Gian Saunders | Fierce Female Financier | Financial Olivia Pope| Money Dr.

This next guest that I have in the building is simply phenomenal. I believe this is another lovely connection from Xtina. I'm going to have to do some special for Xtina because she has sent me some amazing guests. Gian Saunders was born in Mesa, Arizona and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska. She had an intriguing story when I first got to meet her. She's passionate about financial literacy, but she's also an artist. You will know a little bit about how her transition into the financial industry came to be. She's dedicated to growing our knowledge, especially within our community of finance, so we can live a better tomorrow. Generational wealth is her thing and it's not talked about enough.

I remember her telling me one of her favorite quotes was from Harriet Tubman when she said, "I would have freed more slaves if they had only known they were slaves." That holds true to her. She would have helped more people achieve financial literacy and generational wealth if only they knew that they needed this information to build wealth. I hope I can help and assist wherever I can in that journey. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Gian Saunders.

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How did we get connected?

It's through Christina Geri or Xtina. It's this young woman. We connected over Zoom. I love her energy so much and that was the first thing I saw about her. Me and my fiancé were like, “Who is this girl?” I'm like, “I love her.” We connected and she was the first person that I talked to and still the only person I talked to on Zoom on a personal note for over 1 hour and 30 minutes.

That's Xtina. We were in the same RISE Leadership Program. She wasn't even my cohort, but I connected with her at an event and that's when our conversations started. It's like yours. I was like, “I like her.”

It's so true. It's all these little simple things that I've learned like, “Real recognizes real.” That's a real statement. You can see and feel other people's energy, especially when you're more in tune with yourself. When you see and feel those individuals, that's not by happenstance. That's a connection. That's rare. I came up with this quote years ago and I'm going to put it on my tombstone, “Realize your greatness and understand your uniqueness.” I believe truly that when we all realize how amazing and great we are and how unique each of us individually, that's our superpower.

We're unstoppable at that moment. You also had said something else I love. You said, “There's enough at the top for everyone. There's enough room for everyone.” That's something that I preach too. People come from a place of scarcity so much that they feel like me or think about themselves and can't think about its abundance. There's so much in this world that we can all have enough and more than enough to go around.

I see why she introduced us. It's because of that mindset of abundance. That's what I preach to the people. When you get out of a mindset of scarcity, you realize that there are enough resources on this God-given Earth for everybody to succeed and be successful. There's no such thing as scarcity.

God says there's enough. He watches the feathers on the heads of the birds. He feeds them every single day. We're more important than the birds.

This is going to be a good episode. I can see it already.

I'm excited.

Welcome to this episode of the show. I got my girl Gian here. She was introduced to me by Xtina. You heard me talk about Xtina on the show plenty of times. She's a gem. Gian, welcome. How are you?

Thank you. I'm feeling great. There are no complaints here. I woke up ready to meet you and I'm so blessed to be on your show. Thank you. I'm feeling fantastic.

How did you get connected with me? I know it was through Xtina, but how did you meet Xtina? Tell me that story.

I love to network. Let me start by saying that. I love to meet people. I don't know where we lost that ability to meet new individuals and bring new people into our lives. I love to network and because of my business, I'm more so forced to, but I love it. I was searching around for different Zooms and meetings. I've been connected with Roosevelt Williams for a long time of Young Black & N' Business out here in San Diego, California.

I love Roosevelt. His energy is contagious. I remember the first time I met him. He was talking about, “I saved your soul.” I was like, “What is he talking about? Are you talking about the shoes? Are you talking about me?”

He is funny. I love it when I can see what people are going to look like when they're older. He's going to be hilarious when he's an older man. I've been connected with him for a long time. There was a Zoom meeting for the magazine and that's when I met Christina on the Zoom call. I had personally messaged her because her energy was so infectious. One thing I noticed about her is not only did she have a beautiful shaved head on the side, but she also looks like a boss. When you see someone that has that persona or energy, she looks like, “You can come to tell me however you feel, but I also don't care. I'm going to respectively tell you I don't care in the nicest and kindest way.”

That's the type of woman she looks like. She was on a chair, but she was sitting with her legs crossed up. You don't hop on Zoom calls and see that often. I'm like, “This woman knows who she is. I have to meet her.” We connected and talked on a Zoom call for 1 hour and 45 minutes about everything. Since meeting her, we did a meditation day together. I invited her out. She came over to my girlfriend's house. We did this thing called the RASHA. I don't know if anybody has ever heard of it. It helps you amplify your meditation.

What is that? I heard of Reiki, but I haven't heard of RASHA.

I don't want to say it's complicated and I'm going to try not to complicate it. It's through sound waves. You can cure or heal things through sound waves. It's the same thing. It's vibrational energy, but it's on a scalar device. There are crystals and scalar energy being radiated on a higher level through sound waves. That's the best way for me to explain it. It's like meditation.

I have to tell Xtina. She hasn’t to educate me on this one. She knows I love all this stuff.

We have crystals. We did a whole meditation and it felt so amazing. It's being able to share that type of level of love and going on an inner journey with self together with someone like that. We're already best friends. I love this woman and I've known her for a month and a half.

It feels like you've known her for life. That's what I told her. She's my kindred sister. We don't even talk about surface-level stuff. We talk about some deep stuff. We go from 0 to 60 real quick.

I love those conversations. They're rare. You can't have those conversations with everyone, unfortunately.

Tell me, who is Gian? We will get into the business, but who are you? Tell the people about who you are.

Let me start with where I'm from originally. I'm from Nebraska. There are Black people out there. Everybody always asks me, “Are there Black people out there?” Yes, there are. Omaha is mainly where the majority of our color is, but I'm from Lincoln, Nebraska. I was raised in a large family. My grandmother had ten children. I grew up around my cousins, who were all boys. I grew up a tomboy. I loved being rough and playing in the dirt. I hated the color pink. As you grow, you change a little bit.

Tying some pieces into the business, I heard a lot of things growing up that a lot of us heard growing up too like, “Money isn't everything. Money is the root of all evil. Money can't buy you happiness. Money doesn't grow on trees.” Also, I grew up in the church and it almost seemed as though wealthy people were bad. Nobody said that outwardly but it was like, “If you have a lot, you're greedy.” That's the connotation that I picked up on.

Growing up in a large family, all of them had small mindsets and maybe it was the state I was in. I realized that myself. Maybe it wasn't the state I was in. It was the mental state I was in where I wasn't feeling abundant. I didn't feel like I could grow. I lived in Nebraska up until my divorce. I was overworked and underpaid at my job and in my relationships, so I quit. That was one of the hardest things for me to do because that was my best friend.

You had to change that state.

When you don't know who you are and you don't love yourself, there is no possible way you could love someone else. For both of us, my ex-husband and I, he's a wonderful man, so there are no bad feelings or anything. When you both don't love and know who you are, you cannot love someone else. I wasn't putting God first. In my life, I realized now that personally, you have to. I wasn't putting God first. I was putting so many other things before, including my husband. That's also why none of those lasted. After working for the business for five years, I worked for the National Gallup Poll. They gave me a raise of $0.75 and I was disgusted. I worked my butt off for five years with that organization.

I brought them a lot of individuals and I worked hard for them. I didn't see my life there. I looked at some of the older individuals and I realized that's not where I want to be. A lot of people need to take that time to locate. Right now, where I'm at, if I look at who has this lifestyle, is that where I want to be in the next few years? That was not it for me. I packed up, left my job, and moved. I packed up and drove all the way out to Florida because I thought it was going to be hot, sunny and beaches. I realized it was monsoons and lizards. I'm like, “Florida isn't it.” I packed up and drove clear across from Florida all the way to California.

I don't even know how my little Chevy Malibu did that, but I drove and picked up my mom on the way because I was about to pass. I did it. God is good. I moved out here with no goals or a plan whatsoever. Do you know what's crazy? I had a lot of family members and friends get so scared for me that they got upset with me. They projected so much of their fears trying to protect me that they got angry. I had people get mad at me. They're like, “That was so stupid. That's the dumbest decision.” I'm like, “This is what I'm choosing to do with my life.” I wanted more. I wanted a challenge. I want sun. I hate cold weather. I cannot do cold weather. I want change.

I'm a tropical person too.

I remember coming outside one day and the wind chill was negative 15 and it was negative 32 already. The wind slapped me in the face and I got to trudge to my car. I was done. That was not it for me. After I moved out to California, I realized very quickly how important money was. You need money to survive. My rent in Nebraska was $480 for a place that was about the size of a home. You can't come to California, get a parking space or a Harry Potter closet for $480. After my divorce, I'm 26. I moved out here.

I realized the price of living is so expensive, but I've been lying to myself since I've been here that it's not expensive. When people say, “It's so expensive.” I'm like, “Just make more.” I've been lying to myself as well because I don't want to believe that it's expensive. I moved my mom out here and that was a difficult decision for me. It put me in financial hardship because I was not ready to retire my mom but I was passionately ready to retire my mom and I made it work.

Since then, things have been rocking and rolling. Who am I now? I'm engaged and I'm loving my man. This man is so fantastic. I've met my best friend. I know it's weird, but I feel like we're twins. He's so like me that we connect so well. I've been living out in San Diego and working with my business. I run Elevate Financial with my fiancé. We are backed by an organization called Transamerica Financial Advisors. I love what I do. I'm so passionate about it. I never thought I was going to get involved in finance because I am an artist.

I did special effects, makeup and body paint when I moved out here. That was the company I ran. Coming from the wild world, I talked to Xtina and we were talking about if we could frolic in the woods with fairy wings, glitter and bubbles all around. That's what we would do. We have to work hard until we can get to that point. As an artist, I'm a free spirit. Coming into a business like finances was a big mental change for me. There's a lot that had to change. My biggest thing is, “How much value can I bring to the world? How much love can I give to the world? How can I be a better person every single day?”

You brought a ton of value already from that story.

Thank you.

When she said changing her state, there's something that I resonated with you and your story. Not only did I change my state too, I grew up in the hood of Washington, DC, but I also changed my mental state. I changed both physical and mental locations to get to the person I'm at now. There's a lot of value that she put in there when she said that because once you get around folks that think differently from you, you start to see the world differently from where you were, which creates growth no matter what it looks like.

Hopefully, you get positive growth, but it creates growth either way. One thing that I'm capturing is the change from being an artist to going into the finance world. That's another growth transaction right there. How does an artist begin to work in a financial world and still be whole and use her gifts so that she does not feel boxed, enclosed in or has to be a different person?

I knew who I was before this business, but we're always changing, growing and evolving. When you know who you are, you love what you do and you're passionate about it already, it's difficult to change and be passionate about something else. As an artist, finances and money are important. It came to me where there's a question almost every day, “Do you put food on the table or do you put gas in your car?” There are times of struggle. It comes to a point where you hit ground zero or the floor. You can't fall off the floor. That's the best part. You have to realize, “I could keep pursuing what I love to do, which is my art.” I did my tattoo. Even in the financial industry, tattoos are something. That's a little elephant. I'm a big elephant.

What does it represent?

That goes into a whole story. It has a meaning. I love tattoos, drawing and painting on bodies. I'm painting on naked women or men. That was a big change mentally for me and I don't think a lot of people realize that. You said it perfectly, boxed. I almost did feel boxed, but I had to shift, adjust and change so that the financial industry works for me and I didn't work for it. The company I work with is so diverse and it's a new type of financial firm. I am a minority woman. At the time I started, I was 26 years old. I was a Black woman with no financial education. I did not graduate with a college degree and a financial degree.

I did not have any financial background or education prior to this business. Me being a “regular” person, getting this extraordinary opportunity is a blessing in itself. God is so good that he allowed me to go through everything I did in my life and then somehow found this business or it found me. Was I planning on getting in finances? Absolutely not. The woman who tried to get me in the business went after me for six months. I told her no for six months until she said something that stuck with me. I will never forget what she said because it hurt, but it was real.

What did she say?

She said, “You're too busy being broke to start being wealthy.” She was a good friend of mine. That's another great thing. Good friends don't hold back on things that they need to say to you. Good people in your life don't hold back on things that need to be said at the right time and the right moment. I'm glad she said it. Did it feel like the right time for me? No. Did it feel right moment for me? No, but it was what I needed to hear.

I'm so blessed because that made me get that shift of, “You are 26 years old. You don't even have $100 to your name. You're struggling to save money. You're living paycheck to paycheck.” How would any of you feel at 26 years old with not even $100 to your name? If some of you are in that situation, that's the time to change it. None of us should have less than $100 to our name, especially if we're over the age of 25.

I'm being real, especially if we're in California and have children, a family, people who rely on us, mortgage or bills. What the heck are we doing? It smacked me across the face and helped me realize, “You need to get your stuff together.” That's where the change happened. Me not feeling boxed in happened with me being creative. I'm a creative mind. I'm a winner. I'm going to figure this out regardless. I do DIY stuff around the house. I painted a fan black and gold. I do stuff around the house, and also this piece of artwork.

It looks like a piece of art.

That was me. I did that. It's this rug, my door and my house. We do things that help the creators. I can't be boxed in. I won't allow it. I bought roller skates. I keep pushing myself out of my comfort zone, so I don't feel like I'm doing the same thing every single day. Thank God my business again allows me to be in front of people and it changes every day. I'm in the financial industry. It's the most stuck-up industry and I work a lot. How do I have time to have fun and enjoy life? I have a blog about that. My fiancé and I released our blog on Valentine's Day about how two people that work all the time still have fun. How are they still artists? How are they still creative? How did they not kill each other? That's what our blog is about. I'm glad you asked that question and I'm sorry I went long-winded into it.

I love the story.

I'm a storyteller. It's about merging your creative self with the person you have to be to get where you need to go in life.

Another gift that you have that you didn't mention is your ability to tell stories. If you haven't figured that out already, but I'm pretty sure you have, it's going to make you great at your job no matter what job you go to. That's what has helped you elevate your career and life. It's that ability to communicate, tell stories and take people on a journey wherever they're at and meet them where they are to get them to where they need to be. I love that about you.

I truly appreciate that compliment. That makes my heart smile. Thank you.

I picked up on that early. I was like, “Whatever she's doing in life, she's going to be amazing at it if she continues this piece of her art.”

It's crazy. My ex-husband used to hate how I elaborated every story. I get it. Sometimes you just want a straight answer.

You're not going to be for everybody but be there for the people you need to be there for. I want to jump back real quick. One thing I used to get when I talk to people about changing their mindset, career shift and a lot of the things that can pop up with people in their limiting beliefs is that, “It's too late for me to start. I'm too young.” They don't know where to start. One question that I used to ask guests to help people realize it's not where you start, but it's where you go. I ask people, “What was your first job?” So they could see a relation to where this person started from, “What lessons did you learn from that first job as to where you know you're at now?” What was your first job? What are some lessons that you learned from that first job?

My first job was as a swimming instructor. I worked for a place called Larson Lifestyle Center. I was a teacher. Growing up, I always loved children. My mom was an educator as well. It was so amazing being able to be with these little babies. I worked with ages from 3 up to about 7 or 8. Sometimes I worked with older children. We will teach them swimming lessons. We do the little backstrokes and the dunking.

This is where that dark side of me comes out, but I've learned we should accept that dark side too and use it in a good way because it's part of us. There's always some little kid that you're like, “I can't wait.” There was a diving board. We always got permission at the beginning of the class like, “Your child, even if they freak out, is that okay?” We have to get them in the water and they're like, “That's perfectly fine.” We get to stand up on top of this diving board. If you can imagine having this kid and you want to smack them around. You get to throw them off the diving board and it's okay. They freak out and that is the best part. It sounds so terrible, but it was the best part of the business.

What I learned from that business is patience. In working with children, you have to be a patient person. Working with children in the water is different. They're more blunt and they could do more, so you got to watch them. It's being patient and diligent. Also, our manager always had us doing this crazy face. We didn't understand them as young adults, but the kids are teaching patients. When you work with children, they push you to your limit. Especially as a teacher, sometimes they don't want to listen. They teach you patience. Another thing that I didn't realize I was being taught was doing things without understanding why you have to do them and doing them with a glad heart.

Our manager would always have us do stuff that we didn't understand at the time. I started working at fifteen. She tells me to wipe down those little buoyant things that make the lanes in the water. She had us take scrubs and wipe those down. We were like, “Are you kidding me?” First off, we were wiping off people's body fat, which was disgusting. You have to scrape that off. She would ask us to wipe down the walls. It's like wax on wax off. I'm learning patience this entire time. Also, I learned how to do something and have a good time doing it no matter what. It's like how Mary Poppins taught us or is it to whistle while you work?

You have to have fun while you're doing stuff. Make things a game. That's what I got from Mary Poppins growing up, “In every job that must be done, there's a lesson to be won.” You learn things while you do things if you look for that silver lining. It's not necessarily being, “I'm happy all the time.” It's being in a state of happiness, even when you have to do tedious things. There are going to be things we have to do in life and they're going to take time. How are you going to be able to handle and do that? It taught me how to be a hard worker at a young age and how to respect my money too.

That's important. It hits different or you show up differently when you're in a state of gratitude versus if you're in that state of like, “I got to do this.” If you change the verbiage like saying instead of, “I have to do this,” that, “I get to do this. I choose to do this.” It's a state of empowerment and you get to feel more empowered, which is important.

If we're talking about changing the language in the conversation, especially around finances, there's a set belief that we've had in our community around finances that they're evil or that we have to do this to get the dough or the bread or chasing money and paychecks. I always tell people this line that I use, “Do what you love. Love what you do. Don't chase the money. Let the money chase you.” What I mean by that is that when you show up and say, “I get to do this. I choose to do this,” and you do it with love and compassion, you start to attract money in a different way than chasing money.

Here's one thing I learned and I didn't get this when I first heard it. They had a study where they took light particles and human DNA. The human DNA combines when placed inside the container with the light particles. We are supposed to attract energy and good things, but when you're coming from an attitude of scarcity or are not for abundance and other people and you go for yourself, you're repelling all good things, energy and light away from you. It's a state of mind. There's this quote that said, “If you do not get your mindset right and get positive about things, you're blocking your runway.” Your blessings cannot land if your mind is blocked.

I know you had somebody who was chasing you for six months. He jolted you and helped you elevate in your career, life, business and finance. Let's say there's somebody that's reading this that wants to elevate their life, career and business. They're interested in going down this finance route. Maybe they might be an artist, too or not. They are looking at your story. They feel inspired by it and they're trying to figure it out. How do they get into this field? What would you say?

Reach out to me.

That's step number one. Give them the blueprint. Let's say they're over somewhere in Africa because we got some readers in Africa and the UK. You might not be able to guide them from there. What steps would you tell yourself that you took to get into this career or would you tell somebody to take to get into this career and industry?

It's your environment. We have heard this many times, but your environment and who you hang around are going to attract or not attract your blessings. Getting into the financial industry is a mindset. It's a change in my lifestyle and my life. I wouldn’t have been able to do this business if it wasn't for the people around me. My vision was stretched being around new people and being uncomfortable. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Many people don't step out of their comfort zone and environments.

If you keep staying around and being around the same individuals, your lifestyle will be the same life. Oftentimes, we find these big revelations in the simplest things. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. It might be with a different person, but generally speaking, it's the same situation. If you keep doing the same thing, you're not going to get a different result. The environment is huge. Mentorship is another thing that goes hand in hand with your environment. If you have somebody that has done it before you and has been successful in it, wouldn't that make sense?

Jim Rohn said something so beautiful. He was saying, “You and I are on an airplane and you're the pilot. Why would I not listen to you?” You have been piloting for 45 years and you're teaching me to pilot. You say, “Press that little red button.” I'm like, “I don't think so. I'm going to not listen to you.” That's ignorant. Also, it's choosing to be stupid because ignorance and stupidity are different. You are now making the sound decision to choose to be ignorant and not listen to someone. Mentorship is so important.

That's why we have parents. Maybe some people don't have the best parents and structure, but you can look at it from the opposite way too, “I don't want this. I don't want to be like this. I can do this to change that.” It's mentorship and environment. Start reading and getting more knowledge everywhere. It is BS when people say, “I can't. I don't know.” Do you know how much I've learned on TikTok? I learned some stuff I should have known a long time ago from my dances. They're like, “Did you know this?” I'm like, “I did know that.” There's so much to YouTube university and books.

TikTok is getting financial literacy too. I've been seeing a couple of TikToks where people are doing, “Start your LLC or a family office.” I've seen those TikToks and I'm like, “TikTok is getting educational and deep too.”

I need to work with somebody to help me stay up on the latest TikTok trends. I want to be a part because I can do a little diddle. I'll do that and say, “Save your money.”

At that point, it's like, “Start your LLC here. Get your finances straight here.”

I started on Instagram. Every platform, especially if it's free, is a great way to get your information out there. What are we doing if we're not using platforms for our business? I'm trying to use not only Instagram but also TikTok as well as Twitter. I just got a Twitter, which is crazy. Going back to the question, there's information and gems in books. Somebody had said, “If you don't want a Black individual or person to know something, put it in a book.”

I had never heard that, but I'm going to open it up. If you don't want people to know anything, put it in a book. How many people do you know read? There's knowledge and wisdom inside the pages of books. If somebody has lived a whole life, 46 to 50 years of their life, and they put it in a book that you can read in 2 hours or 1 week, that's a mentorship lesson right there. It's the environment, mentorship and knowledge. Seek knowledge, be around good people and always come from an attitude of gratitude.

I believe that if you understand, you have willpower and a why. Focus on that. Money for me isn't everything, but I need money to buy everything. I need money to be able to hit my goals and dreams. Therefore, I need to make my own money and understand money. I want to control it, so it doesn't control me. That's why I got into finances. I saw my family doing the broke mindset and lifestyle. No offense to any of my family members. You're not living it the way I want to live it.

I'm not saying you are broke, but that's not my life. If you're making less than $300,000, that's not my life. I'm looking at $5 million. I'm looking at my net worth. This is what I wake up for and tell myself, “My net worth is $480 billion.” I bring $480 billion of value to this world. It's my vision, goals and also affirmations. Do you have your affirmations and goals written down? These are all things that go into the mindset of you getting to that next level.

You put so many gems in there. Let's start with the key thing that I want readers to pay attention to because they will hear money and know the negative relationship we sometimes have with money. She said something very important and that was she knew her why. When you start to know your why, the reason why you get up every day, whether it be for your family to provide a better life for you and your kids, leave a legacy or whatever it is.

When you change your relationship with money, it takes money to do some of those things at the end of the day. What you want to do is use money as a tool instead of having you be the tool. Use money, not people, but a lot of times, people use people and that money. It runs you to the ground and messes up your relationships, all for the love of money or your relationship with money.

A big thing is your money relationship. How good of a relationship do you have with money? I'm doing a summit coming up in March 2022 in the UK and the topic I'm speaking on is money relationships. Think about it. It's a relationship. I'm going to break this down. Every relationship, like your relationship with God, do you spend time with it? Do you give to it? Are you having that quality time? Your relationship with your spouse, do you give to it? Do you love that person? It's a relationship with knowledge. These are all relationships. How much are you giving to that relationship? When it comes to finances, most of us don't even have a relationship with our money. We don't even think and care about it. We don't talk about it. It's still taboo.

I hope I ruffle some feathers with this. When you are scared to talk about your money, you're still talking from a scarcity mindset, “I can't talk about how much I make annually?” Who cares? What are we going to do with that information? People feel like it's taboo because you're talking with people who are broke most of the time. Wealthy people talk about their money all the time. They will let you know what their last deposit is and what their net worth is. Also, sometimes it depends on who they're talking to. They're not going to go explain like, “I have all this stuff,” because they're not bragging. When you're having a conversation about money and it's a business talk, it's not, “I can't.”

Money is the cheat code. We've talked about money, finding your why, knowing yourself and elevate. I don't just mean the business but also your life and career. We got to see some transitions that you went through in life. You've done a lot of transitioning and went through a lot of different things in life that taught you some lessons. What's one good lesson life has taught you?

Keep it simple. That's the biggest thing I've learned. Look for the simplest things and everything is so much easier. Life is not meant to be hard. Someone had said, “Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream.” That's a simple statement right there. You're supposed to be rowing your boat gently down the stream, not rowing against the current, going up the hill and exhausting yourself trying to force things to happen. Work hard. Don't be lazy, but nothing is supposed to be that hard where you're mentally drained. There's a different type of work and work hard. People get those confused.

When you have to work hard for your business, hustle and be ambitious for your family and yourself, that's different. When something is not working and you're still constantly trying to make it work, that's you going against life and not allowing God to do his work and that beautiful thing that we already naturally have inside us to let everything fall into place. If we’ve noticed everything that we had an issue with, a struggle or a problem with in the past, we got over it and we're here now. We have always got over it.

When we couldn't get our rent, “We're about to get kicked out.” I've been there. “I don't have any food. I'm overweight. I'm not going to make the cut.” You do or you don't. It's one or the other, but you're still here. You're alive. It is your attitude of gratitude that's going to keep you getting to that next level. The biggest thing is keeping it simple, learning and listening. We have 2 ears and 1 mouth. We should listen twice as much as we speak. That's something I'm working on. I love to talk, but I want to learn more.

What is some advice you would give to an artist who's reading this and saying, “My artistry is not doing what it needs to be? It's not where I would like it to be, but I love everything that Gian is saying. I want to pivot and bring something else that allows me to be successful financially so that I can be the artist that I want to be in this life." What advice would you give to someone who would like to start a career in another industry that is an artist at heart, whether it be the financial industry or any industry?

Your passion isn't always going to be what gives you the income that you need. Your passion will not always be able to pay your bills, so you're going to have to make some sacrifices. There's a great song by Big Sean. It's called Sacrifices. You have to make sacrifices. Don't you think I want to be rollerblading, eating food, running out the beach, laughing with babies and running around with dogs all day? Absolutely. Do I want to paint bodies, hang out with my fiancé and spend time with my mom and family? Absolutely but I'm making sacrifices now for a greater future tomorrow.

I'm so goofy. I used to love Snapchat when it first came out. I used to make videos because I didn't care about views. I wanted to make videos for myself and my friends. I would be in the forest making a The Blair Witch Project reenactment. I'm like, “Let's jump off his trampoline and into the pool.” That's me. I love that. I never lose being a child. I've also learned why would we? We should always be excited and creative. That's where a lot of people come from anger and resentment because they don't allow themselves to still have that energy. Be excited, be creative and be the creative person you are.

Utilize your skills and make a sacrifice for a little while for the next 5 to 10 years and something that I don't want to see you hate. Don't do something you hate. Find something that can work with your passion. I never thought finance could work was my passion. I love helping people and the underserved community. Harriet Tubman has this quote, “I would have freed more slaves if they had only known they were slaves.” I'm the Harriet Tubman for our people. When I say our people, I don't mean my color. That's not what I mean. It's not that I don't see color. I hate when people say that.

I see color, but I see the person more so. I'm looking for people who think and act like me. My community is the people who want to get better. My community is the people who want to excel the levels of their lifestyle to another level for themselves and the future generation. Those are the people I'm talking about when I say, “My community and culture.” I want that to be clear. I'm going to have to start elaborating that a lot more because when I say, “My community,” people automatically think I mean the Black community, which I do, but I mean every other community as well.

We're all people and we all need help financially. Most of us are struggling financially too. We, as a community, need to build and grow together. Find something that works well for you and work in that. Find a passive source of income. If only I could shake the computer and slap people around through my way. Find a way to make an income for yourself where you don't rely on somebody else. Having your business or something where you make your own income is a necessity now. It's not a want. We need to get on making passive income. We should not be working so hard. Our money should be working hard for us.

That's why I got into finance, to be honest. If I could jump into any industry and work hard in it for ten years and then get wealthy, I would be there. There's no other business that I know of where there's a system in place. I got my license. I went to school for this business and I have a license in over nine states. This business has allowed an ordinary individual like myself to be in this extraordinary opportunity so I can excel in my future and life. Do I want to be in this business forever? I do because my life has changed. I love this business, what it stands for and my industry. It's fantastic.

If you have never heard of World Financial Group, that's the platform I used to have my business. I'm 1099. I'm contracted. I work with Transamerica Financial Advisors, but I'm also not limited. We work with only eight-plus providers, but I also have my own. It's my and my fiancé’s business. It's our business. I'm not WFG, Transamerica, or anybody except us. I'm Elevate Financial and I'm here to help the people. This business has allowed me to do that. I tried to run my own company. In getting your company, there's overhead. You have to pay your people and get your products.

If anybody has heard of Robert Kiyosaki's book, Cashflow Quadrant, most people will stay stuck as an employee and self-employed their entire lives. When you're self-employed, you bought yourself a job. That's what it is. We're trying to get to the business owner and investor side. I'm on the business owner's side. I will soon be on the investor side because I will not be working as hard in this industry or business. I would still be here and hustling, but it will be on my time and schedule. This business will work around my life. I hope I ruffle some feathers. You are still working to build other people's dreams and goals.

I was good at bringing other people money and helping other people get wealthy. I realized, “Screw that. I want to make money for myself and my family, not for somebody else.” I had to get something on my own and I tried to do it without someone else, but now there's mentorship and leadership. I'm not by myself. I have a strong support system and people that see my goals and dreams and push me. That's why it's so important to have that environment. Please, fight me on this. There is no other business as good as my business. I don't care what you say or do.

There's no other business that gives back to the people and does everything right to these people. We don't sell hair care products, makeup or glasses. We give concepts and financial education and literacy to the people that need it and deserve it. That's what I do. That's why I'm so passionate about it. It's because I was one of those people who would never get this knowledge or would never have gotten it if it wasn't for this business. If my mom and dad didn't know, where would I learn if the school systems, my job or college didn't teach me? It's through the school of hard knock life. That school is expensive.

You’re not teaching financial literacy anywhere in our communities. You would have to go pick up a book. There's Robert Kiyosaki. I love Rich Dad Poor Dad, a couple of other books he has written, and some authors he speaks with or hangs out with, like the Tony Robbins of the world. There's a lot of knowledge in that. I love what you alluded to with building wealth for yourself.

I often tell people, “If you could get to a point where you're not trading time for money, that's when you know you've made it. It's when you've become not only a wealth builder for yourself but also other people.” You're investing in other people's time and talents. What do you think the future has in store for your industry? I see elevation coming out, but what do you think?

We changed our name 40 times. It's like, “I heard you dropped Elevate a couple of times.” I'm like, “Yes.” Shout-out to Drake. There's a song called Elevate. I'm like, “I'm going to ask him to work together on that.” First of all, the future of finance is email. Let me shout out all the women and ladies out there. I'm not a feminist, but maybe I am. I'm letting all the women know that this is our time in the financial industry. If you're a woman, you're like, “I don't know.” A lot of women and men have gone through this. When you get separated from somebody and you don't understand your finances, you start over all over again. It's nice to be able to know these things for yourself.

For my industry, I do know that we have had a lot of conferences about how the future of finance is female. There has been so much change going on in this world. COVID came. This is all due respect to everyone who's having a struggle with this. I'm not happy for the people that have had some losses in their families. I know that this time has not been easy for some individuals. I get that. This is me saying this respectfully. For me, 2020 was the best year of my life. Our business exploded. More people are knocking on our doors because we have been preaching and teaching financial education, financial literacy, wealth, health, happiness and joy. They all go together hand in hand.

This is another big nugget I've realized. Until there's a crisis, most people don't move. It's until there's a big slap in the face or they're like, “My whole car got repoed. My house was taken away and my kids.” Why do we have to wait for something to happen like that for us to be like, “We need savings?” You have needed savings for a long time and needed life insurance this whole time. I don't know if people even fully know what I do. The financial industry is a broad subject. I'm an educator and a financial broker. I'm able to work with over 150 product providers and services. The main products I do, though, are long-term care, retirement, and life insurance because we're going to die. This is the circle of life. It's The Lion King.

Everybody is going to try to retire before they die. If you are not saving for your retirement, you are behind. If you didn't start saving years ago, technically, you're behind. We need an estimated $2.1 million in San Diego, California, to retire at age 65 and $1.6 million in North America. People think that you will be okay with $200,000, $400,000 or $500,000. You can't live with $200,000 in California. What makes you think with inflation and taxes in the next fifteen years that you're going to be able to retire? These are things that people don't get. It's these little simple concepts. There's retirement. Everyone is going to try to retire. There's long-term care. People typically get sick before they die.

I've worked with a lot of individuals who say, “I'll work until I die.” When you're 68, 69 or 72, first off, you don't know your health. If you keep eating Ho Hos and not working out, your health will be garbage. If you keep smoking those little eCigs, you will not be able to be the greeter at Walmart or work in your construction business. Your body is getting older. If we don't take care of our health now, how are we going to be working in our 70s and 80s? Also, do you want to work now? In the next 15 to 20 years, do you want to be doing the same thing you're doing now? I call everyone on their BS when they say, “I'll keep working.”

Here's a story. I came out to San Diego, California and I was a promoter for almost three years. I was promoted in Vegas, Miami, and out in San Diego. I was going home and I stopped at my friend's house. It was super early in the morning. It was 3:40. She has a gate before the gate to get in her place. She's very wealthy. At the first gate, there's this little old man. He's in his 90s. I asked him, “What are you doing working?” He looked at me with tears in his eyes. This little Black guy was like, “Every single day I wake up, I feel like I'm a burden to my daughter's life. She's married. She has three children and I cannot live on my own. My pension gives me $600 a month.” I'm like, “That's insane.”

Some of us are going to be working in our 70s, 80s and 90s because we have to and not because we want to. I know for a fact that's not going to be me. That story scares the crap out of me. I hope it scares some people to start saving and investing for themselves. It's the power of compound interest. If we do it young, we have more time. If we start when we're in our 35s and 40s, unfortunately, unless we have $1,000 to $2,000 to put away, we're not going to be making a dent. To be honest, being broke and not having scared me so I wanted to make sure. The future of our business is bright.

People are now realizing that they need to start doing these things that they should have been doing a long time ago. Also, since it's a trend now, everybody's like, “There's cryptocurrency and Bitcoin.” Everybody's trying to get stocks and stuff. You cannot sustain a family on that type of income. To the people that trade stocks and day trade, I'm so proud of you. What we do is much different. We work with guaranteed investments. I have a license to do what I do. I'm a financial professional. It's a different concept. Don't get tricked into saying, “I'm going into stocks,” thinking that you're doing finances. That's like me going up against LeBron James on the basketball court. I am not good at basketball. I'll get destroyed.

There are a lot of gems thrown there. The key one that I want to focus on is the different avenues in the finance industry. There's not only one route that you can go down. In our community, a lot of our folks don't realize the value of life insurance. I've lost too many loved ones in 2020 due to COVID, even some of the people that were educated and were around people like me. In my circle of friends, we all had life insurance policies.

It was surprising when I found out a friend of mine who passed away left his family and his mama all these financial bills because he didn't have any life insurance. We had to do a fish fry and GoFundMe to bury this man. I had a lot of emotions. We were like, “Why didn’t he have a life insurance policy? All of us got one. He's doing well. He graduated from a good school. He's around success and he didn't have this.” If you are reading this and you do not have a life insurance policy and have not even begun that talk, go and see somebody in the finance industry and start there.

Life insurance is not just about you when you die. It's also about starting up a piece of legacy for your family after you're gone. If you choose to, there are life insurance policies that you can use as annuities too to help you while you're living. That's a whole another education lesson. I'm not going to get into it because that's your lane. I don't want to take from that. I want them to call you and let you educate them on that. What projects are you working on? Where can people find you?

A massive project I’m working on is, “How many families can I help?” By help, I mean to educate. I'm so glad that you put that in there. Before I fully answer that, I did want to touch on exactly what Taryell said. If you have not talked to somebody about that, please do. Life insurance is so important. You hit the nail on the head. In 2020 alone, $330 million was saved on GoFundMe, specifically for funerals. Do you want your family doing a fish fry, cookout, bake sale, GoFundMe or carwash for you after you pass? When we pass, two things are going to happen. It's one or the other. Your family will be in a better or worse financial situation. There is no in-between. You don't break even. It's better or worse.

It's the most selfless thing you can do for your loved ones and yourself. Please contact me. The biggest thing that we're working on is getting our name out there, not for our gain. That's where a big switch came. I used to do a lot of things for myself. I'm a single child. I'm selfish sometimes. I don't mind saying that. It's now more, “How many people can I help and reach so that I can be around more individuals that I can serve?” I want to be a servant to everyone. This is going to be my callout. To anybody that needs help on anything financially, I can help you. Me and my fiancé are here for you, whether it be knowledge or sitting down. We sit down with people for free.

I don't know if you realize, but most financial educators or financial advisors charge you yearly or every time you visit them. I do not charge you to sit down with me, take time out of my schedule and teach you. I do not charge for that because that is what we're here for. If I can't bring you value, then there's no way I can help. If I can bring you value, we can help each other. That's the biggest project for me. Please come follow me on Instagram. Me and my fiancé have a lot of fun times on our Instagram,. We post information, little tidbits, financial knowledge, strategies and tips. We do little videos. I’m doing some of the little IGTV channel. I’m learning new dance moves. I realized I can't dance.

We will have to get you a TikTok account going to replace that Snapchat you lost.

I have no videos on there. My Instagram name is @Fierce_Female_Financier. My Twitter is @FierceFinancier. I am on Clubhouse as well.

We got to get you in here to have conversations on Clubhouse.

I would love to. I want to get more involved in speaking, opening my own room as well, talking to people and bringing guests on. It's time management. I'm working that out. I'm on Facebook. My Facebook name is Gian Williams-Saunders. Brett's Instagram name is @PipkinBrett. For the males or some females that like having that conversation with a male, both of us are open books. We love people. We invite you to come to ask us questions and we're not shy about answering. Be ready for our open, honest and upfront answers. I ask permission every single time I'm sitting with someone because I'm a little more straightforward. I'm going to tell you how it is. I'm not going to beat around the bush.

If you like your coffee straight up with no sugar and cream, this is the lady you need on your team. To close out, one thing that you had said is about how females seem to be taking off in the finance world. Female finance seems to be the new empowerment movement. We had this conversation on a radio show where we were looking at the stats of entrepreneurs in business growth for people of color.

It looks like women of color are leading the pack and entrepreneurs starting businesses not just in the finance industry but all over seem to be outpacing men, especially men of color. What is your take on that? Why do you think females, especially females of color, are outpacing men in starting businesses and being entrepreneurial?

Right off the top of my head, I can only speak from my experience. It goes back to you can't fall off the floor. You're at the bottom. Women have been suppressed for a long time, especially women of color. They have had some issues with that as well. It's at a point where we're like, “We're sick of this. We are tired. Let's rise up and conquer.” Beyoncé said a great line, “We can have a baby and then get back to business.” We are hard-working. Think about this. Women are very tough.

We have stomachaches, headaches, constant migraines, cramps or emotions going on all the time. Somehow we're still able by the blessing of God not to kill somebody throughout the day and still be patient, wipe your kid's mouth and take care of your sick spouse. Not to be sexist, but it goes both ways. I'm generally speaking, but it's coming from a place of, “We're fed up. We're tired of taking a back seat or back stance.” This goes for anybody who is tired of taking a back seat. It's time to rise up. This is the best time to do so.

This is something crazy. Forty percent of the US money was printed in 2020. This is the largest wealth transfer. If you're ever going to start a business, figure out something with partnership, do what your big dream is, and start saving and investing. This is the best time to do it. This is an opportunity in 2021. These months have taught us. Also, look at the way our economy is going. This is the best time to get your foot into anything. We're taking an opportunity.

I got a lot of questions now about the wealth of the dollar.

Inflation and taxes have been going up. We think that inflation and taxes all of a sudden will start going down. It's going to go up. I'm assuming, but it's a pretty smart assumption. We have to keep that in mind. For everybody saving, you have to remember that you have to outpace inflation and taxes. If you're saving in a 401(k), what you're saving now, you start to pay taxes on tomorrow. The money that's in there, remember that you still have to pay taxes on it. That's another thing with life insurance. If you don't know a way to accumulate wealth inside life insurance plans, please call me.

Tax is no joke. Don't think that just because you saved $1 million, that $1 million is all yours. There are certain things you could do to use everything that she's saying to help you. It's not about how much money you save. It's how much money you keep. You have to have a lot of shelters set in place so that you can keep most of the money. If you're in real estate, 1040 exchanges help you keep that money. There are different policies and life insurance that help you keep some of that money so that you can successfully transfer the wealth not from generation to generation and for you to use it and have access to it as well. Get your education on, ladies and gentlemen.

Life insurance is the best way to transfer wealth to your children. Most people don't realize that things get taxed and caught up in probate. We have to remember that. It's the best and most efficient way to transfer wealth to your children, family, estate and trust.

Are there any positive affirmations you want to send the people off with before we close our session?

I have one that I say every day, “I love money and money loves me.”

Say that to yourself at least 3 or 4 times in the mirror, affirm, believe it and then manifest it. Gian, thank you so much for coming and blessing us with these gems and knowledge. That has been another episode of the show. Thank you for reading.

Important Links:

• Gian Saunders
• Young Black & ‘N Business
• RASHA
• Transamerica Financial Advisors
• World Financial Group
• Cashflow Quadrant
• Rich Dad Poor Dad
• @Fierce_Female_Financier - Instagram
• @FierceFinancier - Twitter
• @Fierce_Female - Clubhouse
• Gian Williams-Saunders - Facebook
• @PipkinBrett - Instagram
• G.Saunders.WFG@Gmail.com
• @Fierce_Female_Financier - Pinterest
• Gian Saunders - LinkedIn