Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Doris Gothard
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000185A
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00:01 From the cotton fields of Alabama
00:02 to the Corporate Board room... 00:04 stay tuned to meet a woman who dared to dream 00:07 and wants to share some financial strategies with you. 00:10 My name is Yvonne Lewis 00:12 and you're watching Urban Report. 00:38 Hello and welcome to Urban Report. 00:40 My guest today is Doris Gothard, Motivational Author and Speaker. 00:45 Doris is the recipient of numerous awards 00:48 including the National 4-H Achievement Award, 00:51 Exploring Executive Leadership, 00:53 American Business Women's Association 00:56 and the YMCA Minority Achiever 01:00 and Woman of Excellence Awards, 01:02 she's the Author of five books 01:04 and today we're going to discuss one of her books, 01:06 "Finances and Spirituality. " 01:09 Welcome to Urban Report Doris... 01:11 Thank you it is so good to be here. 01:14 Oh, it's so good to have you because 01:16 you have so much information to share and I'm... 01:20 I hate that we just have 30 minutes in which to do it 01:23 because I know... that you're just going to 01:25 give us so many strategies and ways to deal with finances 01:30 and we really need it, we really need it 01:31 but before we get into that, 01:33 I want our Viewers to know Doris... 01:36 who is Doris? 01:37 So tell us a little bit about your background. 01:39 Well, you gave a great intro... when you let everyone know that 01:44 I got my start in the cotton fields. 01:47 Which is true... it's so true... 01:49 I had a big smile on my face remembering... 01:51 but I want you to know 01:53 that I took my job in the cotton fields... very seriously. 01:56 Yvonne: Okay, what did you do in the cotton fields? 01:58 Well, I was the best hired hand 02:02 that anyone could imagine 02:04 I think I picked more cotton 02:06 than any other human being on the face of the earth. 02:08 How old were you? 02:11 I was... I think I started when I was in my mother's womb 02:15 and then when she gave birth to me... 02:16 I just knew what to do and I started picking... 02:18 and my hands were just always so busy... 02:20 just pulling the cotton out of the cotton bolls... 02:22 I was passionate about it, 02:24 it was my very first job, 02:26 it was the way that I helped to earn enough income 02:31 to feed my family, because my grandfather... 02:34 my grandparents raised me at a very early age 02:37 was killed in an automobile accident 02:39 by a drunk driver, so that left no man really... 02:43 in the home... and I took on those responsibilities 02:47 that I had observed my grandfather do, 02:49 and so, I can drive the tractor, I could milk cows, 02:53 I could feed all of the animals on the farm 02:55 and we made it by God's grace. 02:58 The key is... that I knew from birth 03:01 with the training of my grandparents 03:04 that... God was at the center of their lives 03:08 and I learned about Him and accepted Jesus Christ 03:13 as my Lord and Savior when I was about 03:15 six years old... I think it was 03:17 and since that day, I've been running for Jesus. 03:20 Not the whole time in the cotton fields 03:22 because I was praying while I was in those cotton fields 03:24 that the Lord would deliver me from those cotton fields 03:28 and so He did... and so I have spent many, many years in 03:32 Corporate America and now the best job of all 03:35 is just being a volunteer for Jesus. 03:37 Amen... you know what's interesting to me Doris... 03:39 is that... you started at a young age 03:42 in the cotton fields and you developed a work ethic, 03:46 you developed a standard of excellence 03:48 because you just said that you learned to do... 03:51 you took it seriously 03:53 and you learned to do 03:54 all the different things that your granddaddy did 03:56 and you developed a standard of excellence 04:01 that's why you got that Woman of Excellence Award 04:02 probably... by the way... but that's one of the things 04:06 that as parents... we need to consider for our children that 04:09 A. we get them involved in some kind of work early... 04:13 I don't mean slaving... I don't mean really difficult, 04:17 back-breaking work... but I mean... 04:20 teaching a work ethic, teaching how to work 04:24 and also developing that standard of excellence 04:27 where they're not satisfied with mediocrity 04:31 that's what I'm hearing from you that 04:33 you took your little cotton-picking job seriously 04:37 and you did it well so you ended up 04:40 in Corporate America, what kinds of things 04:43 did you do in Corporate America? 04:45 Well, I was a Manager in Corporate America 04:49 and then, promoted to an Account Manager Level 04:53 where you have the responsibility for 04:55 profit and loss, running a piece of the business 04:59 was one of the responsibilities that I had 05:01 and to this day... I think 05:04 I still have an appetite for that... 05:06 and we'll talk a little bit more later 05:08 but I do have my own... business... 05:10 it's not so much 05:11 what the challenges that you've experienced in life... 05:16 as it is... you're looking at those challenges 05:19 and looking for the positive in it 05:23 and then taking that and let that be encouragement for you 05:26 to grow from that experience and to soar. 05:29 I wouldn't want any of our listeners or viewers 05:32 to misunderstand... 05:34 working in those cotton fields was very, very hard work. 05:39 It was indeed, for me, a type of slave labor 05:43 but I didn't allow the reality of that situation 05:49 to stand in the way of me moving toward that purpose 05:54 that God had for me in my life 05:55 and so I don't look back with any regret 05:57 as a matter of fact it helped me to become 05:59 the person that I am today. 06:01 I have an excellent work ethic, 06:03 I woke up early in the morning and always had 06:06 a list of things to accomplish for Jesus. 06:08 Amen, you know, again, taking from what you just said, 06:12 if you look at the way you mentally framed 06:18 what you were doing, you see, I think that we can either 06:21 accept certain things 06:24 and take it from a negative perspective 06:27 or we can apply a positive spin on it, 06:30 we can either say, "This is back-breaking 06:33 and I'm not going to get anything from this" 06:35 or... "What can I get from this?" 06:38 "What is this teaching me?" 06:40 "How can I use this situation 06:42 to take me from Point A to Point B?" 06:45 That's what you did, by the grace of God, 06:47 that's what you did. 06:49 You went from the cotton fields to the Board Room. 06:51 Doris: Absolutely Yvonne: You dared to dream... 06:53 Doris: That's right... 06:54 Yvonne: Yes indeed, yes indeed. Doris: And I'm still dreaming. 06:56 That's right, that's right because it never stops 06:58 and because you walked in your divine destiny. 07:03 That's one of the things we talk about 07:04 on Dare to Dream, a lot... 07:05 on Urban Report... a lot... 07:08 walking in your divine destiny 07:10 and one of those things is you have written 07:12 several books and we're going to show those books later 07:16 but I want you to talk about finances in spirituality first 07:20 because I think that... that we have so many issues 07:25 in the inner city and in the black community with finances, 07:28 just... Americans across the board do... 07:30 but I think we have some staggering numbers 07:33 in the black community, and so, what led you to write this book? 07:37 Well, my desire and passion was to serve and to help others 07:43 and also because of my own experience 07:45 having grown up the way you've described, 07:48 as a poor family in Alabama having to work very, very hard, 07:55 I have always felt that we can teach people many things 08:01 and especially in the African American family, 08:06 but if you don't teach people how to manage money, 08:11 it's not how much money you make... 08:12 it's how you manage that which God has entrusted you 08:17 to care for and I was convinced 08:21 that you cannot separate the material and the physical 08:26 in life, if you want to be successful from the spiritual 08:30 and so I think that there is a divine connection 08:34 between the physical and the spiritual 08:38 and the person who connects it 08:40 and is the glue between those two... is Jesus Himself. 08:43 Yvonne: Amen. 08:45 And so I passionately feel that one can accomplish anything 08:48 with the right attitude, with Jesus... he's a winner 08:52 and you can be a winner. 08:53 Oh yes, let's put that book up, let's put the cover up 08:56 so people can see "Finances and Spirituality" 08:59 and you were saying that the connection there 09:02 between finances and spirituality... is Jesus Christ. 09:07 Doris: May I share with you one other thing? 09:08 Yvonne: Please... Doris: And these are just a few 09:09 notes that I took from the book 09:11 and for anyone who has the book 09:13 or you'd like to get it at some point, 09:15 I believe it's on page 2 or 3, but I did a little research 09:19 and you notice on the cover of the book that was just shown 09:21 that the Bible is there, 09:23 because any decision that is made in life, 09:26 if God is not a part of that decision, 09:29 then your expected outcome is going to be less 09:31 than what He would desire for you to have. 09:34 In my little research of the Bible, I learned 09:38 that more than 500 verses in the Bible are about prayer, 09:43 less than 500 verses in the Bible are about faith 09:47 but approximately 2,350 verses in the Bible 09:52 are about money. 09:54 Yvonne: Wow! 09:55 So Jesus spent time 09:57 talking about the material and the spiritual 10:01 and so, that's a very strong and deep connection 10:05 as our spiritual life goes, 10:07 so goes the success of our finances. 10:12 Wow! that is so... you know... 10:14 it's interesting because so many people think that 10:18 the Bible isn't relevant, that there's nothing in here 10:22 that... it's for today... 10:24 it's an antiquated book... it doesn't... 10:26 but we can find the answers 10:28 to our problems and questions through the Word. 10:32 Doris: Absolutely, absolutely. 10:34 Yvonne: That's what God has given us. 10:36 God cares about every aspect of our lives 10:38 and when we partner with Him, 10:41 success will be His 10:44 and success will be ours 10:45 because there is nothing more than He desires 10:48 and that's for His children to be in partnership with Him. 10:52 Yes, yes, yes, yes, I noticed that... 10:55 well, there are a couple of things that I want to allude to, 10:57 number one, you mentioned, a few minutes ago 11:00 the importance of learning how to manage money 11:03 you know, I think about all of these people in 11:06 Entertainment and Sports and it just... 11:09 in various stations in life 11:11 that have made tremendous amounts of money 11:13 but did not know how to manage it 11:16 and one of the things that I think we need to look at is 11:21 how are we spending money, you know, I tend... 11:24 I have to tell you now, I have to make... 11:26 are you ready for a true confession? 11:27 Doris: I'm ready. Yvonne: Okay, I like... 11:30 I don't like to shop but I shop a lot 11:33 and sometimes I find myself shopping like... 11:35 if I feel a little blue, 11:37 I want to get a pair of shoes that make me feel good 11:41 but that's emotional spending, 11:43 let's talk a little bit about 11:45 emotional spending, what is that? 11:47 I like to characterize it this way 11:49 money has a personality that's transferred by us to money 11:58 very much like people have personalities. 12:01 Some of us are savers and some of us are spenders 12:06 and some of us are procrastinators 12:09 when it comes to paying the bills and paying it on time 12:12 so that you can avoid those late fees, 12:16 some of us are misers and we feel that... 12:19 well money should not be spent 12:21 unless it's an absolute necessity... 12:24 and we have not learned how to manage 12:26 the emotions that we have about money. 12:29 I think that when we give all of our emotions 12:33 over to God, so that they will be under His absolute control, 12:38 then in your scenario, Dr. Yvonne, 12:41 when you go shopping next time, 12:44 you would find in my book at least 3 or 4 tips 12:47 that I will share with you regarding the temptation 12:51 to be able to go in and buy that next new purse or 12:55 a pair of shoes which also, if I might confess, 12:58 is one of my weak areas but I always say, 13:02 "Doris, you can look but don't touch... " 13:05 and you have to do everything you can to keep your emotions 13:09 under control and that can only happen with God's help. 13:13 If you are an emotional person as I am 13:18 regarding the purchase of shoes, 13:20 I have many, many pairs of shoes 13:22 but I no longer go into the store 13:24 and touch every pair of shoes that I see 13:27 that I "might have a need for," 13:28 when I really don't have a need for it, 13:30 so I hope those tips are helpful to you, 13:32 first of all... look but don't touch. 13:34 And I think we have a slide about emotional spending, 13:37 like getting control of your emotions. 13:40 The key is to understand 13:42 that you have to view your emotions very much like 13:45 when you have a problem and you want to go to the doctor 13:48 well, first of all, you should take good notes 13:51 when you visit your doctor 13:53 because they don't really have a lot of time to spend with you, 13:56 you want to describe what your symptoms are 13:59 and then the doctor is going to discuss 14:02 what a prognosis is for your condition 14:05 and then before you leave his office, 14:08 more likely than not, he will write you a prescription 14:10 and so in all of those emotions and those personalities 14:14 that I write about in the book about being savers and spenders 14:17 and puritans and misers and oh! and I forgot to mention to you, 14:21 there is also this emotion or personality about money 14:25 in many homes and I call it a mixed marriage 14:30 because not always does the husband and the wife 14:34 agree... in other words they have different emotions, 14:37 they have different personalities about money 14:40 based upon what their experience has been 14:42 so it's not always the same but I want to tell you Doctor, 14:46 there is hope for all of us, 14:48 Jesus knows our different personalities about money, 14:52 He knows that there's good in the saver... 14:54 the person who never wants to spend anything, 14:56 He also knows that there is good... meaning hope... 15:00 for the fretter... 15:01 the individual who just frets about spending money 15:04 and these are people I say, with a laugh, many times 15:07 that fretters are generally 15:09 people who have no hair on their heads 15:10 because they worry all the time 15:12 and I think I'm married to a fretter 15:14 but there is hope for all of us... 15:16 with these various personalities because with Jesus... 15:19 He can help us keep all things under His divine control. 15:23 Yeah and that's see... again... that's the key... 15:27 keeping Jesus at the center of everything and... 15:30 and understanding who you are 15:33 and I think, that's one of the things 15:35 that we don't learn... we don't learn 15:37 how to manage money and even though it's in the Word... 15:41 and we can extrapolate principles from the Word 15:44 I'm so thankful that the Lord had you write this book 15:46 to help us to go back to the Word 15:50 and get these principles and apply them... 15:53 and apply them to our lives so, I thank you for that 15:56 because we need to know how to manage it 15:59 and how to understand who we are, 16:02 what type of spender are we and who are we married to? 16:06 If you're married... are you one way... 16:09 is your spouse one way? 16:10 Would you unpack that a little bit more for us too? 16:14 Yes and I think that's in Step 2 because in this book 16:17 the Lord gave me seven simple steps... 16:20 we may not be able to cover them all today 16:23 but hopeful that the first three or four... we'll be able to do 16:27 that brings me to step number 2, in order for any personality 16:32 whether you have some of the personalities 16:34 in a family relationship or a dissimilar personality, 16:37 meaning it's a mixed personality arrangement, 16:42 the important thing is... we need to know 16:47 how to be honest in our discussions 16:50 about financial matters in the home, 16:53 we should never withhold financial discussions 16:59 or leave out the children in the home 17:01 from those financial discussions. 17:02 They should be around the table, 17:04 if there's not a husband in the home... 17:06 if it's the mother and just the children, 17:09 then she should be honest in the discussions 17:11 so that they will understand, 17:13 this is how much money is coming into our home, 17:15 this is how much money is going out of the home 17:18 and this is a list of things 17:20 that we will be able to afford to do 17:23 and maybe in time with planning and with prayer 17:27 we'll be able to purchase that car 17:29 that we very much need so much... 17:32 so that I can carry you to church... 17:35 I can drive you there myself or I can get you to Church School. 17:37 Honesty is the best policy for every single individual 17:42 the best place to start is to sit down... find a quiet place 17:46 and have a little talk with Jesus 17:48 and be honest about it and say, 17:50 "I'm losing sleep at night, I'm not feeling well" 17:53 or "I'm overeating," and all of this is because 17:56 my financial situation is out of control, 18:00 I have fear that I won't be able to pay my light and gas, 18:04 fear that I won't be able to pay this month's rent, 18:07 fear that I won't be able to make my car payment 18:10 and many individuals are ashamed and they're afraid 18:13 and fearful to share any of this information 18:16 with their friends or with members of the church 18:19 and so I always say, "Honesty is the best policy" 18:22 if we come to the Lord in faith... honest... 18:25 recognizing that we cannot do it on our own 18:28 and we ask Him for help, I believe that He will help. 18:33 If He helped me, He will help any person. 18:35 That's step two. 18:36 Yes, now, was there a time that you went through 18:40 a dark time financially where you were able to apply 18:44 these principles or you didn't know these principles 18:47 where were you 18:49 at some point... when you either had to apply this 18:53 or kind of extrapolate these principles for yourself? 18:56 Well, I think, when I first recognized 18:59 that there was difficulty and a challenge, 19:02 it was when my grandfather who was the head of the house, 19:06 he was the provider for us there on the farm, 19:11 of course, we were all working, 19:12 but when he was killed by the drunk driver 19:15 in that automobile accident when I was very, very young, 19:18 I was concerned that we may not make it without him 19:23 and I had to figure out a way 19:26 of how can I help my grandmother, 19:28 how can we survive? 19:29 And one of the things that I did was to transfer 19:33 that grief into a decision... in my mind... I made a decision 19:41 that I am going to do excellent work in school, 19:45 I am going to work as hard as I can on this farm 19:49 so that we can earn income, I'm going to chop wood, 19:53 cut wood, haul in coal, cut down trees, 19:56 do anything that I have to do, 19:58 so it was from that very, very early age, 20:01 that I made a commitment and I was determined 20:04 and I had perseverance and I had a strong desire 20:08 that life could be better 20:09 and that Jesus was going to help me accomplish it, 20:11 that's how I got to the Corporate Boardroom. 20:13 Wow! and see... that's... you know... 20:16 again, the key word here, I think is "decision. " 20:19 Doris: Yes. 20:20 You made a decision, I think without... 20:23 you first have to decide... first you confer with God... 20:29 then you have to make a decision 20:31 based on what that input from the Word and 20:34 whatever the Holy Spirit impresses you to do 20:36 and then once you make a decision, 20:38 you have to back it up with action, 20:41 because if you just make a decision 20:43 and you don't back it up with action 20:46 and a plan, then what's the point 20:48 but you went strategically 20:51 and approached this strategically 20:53 and God honored that, just like Joseph, 20:56 Joseph worked hard and he went from being a slave 21:01 to being the second in command in Egypt, 21:03 so that's what I'm hearing from you, Sister Doris, 21:06 that you came from meager circumstances 21:11 but you didn't let your circumstances define you 21:13 and I don't want you to let your circumstances 21:17 define you... wherever you are right now in life 21:20 you don't have to stay where you are, 21:23 you can make a decision to move from here to here. 21:27 Ask God what's His plan for you 21:29 and then let Him impress you with what that plan is 21:32 and then you just move from there 21:34 you make a decision to go from that point to the next point, 21:39 to the next point, make a plan and work the plan. 21:43 Would you agree with that? 21:44 I would agree and let me tell you... what God did. 21:48 With the encouragement of my grandmother, 21:51 knowing that I no longer had my grandfather in my life 21:55 and let me just say that I do have a biological mother 21:59 and she was in my life, she was young when I was born, 22:03 I'm the oldest of three and so 22:06 we were really all kind of raised together, 22:08 and some of our listeners will understand 22:10 that there have been many grandparents who stepped in... 22:12 to the gap and helped to raise families 22:15 that were not their own but as a result of... 22:18 the encouragement of both my grandmother 22:19 and my biological mother 22:21 to do the very best that I could in school, 22:24 God rewarded by awarding me a full four-year scholarship 22:30 to Tuskegee University 22:33 and so... you can use your God-given gifts and talents 22:36 even though you may feel that there's not enough income 22:40 in the family or in the home to pay your way through college, 22:44 my gifts that God gave me 22:47 and my desire and my determination 22:50 with His help... earned me a full-paid scholarship 22:55 to Tuskegee Institute so... God is good. 22:57 That's tremendous, that's tremendous, 22:59 again... your work... you used the gifts that you had 23:02 and you honed those gifts, you didn't just leave them, 23:06 you honed them and that is our responsibility 23:09 we are given gifts and we have to hone them. 23:11 So now, what would you say, 23:13 in terms of managing our personal finances, 23:17 what's the key to that? 23:19 May I give you 23:21 a personal experience? Yvonne: Please... 23:22 After enrolling at the University, 23:26 this was back then... 23:29 I'm not sure what's on college campuses today 23:32 but this was my experience. 23:33 Credit Card companies... and I'm mentioning this because 23:39 I had a personal experience with it 23:40 and personally... I think credit card debt, 23:42 if you don't manage it, 23:44 is the worst kind of debt, it really is. 23:46 Colleges and Universities would allow Credit Card companies 23:50 to have a presence on campus and so... your Freshman year, 23:54 they would be all over the campus 23:56 and they would offer students a free credit card, 23:59 all you had to do was just sign your name... 24:00 I'd not had... I came from a farm... 24:03 I'd not had any training, 24:05 my grandparents never had a credit card 24:07 and so it was free, 24:09 they sent it to me with a spending limit of 300 dollars 24:12 and I thought, "Oh! this is great... " 24:14 and so I went shopping, I thought it was great, 24:17 I thought that that would be the end of it 24:18 and so I went and spent the whole 300 dollars 24:20 and then I started getting statements 24:22 and the statement was asking me to pay something on it, 24:24 I thought it was free, 24:26 that was my first "teachable moment" 24:29 because I had no thought and I had no plan 24:33 about how I was going to pay that 300 dollar debt 24:37 and, of course, fear sets in, 24:39 you don't want to tell your grandparents who worked so hard 24:42 to try to help keep you there at the University 24:44 and so I didn't have a good end result 24:48 with that first credit card because I was unable to pay it, 24:50 I have learned that those types of experiences 24:54 are painful and difficult but you can overcome, 24:58 ultimately, that was a bad report on my Credit Report 25:03 and I had no idea... later on... how much that would mean 25:08 when I wanted to buy a new car 25:10 and my credit score was low which meant that 25:16 I either couldn't get the loan or the interest rate was high. 25:19 I learned before I graduated from college, 25:23 that managing my credit was my primary responsibility 25:29 in other words, I learned to be accountable 25:31 and responsible for my own actions 25:34 and I said, "Lord, this was something 25:36 that I did... I signed my name" 25:39 and before the end of the day, I paid that loan, 25:43 even though I had to take a bad credit hit, 25:46 but I worked very hard to rebuild my credit 25:49 and today, 850 is super star! 25:53 Yvonne: All right... Doris: I think I'll make it. 25:55 All right... all right... that's awesome, that's awesome. 25:59 You must sit down and write a list of all of your debts, 26:03 write the monthly payment that you're currently paying, 26:07 write down on a piece of paper 26:09 the interest rate that you're paying... 26:11 and come up with a plan, 26:12 a plan and a strategy that's says, 26:15 "The highest interest rate debts that I have... 26:19 I need to do everything that I can to pay off those debts. " 26:23 So you pay off from the highest interest rate on down... 26:27 Doris: Yes. 26:28 So you have to look on that little thing... that sheet... 26:32 that says what you're paying in interest, right? 26:33 Doris: Yes. 26:35 And then find out what your interest level is 26:37 and then start there. 26:38 Yes, start there, because if you're only pay 26:41 on a credit card and, of course, I'll say this again, 26:43 credit card debt is the worst debt that you can have. 26:45 There is some good debt, 26:47 but credit card debt is not the good debt. 26:48 It's only good debt when you know that the charges 26:52 that you're making on a monthly basis... 26:54 you have the ability to pay in full 26:57 when that statement comes. 26:58 You want to organize your debts, 27:00 highest interest rate to lowest interest rate 27:03 and target your energies on paying off those 27:06 that have the highest interest rates, 27:07 now everybody needs a little incentive 27:10 and a little encouragement so I'll say this quickly, 27:12 that one of the things that I did 27:14 that encouraged me was 27:15 the debt that had the lowest account balance on, 27:19 I paid that off first... 27:20 and then I dealt with the big stuff. 27:23 Okay, so you pay off the lowest first? 27:24 Doris: Yes. 27:26 And then you deal with the big stuff... Doris: Yes. 27:27 How can people get your book? 27:28 You're going to tell us in like 10 seconds... 27:30 www. dorisgothard. com 27:32 All right, one more time... 27:33 www. dorisgothard. com 27:37 And she has several books that she's written, 27:40 several books and she's got cookies 27:43 I mean... just go to her... 27:44 go to her website... and check it out. 27:46 Thank you so much... thank you so much. 27:49 Thank you for having me... thank you. 27:52 Wow! Proverbs 13:11 says, "Dishonest money dwindles away, 27:55 but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. " 27:59 pay your tithe and offering, 28:00 have integrity in your financial dealings, God will bless. 28:03 Thanks for joining us, join us next time 28:05 because it wouldn't be the same without you. |
Revised 2016-05-25