Transcript – Money mindset

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Voiceover by Te Kahukura: Welcome to How We Money brought to you by multi-millionaire and ANZ a six-part series designed to help you make a better money moves and achieve your financial goals. Each month we'll drop a simple, practical episode to help you build confidence with your cash. Māori Millionaire and ANZ cared deeply about financial wellbeing in our communities, which is why we want you to not just listen, but to take action. If you do one positive thing after every episode. That's six powerful steps forward. Let's get into it.

Te Kahukura: Nau mai haere mai, e te whānau and welcome to our first episode of the ‘How We Money’ series. Today we are sitting here with Iyia Liu. Nau Mai Haere Mai e hoa and welcome to the series.

Iyia: Thanks for having me.

Te Kahukura: I'm so excited for today's kōrero. Before we dive into it, do you want to just introduce yourself to our audience?

Iyia: Okay, so my name is Iyia. I am 32. Do you need to know my age? I don't know. I have spent the last ten years starting, scaling, growing different types of businesses. My first one waist trainer, Luxe fitness, Celebration Box. Right now, I'm doing consulting, ‘Could make it Happen’. Uh,
and, yeah, you probably would say I'm an entrepreneur.

Te Kahukura: Yes, serial entrepreneur. Like you've done a lot. And I've always looked up to your business journey, so I'm really excited to be sitting here with you today and just unpacking a little bit about, like, your mindset behind the things that you've done. Do you think… like, what is your thoughts on like money mindset and how have you been able to achieve the things that you've

Iyia: So, I'm from an Asian family. I don't know if you've got a lot of Asian friends.

Te Kahukura: Mmm, you.

Iyia: Okay, great. So, I used to people, they really like money. They like saving money, and they don't like spending. Like, if you knew my grandma, she'd be. She would want me to save everything. And she wants me to eat every last bite of food. Like they're very scared of wastage. Because back then, I think when my grandma was little, my parents were a little.

China didn't have much. So, I grew up with this mindset of like, gotta make lots of money, can't waste any money, and be very cautious of spending. So, if you like from my childhood teenage years. Up until Uni I was very cautious. I would put every dollar. That's how it would work. Hospitality. I had so many jobs. Hospo, promo girl. I was doing catering.

I remember I delivered a mail to John Key once, and I was, like, the highlight of my career, back then. So, I would save every single dollar. Eventually, I remember I saved up to $6,000. I had $6,000 in my bank account. I must have been about to finish Uni and I put I don't I didn't spend all of it on my first business, but I definitely used some of that to start a little side hustle.

So, I, I was very, very cautious. But then I knew that there was something I was saving for. Whether that have been I know for some people it's a house or it’s. What else do people want? House?

Te Kahukura: Cars, Handbags?

Iyia: Well, no. See, I feel like cars and handbags, and I wouldn't say that's, that's something that you're really trying to save for, to make your life improve the quality of your life. So, it's like maybe fixing a property or putting money away for a year or starting a business like ways to amplify. We already making.

Te Kahukura: I love this, and I think it's so relatable, especially for me. You know, growing up, with Māori culture, we're very much the same. And I think there are so many ways that scarcity plays out. And I used the exact same way. I would just, like, hoard my money. There's been two ends of the spectrum, like one in where I was like very frivolous.

But then there was this other end where I would just like, hold my money because I was like, well, I never want to be broke. So, I need to just like, hold on to everything. What were some of the steps that you took to? You know, starting a business is quite scary. And for a lot of people, the like, they want to they have these big dreams of doing it, but they let this fear stop them.

So, I would assume that you also experienced fear starting something new. Especially with the upcoming upbringing that you've had. Like what was what were the steps that you took to, you know, change your mindset and to go, like, actually, risk could potentially do something good for me. And in order to achieve something, sometimes you have to take a little bit of risk.

Iyia: I guess grow up. There's like the set plan. You are encouraged to go to school, go to Uni, get a good job, climb the ladder, get married. All the all the other things and I feel like when I left. So I went to school, went to Uni, got out of Uni. I couldn't get a job like no one give me a job.

I applied for so many jobs, and I remember thinking in my head like, I think I'm smart, I know I'm hardworking, I believe I can do something more like I believe I can be successful, but no one would give me this opportunity. So, I sort of actually just had to find side hustles. I started off by buying bulk lots of clothing from Trade Me.

I would style them on myself, release them, make $20, $300 apiece, and then I decided I would import a few units of shapewear, set up a Shopify website. Shopify website does a free trial, and it's about $29 a month. A few units of shapewear. It didn't cost that much. 20, 20, 30 units of shapewear and then posting on social media was free.

So, I think the reason I was able to start that first business was because the cost weren’t to high. So, I didn't feel like there was a huge amount of risk. Had there been a huge amount of risk, I probably wouldn't have taken that step because of my scarcity mindset at the time.

Te Kahukura: I'd love to kind of unpack this like scarcity mindset. What were some of the things that you saw in your life or the habits that you had that were that scarcity?

Iyia: Let's just, you know, my parents, Chinese parents, they are so scared of – I’ve probably said it before. But like there, so scared of you not finishing your meal. If they send you. So, are you spending on anything that you might not necessarily need or not a necessity? They'll be like, why are you buying that? Mum’s always like; you've got so many clothes?

I'm like, well, it's, you know, I like clothes.

Te Kahukura: I'm a girl

Iyia: I'm just a girl. So, it is harder, I guess, when you've got people around you that are just. They grew up in this age of; we cannot waste anything. And then I feel like now that I've had this, had my businesses generated a lot more income, I still, I would someone I remember a few years ago, someone was like, oh, you're so tight, even though you make so much.

And it's because I wasn't buying drinks when we were out, when we were at a bar, I was like, yeah, because I don't want to waste money on drinks. I don't like paying for gas. I don't like spending money on things that I don't really get value or make me, I don't know, that feel good after I spend the money.

Like, guess like that's just annoying. We all need it, but it's annoying.

Te Kahukura: Yeah, I'm exactly the same. And actually, some of my friends, when I like I bought some new clothes for our podcast and my friends were like hyping me up. They were like, oh my gosh, yeah, I finally bought something because I'm always like, oh no, I don't really need it. Like it's not there. But like, I like to prioritise for like work for mahi things, you know, I want to buy something, but I'm exactly the same.

Like when it comes to spending money, I see kind of everything as like an investment. And I'm like, this has got to have a return in some way. So, I'm quite intentional about how I use my money. But some of my friends who might like earn less are like we spend way more than you. And I'm like, well, I like to be intentional about that.

But has that always been the case for you? Like, have you always been quite intentional about where you used your money? Or was there a time where possibly you were using money on things that weren't? I guess that helped or didn't necessarily have a return.

Iyia: I, I feel like you've nailed it. The word intention. I've always been intentional with money, again, probably just from the upbringing. But you're so right. Like you learn through trial and error when you spend money on things like dumb things or things that maybe you buy it and then you're like, I don't need that. I don't actually like it.

You get the little sense of remorse and then you actually learn, like, actually, I don't need these things to be happy or content. And then you start learning what you should put your money in. Hopefully you start learning what you should put money in to actually give you a good return, a good return on investment.

Te Kahukura: Yeah, yeah. We love returns.

So, you, you know, you seemed like there was a lot of motivation for you to, to grow, to grow your business, grow your income. What was that first like motivation for you? What was your initial kind of goal? Getting into business.

Iyia: My initial goal, it actually did stem out of no one would hire me. And so, I had all these part time jobs, retail, hospo, catering when I started a paper run. It's terrible.

Te Kahukura: I did that, too.

Iyia: I feel like when you work at the average hourly, it's like $4 an hour, something that's very bad. And I remember there were days when I'd go to my retail job and I wouldn't even have lunch because I was, I thought, okay, I make $18.50 an hour and lunches $12, $13. That's almost an hour wasted on lunch.

So, I'd starve myself because I was like, I don't. I've just worked an hour, and I don't want to spend it on lunch. So, then I actually just thought, I need to change my life. I need to do something because I can't just keep starving myself because…

Te Kahukura: It's unsustainable.

Iyia: Yeah. And yeah, so I was just like, I just need to do something. And at the time, I'd seen people start businesses online again because the risk was low, I was like may as we try it. Turned out very well end up making $3.5 million. My first year I was 21. So, I'm very I don't want to say I was lucky, but I'm lucky that I accidentally stumbled into the path of doing that.

Te Kahukura: That's absolutely crazy to, like, go into a business thinking like, I can't. No one's hiring me. I just want, like, $300 a week and to grow to 3.5 million. Like, that's something that I think a lot of business owners might not necessarily experience, like some people will spend years and years kind of, slaving away at their business, trying to build it before they're able to even experience maybe their first, like, you know, 50K or 100K a year.

What do you think the mindset was that supported you to be able to, like, scale in such a huge way?

Iyia: I feel like the main thing was finding out what works, a combination of things that works for me. It was influencer marketing, social media marketing, paid ads, that sort of combo. And once it works, it's like a system, right? And then you just increase and increase, increase your marketing spend or. Yeah, just push it. Push it forwards.

All through trial and error. And I feel like back then also I was 21. No kids. No, not a lot of things like I had. I had a lot of time to dedicate to this. Not to say that you can't do it with kids like I've got two kids now still running the businesses and companies. Just definitely less time now.

So, if you've got no kids, it's a great time to do something.

Te Kahukura: So, you know, you where did you learn this stuff? So, you know, most people don't even know what like influencer marketing is or how to do these things. Where did you go to learn this stuff?

Iyia: It was actually just through trial and error. So, I mean, I went to Uni, I studied marketing business, got a business degree, but it's a lot of theory. So, what I found was very useful at Uni was they teach you the psychology of why people buy. It's very important. But then putting the tools in action there was also trial and error.

Yeah, there's definitely a system to it. But yeah, just through learning, just doing yourself.

Te Kahukura: So, I feel like that's got; you've got to have a lot of grit to be able to do that because, you know, in my experience, you can try something. You can fail, fail, fail, fail, fail, fail, fail before something actually works. Did you experience that at all? Like did you have those failures before the success happened?

Or was it like you just started and it was like, boom, like you made three and a half mil, like, what was that like for you? What was that? That initial year in business like, what was what were you saying to yourself? Like, what were you thinking in that year of scaling to such a huge amount at such a young age, like 18, like most 18 year olds, you know, aren’t making millions of dollars, do you think that your thoughts, your mindset, the things you were telling yourself or believing in yourself, possibly you think those things had an impact on being able to scale that quickly?

Iyia: It definitely is a mindset. I feel like it's this belief that you are destined for something else. Like there is something, yeah, you, you can do. You can do something big. I don't know where I had that I guess mindset from. I don't know if it's from schooling or from family, but believing in yourself, I guess it's the, the key part right.

Te Kahukura: Have there been moments where you haven't believed in yourself or you maybe experience, things that possibly didn't turn out well in business, that you were like, you know, maybe I should give up or maybe this isn't worth it or. Have you experienced that?

Iyia: Definitely. I mean, anytime there's like a downturn or you're trying out methods like, in your mind, you're thinking like, if I do this, this will work, and you don't get the same outcome that you thought, and then you're doubting yourself. I mean, even this week, I've had something like that happen. I was planning this huge launch. It didn't go. It didn't execute quite as I thought it would, and it didn't generate as much revenue as I thought it would. And then you are sitting there going, oh my goodness, I've, I've planned all these things with this, you know, and it's not gone to plan. So definitely, but I think you just have to continue to push through.

Te Kahukura: Yeah. So, for most people though, like they experience failure or they experience something that doesn't go their way and they're like, well, I don't think this is for me. It's just not working. Like, I have a friend who's actually just started, but he's trying to grow his business. And he was saying to me, oh, you know, like it was working when I started and now it's not working.

And I think it's been like two weeks or something. And I asked him like, like, stop looking at the numbers and actually just like keep doing this and be consistent. But for a lot of people, they're like, well, it's not working. So, I'm just mustn’t, you know, be fit for this. It's obviously not for me. Do you think that were there any key like, I don't know, things in your routine that you did that supported you to believe in yourself when maybe things weren't going your way or you didn't experience the results that you intended to?

Iyia: Well, you said the key word is consistency. And that actually just is the word. I was actually on a call with someone recently as well. And they were like, I've launched my website. I was very excited, but I've not had many sales. And then I went and did a quick audit. I was like, well, you're not doing any advertising, you're not doing any marketing.

You haven't done any influencer marketing. You've got no content coming out that there's no social proof on your website. So, all the things that are actually required, you are not doing them yet. So do not feel like it's not working because you actually haven't pushed it hard enough. And I and all I had to say was just keep going.

And she was like, okay, just keep going. So that's just that confidence piece, like the self-doubt. It's like you almost need someone to be like, just keep going.

Te Kahukura: So, like, my saying in my world is, Ahakoa te aha, no matter what. Like, you just got to keep pushing, like, no matter what. Your kind of like, going through. I feel like, you know, a lot of people will outsource their power to things in their external reality. All this thing isn't working. This thing isn't working.

And I try to, as much as possible, stay quiet, like, tunnel vision or like where I'm going. And so, like, especially with, like what I'm consuming, who I'm hanging out with, the ideas that are in my mind. Do you, do you have things like that? Like, are you intentional about, say, the people you surround yourself by, the content you consume, maybe podcasts you listen to or books you read?

Is that something that's helped you to, I guess, maintain this like abundance mindset?

Iyia: Definitely. I feel like, you know, everyone's got different platforms. Some people listen to podcasts, some people read books. For me, I actually like to just consume content on social media, but it's all like business content, content about how to create viral content and things that will help me upskill, I guess. Also, I think I don't know if this is totally what you're talking about, but I just always have this.

If you've got to have a dream, like you don't have an end goal. So, I remember when I was launching my first business, I would always think about one day living on this, not a field like got have having like a lifestyle property and building a home there for my family. And I would just you'd call it a manifestation.

But you know, just think about that all the time. And if you think about it enough and you sort of consume all of this content that is positive, you start to really believe it and you start to think like, this can actually happen to me. And so then, yes, you're right. You get the tunnel vision like; I'm going to make that happen.

What do I need to do to make that happen? Okay, well, if I want to get there, I need to do this and work backwards. Okay. So, if I need to do that, then today I have to do these three things. And that's sort of that. You just tick off those three things. Then you're a little bit closer.

Tick off the next to do list, you're a bit closer and then you reach the big goal.

Te Kahukura: So how did you know what those like three steps were? Or what were the steps that you took to, you know, go from making a goal of $300 to $3.5million. What were some of those initial steps that you took? You know, you talked about influencer marketing, and using social media, all of those types of things. And I guess using your experience at university, the theory that you learned and then putting that into practice, how did you, I guess, create like a roadmap or or, you know, find out the steps that you needed to take.

Like, for me, I kind of think about, like, reverse engineering things and going like, this is what I want. Working backwards. Do you do something like that. Or how do you know what those steps are that you need to take?

Iyia: Yeah, reverse engineer is I do that too. I do reverse engineer. So again, start at the end and then go, okay, let's say I want 100,000 followers. Okay. Well, what do I need to do then. Then I need to get consistent with my content, create good content. What does that look like? You know, so then you start researching content and then if this if it's saying, okay, well, then you need to put at least 1 to 2 pieces of content up a day.

That's value based. Then you need to just do that. So, it's like, okay, I've got the end goal. I've sort of researched how to do it. I've broken it down into steps and then I know I just need to execute. If I do these steps, I should be able to get there.

Te Kahukura: Very quickly e te Whanau. If you are enjoying today's podcast episode, make sure to share it to your story and tag us. All right, back to the show.

Iyia: There is a roadmap to everything, but it's figure out the roadmap and then the execution because I feel like a lot of people just don't do the execution.

Te Kahukura: Yeah, yeah. What do you think the biggest barrier is for people? Like a lot of people know, like, okay, like, if I want to grow a business, I should probably go on social media or I should probably, you know, learn about business, learn about taxes, do all these things. But I feel like a lot of people like they can understand that, but then they don't do it.

Do you do you have any like, theories of like, why people will have these big dreams and like, they’re thinking about the house they’re thinking about, you know, I've been to your Whare and it's beautiful like the thinking of that in their mind, but they just there's something stopping them from actually doing the things to make it happen.

Do you have a theory on why?

Iyia: I definitely have a theory. It's I mean, I'm always on call with people, and I speak to a lot of people that are in that phase where they know they want to do something. They know they want to change their life, but they are feeling overwhelmed. And I feel like the word is the that's the reason they're overwhelmed with maybe the either the roadmap or the amount of tasks they believe that might be involved.

So, what I always tell them is, again start on that end goal, reverse engineer, just make a to do list of like 3 or 4 things, actually no, make a full To-Do list. And then each day just tick off 2 or 3 things so it could look like today. So, first goal try and save $1,000, $2,000, whatever your savings goal is.

Okay then next step. Okay. Now I'm ready to set up a business, if that's what you want to do. It could look like registering a company today, and then the next day, setting up a business bank account and then ordering three samples, creating a logo. So, it's like, okay, just tick off one task a day.

It's overwhelming. Just do one.

Te Kahukura: I love that. And that's quite a similar strategy to what I did when I started business. And it's kind of funny, like, I created my first logo on Canva, and it was like a lot of people are like, that's a really weird logo. And it was literally I think it was like times new Roman or something like that, but like, I was just like, girl, an 18 year old girl giving it a crack.

And like, it wasn't great, it wasn't perfect. But I think that even imperfect action, like, can lead to growth and I remember actually, when I first started in my business, I was like reaching out to the media and I was like, Kia ora I'm Te Kahukura. I'm 18 years old. I just started a blog and podcast called Māori Millionaire. Like, do you guys want to interview me? And like 95% of people, like, didn't reply to me or like ignored me, but there was like a small amount and like, someone was like, oh, do you wanna come on the TV tomorrow? And I was like, yeah, cool. And like, I feel like I was just. So, I think I was naive, but I was also just like, well, if I want, you know, to grow my business, if I want people to, if I want to grow this thing, like people have got to know about it.

So, I was like, well, that just seems like the most logical, you know, thing to do. Well, journalists can help me do that. So just like, reach out to them. But I think I was also so fixated on the vision of, like, what I wanted to do and who I wanted to help. And I think that helped me with that, like road map.

But I think when I've spoken about this, a lot of people go, oh, that's like woo woo as to like, you know, talk about like manifesting and being able to like, you know, you first see it in your mind and before you see it in your hands and, you know, like they read the books and it's just like, I actually have a friend who I recently gave like a book about this too.

And like, we're just like, so laughing about it because the stuff that it says, it seems quite a bit crazy, but illogical. Do you think that what you believe, like what you choose to believe, it's going to happen? Like if you believe you're going to buy the house or you're going to grow the business and you do that, but also the opposite is true, where if you don't believe it's going to happen, then it's probably not going to happen.

Iyia: Yeah. Well, I think goal setting, if you don't want to be woo woo, then it's not manifestation, then it's goal setting. Don't you have to have a goal otherwise what do you you've got nothing to work towards. So yeah, whether you want to call it manifesting or goal setting, you it's going to give you an end destination, let's call it.

And without that, where are you going? I feel like if you don't have a goal or manifestation or dream, you almost feel unfulfilled because it's like, well, what am I working towards? We feel fulfilled when we do something that is mean something to us or that's been challenging. So, I think it's very important.

Te Kahukura: I love this. So much. And one of the things that I've done recently is like, I really want to grow my podcast. And so, I started like just imagining people sending me messages saying like, oh my gosh, I listened to your podcast. It was so valuable, like, thank you for this. And like, I would imagine that. But I was also like putting in the work, like I've been doing daily episodes.

And so, people are like, that's actually happened as a result of that. But I'm like, it first happened in my mind before it happened in real life. Are there any the tools or systems you use to ensure that you're becoming like finance, or that your financial wellbeing is like in check?

Iyia: Financial wellbeing?

Te Kahukura: Yeah. What does it look like for you?

Iyia: Okay. Can you briefly explain what you mean by financial wellbeing?

Te Kahukura: Well, I guess if I think about financial wellbeing, it's like not stressing about money. It's feeling like everything is, you know, covered. It's feeling safe, you know, protected a lot of security. Like, if, you know, an emergency was to happen, it's not going to like, completely derail me. I'm not going to be like, completely, dysregulated by it.

You know, for me, I have like six months of my safety net in an account. And so, I'm like, you know, in business, you never know what can happen. And so, for me, I'm like, well, that gives me a lot of peace of mind that if anything happen, I've got six months to figure it out. So, you know, I'll figure it out in six months.

It's like, I feel like that's a good for me. It makes me feel quite well, you know, when it comes to money. Do you. Yeah. Do you like, do you use any systems like that or all the things that you do to make yourself feel, you know, financially well? like even before you started making all of the money and all of the things.

Iyia: Okay. So pre having a business, I wasn't making a lot, so I was much tighter with my money, knowing that I would want to put it into something that could, bring more value to my life. You know, whether it be shares, property or business or something. I don't know what I was saving for. But now that I do have more income, I'm still, I've definitely had lifestyle inflation. I know everyone’s like don’t inflate your life. It's hard not to inflate your life when you've got more income. I don't think it's a bad thing to upgrade your life a little bit because firstly. Otherwise. What are you working? What are you working towards? What are you working for? It would feel pointless to work so hard and not have any upgrades.

But also, not being silly with your money. Again, thinking about value spending, return on investment. If I spend this, is this. Am I going to feel happier? Am I going to feel more relaxed? So, for me, I felt quite happy putting my money into my, family home again. Some people say it's not the best financial decision, but for me, it's like an emotional decision.

I guess. And then also, I love spending money on a holiday again. You know, I work hard and that's what I want to put it towards. That brings me joy. But I won't spend frivolously, random stuff, because if I don't get a lot of joy or value out of it, I will actually feel remorse. Like buyer's remorse.

Te Kahukura: Yeah, yeah. I feel like that so many times to, like, when I've made an emotional decision about something like someone will say, for example, drinking for me, like, I've just realised lately that like buying alcohol for me isn't something that I value. And I went to the Marley concert, and it was there that I realised like I had spent, you know, it was $50 in alcohol, and I just like sat with.

And I was like, I actually feel like that was just such a waste of money. Like it didn't make me enjoy the night better. I can enjoy the night sober. And so, I'm like, okay, cool. Like I'm not going to hate myself over it, but I'm going to go, okay, cool. Like I'm not going to buy alcohol at my next concert.

I'm not going to do this anymore. Are there like reflective practices that you do? I know a lot of people like Journal, like, do you do that or are you do you sit with yourself and go like, oh, like I noticed I spent money on da da da that didn't really, you know, align. So, I'm going to change things.

Iyia: Well, yeah, I guess I do. I don't I don't physically write it down, but I just keep tabs in my head. Like I've noticed over the years that if I buy cheap clothing that I will probably just get rid of after a few washes if it goes bad quality. So, I'm like, actually, you know what, just spend a little more on the clothing item and you'll get more wear out of it.

You'll keep it for years, like five, ten years longer. I don't know, it still fits within, but you just start to learn these things, and you start realising over time, I shouldn't do this and I should do this, but I feel like you can only tell through trial and error, I guess, of, spending.

Te Kahukura: I feel like a lot of people, they have these big goals, you know, they said, oh, when I, when lotto I'm gonna da da da da da. And they're just like, quite fixated on, like, when this kind of thing happens. But I feel like in the meantime there's a lot of financial like self-sabotage that the doing, you know, it's like, oh, it's only 20 bucks.

Like, I might as well just do it. But it's like, to me, I'm like $20 like that could be used to like, you know, it doesn't seem like that much money. But I think of these, like $20 so many times adds up. Do you think what do you think about, like, financial self-sabotage and people who I guess have these big goals, but their actions just aren't aligning?

What would you what like action steps would you give them to? I guess stop that from happening.

Iyia: It starts with awareness, right? Number one, being aware that you're actually doing this and you are. Yeah, spending these little amounts on silly things that you don't necessarily need. And then if you know that you have very poor self-control, I would put the money somewhere that it's just harder to access. So, me, sometimes I have poor self-control.

I either put the any spare funds in a separate bank account, or maybe share those, or just somewhere where I cannot easily, instantly take it out. You might want to automate, let's say, you know, weekly pay, you might want to automate some of those, some of your pay towards somewhere that you cannot easily touch. That's. Yeah. I feel like that's the best way if you don't have great self-control.

Te Kahukura: I actually linked, a financial wellbeing quiz down below for everyone who's listening. And I actually did the exercise last night and it was quite cool to see. So basically, what it does is it will give you like a score out of 100, and then there's like an average for your age range. And I thought that was like quite insightful.

So, I feel like if you, maybe you're not into journaling or whatever it is, but you just want to build a little bit of awareness. I would definitely recommend just checking out that quiz in the show notes below. So, I feel like for a lot of people, like doing a quiz like that would be quite an easy way to, I guess, assess their financial wellbeing.

What are some of the ways that you assess your financial wellbeing or check in with yourself?

Iyia: I don't know if I necessarily have like dedicated check ins. I but if I know that I'm spending money on things that don't bring me joy, don't bring me value, I start to feel guilty. So, I don't want to feel guilty. So firstly, I just will try not to do it. Doesn't always work. I, I regularly audit things like subscriptions.

I go through my accounting software. I mean, I feel like most people won't have accounting software, but going through your bank statements and just having a look at what you've spent and going, okay, maybe tallying it up and going, did I need to spend that anything I can pull out, anything I can stop doing or reduce? And also, okay, are there any ways that I can maybe generate more income?

Can I do contracting for someone? Can I offer a service? That's if you've got spare time. So yeah, reducing expenses, increasing income, putting and putting it away, not spending for frivolously is that the word. Having awareness of all of this. I feel like that is probably the key to all this awareness and then actively taking action to reduce your cost that you don't necessarily need and also finding ways to maybe increase income if you have that capacity.

Te Kahukura: I love this. One of the things that, you know, when I first started my financial journey, I was so overwhelmed by like how many numbers there were in, like, you know, spending money on this. And I avoided, like, actually doing it because I was like, I already know I am not spending my money where I should be.

I already know that when I do this, it's going to show me that I'm broke because I'm spending all my money in the wrong places. So, for a long time I avoided doing it. Do you think, like, what would, what would you say to someone who's also in those shoes where they're like, well, it's I don't really want to know the numbers because it's kind of scary.

But then they also want to be better. Is there like a little pep talk you could give them to like, sort their stuff out and actually just run the numbers?

Iyia: I mean, first I'll say I get it because often I am scared to look at my numbers sometimes as well. But if the longer you don't look and the longer you stay unaware, the less control you have over your situation. So, you just have to look you. If you really want to make a difference, you just actually have to have a look.

You might not do it every single month, but maybe a few times a year, go through your bank statement. Just look, just look at it. And you will find subscriptions and things that you…

Te Kahukura: Yeah, yeah, I find that like the more regularly I do it, it's actually less overwhelming because there's less stuff to do. So, like if I'm doing it every month as opposed to like every six months, then I also have more time to like, integrate my reflective practices. So, if I'm like, if I'm like, oh, okay. Like this month, I didn't really like how I did da da.

Then like next month, I can make the change. Whereas if I did it like six months later, it would be like six months of like really bad habits instead of just like, okay, one month, you know, and some people might just do it weekly. One of the things I did when I first started my journey was actually doing it daily.

Like every single transaction I made, I would track like, how does this make me feel? Was this a good investment? And yeah, like really turning into how it made me feel because I think for a long time I would just swipe, swipe, swipe. And I wouldn't really think about do I feel good making this purchase? And one of the challenges I had was being like a people pleaser.

So, someone, you know, friends would ask me, oh, do you wanna go to town? And like, even if I didn't want to spend the money, I would so do it because I was like, well, I don't, you know, I don't want them to not like me. I don't want them to, you know, whatever it is. Have you ever experienced that?

Like the, you know, keeping up with the Joneses or feeling pressured by your peers to do things that you might not necessarily want to do? And what were some of the things that you did, if that were the case, to say no?

Iyia: Yeah, I totally get that. I feel like me, I'm quite strong minded. So, if somebody wants me to do something and I really don't want to do it, I'll actually just say, I don't want to do it. But I know my husband is. Oh, don't kill me for this. He's very like, oh, okay, we'll just go along with it.

So, I don't know. For me, it's easy to say no if I don't want to. I don't know if I have good advice around this one. Maybe just being more strict. I don't know. I know it's not that easy.

Te Kahukura: Yeah, yeah. I feel like the more you do it, like, it just gets easier. So, as an example, like this year, like my intention was like, just say no. Like and propose a different alternative. So, like as an example, one of my cousins, she was like, oh, it's my birthday soon. I want to go to the casino, and I want to go clubbing.

And I was like; I don't want to do that. And so, you know, I just say to her like, hey, I love this for you. Like go, you like, but like, should we do something else? And so, we're going to go on a hike and see it. And I was like, that's cool. Because that's something that like we both want to do.

But you know, I still had that fear in my mind. Oh, like, maybe she's going to think that I'm being mean, or maybe she's going to think that I'm judging her. So, I feel like now that I've said that it's like it also says it's like, people know now. So, it's like because she actually said to me, she says, I really feel like you're probably going to say no.

And I was like, that's cool. So, like, the more I say no, the more it means that people maybe they'll just stop asking me to do things that they already think that I probably won't want to do and just propose different, you know, alternatives. So, I feel like the more you do it, the easier it kind of gets.

But one of the things that's also kind of helped me is staying so fixated on my WHY, on my vision, on like, what gets me out of bed every single morning because I feel like. And I'm not sure about you, but money, you know, it comes and goes and it's like, cool to, you know, earn more money. It's cool to, you know, make more.

But I feel like it's not that motivating in the same way to like it is for what it can do for you, for the things that it can buy the life. So, whatever it is, are you, like, motivated by money more or by a different kind of deeper why?

Iyia: I feel like my motivations for generating more income or making money was, number one, being able to afford a nice home, for my family to live in. And so, it's, you know, an emotional purchase. I guess. Another goal of mine is just to go on a holiday once a year. That would be nice. And then be able to put my, give my kids a nice upbringing.

So that might be putting them in a good school, living in a nice area, just being able to, you know, afford like the essentials. Beyond that, I don't really care about making much more money. Yeah. So, I everyone will have their own specific goals. But I feel like most people are not just motivated by the money.

There are these things that we want. Yeah, yeah. Financial security, happiness for our family and kids, I guess.

Te Kahukura: Being able to provide for your Tamariki, your children and your family is obviously such a huge motivator for you. Do you think that your culture has impacted that in any way or your childhood, your parents?

Iyia: Definitely. So, when my parents came here, they came to New Zealand from China in their 20s. They studied here, and my mum's first job here was a mushroom picker in a factory. And seeing my parents work so hard, blood, sweat and tears, everything going into being able to raise us, allow us to live in a nice area, no pay for the rents and, you know, a supplying house and food.

Putting us through schooling. It really makes you do not want to disappoint your parents. You know, they're putting everything into, you. You want to make sure that you do something that they can they can they can be proud of you can be proud of. And also, you know what it's like to be in a situation where it's tight, like moneys tight.

I remember oh, I remember in I think it was like 2008, the global financial crisis. My dad had worked so hard his whole life. He had a boat, small boat. And then they came to take it. And I had to stand in front of this boat, like, protect this boat and be like, do not take this one asset that my dad loves.

So, I know what it's like to have a tough financial situation. So, I don't want that for my kids. I don't think you should spoil the kids and give them everything, because I want them to be little brats and, not work hard. So, I'll definitely make sure that they still go out and get jobs, you know, like when they're young, 15, 16, get work experience, understand how hard it is to make a dollar.

But yeah, definitely still be able to support them because I, my parents cannot provide me financial support. I, you know, some parents, cam some parents can't. So, I want to at least be able to do that for my kids if they need it.

Te Kahukura: It's very much like a, an emotional thing. And as you said about, like buying your, your house, you know, it's like to be able to provide and I definitely resonate with that too. I, you know, have just been in the last few years being a caregiver, with my mom, with my whanau and for my Kuia, for my nan, my great grandmother and my grandmother.

And, you know, throughout this whole process, I was reflecting a lot on the journey and how many challenges there are. And when we look at how, I guess, like for indigenous people, people of colour, I feel like it's probably more common to have this to be caregivers. I think, like for women in particular, but I think indigenous people, probably more so.

And throughout that journey I was thinking about, okay, like these are my like Nan's. But there's also other people in my whanau. So, I'm like, cool. Like I want to be there for my family. I want to be able to, you know, not have financial pressure to be able to provide or to be able to, look after them.

And so, you know, my work now, over this next chapter, what's motivating me is like, I, I really, really want to, like, set myself up so that, you know, the next time something like this happens where, you know, I'm required to be a caregiver, I've got like, I've got this and, like, everything's all good. And I feel like that for me, it pushes me much more then like, oh, like cracking like another 100 K or like, you know, it's just so much deeper than that.

And I think this whole journey for me has always gone like beyond money. It's like, what can money actually do in our lives and allow us to, I guess, be like culturally aligned because I feel like, it could be similar for you where if we're living in Taupaki, we're living in like a Western world. It's quiet, I guess, challenging to I guess, like live life authentically is as us, as who we are.

And I think that money can be a very powerful tool in order to, to do those things that are really important to us.

Iyia: It’s just security right? Security. That's the key word security and reduce stress. If you have that security. Yeah.

Te Kahukura: Do you think that money buys happiness?

Iyia: It gives it buys things that can make you happy. But then also, I think if you're just chasing money, money, money, like you were saying before and you, you were the not spending it or you're spending it on things that don't bring you the value or you're cutting things out just to get the money. Like family and friends, that those things might actually bring you the value.

That's when you're not going to be happy with the money.

Te Kahukura: I actually read a study that said that like up until a certain point it actually does. You know, if we think about like health care, you know I've got some, you know, health challenges. And one of the things when, when those first kind of started happening and I wasn't in the financial position I am now, I was like, oh, like, I wish I had more money.

Instead, I could just like pay for help and I could do the things and, you know, say like getting health insurance and things like that have really helped me to or like, this is, this is more important than just the money. And it's like so tied to our emotions. Do you think that it's more of like security and like fear driven or more like abundance driven, if that makes sense?

Iyia: It's a bit of both, I think, because, you know, we've been in this situation where, again, the money's tight and you know what it's like to lose everything or not have much. And it is a bit of fear. I'm like, I don't what happens if I lose everything I don't have? My parents cannot give me anything. I have to give my parents money.

So, I cannot let that happen. But then also having the abundance thinking, you know, dreaming of more, imagining more for you. I think that's more of, like, a fun thing, I don't know, romantic. Yeah. It's both.

Te Kahukura: So, I just want to like, so that the audience has some, like, key steps that they can take away from today's episode. You know, from what I've heard, one is like building a lot of awareness around your spending habits and what you do and running your numbers, like making sure you know your numbers, you know your finances. You spoke about, you know, basically locking your money away in places where you can't touch it.

So, you know, for me, that's KiwiSaver. I love how it's locked up, and I actually cannot do it. A lot of people hate that. But I'm like, it's cool because it means I literally cannot do it unless I'm buying a house or retiring. And so that's a big thing for me. But, you know, you're talking about shares, property, a business.

What are some key steps someone might take to start on the journey of abundance? And, you know, this building, this, this lifestyle, this, you know, the things that you've been able to do, reverse engineering things, you know, looking at the goal, creating up some steps of like, okay, if I want this, I've got to do these things. Are there any other like key steps someone should or could take in order to make it happen?

Iyia: Well, you I feel like you've pretty much covered it all, but essentially, number one, awareness and a goal. Awareness and a goal that you know what you actually want to do. There are different avenues, whether it be, yeah, KiwiSaver, shares, a property, business, or just increasing your income lots of ways. But yeah, you have to have that goal to be able to know that you what you want to do.

Right. And then write a list the to do list. Okay. Well, if I want to get a property, what do I need to do now. Go to go to to speak to a broker or an advisor. And see like actually what do I need to do if you want to start a business. Well, research it, upskill, learn about it.

Okay, well, then you know what to do. If it's shares again, just learn about it. Like educate yourself. And then just tick off the one thing a day. Come on. Little task a day.

Te Kahukura: One of the things that I read when I first started my financial journey was like, millionaires have multiple sources of income. And so, when I was at uni, I was doing every single thing under the sun, like I was working 100 hours a week, spreading myself out. And I was like, well, the average millionaire has seven streams of income, so like, I've got to have seven streams of income, and I've got to do like the side hustle, the side hustle and do this.

And for me it was just a recipe of like burnout. And it was literally just like a disaster. And I feel like trading all of my time for money. It doesn't actually really make a difference. Like, yeah, cool making, you know, $200, whatever it was. But it didn't actually really change the game for me. Do you think that if you were starting out on your journey, the focus should be on diversifying, you know, building like seven streams of income?

Or would you say focusing on one thing at a time and then using that to be able to, I guess, you know, similar to what you've done using business to be able to say, invest in property shares and all of the other things you think that it's I guess, bit more beneficial to focus on, like one thing at a time or to go like, well, the average millionaire has seven streams of income, so I've got to do seven different things.

Iyia: When you talk about the seven streams, some of those streams are more passive. So, if you're buying an investment property, for example, and you're not necessarily doing it up, you might do it up a tiny bit. But it's sort of just like sits there and then let's say you put money into shares again, it's just sort of sits there.

A business is or you can have a passive business or an active business, passive one might be something like a laundromat, which is not too much work. Passive is one way. I mean, not active is one where you're, you know, having to do a lot more tasks. I absolutely agree in focusing on one thing, but it's I think it's totally fine.

Have some passive things on the side, diversify and then focus on your active thing. Because if you have too many active things, you're right. You get burnout and then you want to quit everything, that's happened to me, that’s happened to me multiple times.

Te Kahukura: I don't think I've met an entrepreneur who has not been burnt out. Like, it's like every single time it happens, we're like, I'm going to learn my lesson this time. And then, you know, for me, it's, you know, having a few times. And so, I'm like, I'm actually going to learn my lesson this time. And one thing that I've noticed about you and your journey is the power of leverage.

And like using a team and being able to grow your impact, like through, I guess having other people, you know, help you to achieve those business goals. And I feel like it's also like a reciprocal thing. You know, I've met, some people on your team where they love working for you. They love learning from you. They love being in your energy.

And so I would love to just hear a little bit about your mindset of, you know, one person can do this. What's the like motivator to I guess, like build your team or, you know, to be able to achieve your goals?

Iyia: Well, again, I think an ROI. So, I'm going, okay, I am doing these tasks. I'm using up all my time. If I had help from this person, I pay them it would be this amount. But how much more income could I generate if I focused on that? Same with like getting, outsourcing some of your tasks, like maybe cleaning or, you know, gardening. What other tasks are there? Other food. Getting food delivered? Onto my grocery delivery versus you going to the supermarket.

So, all these things, sure. They cost a little bit more. I get all my parcels a delivered. I pay the delivery fee. It’s still cheaper than me, my time going and buying each, you know, picking it up from the store. So, everything's sort of ROI focused. What is my time? Where can I spend it to get the most impact, to increase our income? And can I outsource anything that maybe necessarily…

Te Kahukura: Yeah. So, in my life, like, I do that, like not every single week, but you know, I'm a bit busier. I will pay a cleaner to just, like, help me out. And I think that some of the like what the hell like, you’re 22 like why do you do that? But I'm like it just means that like I like working in, I work from home a lot.

So, I like having a clean space and it just helps me to be a bit more productive. For a lot of business owners, though, being able to, like, hire a team and like build that, that requires like a next level mindset when you're thinking like, well, this person's relying on this income in order to pay their bills.

Have you ever experienced like fear with that? Or and if you have, what is your mindset to be able to like shift that to go like actually, you know, things can work out or or yeah. Have you experience that fear?

Iyia: Definitely, I mean, as a yeah, I every business owner will be experiencing that. What if we don't generate an income this week? Well, something happens and I can't pay the team. Hopefully you've got some sort of back up. A little bit of either funds, you can dip into or something just to be able to keep them going.

But yeah, if you're just trying to start to hire your first person, the first person could be a VA, or a contractor. So, it could be a few hours a week. It doesn't have to be a full timer. So that's I feel like that's the best way to ease yourself in.

Te Kahukura: So just starting small and then, like, building from there. And you think so if, say, for example, you had a VA and then maybe just add like five hours a week or something, but you're, you're able to spend those five hours growing your income. And then from there you're able to like maybe to hire someone for ten hours and it just like has a snowball effect.

Iyia: Yeah. So, VA is a virtual assistant. Totally. So just try them for a little bit, see how it works. If they are freeing up five hours and you spend five hours getting clients or doing something that's making an impact, you know, you might up them to ten hours and then you've got more time to do things that create an impact.

Te Kahukura: When I'm listening to podcasts of people, I'm, you know, inspired by, one of the things that really inspires me is hearing about mistakes and like, failure. And I think that when you experience those things, it can feel like a personal thing. It's like, well, I suck, you know? And I've definitely made my fair share of mistakes and business mistakes with money.

And it's I, I see it as a blessing, and I say I'm quite spiritual. And so, I think that everything happens for a reason. And I'm like, you know, I messed this out because I needed to learn this lesson. What's your mindset about failure? Like do you experience it? How if you do, how do you. And I'm not saying you're a failure, but like, are these things in your life where you're like, oh, that didn't kind of work out.

Iyia: All the time, and things often don't work out as you think. I remember when I first started, I must have been, you know, around 22 or 23 years old. And I still remember there was one time, something didn't go to plan. And people on social media were talking about how bad I was or the business was bad.

And I was very upset because that was probably one of the first times, I'd had that feedback or a problem that I had to solve going for. So, I solved the problem. Then going forwards, every time a sort of problem occurred. Fix it.

Te Kahukura: I love this so much. I have learned so much from being with you today. Are there any kind of final words you would share with our audience? If they are struggling with scarcity mindset, and they want to be able to move towards abundance and achieve some of the things that you've achieved, what would your final words be for our audience today?

Iyia: So, I know there's lots of people out there that they want to make a change in their life. Definitely just doing something about it. I know it can feel overwhelming because of the amount of tasks. Or you might feel like the goal is so far away, but taking a little step every day, that's how you’re going to do it.

One little task.

Te Kahukura: I have absolutely enjoyed my time with you today Iyia. I just want to say thank you so much for coming on to the podcast, for sharing your lived experience, your success, sharing about your tenacity. I think there's a lot of people who are going to find so much value in today's episode. You know, looking at setting goals, reverse engineering, how they're going to achieve it, creating those daily actionable steps that people can take, 1% better every single day.

Knowing your numbers, you know, focusing on the return on investment, all of these key steps, I think there's going to be a lot of people who are like, oh my gosh, we've just broken it down in such a simple, easy, step by step way. So, I just wanted to say how grateful I am for your time today and for joining us on the podcast on How We Money.

So yeah, E mihi ana (thank you) I'm so grateful for your time today.

Iyia: Cool. Thanks for having me.

Te Kahukura: No problem.

[Text on screen: ANZ logo, Māori Millionaire Presents How We Money]

Voiceover by Te Kahukura: Your mindset if your money's steering wheel, it decides the direction you go. Take a moment today to notice just one belief you’re holding about money and ask yourself whether it helps or holds you back. That small reflection is your first money move towards financial wellbeing. ANZ has some awesome tools to help you on your first steps. Check out their financial wellbeing webpage I’ve linked in the show notes below.

If you found value in today's episode, send it to a friend, whanau member, or on your story. Make sure to tag us. Kia ora.

The information in this podcast is for general information only and isn’t financial advice. The views of the host or guests are their own and do not represent ANZ. ANZ and Māori Millionaire does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the content and isn’t liable for any loss arising from its use. Please seek personalised advice before making financial decisions.