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Carlee
Are you in fear around your money? Hi, I'm Carlee Myers, your friendly stress management expert. And this month we are talking about moolah, money. And I brought on an amazing guest, Galit Tsadik, who is the founder and CEO of Financial Sharktress, also known as Tsadik G Management. And a financially are a respected financial money expert. She is a certified financial education instructor, and she helps people transform their lives by facing their fears and revealing her shark Money, wisdom to their financial freedom. I'm so, so, so excited to have you on the show.
Galit
Yes. Thank you so much for having me. I as soon as I got the e-mail is like, yes, I'm super excited to do this. I love what you do.
Carlee
Awesome. So we actually met just for the listeners. We met a few years ago at this amazing thing called Connection Camp. And it's all about authentic, real relationship, being real with yourself and being real with others. And when I met her, I was like, when I met you, Galit, I was like, who is this financial sharktress like this? Like, she's got the blue hair, she's got the blue this. She knows what she's talking about with money. And I immediately signed up for a session with her because I was like, I need I need this. I need to talk to her. And I was blown away. And so I want, I would love for you to just share for a minute for anyone that's getting distracted by financial ssharktress. Where did that come from? And like, how did you get into this line of work? Because I feel like your story is is so interesting and why you're doing what you're doing is wonderful.
Galit
Yeah. So I actually grew up in an abusive household. And one of the ways that my father tried to control my mother was through money. And I when I saw this and when we ran away to a domestic violence shelter, I saw this storyline repeated over and over and over. And I vowed for myself never to allow money be the reason that I stay in a toxic environment, whether that be a toxic relationship or a toxic work environment. And it just evolved into wanting to do this for everyone. I don't want anyone to be stuck in that kind of environment. And the sharks came in because I am obsessed with the ocean. My name actually in Hebrew means like waves of the ocean. So it was like meant to be that I was going to do something that involved the ocean. And I was actually super, super into but super scared of sharks. And I'm a scuba diver. And for the first four years of scuba diving, I didn't see any sharks in the wild. And I started to freak out like, what's going to happen when I see one? Am I going to do something stupid and then hurt myself. And I put myself. So I decided I'm going to go on a cageless shark dive with like 20, 30 sharks and I'm going to force myself to be in that situation and react however I react. And that's what I did. I. And once I was down there, I realized, like they don't care about me. Like, they were totally not into eating me. They were not interested at all. And they were so elegant and so streamlined and so perfect. And then ever since then, I see sharks on almost every dive that I do. So it just became kind of like my spirit animal type thing. And. And then it fits so well with money because I want to not only teach people how to deal with their money, but also change their perception of sharks as sharks not being this like crazy, cold blooded, mindless predator, but rather. You know, something elegant and streamlined and that takes advantage of the opportunities that are presented to it.
Carlee
I love that. Yeah, and it's funny what comes to my my brain in my mind when you talk about that, like the stereotype of sharks is like all my brain is, like, dun nuh. And, you know, that is just so not like it's well, it's humorous, that's for sure. But it's also like, yeah, you're right, they're elegant, but they're powerful. And I like to think about, you know, compare that to the divine feminine and the ocean and like, elegant, effortless in many ways, but strong as hell and
Galit
Strong. They keep moving forward. They're not swimming backwards. They just keep going no matter what. You can take a bite out of a shark and they'll just keep on moving.
Carlee
I love it. So. OK. So if we're let's talk about, you know, being in fear around money then because. We're talking. I mean, there's so much fear around sharks, but there's also fear around the unknown. There's fear around what's happening with the pandemic. There's there's a lot going on that's like triggering our relationship with money just. That's to say the least. So what do you recommend for someone who's listening, who is nervous or anxious or worried about their financial health or their financial future?
Galit
Yes. So the first thing that I always tell my clients is you need to actually find out where you are, because a lot of times the fear is coming from the fear of the unknown. And we build it up to be a much bigger problem than it is in actuality. So the first step that you have to take is to actually look at where you are today to create a budget and see, this is how much I have coming in. These are my expenses. This is where I am today. And once you know where you are today, that reduces some of the fear. And you know what you have to do going forward. You need that starting point.
Carlee
So looking at our numbers, you know, it's kind of like when you shared, you know, going in the shark cage and being around the sharks, having that fear around about them. And then you're you're in the water and you're like, wow, this is elegant. This is great. Like, I think that can be the same with our numbers. Once we get through past the fear, we're like, oh. Oh, wait. OK. This is how it is. This is what we need to do.
Galit
Yeah. And I found that in I would say ninety five percent of the time that I asked my clients to actually look at their numbers. They have relief because they built it up to be this huge, huge thing in their minds, and it's and it's not as bad as they thought it was. And eat. And I always say, like, even if it is as bad as you thought it was. OK, so now you can improve. But if it's just the unknown, you can't do anything about it.
Carlee
Yeah, I can see. Now you're in a place where you're empowered. You can actually do something about it. And I laugh when you say that because I literally just last week had a coaching call with one of my clients who it was like a side note about finances. And I was like, look at your dang numbers. Like, do it. Look at your numbers. I want a text. Let me know. And it was it was funny when we checked back in yesterday or the day before because she just wrote like in the email she sent me, she was like, ha ha ha ha ha. I actually made progress this month.
Galit
See, it's the same thing all the time. Like, that is the biggest stressor. Right. This huge, unknown thing that's just sitting, it's like the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about. We have to talk about it. It has to be OK for us to say it, for us to verbalize it. For us to look at it.
Carlee
So, OK, so let's say we look at our numbers and we're like, oh, like we're spending more than we're bringing in or we're a little closer. So, you know, like we're breaking even. We want to have more savings, like. Or what do you recommend if we want if we want to be improving on our like we look at the numbers and we really want to do better.
Galit
Yes. So what we have to start doing is being intentional with the way that we use our money. That is the you know, once you have the budget and you see where you're actually spending your money. Ask yourself. Why am I spending it here? Do I need to be spending it here? Is this expense? Helping me achieve some goal. Is it helping me fulfill a basic need like food or shelter? Or am I just having some kind of form of retail therapy, which if it's retail therapy, then that's not the best use of your money. Right. You're trying to fill a hole and it's and it'll never get filled with money. It'll never get filled with stuff. You have to actually delve into what is going on and fix that problem rather than use retail therapy to mask it.
Carlee
Yeah. And I love that. You know, I think that's why, like, I think the work that we do is such a beautiful partnership because, you know, a lot of the work that I'm doing with clients is about like, OK, we have this issue here. Retail therapy would be a great example of that. And we need to get to the root of that. And then yours is to really make sure that we're moving and we're cutting those expenses so we can get to financial freedom. So for those of you who are listening, we want to know which of these tips resonated with you or do you have questions? Please make sure to comment below and we'll we'll absolutely happy to answer them. Now, if you need help making the rubber meets the road, you can join us a few times a month, just about once a week for our self care Accountability Group. It's called the Virtual Stress Less Space. You can learn more at Stress less CO dot COM Slash Virtual Stresslessspace and Galit. For those of us who are interested in getting in touch with you, where can we find you?
Galit
So you can email me at Galit at Financial Sharktress dot com. My Web site is financial sharktress dot com. And I'm on social media. Instagram is financial. Underscore Sharktress. And Facebook is financial Sharktress Galit Tsadik. I have a segment called Money Monday. It's where I give out free financial advice every Monday from my Facebook page. And then I also posted to IGTV. So follow me. Reach out. I'm ready to support you.
Carlee
Awesome. So get in touch. Get in touch, everyone. Now, this concludes this episode of The Stress Less Show. If you've enjoyed this week's episode, let us know by giving us a big old thumbs up and hitting that follow or subscribe button. Thanks for listening. And we'll catch you next week.