00:00:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to my show. I'm Rashawn McDonald, the host of Money-Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success stories and start planning your own. Now, you don't wanna miss an episode, so please take a moment right now to follow or subscribe to Money-Making Conversations Masterclass. It's free. You can follow me on iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. New Money-Making Conversations Masterclass episodes drop daily. I want to keep you on alert. Because my guests provide tips on how you can uplift your community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Now, let's get this podcast started. My guest is an Air Force veteran, victim advocate, and single mother who has a mental wellness practice. But she's also the author of a book, Wisdom of the Path. Please welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass, Yasmeen Cheyenne. How are you doing?
00:00:55
Speaker 2: Hi, how are you? Thanks for having me. Great.
00:00:58
Speaker 1: Did I say your name correctly?
00:00:59
Speaker 2: Yes, you did.
00:01:01
Speaker 1: Okay. I want to make sure. My name is Rashawn, and sometimes people say Rush or Roo or Rah. And I just want to make sure because of the fact that, you know, it's important. You know, that's part of your legacy. When you walk in a room and people announce you, you want to make sure that it's announced correctly. Tell us a little bit about you before we get into the book, Ms. Cheyenne.
00:01:20
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, you know, you shared that I'm an Air Force veteran, but I'm also a Brooklyn native. and I just feel like my purpose is to help people create daily lives that empower them to do what they love, which is very much in line with what you do here on this show.
00:01:33
Speaker 1: Thank you.
00:01:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I do.
00:01:36
Speaker 1: Now, let me ask you this. When you say that, because sometimes when I kind of like, I'm a good listener, and I'm assuming you're a good listener too, and when people, and there's a lot of people out there, they want to do something, but they don't want to. Fear stops them. Can you talk about how do you push people beyond that fear so they can reach for their dream, Yasmeen?
00:01:58
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I think that's the hardest part. The fear gets in the way and you get into a cycle of doing the same things over and over and over again. And I think for a lot of us, we're afraid of disappointment. We're afraid of failure. We're afraid of dealing with and accepting the fact that things may not go the way that we hope. And so what I like to do is get people to confront the fact that Even if things don't go the way that you hope, even if things fail, you have what it takes to get yourself to where you want to be, but you have to be willing to keep going. And I think once we confront the fact that there's so much evidence that we failed before, there's so much evidence that we've made it to where we are today, then we can feel empowered to keep moving.
00:02:39
Speaker 1: We know that empowerment to keep moving. You know, I've had a tremendous amount of success in my life. I've also failed in my life. And Sometimes, I know mentoring is a very popular term. I like to believe I had mentors. It just wasn't a term that you had back in the day when I was growing up. It was like people who just there to keep you on the right track. That's what they were called, people who kept you on the right track. Now, when you was in the military, why did you make the decision to go in the Air Force?
00:03:11
Speaker 2: You know, it was one of those things where I knew I was not prepared for to be an adult yet. I knew I wasn't ready. I knew if I stayed in New York, you know, I was going to get into some mess. And I wanted, I knew I had a future that I wanted for myself. I knew that I really wanted to succeed. I knew that I really wanted to, but I had never seen anyone do it. And I had just never seen it happen before. So I really thought to myself, well, if I join the Air Force, then I can go to college. Then I can see the world. I thought I would quote unquote, see the world. And I can have an opportunity to, you know, basically throw a monkey wrench in what my life would have been had I stayed where I was or what I believed it could have been had I stayed. So I just decided, I mean, there was no plan behind this. Like I decided to join the military on a whim and left two months later. So thankfully it all worked out. And that's why I feel like I can practice what I preach because I truly have lived the experience of taking the risk. And even if it ends up not being what you wanted, you can find a way to turn it around.
00:04:18
Speaker 1: Now, Jasmine, when you say you joined it on a whim, you know, so I mean, it had to be a lot of people telling you, girl, you crazy. You're not going to do that. That's a waste of your time. Why are you going to join?
00:04:30
Speaker 2: Everybody was saying that.
00:04:31
Speaker 1: So how did you. So, you know, that's important because I listened and I heard that. I went, well, if that means nobody was like expecting you, that was the right direction for your personality. Correct.
00:04:43
Speaker 2: Oh, right. Absolutely not. You're not going to listen to.
00:04:47
Speaker 1: Nobody, Jasmine.
00:04:49
Speaker 2: No. The only running I had ever done was running for the bus. I had never run a day in my life. And I think I just wasn't the type of person that my mother... My mother didn't think I would be the person that would fall in line and follow directions in that kind of very militant way. When you say... How did I do it on a whim? I went in and visited a recruiter without telling anyone. I felt in my gut that this was something that I needed to do. And I knew that if I told other people about it, that they would talk me out of it. And I knew why. You know, people would be afraid. People would want me to be safe. And there's a lot of things that go into what happens to your mind, your body, your spirit when you join the service.
00:05:29
Speaker 1: But I.
00:05:30
Speaker 2: I didn't really see any other options, you know, being growing up socioeconomically disadvantaged, a.k.a. poor. I didn't really see any other outlet to be able to create the change in my life that I wanted. And so that was that whim, that risk that I felt like I needed to take on myself in my life to just have an opportunity for something different.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to turn this show into a, you know, go join the Air Force show. But it's important that people understand that it's an option, a very positive option. But you have to realize there are rules that they're not going to adjust for you. So that means discipline. And I'd like to talk about the discipline that you encountered when you joined and had to sustain the length of time you was in it that you still use today. Those messages, those recordings that were taught to you about You know, waking up at a certain time, being respectful, being people understanding that you are protecting the country and understand. But thank you for your service, you know, to our country. You know, talk about that. Those tools that will talk to you that you still use today.
00:06:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, this is saying that I love to keep close to me, which you probably heard before. It's called take the meat and leave the bones.
00:06:47
Speaker 1: Right.
00:06:48
Speaker 2: So when I think about a lot of the experiences that I've had, especially the military, I like to take what worked and leave what I know didn't. And one of them is discipline and commitment. You have to be willing to show up and you have to be willing to be consistent and you have to be willing to do it even when it's not panning out. And that's where I think a lot of people get stuck, myself included. But it's one of the things that I learned in the Air Force and being in the military so young and in my life is something that I guess was ingrained in me that I be willing to bet on yourself, be willing to believe in yourself. And I think also learning a level of, I can remember making it through things that I knew I didn't believe I could make it through. And it doesn't have to be a military. If you're listening and you haven't been in the service, maybe it was a relationship you didn't think you would make it through. Maybe it was a job you didn't think you would make it through. Maybe it was your PhD program. Maybe, you know, there's so many things that we go through where we think, I don't have the discipline for this. I don't have the consistency for this. I don't have the experience for this, but then we make it. And so when we make it, that is evidence that no matter what comes our way, we know we have what it takes. We have the tools to make it again. We don't want to keep going through these hard and tough experiences, but we have what we have what it takes. And I think that's one of the main things, that discipline, that consistency, but also believing in myself that I took away from that time.
00:08:08
Speaker 1: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to Money Making Conversations Masterclass, hosted by me, Rashawn McDonald. Let's get back into it.
00:08:22
Speaker 2: Wow.
00:08:23
Speaker 1: Talking to Yasmeen Cheyenne, your first book. And I want to bring that up because I come from a disenfranchised community, you know, Fifth Ward, Houston, Texas, six sisters, two brothers, both my parents were living in a two-bedroom shotgun house. And so when I went to high school, even though I graduated with honors, I still didn't have the discipline as a writer. And when I was in college as a freshman, I had to go back and take remedial English to advance. And now I write today. I write all the time. I became a sitcom writer. And now you are writing books. This is your second book. I want to go back to the first book. That had to be a very powerful moment in your life to know that you said it. I didn't say it. You said, I came from a disenfranchised community. Poor, poor folks. And now you're writing books. Talk about that journey in writing the first book and putting the right words and people acknowledging what you have to write changes their life.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think this is one of the beautiful things about having someone like myself or like having someone like you have in this platform, because I think there's an idea that, oh, because you come from, you know. the hood or the projects or from a poor background or from all these different places that you can't be well-educated. And I think I was incredibly well-educated. The teachers in my schools in these neighborhoods were so devoted to my education and my writing and my learning and my, and building my skillset that I, I'm so all of the friends that I went to school with, the majority of them are today nurses, doctors, lawyers like or went into the service or opened businesses at this point you know we're far away from elementary school at this point but they they they grew and so I think it I think it's important to remember that even though the neighborhood may not have all of the access as everyone else or as other people The blooming was still there. The belief was still there. The systems were still there. And I know that's not the case for every neighborhood like mine. But for me, that was something that really, really changed my life for sure. And not to get on a rant about school systems, but that was something that without that, I don't know what my life would have been like.
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Speaker 1: So The Sugar Job, that's your first book before we get to Wisdom of the Path. You write books about self-empowerment. in all aspects of life. And even in this conversation, I love how you take an experience and you, like you said, the military can be shared in different like walks of life. And that's important that people should be understanding that your experience can be balanced in different lanes. So it's relatable to the everyday person. Cause that's all you're doing. Yes. I mean, you just want to be relatable so you can motivate people to understand that this can be you. Why was writing the sugar jar so important?
00:11:12
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think that without boundaries, most of us walk around resentful. We are upset. We are exhausted. We are overwhelmed. We are drained. And I think boundaries is the beginning steps to being able to take care of yourself. And for those of us who are listening who don't know what boundaries are, it's really being willing to say no. It's being willing to let people know I'm at capacity. This isn't going to work for me. I don't have the time, you know, advocating for yourself, standing up for yourself. And for a lot of people, that is the hardest thing to do in relationships. And so the sugar jar is an introduction into how you can begin to create boundaries in your relationship that ensure that your relationships are healthy and that you are also our priority in your life and that you're not just giving and showing up for everyone without thinking about yourself. Wow.
00:12:00
Speaker 1: You know, that's a book about understanding you. That's a book about, you know, when you wake up in the morning, it should be about you. A lot of people use the word selfish. And it's probably the most misunderstood word I've ever heard in my life because people say, oh, you're selfish. Okay, I'm going to tell you something. Every successful person in this world, an athlete, LeBron James is very selfish. Otherwise, he wouldn't be LeBron James. You have to understand one day it has to be about you to achieve your dreams. Now, selfish is bad when it becomes all about you, when you distance yourself and you feel that you're better than people and you don't want to give back to the community. That's when it's selfish. When your blessings that you've been given, that have been given to you, you don't want to share with anybody. That's selfish. But if you're motivated to look in the mirror and say, I'm doing this because this is part of my dream, this is part of my path. When I get there, oh, I will look back. And that's what the sugar jar, when I was reading it, I felt that was the blessing of my relationship with the words that you were giving to me. Did I misunderstand anything, Yasmeen?
00:13:07
Speaker 2: No, I love that. And I think that that's the essence of what the book is, truly. I think so many of us are afraid of being called selfish. So many of us are afraid of disappointing people. And we've had it happen. When you finally get the courage to say no, we've had that person say, you're selfish. And so we're like, that's one of the worst things you can be called. Especially when you feel like you're always giving and showing up to people. And so... sometimes we have to just be, we have to let people sit in their discomfort. We have to get comfortable letting people be disappointed with us because if we are, if we're never disappointing anyone, if we're always showing up, if we're always there 24 seven, then I know, I know you're tired. I know you don't have time for your own dreams. I know you don't have time for yourself, maybe not even for your family and the things that matter for you. And so this isn't writing everybody else off and only focusing on yourself. It's, prioritizing yourself so that you can show up for the things that matter for you in your life and also for everything else in your life that matters too.
00:14:10
Speaker 1: I love it. She's preaching right now. She is preaching.
00:14:13
Speaker 2: Hear me?
00:14:15
Speaker 1: Preaching. The word of Cheyenne. Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Now I need for you to do me a favor. Right now, to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversations, it's free. And you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do me a favor. Follow or subscribe Money Making Conversations. Welcome back to Money Making Conversations Masterclass, hosted by me, Rashawn McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass continues online at MoneyMakingConversations.com and follow at Money Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Now, let me get back to my favorite person straight out of Brooklyn, Air Force veteran, victim advocate, who has a mental wellness practice. Now, talk about that before we get into the book.
00:15:10
Speaker 2: I think that so many of us have things that we've gone through, things that we thought would break us, things that maybe did break us, maybe did transform us. I hope that when we go through things that we use it as I like to use things to push me forward. I just, I, I, there are moments where I definitely think, oh my goodness, I'm going to give up. And then I just find someone, find something, a book, a documentary, a scripture, a, you know, anything that can get me back to that place. And so maybe that's the vibrancy you hear and something I've chosen. And I think that's why I teach the work that I teach. I think a lot of us are waiting for that, moment to happen where all of a sudden everything makes sense and in my experience we have to choose each minute to make it make sense when it doesn't make sense you.
00:16:02
Speaker 1: Know what i mean absolutely i've been involved with when it comes to books because defining your voice you know with steve harvey was acting like a lady thinking like a man sold over three million copies worldwide translating in 30 different languages two movies And then the next book was always, what is the next book? What is the next book? You wanted to write another book. Why was it important to follow up the sugar jar with another book?
00:16:25
Speaker 2: I'm a writer. That's like, that's the.
00:16:27
Speaker 1: Core of what I do. This is what I do. Okay.
00:16:30
Speaker 2: All right. Okay.
00:16:33
Speaker 1: I don't tell jokes. I don't talk about sports.
00:16:36
Speaker 2: All right.
00:16:36
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:16:37
Speaker 2: I don't talk about sports. I love watching it. But yeah, so I think that's definitely the, the motivator. And I think that people, even though we are in a digital age, I think that people still love reading a book that they can relate to, love getting absorbed in something where they see themselves in it. And I, I love being a part of helping tell stories. So yeah.
00:16:59
Speaker 1: Is it, do you have this in audio too, or is this only in a digital imprint?
00:17:04
Speaker 2: No, I actually have it in audio as well. And I read the book as well.
00:17:08
Speaker 1: Wow. That let's talk about that because that is a, That was one of his biggest sellers was audio. And also Steve Harvey's biggest seller was audio. Because a lot of times my wife, you know, she likes to drive a lot. It's incredible. She just hop out. There are things called airplanes, honey. Yeah, airplanes. You can get them. I'm driving. Okay, you want to drive from Atlanta to Houston and back from Houston. And so she always listens to audio books. Don't say woo to her. She loves it. And so she listens to audio books. Now let's talk about the book. Give us some background on it. And why you wrote this book?
00:17:42
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, you know, when I think about we talked about the boundaries, right? If you set the boundaries in your life, then you're finally starting to say no to people. You're finally starting to stand up for yourself. You're finally starting to advocate for yourself. Right. Well, what usually happens when that when you do that is you start to lose relationships. You realize people were only friends with you because you had no boundaries. Maybe you realize your relationship, your marriage is over. You need to change your job. And so what happens when you have all of those tough experiences, you're trying to figure out how do I get through this? How do I get to the other side? That is what Wisdom of the Path is about. This book is not necessarily, it's not going to give you any steps. Unfortunately, I don't have a checklist. I haven't found one. There was one. I'd be using it. But when we hear other people's stories and we can see ourselves in their experiences, even though it may not be the same, we're in... inspired, empowered, and most importantly, we realize we're not alone. And it can give us just that moment of not tearing ourselves apart, not judging ourselves anymore, and being on our own side so that we can allow people to support us. We can allow help in, and we can finally figure out what it is we need to do next. Because when you're beating yourself up, you can't even see clearly. And a lot of us have been doing that for years, decades, and we don't even realize that we've been an enemy towards ourselves, for lack of a better term.
00:19:03
Speaker 1: Well, you know, wisdom of the path. That tells me that, you know, as they say, you see some footprints, put your foot right in that same footprint, and don't try to deviate because that path will take you where you need to go. Just follow it. Now, when you walk that path, there are going to be some down times. Sometimes it's going to break you. There are going to be some fun times. Sometimes they're going to tell you so much fun, it might take you off that path. It might challenge you to get off that path. Is that really the nature of the book and the nature of the title, Yasmeen?
00:19:38
Speaker 2: Yes, I think the nature of Wisdom of the Path is you already have it in you. You already know what the next step is. You already know you should say no. You already know what you should be doing. So what would happen if you just took the next step and the next step and the next step and moved forward in your life, finally started the business, finally did the thing that you've been thinking about doing and use those experiences that you're judging yourself for as wisdom. to help you move forward. And I think that is the essence of Wisdom of the Path, to finally take those past experiences as lessons as opposed to mistakes. Wow.
00:20:21
Speaker 1: Kick all that fear to the curb, ladies and gentlemen. Kicking all that fear to the curb. As we close out, please tell everybody how they can get your book.
00:20:28
Speaker 2: Yes, so Wisdom of the Path is available at Barnes & Noble, Target, Amazon, everywhere books are sold.
00:20:32
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to this episode. Now I need for you to do me a favor. Right now, to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversations, it's free. And you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do me a favor. Follow or subscribe Money Making Conversations. Keep winning.
Speaker 1: Welcome to my show. I'm Rashawn McDonald, the host of Money-Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success stories and start planning your own. Now, you don't wanna miss an episode, so please take a moment right now to follow or subscribe to Money-Making Conversations Masterclass. It's free. You can follow me on iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. New Money-Making Conversations Masterclass episodes drop daily. I want to keep you on alert. Because my guests provide tips on how you can uplift your community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Now, let's get this podcast started. My guest is an Air Force veteran, victim advocate, and single mother who has a mental wellness practice. But she's also the author of a book, Wisdom of the Path. Please welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass, Yasmeen Cheyenne. How are you doing?
00:00:55
Speaker 2: Hi, how are you? Thanks for having me. Great.
00:00:58
Speaker 1: Did I say your name correctly?
00:00:59
Speaker 2: Yes, you did.
00:01:01
Speaker 1: Okay. I want to make sure. My name is Rashawn, and sometimes people say Rush or Roo or Rah. And I just want to make sure because of the fact that, you know, it's important. You know, that's part of your legacy. When you walk in a room and people announce you, you want to make sure that it's announced correctly. Tell us a little bit about you before we get into the book, Ms. Cheyenne.
00:01:20
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, you know, you shared that I'm an Air Force veteran, but I'm also a Brooklyn native. and I just feel like my purpose is to help people create daily lives that empower them to do what they love, which is very much in line with what you do here on this show.
00:01:33
Speaker 1: Thank you.
00:01:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I do.
00:01:36
Speaker 1: Now, let me ask you this. When you say that, because sometimes when I kind of like, I'm a good listener, and I'm assuming you're a good listener too, and when people, and there's a lot of people out there, they want to do something, but they don't want to. Fear stops them. Can you talk about how do you push people beyond that fear so they can reach for their dream, Yasmeen?
00:01:58
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I think that's the hardest part. The fear gets in the way and you get into a cycle of doing the same things over and over and over again. And I think for a lot of us, we're afraid of disappointment. We're afraid of failure. We're afraid of dealing with and accepting the fact that things may not go the way that we hope. And so what I like to do is get people to confront the fact that Even if things don't go the way that you hope, even if things fail, you have what it takes to get yourself to where you want to be, but you have to be willing to keep going. And I think once we confront the fact that there's so much evidence that we failed before, there's so much evidence that we've made it to where we are today, then we can feel empowered to keep moving.
00:02:39
Speaker 1: We know that empowerment to keep moving. You know, I've had a tremendous amount of success in my life. I've also failed in my life. And Sometimes, I know mentoring is a very popular term. I like to believe I had mentors. It just wasn't a term that you had back in the day when I was growing up. It was like people who just there to keep you on the right track. That's what they were called, people who kept you on the right track. Now, when you was in the military, why did you make the decision to go in the Air Force?
00:03:11
Speaker 2: You know, it was one of those things where I knew I was not prepared for to be an adult yet. I knew I wasn't ready. I knew if I stayed in New York, you know, I was going to get into some mess. And I wanted, I knew I had a future that I wanted for myself. I knew that I really wanted to succeed. I knew that I really wanted to, but I had never seen anyone do it. And I had just never seen it happen before. So I really thought to myself, well, if I join the Air Force, then I can go to college. Then I can see the world. I thought I would quote unquote, see the world. And I can have an opportunity to, you know, basically throw a monkey wrench in what my life would have been had I stayed where I was or what I believed it could have been had I stayed. So I just decided, I mean, there was no plan behind this. Like I decided to join the military on a whim and left two months later. So thankfully it all worked out. And that's why I feel like I can practice what I preach because I truly have lived the experience of taking the risk. And even if it ends up not being what you wanted, you can find a way to turn it around.
00:04:18
Speaker 1: Now, Jasmine, when you say you joined it on a whim, you know, so I mean, it had to be a lot of people telling you, girl, you crazy. You're not going to do that. That's a waste of your time. Why are you going to join?
00:04:30
Speaker 2: Everybody was saying that.
00:04:31
Speaker 1: So how did you. So, you know, that's important because I listened and I heard that. I went, well, if that means nobody was like expecting you, that was the right direction for your personality. Correct.
00:04:43
Speaker 2: Oh, right. Absolutely not. You're not going to listen to.
00:04:47
Speaker 1: Nobody, Jasmine.
00:04:49
Speaker 2: No. The only running I had ever done was running for the bus. I had never run a day in my life. And I think I just wasn't the type of person that my mother... My mother didn't think I would be the person that would fall in line and follow directions in that kind of very militant way. When you say... How did I do it on a whim? I went in and visited a recruiter without telling anyone. I felt in my gut that this was something that I needed to do. And I knew that if I told other people about it, that they would talk me out of it. And I knew why. You know, people would be afraid. People would want me to be safe. And there's a lot of things that go into what happens to your mind, your body, your spirit when you join the service.
00:05:29
Speaker 1: But I.
00:05:30
Speaker 2: I didn't really see any other options, you know, being growing up socioeconomically disadvantaged, a.k.a. poor. I didn't really see any other outlet to be able to create the change in my life that I wanted. And so that was that whim, that risk that I felt like I needed to take on myself in my life to just have an opportunity for something different.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to turn this show into a, you know, go join the Air Force show. But it's important that people understand that it's an option, a very positive option. But you have to realize there are rules that they're not going to adjust for you. So that means discipline. And I'd like to talk about the discipline that you encountered when you joined and had to sustain the length of time you was in it that you still use today. Those messages, those recordings that were taught to you about You know, waking up at a certain time, being respectful, being people understanding that you are protecting the country and understand. But thank you for your service, you know, to our country. You know, talk about that. Those tools that will talk to you that you still use today.
00:06:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, this is saying that I love to keep close to me, which you probably heard before. It's called take the meat and leave the bones.
00:06:47
Speaker 1: Right.
00:06:48
Speaker 2: So when I think about a lot of the experiences that I've had, especially the military, I like to take what worked and leave what I know didn't. And one of them is discipline and commitment. You have to be willing to show up and you have to be willing to be consistent and you have to be willing to do it even when it's not panning out. And that's where I think a lot of people get stuck, myself included. But it's one of the things that I learned in the Air Force and being in the military so young and in my life is something that I guess was ingrained in me that I be willing to bet on yourself, be willing to believe in yourself. And I think also learning a level of, I can remember making it through things that I knew I didn't believe I could make it through. And it doesn't have to be a military. If you're listening and you haven't been in the service, maybe it was a relationship you didn't think you would make it through. Maybe it was a job you didn't think you would make it through. Maybe it was your PhD program. Maybe, you know, there's so many things that we go through where we think, I don't have the discipline for this. I don't have the consistency for this. I don't have the experience for this, but then we make it. And so when we make it, that is evidence that no matter what comes our way, we know we have what it takes. We have the tools to make it again. We don't want to keep going through these hard and tough experiences, but we have what we have what it takes. And I think that's one of the main things, that discipline, that consistency, but also believing in myself that I took away from that time.
00:08:08
Speaker 1: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to Money Making Conversations Masterclass, hosted by me, Rashawn McDonald. Let's get back into it.
00:08:22
Speaker 2: Wow.
00:08:23
Speaker 1: Talking to Yasmeen Cheyenne, your first book. And I want to bring that up because I come from a disenfranchised community, you know, Fifth Ward, Houston, Texas, six sisters, two brothers, both my parents were living in a two-bedroom shotgun house. And so when I went to high school, even though I graduated with honors, I still didn't have the discipline as a writer. And when I was in college as a freshman, I had to go back and take remedial English to advance. And now I write today. I write all the time. I became a sitcom writer. And now you are writing books. This is your second book. I want to go back to the first book. That had to be a very powerful moment in your life to know that you said it. I didn't say it. You said, I came from a disenfranchised community. Poor, poor folks. And now you're writing books. Talk about that journey in writing the first book and putting the right words and people acknowledging what you have to write changes their life.
00:09:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think this is one of the beautiful things about having someone like myself or like having someone like you have in this platform, because I think there's an idea that, oh, because you come from, you know. the hood or the projects or from a poor background or from all these different places that you can't be well-educated. And I think I was incredibly well-educated. The teachers in my schools in these neighborhoods were so devoted to my education and my writing and my learning and my, and building my skillset that I, I'm so all of the friends that I went to school with, the majority of them are today nurses, doctors, lawyers like or went into the service or opened businesses at this point you know we're far away from elementary school at this point but they they they grew and so I think it I think it's important to remember that even though the neighborhood may not have all of the access as everyone else or as other people The blooming was still there. The belief was still there. The systems were still there. And I know that's not the case for every neighborhood like mine. But for me, that was something that really, really changed my life for sure. And not to get on a rant about school systems, but that was something that without that, I don't know what my life would have been like.
00:10:39
Speaker 1: So The Sugar Job, that's your first book before we get to Wisdom of the Path. You write books about self-empowerment. in all aspects of life. And even in this conversation, I love how you take an experience and you, like you said, the military can be shared in different like walks of life. And that's important that people should be understanding that your experience can be balanced in different lanes. So it's relatable to the everyday person. Cause that's all you're doing. Yes. I mean, you just want to be relatable so you can motivate people to understand that this can be you. Why was writing the sugar jar so important?
00:11:12
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think that without boundaries, most of us walk around resentful. We are upset. We are exhausted. We are overwhelmed. We are drained. And I think boundaries is the beginning steps to being able to take care of yourself. And for those of us who are listening who don't know what boundaries are, it's really being willing to say no. It's being willing to let people know I'm at capacity. This isn't going to work for me. I don't have the time, you know, advocating for yourself, standing up for yourself. And for a lot of people, that is the hardest thing to do in relationships. And so the sugar jar is an introduction into how you can begin to create boundaries in your relationship that ensure that your relationships are healthy and that you are also our priority in your life and that you're not just giving and showing up for everyone without thinking about yourself. Wow.
00:12:00
Speaker 1: You know, that's a book about understanding you. That's a book about, you know, when you wake up in the morning, it should be about you. A lot of people use the word selfish. And it's probably the most misunderstood word I've ever heard in my life because people say, oh, you're selfish. Okay, I'm going to tell you something. Every successful person in this world, an athlete, LeBron James is very selfish. Otherwise, he wouldn't be LeBron James. You have to understand one day it has to be about you to achieve your dreams. Now, selfish is bad when it becomes all about you, when you distance yourself and you feel that you're better than people and you don't want to give back to the community. That's when it's selfish. When your blessings that you've been given, that have been given to you, you don't want to share with anybody. That's selfish. But if you're motivated to look in the mirror and say, I'm doing this because this is part of my dream, this is part of my path. When I get there, oh, I will look back. And that's what the sugar jar, when I was reading it, I felt that was the blessing of my relationship with the words that you were giving to me. Did I misunderstand anything, Yasmeen?
00:13:07
Speaker 2: No, I love that. And I think that that's the essence of what the book is, truly. I think so many of us are afraid of being called selfish. So many of us are afraid of disappointing people. And we've had it happen. When you finally get the courage to say no, we've had that person say, you're selfish. And so we're like, that's one of the worst things you can be called. Especially when you feel like you're always giving and showing up to people. And so... sometimes we have to just be, we have to let people sit in their discomfort. We have to get comfortable letting people be disappointed with us because if we are, if we're never disappointing anyone, if we're always showing up, if we're always there 24 seven, then I know, I know you're tired. I know you don't have time for your own dreams. I know you don't have time for yourself, maybe not even for your family and the things that matter for you. And so this isn't writing everybody else off and only focusing on yourself. It's, prioritizing yourself so that you can show up for the things that matter for you in your life and also for everything else in your life that matters too.
00:14:10
Speaker 1: I love it. She's preaching right now. She is preaching.
00:14:13
Speaker 2: Hear me?
00:14:15
Speaker 1: Preaching. The word of Cheyenne. Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Now I need for you to do me a favor. Right now, to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversations, it's free. And you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do me a favor. Follow or subscribe Money Making Conversations. Welcome back to Money Making Conversations Masterclass, hosted by me, Rashawn McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass continues online at MoneyMakingConversations.com and follow at Money Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Now, let me get back to my favorite person straight out of Brooklyn, Air Force veteran, victim advocate, who has a mental wellness practice. Now, talk about that before we get into the book.
00:15:10
Speaker 2: I think that so many of us have things that we've gone through, things that we thought would break us, things that maybe did break us, maybe did transform us. I hope that when we go through things that we use it as I like to use things to push me forward. I just, I, I, there are moments where I definitely think, oh my goodness, I'm going to give up. And then I just find someone, find something, a book, a documentary, a scripture, a, you know, anything that can get me back to that place. And so maybe that's the vibrancy you hear and something I've chosen. And I think that's why I teach the work that I teach. I think a lot of us are waiting for that, moment to happen where all of a sudden everything makes sense and in my experience we have to choose each minute to make it make sense when it doesn't make sense you.
00:16:02
Speaker 1: Know what i mean absolutely i've been involved with when it comes to books because defining your voice you know with steve harvey was acting like a lady thinking like a man sold over three million copies worldwide translating in 30 different languages two movies And then the next book was always, what is the next book? What is the next book? You wanted to write another book. Why was it important to follow up the sugar jar with another book?
00:16:25
Speaker 2: I'm a writer. That's like, that's the.
00:16:27
Speaker 1: Core of what I do. This is what I do. Okay.
00:16:30
Speaker 2: All right. Okay.
00:16:33
Speaker 1: I don't tell jokes. I don't talk about sports.
00:16:36
Speaker 2: All right.
00:16:36
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:16:37
Speaker 2: I don't talk about sports. I love watching it. But yeah, so I think that's definitely the, the motivator. And I think that people, even though we are in a digital age, I think that people still love reading a book that they can relate to, love getting absorbed in something where they see themselves in it. And I, I love being a part of helping tell stories. So yeah.
00:16:59
Speaker 1: Is it, do you have this in audio too, or is this only in a digital imprint?
00:17:04
Speaker 2: No, I actually have it in audio as well. And I read the book as well.
00:17:08
Speaker 1: Wow. That let's talk about that because that is a, That was one of his biggest sellers was audio. And also Steve Harvey's biggest seller was audio. Because a lot of times my wife, you know, she likes to drive a lot. It's incredible. She just hop out. There are things called airplanes, honey. Yeah, airplanes. You can get them. I'm driving. Okay, you want to drive from Atlanta to Houston and back from Houston. And so she always listens to audio books. Don't say woo to her. She loves it. And so she listens to audio books. Now let's talk about the book. Give us some background on it. And why you wrote this book?
00:17:42
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, you know, when I think about we talked about the boundaries, right? If you set the boundaries in your life, then you're finally starting to say no to people. You're finally starting to stand up for yourself. You're finally starting to advocate for yourself. Right. Well, what usually happens when that when you do that is you start to lose relationships. You realize people were only friends with you because you had no boundaries. Maybe you realize your relationship, your marriage is over. You need to change your job. And so what happens when you have all of those tough experiences, you're trying to figure out how do I get through this? How do I get to the other side? That is what Wisdom of the Path is about. This book is not necessarily, it's not going to give you any steps. Unfortunately, I don't have a checklist. I haven't found one. There was one. I'd be using it. But when we hear other people's stories and we can see ourselves in their experiences, even though it may not be the same, we're in... inspired, empowered, and most importantly, we realize we're not alone. And it can give us just that moment of not tearing ourselves apart, not judging ourselves anymore, and being on our own side so that we can allow people to support us. We can allow help in, and we can finally figure out what it is we need to do next. Because when you're beating yourself up, you can't even see clearly. And a lot of us have been doing that for years, decades, and we don't even realize that we've been an enemy towards ourselves, for lack of a better term.
00:19:03
Speaker 1: Well, you know, wisdom of the path. That tells me that, you know, as they say, you see some footprints, put your foot right in that same footprint, and don't try to deviate because that path will take you where you need to go. Just follow it. Now, when you walk that path, there are going to be some down times. Sometimes it's going to break you. There are going to be some fun times. Sometimes they're going to tell you so much fun, it might take you off that path. It might challenge you to get off that path. Is that really the nature of the book and the nature of the title, Yasmeen?
00:19:38
Speaker 2: Yes, I think the nature of Wisdom of the Path is you already have it in you. You already know what the next step is. You already know you should say no. You already know what you should be doing. So what would happen if you just took the next step and the next step and the next step and moved forward in your life, finally started the business, finally did the thing that you've been thinking about doing and use those experiences that you're judging yourself for as wisdom. to help you move forward. And I think that is the essence of Wisdom of the Path, to finally take those past experiences as lessons as opposed to mistakes. Wow.
00:20:21
Speaker 1: Kick all that fear to the curb, ladies and gentlemen. Kicking all that fear to the curb. As we close out, please tell everybody how they can get your book.
00:20:28
Speaker 2: Yes, so Wisdom of the Path is available at Barnes & Noble, Target, Amazon, everywhere books are sold.
00:20:32
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to this episode. Now I need for you to do me a favor. Right now, to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversations, it's free. And you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do me a favor. Follow or subscribe Money Making Conversations. Keep winning.
