30. Having Money is Not a Bad Thing | Forrest Huguenin | The Real Deal with Camille Podcast

My guest today, Forrest Huguenin, sent me this message in preparation for our episode and it's the perfect intro. Forrest writes...

I know what it's like living on a variable income. And I know what it's like to be broke, desperate and scared. In 1991 I was at the lowest point of my life. I’d lost my job. My car had just been repossessed. My in-laws at the time wanted to kick me out of the house we had been renting from them. And, I didn’t have a clue about where my next dollar was going to come from.

And if that wasn’t enough… my son had just been born! I remember holding him in my arms and saying “Welcome to the world son. Daddy doesn’t have a job.” And I started crying. I wish I could say that in that moment I had an epiphany, picked myself up, and "fixed" me. Sadly, that was not to be.

I had a few more ups and downs, including a bankruptcy, in my future. I was convinced at the time that the key to financial security was simply in learning about how to handle money. So I devoured a ton of books on the subject, attended seminars, joined MLM schemes, joined myself to a crooked business partner (that ended in a Grand Jury and my being a federal witness), changed jobs… changed jobs… and changed jobs.

I was always chasing dollars, thinking that the answer to all my woes lay in making more money. And every time I failed at the money game I blamed someone or something for my bad fortune.

Then one day I was listening to a motivational speaker say the thing that finally shifted my thinking. He said “You will not ever change your circumstances until you get sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

That was the great Les Brown and I felt like he was talking directly to me. Then it hit me. I wasn’t yet sick and tired of being sick and tired. I also realized that another J.O.B. (Just Over Broke was not the answer).

On a fluke, a friend hired me to organize his messy files in preparation for a state audit. That began my career as a professional organizer, which morphed into being a life coach, which morphed into being a financial services representative for a major firm and then I transitioned from that to being a financial coach, working for myself.

Along the way I helped hundreds through workshops, seminars and one-on-one sessions. That’s the unique experience I bring to you. I’m not perfect. I still make mistakes. I’m just a guy with a little more experience than the folks I work with because I walked the path they are walking a little earlier than they have. And I have a burning desire to help them avoid the pain that comes with making the mistakes I’ve made!

Please, let me share my variable income experience and techniques with you. Let me help you.

Follow me on IG @forrest_huguenin, on YouTube @IntentionalMoneySolutions and my website @www.intentionalmoneysolutions.com.