#60: The Inside Scoop - Going Remote
Episode Summary
On this episode of the Inside Scoop, Team Factora shares why they've scheduled no in-person meetings for the next 4 weeks—and how they creatively structure their travel with their financial goals in mind.
Episode Notes
Register for Factora's free upcoming webinar, Investing 101: Put Your Money to Work, which takes place on June 22.
Apply to the Fall 2020 Wealth Circle.
Watch Factora's free Personal Values Training.
The book Whitney referenced in the episode is A Happy Pocket Full of Money, by David Cameron Gikandi.
The photographer for our summer photoshoot was Riley Blanks Reed: wokebeauty.com
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Transcript
Welcome to an episode of inside scoop, where Team factoria takes the mic to talk about what's going on in factorio land and our own personal lives to for full transparency. It is June, which means we are kicking off our first ever remote month here at factoria. And in this episode, we're going to dive into what that means and why we do it. You're also going to get some insight into how we creatively structure our vacations to pay for themselves and how you can be doing that too. And one last, very exciting thing. We are hosting a free workshop called investing 101 how to put your money to work. We host one in May all the spots filled up really quickly. So I suggest you make sure to get a spot ASAP. We'll have the link in the show notes. But we are going to teach you timeless investment principles, the best account structure for your goals and why the stock market is a central to wealth building. Let's get into it. This is a letter of no white Brantley, and you're listening to the copy and coin podcast where women talk well, I'm the founder of fact aura, a company on a mission to lead 1 million women to 1 million in network. On this podcast I sit down with factorial alum to share their financial stories, real numbers and how they've transformed their financial lives to prove that it's possible for anyone listening. Welcome back to another episode of Coffee and coin. We're doing an inside scoop with Team fac Torah. today. I've got Whitney and Julia here with me to share a little bit about what's going on inside the brand, including an incredible two day photoshoot we just had this week with of course, all real factoria members because we share real stories of real women building towards financial freedom. Julia since you were the stylist, creative director, set director of that shoot, you want to give us some inside scoop.
Yes. So we had one day where we just did it lifestyle. So we invited five factory members to come meet us first at a very fun and she Kotel called carpenters hotel. And we ordered a bunch of apps and we fake played chess and we bopped around the hotel. And then the next day was our studio shoot where we mostly focused on hands, we had another faculty member join us there. And we played with props, we moved all around the entire studio. And we won't be releasing these images until August. So I'm really excited to see them. And it's so fun to work with real factor members, because we are using these images for social and for marketing and for our website. And so all of these women have already joined the wealth circle. So they just get it on a level that you know a professional model probably wouldn't.
Yeah, and you forgot one of the best parts. We actually had this campaign shot by another factory member, our photographer, shout out Riley who is woke beauty online is incredible. And she having taken a while circle herself was really able to capture how dynamic our community is and how easy it is for women who have only done this experience virtually to meet up in person and feel like fast friends right away. Totally. So that was pretty cool. And then the other part you missed, which I think is worthy of note is that after we were at the beautiful swanky hotel, we went to a beautiful, painful hill of natural wild flowers where I mean these again, these are just factorial women who are lovely models for the day. Were champs they were wearing silk dresses, it was as hot as it gets in Austin, even though we are not in the dead of the summer yet. And this was the most prickly painful landscape I've ever and then I got attacked by fire ants and the very last shot so my feet are just spicy and blown up. And you probably don't want to know that listener so apologies but we will do
anything for a good picture
we really well.
Clearly our community is on the same page with us because thank you to all those models that were crawling through the pricklies getting fire ants in between their toes. Amazing. And we have around us
truly it was the ultimate case of Instagram versus reality because we posted some sneak peeks on our story and our Rome was like, Oh my gosh, this is so amazing. I had people like, messaged me personally. And we're like, this looks so incredible. And I was like, Yes. However, we were all flapping our legs, sweating, mopping our faces. So yeah, huge shout out to the factory members that joined us because it was very fun, but also a little challenging.
And, and also, I would say we learn every time we do this, too, like, we will now bring towels for wiping sweat, remodels, and more, you know, cold waters and things because we're not professional set directors and stylists and whatnot. But we sure do have a good old time doing it. So that was really fun this week. And then another exciting thing that's happening in factorio land is our team is expanding. In fact, you've probably noticed the last few podcasts episodes are higher quality, shout out Caroline, our podcast editor who is also a factoria member. And then we have some other growing team members that we're going to be excited to share later. But it's just really cool that team factoria as got more and more women, part of our crew. And then I would say Finally, and the reason we're doing today's podcast is because in June, we have the factoria remote month coming up, which we want to tell you about, we want to tell you why it exists and why we want to bake it into our company culture, because I don't think enough companies do. And so really, in June, our plan is for the team, which is mostly located in Austin and we meet up at back to our HQ, aka my guest bedroom. on a weekly basis, we will not be doing that we will not be having our department meetings or our larger leadership team meeting, we will all be taking that month to recalibrate, get some clarity, get some time and space in between all of the day to day tasks. We're constantly running and hopefully decompress so that we are ready for falls well circle season, which we are determined to be our biggest and best yet. So in the spirit of talking about remote month, I guess I'd love for you all to share why remote month is important to you and and why it's important that we have one,
I can start by sharing for me, I'm 35. Now I started my career at 21. And I've just I kind of started with the mindset of moving up the corporate ladder continuing to get a raise and just you know, build a team move up, get more experience, become a manager. And I finally realized that wasn't fulfilling to me as I continue to look up the ladder, it's like there's just more work, more responsibility, more stress, more time away from doing all the things that really fill me up and that, you know, I value. And you know, that's exactly why I have come on to build a company because to me is not about the money and moving up the ladder. But it's about the freedom, it's about the lifestyle design. And my number one value is movement. So being cooped up in an office or forced to be at my computer, you know, with back to back meetings for eight straight hours does not film yet. And so this remote month when Allegra suggested it, it was just like this weight off my shoulders of like, we can just go for a month be free move around. Like it's that freedom that I've been wanting to achieve throughout my career that you know, it's really hard to do when you have I don't know hundreds of other people on your team that you need to answer to. I just find it so inspiring to kind of like I use the analogy of sharpen the axe. If you're just like hacking away with your axe all day long and you don't stop to sharpen it. You're going to become dull. So remote meant to me is like sharpening the axe time.
I love that by the way that was Whitney Whitney is me. Well, you said me when you started so just wanted to make sure people out sorry, this is Whitney over here. Just to make sure people know but what i what i love so much about you sharing that is I think a lot of people recognize that in a traditional corporate environment. There really is that too many meetings, too little downtime. Do it again next week, next week, next week. And the whole reason we're building a company that is going to lead women towards financial freedom is because even on the way we want women to have financial flexibility. So if you Your personal finances are understood and arranged so that you can have the choice to work at a company that supports more freedom and travel and just whatever your values are in your life even better, because you don't have to wait until you retire to fill up your cup. But you can do it now. And so that's really the point of this. And then Julie, I'd love to hear what you think about remote man.
Yeah, I think I have a really similar story to Whitney's. And that was working, you know, big corporate job, and just realizing how separated I was from the actual core mission of where I was working. And it made it really hard to align myself with, like, why this meeting mattered, because I just didn't really feel the mission deep down. Obviously, that's the complete opposite at factoria. And also, yeah, it comes back to to having freedom and getting a chance to get away. And I also think, for me, at least, whenever I travel, or just get out of my routine, it's also a good chance for my brain to get out of its little routine. You know, like, when I'm in the same space, my brain tends to replay its patterns over and over again. And when you travel, you just sharpen that axe girl. Yeah, I'm not trying to sound like Kylie Jenner, who I think two summers ago, she was like, This is my summer of like realizing stuff. And that went viral, not trying to say this is going to be my summer of realizing stuff. But I think just getting out of your normal routine is a really good forcing mechanism to get your brain out of its routine to that's what
inspires you, right? Like sitting at a desk, you know how your computer all day is, like, you can only come up with so many creative ideas in that environment. Like you got to move around, which is you know, hence my number one value movement, like you got to go for a walk, you got to get out of the office like you do your best learning, I think out of the office or out of your normal environment, because that is where you realize things that's where you're seeing things firsthand.
If you can be experiencing something out of your norm, then your brain has an opportunity to make different connections than it would if you're just sitting in your desk. And this is I was actually watching a documentary on Halston. Last night. I love watching fashion designer documentaries. And they all talk about how the eye must wander. So if your eyes see the same four walls day in, day out, of course, you're not going to have extraordinary creative genius moments because you're doing the same thing. So we're all aligned there. I was also laughing because I had no idea that Kylie Jenner had of whatever summer and then it went viral. And then I was trying to think if Whitney knew and I bet you don't.
Did you know that Emma No. Julia's Nicole one she's up to date on what's actually happening, you know, out there in the media, and Allegra and I are just
no ladies. Oh, the old ones. Oh, baby gang. What is it called? When are you millennial? Julia?
I think so.
Oh, yeah, we're elder millennials. That's what it is. It's that we're elder millennials. And you're a hip millennial. And that's, that's one of you know, when things go viral? Oh, and I was gonna say and we know two years later, when you're telling us on a podcast.
We're so irrelevant.
When you say elder millennial, I just imagine you guys in like robes holding staffs with like, long beards.
Hello, company was a robe company. My world? Okay, well, then, since we're all talking about how it's important to live by our values. And when we think about lifestyle design, you obviously need to be very aware of your personal values so that you can design a life that is aligned to those, I think we should go around and share what our personal values are. And by the way, if you're a listener, and you don't know your personal values, we will share a link in the show notes. That is this awesome video Julia did to help you craft your values. I mean, you can also go and look up exercises from Bernie Brown, but we've we've got a pretty good one too. So who wants to kick us off with some values?
I already shared my number one value. This is Whitney, for all you listeners out there. And I hate being stagnant. Because as we talked about, that's not what what's inspiring. That's not when you come up with your creative ideas. I love travel. I'm a sucker for travel. I hate spending money in all areas of my life like clothes, fancy things, not my style, but you get me on a vacation and I will spend that money As long as I am moving. gym membership. That's something that's super important to me. So anything that's like getting me up and moving is is my number one my number one thing The second value I have is balance. So I'm a Libra. Julia, you're a Libra, we're so our sign is a scale. So naturally, we just want to be very balanced. And that means you know, that it's the work hard play hard, kind of living like a low fuss, very even keeled life is super important to me. And insight is also one of my values. So that kind of comes with like wisdom. Like I love having deep conversations, I love psychology and analyzing things. I love the facts and the data, you know, and people intuition is also great, but like, give me the the real reasons behind you know what, what you're telling me. And another one of my values is commitment. I hold myself to a high standard, I will be there for you, I will deliver what i say i'm going to deliver. And I just expect the same out of people. I'm not into flaky behavior, and of course, money. But hey, I didn't actually add that one to the list because that just goes unsaid. Wait, I
love them so much. And I love that you're explaining all of them. When we're all done. I think we should just state like the actual names of them so that everyone can remember but Juliet, let's let's hear yours and explain them. Like Whitney did hers. I wrote them down looking at it almost reads like a portfolio, I have gold. I like to name them. So it helps me remember. To me gold means like natural light, warmth, being a light for other people. And also just the golden rule, which is treat others the way that you want to be treated. Kindness is really important to me. compounding interest is a personal value, like yes in like the literal sense. But also just in terms of personal growth, investing my time and my brainpower and resources into things that are going to return me so much more than I put in over the course of my life. I'm always trying to improve and learn and get better. Gut is a is a big one. For me, I think I have a good relationship with my gut. And like when it comes to making decisions. For me personally or when it comes to evaluating other people I can I can read people pretty well. So I know if someone is good or someone is bad for my life, or if a decision is something that I should move forward with or not. My third one is juice. I call it juice because when I was little my mom would like read my homework and she'd like read my like sentences for like my English homework. And she'd be like, make it juicy, like make it juicy or this is boring. So it's kind of like I take that to mean like whatever you do, like Do it. Do it with a gusto, make it fun, make it different, you know, bring the energy to it and make it What does Mr. l say, bam, or whatever. So that's what juice means to me. And then I guess I counted wrong. My last one is connections. I don't have a clever little name for this one. But relationships are just really important to me in all 360 degrees of my life when it comes to my best friends my family but also the my tailor the person who you know I go to for dry cleaning, I like to feel connected to everyone around me and nurturing those relationships are really really important to me. So to recap, we have got compounding interest, juice, gold, and connections.
I love how juicy all of her words are. I need you to throw some BAM on valuers if you haven't noticed Julia and Allegra are more like the, the the creative ones of the group. And I'm like, get to the point showing.
commitment. Yeah.
Start with gold. And the light. Being a light having the light I was like there's our Whoo, our sweet little where we we just if there was a spectrum, Whitney is the analytical Julia is the woo and I'm somewhere in the middle. I touch on both. But I don't really lean heavily one or the one way or the other. Okay, well, here are mine. top top tip top for me is boldness. I really believe in bold moves, bold lives, bold goals. If I'm going to live on this planet that I'm aware of at least one time, I want it to stand for something. So I want to take risks and I want to be bold and I want to enjoy the feeling of putting a big audacious goal out there and making it happen. Another one for me is creativity. I think that that is my biggest skill set is that I can create something out of thin air that I can see something that's not there. And so I really love creativity and that's completely morphed for me over time because I used to be more like dancer singer actor like that's how I did my creative work and now obviously I'm An entrepreneur. And so it's different, but it still feels really creative. So I love creative pursuits. I love growth, personal growth, portfolio growth, all the growth, if there is an opportunity for me to understand myself better understand the people around me better growth to me encapsulates education, all of that, and also growth of relationships, I am very much a quality over quantity person. So I want to go deep with the connections that I have. And so that one is under the growth value. intentionality, I think I used to kind of throw spaghetti at a wall, whether it was buying things or hanging out with crowds, you know, now I'd rather have a night with one girlfriend and just be really intentional about that time, I would rather have a phone call over a text thread any day. In fact, I'm renowned for not answering group threads after a week or two, it's always like is a leg or even here? Should we kick her out? It's like, you know that if you call me I'll answer but I'm probably not gonna respond to this absurd text volleying. And then one that's really big for me is leverage, I cannot do it all myself, I do not know everything, I don't know 1% of things. So it is really important for me to leverage people who know better, and can do better than I can. So whether that's like, not feeling guilty about, you know, having a cleaning service, or whatever it is, if it's something that I'm not good at or shouldn't be doing with my time, I'm a big believer in leverage so that you can keep your time for those other values. So mine are boldness, creativity, growth, intentionality, and leverage. Whitney, can you list yours once more, and mine our movement,
balance, insight, and commitment.
Love it.
I love sharing these because I feel like both of you just listed values that are so true to who you are. And it's just such a nice little like, summary and also helps all of us understand each other better. You know, it's like, I know that Whitney is so committed and so balanced and so insightful, you know, all those things are so true to her. And same for you. Like you're so bold, so creative, you're so intentional. So I think it's so important to share these values with people that you love, once you define them.
Julia, you're so golden, juicy. You're
but I it's it's such a fun exercise to understand your team better because you want you know, members Aren't you want a diverse team. So you want to have everyone who hits on different skill sets. And it's important to know, you know how to work with each member of your team and what their values are. And I think doing this exercise together has really helped us understand each other and help us run an even better business.
That's a really good point, Whitney, I think that listeners if you want to do this values exercise, why not share it with some friends and do it together, because of course, we want you to know your personal values. But if you're going to learn your friend's personal values, that's only going to help you understand how to be a better friend to them, or just know where they're coming from, at a deeper level. So I'm really glad you brought that up, because we have women discover their values, so that they can use them for a financial filter and choices when it comes to making money moves. But we always tell them, like apply this to the rest of your life. Because your values don't change from your money choices to your relationship choices like it should, it should go across all of it. It helps understand all relationships to like I had my husband do the values exercise, the factory values exercise, I had my sister do it. And it's even improved my relationships with them, because it just helps you get on a deeper level with people.
Yeah, and relationships, society's values can help you determine kind of the foundation of where you direct your life, which is why we're talking about it for lifestyle design, because you can't really design your life until you really get clear on what you actually value. And then from there, you can map out what it is that you want to do. Yeah,
I mean, my values I can I'm sure yours are applies the same way. But my values all roll up to my ultimate goal of hitting financial freedom by 45. I guess so.
I love that you witty state that everywhere. Everyone who's listening just knows that? Well, I guess they don't know if they don't know you personally, I know that you will hit that because you are true to all those values. you're committed, you're balanced. And when you have something that you've decided you're going to make it happen. But even if you're just listening to her state That, I hope that that inspires you to tell your friends or share live on a podcast, your big, audacious goals because like it's crisp, it's clear, and it's got a time bound deadline. So every time Whitney says that she's gonna be financially free by 45, she's just letting it go through the universe like to further and further corners and strengthen it becoming a fact her reality. The biggest thing that reading the book happy pocketful of money has taught me is that you don't need to figure out how to make it happen that's up to the universe. Because if I am sitting here trying to think, how am I going to hit financial freedom by 45, I
think I'd start stressing out. But that book relieved me of that, because I just need to state what it is that I want, and it's on the universe to bring it to me,
I love that we'll put a link to that book in the show notes
totally. And so let's talk about how our values kind of play into our remote month choices, I can definitely go first here. During the month of June, my husband and I have decided and we did go back and forth on this a bit when we were trying to come up with what our travel plans work because we knew we wanted to travel, we just kept coming back to what to do with our mini horse. And ultimately, we decided to bring him along for the ride because we love this sucker so freaking much. So we have a big goal of having a ranch in the future. If you've been following my journey for a while, it used to be in oil ranch as an olive oil, really, because I wanted to say I was an oil heiress, just to be funny. But But now it doesn't have to be olive grove Central, it can be whatever but a place to get away from Austin to have space. To have animals. We'd love to have animals we'd love to farm something at least a garden where we eat the majority of our food out of and so we decided that every week in June, we are going to a different part of Texas no more than a two hour drive from Austin Central. And we are going to be checking out some different areas to see if we like them as a potential location for our future ranch. So we're kind of tethering it to our bold, creative real estate goals. And so we're exploring hunt blonko is it blank or blank? I think I got corrected the other day when I said blonko. But neither of you are Texan. So you don't have either No idea. And Wimberley, oh, and marble false. So anyways, all kind of close by but we're packing up the mini horse and going during the workweek. And then we'll be back in Austin. On the weekends. What are y'all up to?
Well, I also just like to point out how you're making this a very wealthy woman endeavor for yourself.
And it's so intentional.
It is very intentional. But so you so you are going, you're basically touring Texas to figure out your next real estate investment, which is point one in the wealthy woman column. And then point two is you're going to Airbnb out your house, right?
Oh, yes, yes, yes. Well, I will just say it's probably not going to be my next real estate investment. My next real estate investment is likely going to be a primary residence within Austin City Limits. But this is soon thereafter is the plan. And so yeah, we actually will be Airbnb in our house when we are exploring those areas. So we've already got our house rented for the first week, which is going to pay for the entire first week that we're somewhere else. And then some give us a little restaurant budget. And yeah, I love the idea of vacation hacking. So for us, we lock up the factory, our office, we literally put our most important and valuable things in here. And then we run out the rest of the house, we kind of have put some terms around it. We only like people to stay a minimum of three nights. We don't want like random party people in and out of here. But typically, we've seen families we've had no problems and it's pretty awesome. I started Airbnb being right when Airbnb got started back when I was living in New York, and I have loved it since the beginning because even though everyone was like you're crazy, all of your shits gonna get stolen. Why would you do this? This is before it was adopted by most everyone and even understood, but I felt so good about couples who would text me and say thank you so I lived right beside Time Square. Thank you so much for letting us stay in your apartment. We were able to stay three more days than we would have if we had stayed in a hotel in the area. So I love that. I love that we can provide a really nice atmosphere for families or friends traveling in Austin while we get to do the same out side of Austin
plus that passive income, yeah, subsidizing income. We're also all about that,
check, check, check
when you share. Okay, well, for the month of June, I'm going with my number one, travel, play. Get outside, we'll be in Lake Tahoe, California. So my family has a little cabin there right by the lake that they are so graciously letting my husband and I stay there for free. So we are taking off at the beginning of June, and we won't be back to Texas until July. So lots of swimming, hiking, doing all the outdoor activities.
Last so that's so nice. Again, another wealthy woman endeavor because you're not paying you're basically just paying for your flights. So and you got a whole month of stay in a completely new location.
Yes, my house is not Airbnb ready yet. But that is my goal by the time we do the next remote month, because I absolutely want that subsidized income if we're going to be paying to stay somewhere else during remote months, but I just couldn't get my shit together yet. And so yeah, this is a great option.
I am going to Portland, Maine for June, I'm going to stay with my friend fair for free and we paid with flights with points and we will be Airbnb in our house while we're gone. So um, you know, we'll probably depending on how much we spend, we might break even but I'm very happy with that. And also, obviously vacation is not just about like the expenditures it's about like the value that you get out of it personally as well. I'm really excited to escape the heat the Austin heat and be in Maine and reconnect with an old friend. Yeah, exactly.
Shout out famer. She's a well circle woman too.
There has been on this podcast. So you should you guys should listen to this podcast, listen to her podcast after this one and get an idea of the treat that I'm about to have just by getting to spend time with her in her new city. So I'm really excited about that. And yeah, because of fact Torres community I was inspired to Yeah, like Allegra said, subsidize my vacation. So really, it doesn't have take any effect on our vacation Fund, which we have. And I feel I'll feel great about being gone. And I'll feel just as happy to come back.
And breaking even is a win when it comes to vacation. And totally as so are you air being being your entire house? are you locking up a room like a Laker does? Yeah, we
are going to actually we're going to beta test renting out both sides of the house at the same time. So right now, the left side of my house is an Airbnb unit, we converted a garage and we are renting that out. And right now that more than covers our mortgage. So I'm very curious to test how it will go renting out both sides as two separate Airbnb s
report back. I want to know
I will I will. I am going to miss you guys so much. I'm not going to see you for a whole month.
I know. Well, you'll see us on zoom.
Yes, that's true. But we'll be back with lots of fun, inspiring creative stories, all of our realizations that we're gonna have in the month of June.
Yes. And also, for all you listeners out there, tune in because every month one of us is going to be recording an episode from where we are sharing the things that we have learned the new insights, the shaking up our brain, what that has resulted for us so that those should be fun episodes to Whitney, maybe you can capture some like bird sounds taho nature, like a babbling brook,
I'll be capturing a lot of sounds, I'll be on my computer. And I'll capture all the sounds for you the rushing, you know, water, whatever you want, I got you.
But can we get you like in front of a waterfall explaining different investment account structures?
Just the content in this stream as your income stream when it but for all of our listeners out there, you know, we would love to hear what your values are. So you know, dm us on Instagram, send us an email like we love hearing this stuff. And we think values are so important. So you know, let's share them within our community.
Yeah, I think it's really easy to skip values because it doesn't feel very tactical when we're talking about money. But it is so important. It is foundational it is an underlying piece to helping you make clear easier, guilt free decisions. So values are frickin everything. Thank you team for sharing yours here today. Can't wait to see How rested and recuperated you are from remote months and I will see you next time.
I'll miss you all until July. Bye