classes. I go to Pilates three times a week. I have a red light face mask, so I use that every single day. I have a whole body care routine. I've invested a lot of money in my skin care so that my skin stays clear and healthy and youthful. I invest in my groceries, I have a juicer. Like, I do things to take care of myself so that I'm presenting myself in the things that I can control in the best way. When it comes to clothes, like, I've started to invest a little bit more money in those higher quality items. I'm looking at the material composition, I'm buying things that look nice. And I think that's a big thing that I learned living in LA specifically is appearance here is really important. And it wasn't something that I ever took seriously before moving here just because I didn't really think about it. And you know, you can take it to an extreme, of course, where it becomes very, very vain and not productive to you or anyone else around you. But if you go out and about in the city of Los Angeles, you're going out to dinner, like, people look nice, they're dressed, they have nice items, like, they take their appearance seriously. And it really does make a difference in how you're perceived, what people think about you. And that is to a degree important if you want to, you know, build a personal brand online, if you want to progress your career in real life, like, your appearance does matter.
- [31:13]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, that is a hard truth, but it is true. And I think that also comes down to what's important to you. It's for some people, maybe they feel really good when their nails are done all the time. Maybe for some people they feel really good when they have their eyebrows trimmed nicely. Like, whatever it is for you, figure out what you value. And yeah, one thing I think is important to consider too is no matter where you are at your income stage or progress, you can always invest your time. And when it comes to personal appearance, fitness, learning, career development, self development, you have YouTube, you have podcasts, you have social media. Like, you can curate the attention and the time that you put on things as an investment. So let's say maybe you don't have the money for a Pilates class or to take a self development course or something. You have a library, right? You have YouTube University, you have free workouts online. And that is super, super important too. We're not just thinking about investing your money. Think about investing your time.
- [32:17]
Mikayla
I do a lot of at home Pilates workouts that are either totally free or inexpensive. So. So I think there's just so many things you can do that are not expensive, that do elevate your entire life and they can elevate your appearance. And I do think a lot of, a lot of appearance based things. Obviously there's the expensive tools and stuff that you can use, but the things that have made the biggest difference for me have been taking the extra 10 minutes to put lotion on when I get out of the shower or, you know, taking the extra 10 minutes to style my hair in the morning and put on a little bit of blush and brush out my eyebrows. Like, that's not expensive. I'm just using the stuff that I already have. And I'm not like a high end makeup skincare person, but I do spend the time to do those things. And not only does it make you look better, but you feel better, so you show up differently. And I think that's also like a really important aspect of it.
- [33:11]
Courtney Johnson
So true. I love that. Okay, we have cheat code number four. This one is also another little slap in the face. Your dream job does not exist. Michaela, why does your dream job not exist? This is hard to hear.
- [33:25]
Mikayla
Yeah, yeah. This was a lesson that I learned working corporate and then coming into working, like a more freelance creator based role. So in my early 20s, I associated a lot of my identity with my job and like my career and I worked in finance and I was like the girl who works in finance. Like it was an identity thing for me. I felt smart, I felt important, and I thought that I was being perceived in that way and that can be a really hard thing to let go of. And I thought, you know, I was in this job, I really didn't like it. So I was like, oh, if I get a new job, like that will solve all the problems in my life. Right? Like, I hate my job. I'm spending a lot of time during my day at a place that I don't like to be at. A new job will solve that. And then, you know, I got a new job. I didn't really like it still. And I'm like, okay, this didn't solve my problems. Like, I still hate my life and I, I clearly still hate myself. And so then I got another new job and I noticed the same sort of trend. And that's when I really started to think like, okay, my job is not something that's going to help me develop necessarily as like my own person outside of my career. And I think that was a big turning point for me where I'm like, okay, a job is a job is a job and my job pays my bills. And the goal is that I, I'm liking what I'm doing and I'm liking the people that I'm working with, obviously, but this isn't going to solve all of my life problems and I can't treat it like it's going to. And that is really where I came to this conclusion of like, okay, I, I was in what I thought was my dream job. And what I realized is like, it's literally like it's just a job. It is nothing more than that. And it was a hard thing for me to come to. And then I think the biggest transformation for me did happen when I decided to quit that job because. And pursue break your budget as a full time thing. Because then I went from being the girl who works in finance to being the girl who quit her job to become an influencer. And that was a really difficult identity transformation for me. And it was very important for me to look at work in earning money for what it is, which is just a means to an end for me to pay my bills, for me to create this financial security for myself. And like, there are aspects of it obviously that I really enjoy. But learning how to separate my identity from that has helped a lot with learning how to like, like myself and like the person that I am and develop my personal life too, which in my opinion is more important than liking your job. Your job is really important, obviously, because you have to earn money. But if you don't like who you are, then what do you have if you also hate your job? So yeah, your dream job doesn't exist. And I think eliminating the idea that you're ever going to find a dream job just makes navigating your career and navigating the workplace and the uncertainties of work a lot easier.
- [36:16]
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, that's really, really powerful. I think it's so powerful that you're talking about the identity and the identities that we take on and how that shapes our behavior. Because that's really important. That is everything like that is how you step into any version of who you want to be is by first owning the identity or letting go of a previous identity that you don't want to keep. Well, speaking of job success and career success, we have our last cheat code, Cheat code number five. And this one is so good. I've used this so many times. This is like the straight shot to getting a promotion and that is task tracking. What is task tracking and how do you task track at work and what.
- [36:56]
Mikayla
Does it lead to? Yeah, so this is another thing that I feel so incredibly passionate about. So task tracking, it's Ashley. So I have this system, it's called the task management system and there's a couple of different layers to it, but at its core it is task tracking what you're working on at your job, whether you are self employed or you work for someone else. And basically what it means is every week and every day you're spending like five to 10 minutes either in the morning or in the afternoon writing out not only the tasks and projects that you're working on. And you can go as granular or high level as you want. You know, I get a lot of pushback on this. It's like if you have time to do this, then you don't have enough work to do. You can just write down like today I worked on email strategy. It doesn't have to be super, super, super granular. But for every single thing that you're writing down, every project, every communication, you're also writing down the value add of that work. And what this does is it really helps you audit your day to day workflow of like, am I working on things at my job that are moving the company or the business or the team forward, or am I spending 75% of my time on busy work that like doesn't impact or value or provide value to anyone? So that's a big layer of it. The other layer of it is you can really audit what you're doing and see what you do and don't like, which is super important. And then you can also take time to ask for feedback, follow ups, closing loops on things so that you're not missing anything. Basically the whole purpose of it is to create a big repository year over year, month over month where you have all of the stuff that you've been doing, all of the value that you've created that you can then use and leverage during important career conversations like year end performance reviews, interviewing for new jobs, updating your resume. It's all super important and it's all interconnected. And so if you have this list of stuff that you've worked on, where you've thought about, okay, you know, I worked on this project and it drove XYZ amount of business for the company. I presented in front of these five people and you are trying to update your resume and see what did I do with this job and how is it aligned with this other job that I'm applying for? That information is readily available. And then if you are interviewing something I recommend everyone does is create what's called an interview Rolodex, which in practice is just a big Google sheet with a bunch of behavioral or industry specific interview questions where you are pulling from your task management system and adding in examples of projects and work and experience that are related to those questions that you are, you know, familiar with. So when you're sitting in an interview and you get thrown like a curveball question, you can just flip through your Rolodex in your brain and have an answer and be really confident in that. And it makes such a big difference in showing up and being again, super confident in yourself and your experience during a very intimidating process. And so I always get so much flack when I talk about task tracking because I think people think that task tracking is something that you do to show your employer that you're doing work, which is just not at all what it is. It's a tool for you to use for yourself to advocate during different periods of your career. And it boils back to like the theme of all of my content in my books, own your money and own your career, is that the onus of driving your financials, driving your career and driving your life forward falls on you. And you know, I think a lot of us like to blame external factors. And there's always going to be things that get in the way of you getting to where you want to be that are outside of your control, but those things are outside of your control. And so you can complain about it, or you can focus on the things that you can control and actually do something about it and move your life forward. And that's what I always want people to remember. And I think that's something that task tracking really does that's so powerful.
- [41:03]
Courtney Johnson
One other thing that I've used task tracking for too is when you feel like you have too much on your plate, you have a really clear view of what you're working on and you can bring that to your manager, your boss, saying, hey, how do I prioritize this new project or this task with all of these things? Because I'm feeling really maxed out. Let's see how these map back to the company goals. Let's see if anything can be dropped. Let's see if you know how to reprioritize rather than just taking it and getting overwhelmed. I also love that you bring up the interview questions. Because, guys, interview questions are the same. I've interviewed and recruited and hired so many people throughout my career. And do you know what I was doing five minutes before the interview? Googling interview questions, marketing interview questions. Like, everyone asks the same questions. You can have a pretty good idea of how to answer. And interviewing is a skill. Like, it's not something you're good or bad at. It is a skill that you can practice. So I think that is so important.
- [42:04]
Mikayla
Yeah. And I think, again, all of that just ties back to that whole concept, talking to your manager, of owning your career. If you don't have the information there, how are you possibly going to advocate for yourself? All it is is a place for you to gather information in a way that's going to be effective for you to leverage when you need it. And, you know, is it going to prevent you from getting laid off? Probably not. Is it going to be the ticket for you to get a new job? Probably not. But it's definitely going to help you get your foot in the door and put your best foot forward, which at the end of the day, is all you can do. Like, you can't control the outcome of things.
- [42:41]
Courtney Johnson
Absolutely. Well, thank you, Michaela, for coming on the show. Thank you for imparting all of your finance career wisdom. How can people find your book and where can they find you and follow you?
- [42:53]
Mikayla
Yeah, so my book is available anywhere you buy books. So Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target books, a million. They're own your career and own your money. You can also get them on my website if you just go to breakyourbudget.com book, it will link you out to everywhere you need to be. And you can find me on socials everywhere at break your budget. One word. And I do have a podcast, too. It's called don't depend on Daddy. Courtney was on it, so you should listen to that episode. And, yeah, that's available anywhere you stream and also on YouTube.
- [43:23]
Courtney Johnson
Amazing. Thank you, Mikayla. Okay, y'all, if you like this episode, you would love, love my Patreon. Okay? You get exclusive access to me, exclusive content, tons of other resources, and a lot of juicy shit. Okay? So I hope to see you on my Patre.
- [43:44]
Mikayla
Sa.