19: 4 Pillars of Wealth with Money Strategist Lily Hii

In this episode we talk with money strategist Lily Hii.

Lily shares her money story and journey to becoming a money strategist and business owner, by following the 4 pillars of wealth.

You will learn:

What a money strategist is and who needs one
How to use the 4 pillars of wealth to create money flowing into your life

Listen by clicking above or read the transcript of the episode below.

 

Transcript

Hello, beautiful people. And welcome to Episode 19 of the money Mindful Podcast.

How are you today? It is great to be here with you in your ears, wherever you are listening. Are you on the train? Are you doing the school drop off? I am actually in my home office. It's nearly 9:30 at night and I've been waiting for my children to go to sleep.

I can’t record this with them in the background. Oh, family life. This is the real deal, isn't it?

Okay, Book club. Hey, guys. How are you enjoying Spenditude? Did you know that I have Paul and Janine on the podcast next week? So cool. Can't wait for that. I'm so interested to know how you're enjoying the book. And if you're listening, And thinking, what is Meaghan talking about?

We are doing a book club here on Money Mindful, and we are reading Spentitude this month. It's not too late to get on board. You can go to the website and just click on the book club link and I'll tell you all the details about what book we're reading, where to get it. And if you're interested in being part of Book Club and just keeping up to date with what's happening, sign up to the Money Mindful Ladies’ newsletter. You, can, do that on the website. Or if you're following me on Instagram, you can just hit the link in the bio. You can also hit one of the buttons on the Facebook page. It's very easy to do. So get on into the newsletter and make sure you stay up to date with everything that's happening with Book Club and everything that's happening with Money Mindful.

Alright, let's get into the show today. We have a really special guest on today. Her name is Lily. Hii, and she is a money strategists from bookkeeping By Lily. And before I cue the interview. I want to encourage you to listen to Lily’s story and for that matter, all the women who come on this show and I really strongly encourage you to take away one thing.

So record one thing that you learn today and then apply it. And if you get a good result, share it with your girlfriend or your daughter or your mum. Because, of course, it's great listening to podcasts about money or reading a book about money or whatever subject matter it is that you're interested in. But the next step and the really important step is actually apply what you learnt. And this is what book club is all about as well, reading, finding out new information. But then we're going to look at how we can actually apply it in our lives.

So, like I said, listen to what Lily says today and take one thing away and try it because this is how we move forward, ladies. All right, let's get into it. I'm going to cue the interview.

Okay, so hello, Lily. And welcome. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast. I am really excited to have you on today, and it's so fantastic how you can just meet somebody over the Internet on Instagram of all places, and then a few weeks later, here we are talking on the podcast about money. Welcome.

I know. It's so amazing. I'm always intrigued how you know this social media works how we can connect with people around the world and sharing the same value. And we literally just meet on Instagram and with this, you know, message each other to introduce. And then we just hit it off because I think we have the same value, same kind of interest and something like that and I'm so excited to come on here and have a chat with you.

So good. All right. Well, can we start with a little bit about your story Lily? Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?

So I'm a bookkeeper and and money strategist. So I started off my business about four or five years ago. I didn’t have any plan and I just quit my job because I crave, I craved it. Flexibility. I crave the passion I crave the connection, you know. When I was in full time or part time job, I I just felt that something is missing. I don't feel fulfil, inside. And I always carried that kind off, mum guilt, of when my kids are sick, I can't take days off. If I take days off. Then I had that kind of guilt that you know, I have to go about and do extra to please my employer.

So, my friend actually approach to me, asking me if I want to help her in terms of the setting up her business in the finance side. And I was like, Yep, why not? Because, you know, I love helping as well, and because she's my friend and I just you know, there is no way that I wouldn't say no. And since then I was like, Oh, my goodness, if I could do this, I can help so many other people in setting out their business in understanding that numbers and stuff like that.

Few weeks later, I went in resigned without any Plan B, without knowing where to get my first client without knowing what a business owner is looking like. You know, So But I just need to follow my intuition all on my passion, you know, because I was very, very you can say, depressed and miserable, because off the job and not being able to, give my full attention to my kids? Yes. So that's how I start my business.

I think that is so amazing. How? I mean, this might sound a bit Woo Woo and but I feel like sometimes when we open ourselves up to new possibilities and start looking, opportunities come to us, it's quite remarkable. You know that you were just saying that you felt like something was missing and you wanted more. And then out of the blue, your friend comes to you to ask for help. And the next thing is, you're suddenly starting your own business.

That’s right it was so amazing. And it was really scary to start because, you know, I've got no plan off, what? Why and How. But I just know that I had to start somewhere because of the kids, the family and I think that's my motivation. Even though this fear involved and you know, like, outside my comfort zone, I just know that I have to do this to make it better, because I believe that you know, to fulfil everything in my family. I myself need to be happy.

That's right. Can you talk to us a little bit about how you help women with their money and what a money strategist is?

So a money strategist is basically, for me, is basically helping the business owner or anyone in understanding where the money is and how to do the money and the strategy behind it.

I fully fully believe that without a proper mindset, however good, however awesome your strategy is it's not gonna cut it because I play strategy at the back. So how I tackle a lot of

the people how to manage their money is through their minds at first, but really digging in. You know where this is coming from and why this is happening to them and help them to feel comfortable around talking about money.

Be open about it, and yeah, and things would come along and positive things will flow through them. And by having that plus the strategy that I think that's a 100% you know, work.

But that 100% work for me. And I know that it works for people because, you know, I've tried that with my clients and my book keeping clients as well back then, and my new ones.

That's right. Well, You don't have to convince me about mindset. I totally agree. It's. That's the first thing that you need to change. And when you were talking, what what I thought about was, do you notice any common themes with the women that you work with in terms of obstacles that they encounter or common things that you help women overcome with their money?

So very, very common thing is you know not is, but there's a few common things. It's either they don't know what they're doing. They don't know where they're spending it, and they are very scary. It money is scary to them, like because off the scary term, they wouldn't even try to go me anything to do with money. So how I approach them is, to just let them know that money. It's not a scary thing. To, to have a goal that they want to achieve. They're really need to be comfortable in opening up and knowing what money can do to them and where they're sitting in terms of the knowing it, because without knowing the route off, why they're not comfortable with the money, you can't really fix any problem and you can't really I can't really fix their problems without knowing what's happening.

It might be like, you know, when they're three or four years old. Things happened back then. Or, you know, it might be something that they're being taught at school or being told that no money can grow on tree or something from the parents. All sorts of factors that we need to go, you know, like deep dive in and just communicate open.

And how do we access that Lily? How do we find out what it is that's holding us back with money when we’re first starting out?

When we know that we've got some sort of money block and we want to move forward, but we're just not really sure what direction to take. Just ask yourself question. You have to face it first, even though it's very, very scary. You just have to, you know, put that scary and throw it to the bin and face it because I can 110% assure you that once you face it, a lot of things would come out left, right and centre.

And there's a lot of resource out there as well that, you know, it can help you in terms of the opening up, in terms of the how tackle you know, the money problem, the money blockage and stuff like that. And the main thing that I do for women is to provide them this kind of resources by allowing them to talk to me openly and find out exactly what happened. Because I truly believe that by talking to yourself, because everything start from yourself right, you are your own blockage. Talk to yourself. Ask yourself why, how and where and everything flowing.

And I noticed that on your website you have an abundance journal. Is that something that women can use to get started or what, or is that part of your process when they're working with you?

That's a free template on my website, and that's part of the process. That's how we start by, you know, like journaling, because by journaling, a lot off things would come out. But with the journaling, it's the same thing. Like, you know, you asked yourself question the first thing that comes out of your mind. That's the true answer. And by journaling everything, everything comes clear. So you know it's the time that you need to spend with yourself without any distraction. And that would be where the answer, is.

Ah, that's so cool. So that's actually something that's available to anyone on your website?

Yes, yes, it's free. Downloadable spreadsheet. You can use it any time. It's a simple, simple questions where you can, It's like a prompt where you can, you know, have a nice coffee early in the morning. No distraction, no kids, no husband. You know, put on your nice music or, you know, hardrock music, whatever that you're comfortable with.  And you sit down and journal it, You don't have to go through it. You know, the whole thing at once. Just one by one. Step by step.

Yeah, great. Well, I'll make sure that we put a link in the show notes and perhaps towards the end of the show, you can make sure you give us all your details, how we can find you. So, Lily, I just wanted to move into talking more about you as a woman and how you manage your money personally yourself in your own life. Like what sort of things do you do to create more abundance in your life? and have that flow happening for yourself.

Um, so for myself, I truly believe there's four main important things that I yes, I live by to create more wealth or more money flow into my life so that four thing would be knowledge, mindset, goals and love and happiness.

So why knowledge is because we've gotta understand where everything is, what is happening and why we are having what we are having. So without knowing, it's basically knowing the root of the problem. So once you know the problem, then you rewire your mindset to have that kind of the positive energy positive thinking flowing through. A lot to do with mindset. Mindset is, I think, one off the important che in creating money flow because without the right mindset, everything can go haywire, right, because having this kind of fear blockage and what everything, that's come your way, you're just gonna block out. You're not going to think about it, right? So with goals, goals is very important is all. Because without having that goal in your mind, you don't know what you're working towards, too, right? Having a goal is so important. It's as little it doesn't matter if it's a small goal, but as long as you have that in your journey, then you would know. You can see it happening right, and you can plan it so that you can achieve that goal. And the last thing is, you know, obviously love and happiness, because without doing something that you're passionate about and happy it's not. Fill your cup right because a lot of people think wealth is connecting with money, but wealth can be your happiness. Wealth can be doing the things that you wish for, I think with all that four main pillars, if you practise it every single day, money was just flow in. You know, automatically and it happens to me. So I'm a good example,.

 Right. So let me just get that clear So it’s. We start with getting knowledge or awareness about our self and where we're at. Is that right?

Yes

Then we work on our mindset and is that where we change? Look at changing our mind set or just being conscious of the mindset that we've got?

Both because you need to know where you are at now. If it's not going the right direction, then you need we'll need to work on that. To transform to a positive mindset so that you can move forward.

And then make some goals. I love. I love that one. I'm big goal setter and I'm so pro setting goals. But I also like how you've added that 4th pillar of love and happiness, because I agree that there's an element off being at peace and having gratitude for what we have already. Would you agree?

Yeah, 100% agree, because from my own experience, I've gone through doing something that I don't love doing something that I only please other people and that just doesn't fill my cup at all. It turns the other way around. It makes me feel depressed. It makes me feel like a fraud. But if you know what I mean, because I'm not yet showing my true self and it shows, it showed. It definitely shows, and I don't want to have this kind of role model for my kids because I always tell them. Tell my kids that you always have to do something out of love. If you do something out of love, good things will come like it’s so true. When you do things out of love the things that you wish for that you want in your life, you will come to you.

I really like that and what I wanted to circle back to, what you mentioned at the start when you decided to go out into business for yourself. Is that on the podcast I have talk about different ways off creating financial security for yourself through investments such as property investments or share investments and one of the things that I haven't touched on yet. But I'm going to and I want to is about. There's another way of earning income, and that's actually by being in business for yourself. And I think starting out and going into business for yourself is, can be a massive step for somebody. But it's definitely a way to generate income where you're not trading hours for money, and I'd love it if you could talk to us a little bit more about your mindset when you started the business and how you really got into creating a business for yourself and being in that space of, that you are now a businesswoman and that you, that's how you earn your income, not from a salary. And I just think it would be great to hear your perspective on how you moved from being from salary mindset that somebody else pays you to being in that domain of, that you create now, this money for yourself.

That's such a great question to share or answer to share with everyone. So basically, when I started my business, like I said before, I have no idea. I have no idea what I'm getting myself into. I have. Nobody would start and I remember when I was talking to you before because of my husband's job. I'm the only one that's at home looking after the kids without communicating with anyone, because I can't, you know I can't go out. I can't go out in that way. You know, all I think about is how to solve my client's problem. How to make them happy, right? And at the start off the business, I wasn't that 100% in the business, so to speak, because I was too, having what you call the employee mindset, so basically wanting to fulfil other people's need, trying to make other people's happy and not knowing and not don't even aware that I myself need to be happy as well.

So about two years ago, I moved we more from Sydney to Melbourne and that's when everything changed. Everything changed because I found out that, you know, I can take my bisness to, like digital, well, like doing things remotely. And then I was like, oh my goodness, what is this? It’s like the whole new thing to me and I started to do a lot of research. I started to talk to other people and because off the change of work of my partner, I then have more time to do whatever that I want. More time to think about what I want, what makes me happy. And I dig into a lot off self development, personal growth, and really think about what I really want for my business.

What am I doing here? What I want to, what do I want to grow going forward? So I started networking, and that's a totally different world to me. I felt so out of place because when you go on networking, it's kind of scary because you don't know anyone there, right, so you basically just stood there and not knowing what to do, what to say and where to put your hands flat and stuff like that. So and because I'm introvert as well. Yeah, I don't know what to do, but that's a thing this scary it is, the more that I want to push myself to do, because I think that's that's how you grow and that's how I grow. I do things, you know, outside the comfort zone. I do things that I put it out there in the universe. I'm always on social media and because I know by putting it out there, we'll do it even though I'm so scared. So yeah, that's I think my tip is for who-ever that's studying out this love, love yourself. Do do the things that you love and passionate about, and, you know, set yourself up so that you are constantly doing things outside your comfort zone.

I love that so much, and the other thing that just makes me laugh about what you've said there is that you moved from Sydney to Melbourne, and then all these new things opened up because you stepped outside of your comfort zone, and then, here I am. I've just moved from Melbourne to Sydney and I'm thinking Right. So what we're telling you is that if you want to start a business, just move interstate and that’s how you do it.

Because you know for me it's true because without that move I would still be stuck in that working mode the employees working mode, like trying to keep other people happy. But I think that move just yeah. That move gave me a lot. A lot of opportunity gave me a clear, like a light, like a light bulb moment saying I can absolutely do this, you know and just go for it.

That's right. And I think for the women listening today what you can take away from that as well as okay, so you don't have to move interstate to make financial change, although it does help, that you can, take small small steps. But I think the key is you hit the nail on the head. It's stepping outside of your comfort zone, you know, if you've never invested in shares, and that's something that you want to get into, your not going to straight away know how to do it or what to do. You need to at first look at where you're at, like you said, and gain awareness. Look at your mindset and then start setting some goals and taking action towards that and creating from that space of love and happiness. I mean, who doesn't want to have a secure income so they can be supporting their family? I know. I certainly want that in my life.

Yeah, exactly. It's so it's so true like, you know, because my client base, they are basically, you know, focus in women. And I see a lot of example that women are so scared or they don't they don't want to go near, you know, the money management finance. They just put it in a too hard basket where they are piling it out, piling it up. And at the end of the day, it's gonna overflow its flow, and it's gonna make them feel miserable. Like unhappy.

So, Lily, just before we, as we're heading towards wrapping up now, is thre anything that you would like to add that you think would be of value to our listeners? Just any advice on- If you're getting started with managing your money, what's, what's one little step or one little tip that we can do.

I always tell, you know, people to follow this simple, simple, practical tips. Which are you just gotta track what is going on. You have to track what goes in and out off your ,you know, the normal expenses and income in your household or in the business. And then from then you can plan budget what I call fitness plan for your mullah. I have love calling that because I'm a gym addict as well. So I'm love of fitness plan that you need to have a plan. That's all I can say. And the third this is you have to prioritise what is important to you, for example? You know, if your goal is saving up for holiday or pay off the mortgage, you gotta prioritise the money to go into that goal first without any excuses. That's the first thing that you're going to do and finally to stick to it. Stick to what your plan is.

Yes, I like that. I like that. Well, thank you very much for being with us today, Lily. But before I let you go, tell our listeners, where can we find you? And where can we get that abundance journal?

So well, you can find me on Instagram. I'm always on instagram stories more often. And I'm on Linkin as well Book Keeping by Lily. I've got a Facebook page called Book Keeping by Lily as well. With the Abundance Journal. It's on my Website, so it's www dot bookkeeping by Lily dot com. Dot au.

Fantastic. And I'll make sure to include links to that in the show notes. Well Lily, it has been a pleasure having you on the show. Thank you.

Well, there you have it. Lily Hii. What was your one takeaway you got from what Lily said? Did you write something down? Mine was her four pillars of wealth. So the knowledge, mindset, goals and then love and happiness. I really liked hearing that perspective from her. So if you want to hear more from Lily, I'm going to link in the show notes all the places that you can find her. She's on Instagram, Facebook, linkin, her website. And she is also just launching a six week money programme with coaching. It sounds amazing. And if you want to find out more definitely go and check Lily out.

Alright. Have a beautiful week until next time. Bye bye.

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