Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to the what's yous Investment Podcast presented by Ignite Funding with Ron Arceo with featured guests. Weekly podcasts that explore your time, talent and treasure like share and follow. For more what's your investment? Let's get to the show.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Hey, how's it going? Ronald Arceo, here I am with Adrian Hines, Ohio's go to top, top expert bankruptcy lawyer. More than that, though, she will get into that. As we get into this interview.
She's been very, very focus on what she's called or maybe people have called the ladylike lawyer. She has number one Amazon bestseller and it's a, it's a book about bankruptcy, personal budgeting and working through your credit. I'll give her the opportunity to express all that as we get into this call or this call. This interview and this interview is really all about what's your investment?
And today we're going to talk to Adrian about what she invests in her time, her talent and her treasure. So today let's get in touch with Adrienne. Hi, Adrian, how are you?
[00:01:05] Speaker C: I'm doing great, Ron. I'm doing great. Great to be here.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Thank you for your time. Much appreciated. So for the people that don't know you, you've been doing bankruptcy for or been in just in law for the last 30 years, give them a rundown of who you are and what you do.
[00:01:21] Speaker C: Yeah, my name is Adrienne Hines and I'm a bankruptcy lawyer in rural northwest Ohio.
More importantly, I'm really, I feel like I'm somebody that people come to when they feel very shamed or overwhelmed or out of options from a financial standpoint. So I'm actually a bankruptcy lawyer. Been practicing now for 29 years. I just hit my 29 year mark and I, I have an interesting life that I lead because I am an actual bankruptcy lawyer half of the day and the other half of the day I'm actually an influencer on the Internet and I file bankruptcies for Ohio clients and but more, more nationwide. I educate, I coach, and I guide people through debt with compassion and clarity. That's really what I try to do. I'm known as the ladylike lawyer. I teach shame free dignity forward debt relief.
I help everyone understand bank.
I help them understand that being in debt is not a moral failure and that bankruptcy is a safe, legal, economic tool that was provided to us by our founding fathers in the United States Constitution.
And to get to your second point, why do I do this? I do it because I think that debt destroys people before it destroys their credit.
And I've spent nearly 30 years in this field watching people lose their marriages and their homes and their careers and their confidence, really, I mean, that's a big one, I think long before they ever walk into an attorney's office. And so for me, it's really personal.
I just, I'm incredibly empathetic and I care about people. And I found that I have some information that a lot of people could use, and that's what I do.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: I love it. I think that's an interesting, interesting way. I know we talked about this before in our previous call, talking about how many people go to you kind of feeling ashamed of their financial situation.
And that sucks, right?
That's probably one of the hardest things you probably have to go through when dealing with this.
We'll get to your story a little bit. What was the catalyst of 30 years, 29 years?
What was what. Let's go to year 31, 31 years from now or before in the past. What was the catalyst to get you to be in this position or be in this industry? Because not everybody's like, oh, I'm going to be a bankruptcy lawyer.
[00:04:11] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: What was the catalyst for that?
[00:04:13] Speaker C: That's a great question. Because it was never my intention to become a bankruptcy lawyer. I am definitely a personality that is not lend itself necessarily to numbers or that kind of thing. I think I'm a humanities person. I was a sociology major, a psychology major. Right, Philosophy. Those were my majors in college. But I had always wanted to go to law school. And I had been told when I was very, very young that I should either be an actress or a lawyer. And at the time I lived in Kansas City and I understood even in the second grade that Hollywood was very, very far away. But I saw lawyers on the street, you know, down the street with.
So I thought, well, if those are my choices, it's probably wise if I go into being a lawyer, because other people, you don't have to go to Hollywood to be one.
So I started very young with a very precocious behavior and attitude. And clearly I was trajecting towards the law in some way because I love to argue and I love to be passionate and I love to defend people even when they don't want to be defended.
And then I was super fortunate and kismet happened. And my. My mother, my parents had divorced when I was very young and my mother ended up remarrying and she married a lawyer. And I thought that it was, you know, divine intervention. And this was what it was supposed to be. So I actually doubled down my efforts when my mom got married, and I really followed in the footsteps of my stepfather, and I came right out of law school and went to work directly with my stepfather. And that's where I remained for 27 years. And that's really how I got into law. But interestingly, I did not do bankruptcy in the beginning. I'm actually a workers comp specialist in the state of Ohio. And I had. My dad and I had. Had had a very unique area of law. And so I was an injury lawyer, and I was, you know, I had trials and I was doing more.
Less money, less numbers type of work.
But through my practice as an attorney who represents people who have to rely on a safety net system, like a workers compensation system, over the years, that system began to have a lot of holes where people were falling through.
And I recognized that I needed to start helping my clients through bankruptcy because so many of them were facing financial troubles if their money stopped or, you know, if they had an injury and there was a delay in income. And so never thinking that I would like this area of law, I happened to have interned with a bankruptcy lawyer in law school.
And even though I learned nothing during that internship, I really developed a mentor. And that judge is the one who really encouraged me to do bankruptcy because he thought that I would do a better job for it than maybe some attorneys who were still practicing in my area. And that was really what had happened. And I reluctantly took on bankruptcy because I didn't really feel that it was my. My lane, you know, I didn't really feel like I was an accountant, numbers kind of person.
But as. As I grew in that practice, I began to realize that there was a whole lot more of, you know, social awareness and, and emotional fragility and those things that I feel like I was always really in tune to. I began to really start to lean in and understand my clients. And I saw that my clients were tremendously ashamed of where they were in their lives. But from the outside looking in, I understood that they really didn't have a reason to be ashamed because I understood, you know, the. The financial things that had to fall into place for them to end up here. And so it became a mission of mine, really, to start educating people and to start, you know, telling people about what I knew. And that really happened during COVID I. I like so many people, I had twins, a son and a daughter who were 18 and seniors in high school when Covid came around. And so, of course, they're on social media, and I Decided to follow them onto social media and I found this amazing platform called TikTok and Covid. Covid started to change the way I looked at life.
I started to feel as if maybe I wasn't exactly doing everything authentically the way that was designed for me to do. I started to believe that maybe I had followed my stepfather into an area of law out of loyalty and out of respect and I'd done a really good job at it, but it wasn't my passion. And I was starting to realize that my passion was truly helping people more in a financial lane. We had a unique situation. My husband was in a near fatal plane crash in March, May of 2023 and he fractured his skull and broke nine bones, vertebrae, lots of stuff. It was terrible, it was a terrible accident and he was so lucky to be alive.
And you know, when you're in the ICU with somebody and you, the helicopter has brought them in and you start to really evaluate life, like what are we doing?
How much is enough? How much do we need? Where are we?
And I just started to realize that I needed to make a change in order to really be me. And I knew that I was moving towards leaving this law firm and leaving this area of practice that I had, you know, help build.
And I, my husband's plane crash really compelled me to do that. And my husband's crash was in May of 2023 and June 30th of 2024 was my last day as a partner in that firm. I sold my shares back to my partners, who are amazing guys, love them all, and I took my little bankruptcy practice, I kept that and started to redouble some of my efforts into my content.
And that was on, that was my, my new life started on July 1, 2024. I was, I was on my own. It was my new, my new business.
And 30 days later, our 22 year old daughter passed away unexpectedly.
And so this is a really important part of my story because but for my husband's plane crash, I would not have made the changes that put me in the position to be able to be, to exist and to get through that time frame.
My daughter had encouraged me to do this, encouraged me to be me, to follow my dreams and drift away from what the family had thought, thought that they had wanted for me.
And so after she passed, I, I, I really took my grief and I spent a lot of my efforts in trying to create more educational content for my followers and stuff. I wrote a book called Bankruptcy Magic, the Life Changing Power of Debt Relief with Dignity, which is dedicated to my daughter. And I started a podcast. And, you know, that's really how I find my.
I've had a unique journey. I had what I think a lot of lawyers would consider the apex of a career job.
Senior partner in a very successful law firm with a corner office and lots of love and respect from your community.
But at the end of the day, authenticity really does matter. And I know that's a word that we use a lot. Maybe it's overused, but I leaned into it, and I absolutely love what I do. I absolutely love what it is I do.
[00:12:48] Speaker B: I love that.
[00:12:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
Thank you.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: Going through so many things. I. I have a. I have a friend right now that's going through a bunch of stuff. Just family stuff.
[00:12:59] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:00] Speaker B: ICU situations, too, and new family. Just new family, new kids and everything and, you know, situations. And I. And I constantly think about, like, wow, like, you know, younger. Younger gentlemen, 40s or so, going through it, and I wonder, like, he's going through a lot, and. And then he's. What's funny is that he's the guy that tells me when he's going through stuff, and he goes, you know what?
There's other people out there that are going through a lot more worse stuff than I am. So. And he constantly says this, and I'm. And I'm thinking, like, every person that I've talked to so far and have been a guest with so far has their story. And I think this story is probably the most heartfelt, most gut wrenching one. You got a lot of fulfillment around leaving.
Maybe not leaving the firm or, But. But like, transitioning into a different space. And I. I can see that. I can sense the. The heart there.
So if that was the big. Why in. During 2023-25, how did you go through it? Like, what were the.
People are going through stuff, and they're going to hear this. They're going to be like, I'm in my career.
I may have gone through things like this, similar to Adrian, but.
And. But I don't know how to go through it.
[00:14:14] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:15] Speaker B: What are some of the steps that you went through or maybe you had to kind of maybe reframe, mentally, emotionally, whatever it is to help people get through it or to help you get through. I'm sorry. Not help. And maybe it'll help others get through it.
[00:14:29] Speaker C: Well, I'm a glass half full kind of person, and I really think that that's important.
I wake up trying to find the good things, the happy things, the joyful things. I dwell on things that I shouldn't, of course, like everybody does. But I have a natural.
Naturally, my body, my brain wants to find happiness and joy. And that's something I've learned about myself. And not everybody is like that.
But I was really fortunate because about nine months before my husband's plane crash, my son, my. My son came to me and said, we're not communicating very well. I don't think you understand me very well. I think you should go to therapy.
And I was shocked because I thought that I was the most. I thought I was the most in tune parent that existed. And I was just floored and. But I took his advice and I started going to therapy. And I think the thing that is so again, things have just kind of happened very.
With all the tragedies.
Good things often happen too. And I had a therapist in place for good six to nine months before my husband's crash. And that therapist was there to help me kind of immediately. I remember talking to my therapist while in the parking garage of the hospital, you know, briefly talking to her and just having that knowing that I had begun therapy and I had a frame, I had something to lean on was incredibly helpful. And of course I was very grateful that my husband ended up being okay.
But I looked at it as an opportunity to change my life. I looked at it as, as, you know, I feel like every bad thing that happens requires you to stop and look around, right? Like we had had a nephew who had passed away about 10 years ago at the age of 24. And I remember I had to do the eulogy and I didn't know what to say. What do you say, you know, when somebody that young passes away? And I really felt like the purpose of life is so that whoever's still here can learn from it.
And I had that idea in place when my husband's accident happened. And then when my daugh stuff happened, I try to look for why it's happening to me and what can I learn from it. And it would be a tremendous dishonor to my daughter if I hadn't become better, you know, as a result. And that's how I saw my nephew's, you know, situation. That's how I saw my husband's accident. And I, I feel that these are moments in time when you are being told to stop and look around.
And that's really, that's really what I feel like I was doing with those two incidences that happened with those two life changing events. And I saw myself trying to be happy. I saw Myself trying to reach for the life raft. I saw who I was in those moments, and I realized that I really can't just sit back and cry. I gotta. You know, I'm the person who wants to get up and start doing stuff, and I cry. And I have a therapist. And, you know, I love talking about my daughter, but I also understand that life moves on and I have to make it all worthwhile somehow. And so it really has helped, given me, you know, some driving force behind what I do for my clients and my followers. It makes me feel like I'm on, you know, I'm on a ministry of some sort. You know, not to be religious, but almost that it's feels like I'm compelled to do this, to help people on a mission. I am. I'm on a mission. I'm on a mission.
[00:18:24] Speaker B: Something earlier that I. That I really. I wrote. I wrote it down.
You started doing workers comp.
And then you moved into this bankruptcy side because of what you saw within the process of not making money because you're injured or something happened, and then you lose everything, almost everything, because really not. No income's coming in. And what if you're.
You're on a single income, but you're raising three kids or. Or you have a wife or a husband that couldn't work, and then you're the only. You're the breadwinner.
That is a tough, tough situation. And you said something in there that was almost kismet. It was almost something. The line in. In there was drawn and you saw the writing on the wall of where you needed to go. And it almost seems like you see during certain tragedies or maybe because you said you're an empath and maybe because you're able to intuit and really empathize with people, that you can see the road ahead a little bit more, and you can make sure that you don't go through the challenge, I guess, of hardship the same way you did previous.
And I think that's pretty important that you found a silver lining and that through the 29, 31 years that you were moving in this space, that obviously a lot of challenges have happened and the mission still kept the same. Help others. I love that. I think that's awesome that you could take the value that you want to bring into the world, someone that helps and have it in one career and go into another.
Same industry, maybe, but totally different.
Totally different at the same respect, but find the silver lining that connected it all through. I think that's awesome. Not a lot of people can find that or make the switch maybe because they didn't have some tragic thing that happened. To rewire this a bit.
Do you think that people need to go through tragedies to change?
[00:20:33] Speaker C: I actually do.
[00:20:35] Speaker B: Okay, yeah, let's talk.
[00:20:36] Speaker C: I really, I really do. And I say this as somebody who had not had any tragedies. I had not ex. The only, the only poignant death that I had ever really dealt with was our nephew. And it was, you know, with all due respect, and I love him very much, but it was my husband's brother's child. And so, you know, I, it was terrible, it was sad, but I don't think it connected quite with me, you know, deeply for me because it wasn't somebody I knew and grew up with or anything.
So I had always been thinking, I'm as glass half full as I am. I have a severe anxiety disorder. And so I'm always worrying about terrible things happening. And I remember thinking many times, I've never experienced a death yet. Like, my mother is still alive, my father is still alive, my sisters. I've never had anything like that. And I kept thinking, what am I going to like, how is that going to feel? What's going to happen?
And I think the anxiety or knowing that bad things are going to happen is almost worse than experiencing them because in experiencing them, you, you have to go through the actual motions and, and you have to actually process it.
But I do, I, I, I've always felt that something was missing from me, that I was missing some edge of something that I didn't quite understand, that I do now understand.
And, and I can't explain it. I, I don't think everybody, I obviously don't think everybody feels this way when they go through traged, the life raft and all those things. Obviously it can spiral in a different way.
But I do believe that tragedy gives you better perspective.
This last 16 months since my daughter has been gone, I have paid closer attention to things that matter. Right, that matter.
I have said things to people that should have been said long before. Right. I don't have been said. Should have been said.
The, the day my daughter passed away was the day that I realized that I had way a way bigger community than I knew. And I have, I have taken that to heart and that community and I've tried to nurture that community.
I didn't have the deep friendships that these deep relate this. I didn't suffer with somebody else near me and helping me walk through that. And so I didn't have the Same kind of connections with people and friends and stuff that I think you do after tragedy occurs.
And so I do think it gives you. I am less afraid of death. I am more willing to say what I think. And all of those things I believe have come from this tragedy and probably my age. But the tragedy is what made me start saying, why do. Why do I care what that person thinks? Why do I keep my mouth shut if this is what matters to me and it's important and it's meaningful to me? And so I would say that tragedy gives you a different way of looking at life, and if you haven't experienced it yet, you will.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: You probably.
[00:24:08] Speaker C: You will not probably.
It's funny, because I had been working with my therapist after my husband's plane crash, and it was July 16th.
Okay? I was two weeks into my new life, just walked away from my career, everything. And I was in my therapist's office, and everything was going great. I just.
Just paired up with an amazing business partner for my content and my TikTok. And my. My content was taking off, and everything was going in the direction I wanted it. And I was in my therapist's office, and we were wrapping up, and I was getting my purse and stuff. And I remember just kind of giggling as I was picking up. I said, oh, my God, things are going so great. Things are going so great.
I sold my practice. I started my stuff. This is so great. I go, I just feel like the shoe's gonna drop. Something bad's gonna happen.
And I will never forget. My therapist just stopped, and she said, sit down.
And I just, you know, sat down for a second, and she looked at me very seriously in the eyes, and she said, something bad's gonna happen.
She said, it always does.
And if something bad happens, it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that you left your job, that you started your own business, that you're happy today.
And I'll never forget that she said that. I can't. I can't believe that that was the last words that my therapist said to me before my daughter died. And she was right. And I've never forgotten those words. And those words allowed me to not tie what happened to my daughter to the things that I had accomplished. And I think it's natural. I think most of us would. We'd be like, I shouldn't have left that job. This is, you know, this is karma. Something. I did something wrong. I never should have done that. I don't feel that way. I really don't. And I know that that's a gift.
I know a lot of people in my situation would feel that way, and I am grateful that my therapist said that. And when you say something's probably going to happen, it will happen. You just haven't experienced it yet. If you're out there listening, something bad will happen, but it doesn't mean that you caused it. It doesn't mean that your actions, you know, somehow led to this, you know, in some, you know, weird way. I need people to hear that, because I needed to hear it. And it was told to me at the exact right moment in my life, which I think is really why I'm able to sit here much more emotionally, you know, capable than. Than maybe I would have been able to, because I really felt like that was the greatest moment in my life that day when I was in my therapist's office. And, and it, and it, you know, it ended up being really difficult time, you know, the beginning of a difficult time.
[00:27:02] Speaker B: You know what, you're still smiling through it. I'm kind of tearing up here, trying to hold it in.
It's. It's an amazing story, and I think there's. There's a lot here to unpack, and we don't have the time to unpack it all.
And I would love to unpack this maybe in. In some future areas.
But let's talk about some of the. The first of all, let me not minimize what you just went through.
People go through this and they don't know what to do, and they end up doing crazy things. And maybe because they thought help wasn't there, which is interesting because as a bankruptcy lawyer, someone dealing with debt and shame, those kinds of hardcore feelings, may be listening to this and think, oh, this is an investment podcast, or this is a financial thing or something, which I guess you could say it kind of is. But really the what's your investment Series is really about how you spend your time, talent, and treasure and how you invest in it. And I think in this episode, we've gone a lot about how during tragic situations, which is interesting. It's so interesting because your profession deals with people going through a tragic situation. Almost.
[00:28:10] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:28:11] Speaker B: From the beginning, workers comp. Injured, can't. Can't pay for things to the point where you're giving people some set of tools, some tool set that they may have not necessarily thought to utilize because of, let's just say, the shame thing that allows them to get ahead just a bit and they. They can understand how the, the steps work.
[00:28:30] Speaker C: Right.
[00:28:31] Speaker B: I find that super interesting that that's your entire life story and in your entire career also. I think you're smiling about it the entire time. I think that's awesome.
[00:28:41] Speaker C: After you say that, as I look back, it's clear to me that all of my strengths were in the, the empath and the being able to communicate with a client, whether they were, you know, male, female. I was a, you know, to be able to empathize and understand and, and imagine the situation they're in and then try to get yourself into it and then think of the ways that you can help them. That has been definitely the thread throughout my entire career. As I look back, the areas that I was always the best in were these types of areas. It's how I ended up doing my workers comp practice. I gravitated towards meeting with the clients and going to the hearings. I didn't do the settlement work and I didn't do the back in the office work. I wanted to do the front facing work.
And it has definitely been that thread. And the problem is that I ignored that as my strength. I felt like as a woman that these were my weaknesses. And I really felt like throughout my career that, you know, maybe people, colleagues might have seen the things that I did as softer, more feminine types of things. And so I think I resented some of my talents in some ways in the early days until I understood how to use them a little bit better. But I did and I learned how to pivot and I took that passion that I have for making people better, realizing that I could not continue to do it in the workers comp lane. But I definitely had an ability not just to help my own clients in my own community, but I began to see the tremendous amount of joy that I could bring or that, you know, contentment or peace that I could bring other to other people by going onto platforms that I could, you know, disseminate my information a lot more widely. And so that is really what I did. I mean, I've, I've taken all of that emotion and thrown it into a bankruptcy lawyer practice and a content creator sphere.
[00:30:51] Speaker B: How awesome. That's, it's such a cool story and it's such a cool origin story, I think for all of this that we're talking about. I mean, you know, lawyer bankruptcy, it's, it's, it could be, certainly could be dry when we talk about these things, but this definitely wasn't, I don't think people hear this is going to have a dry eye actually in this. And I really, really appreciate your candidness and Your, your, your willingness to open up and share. It's not a lot that, it's not a lot of people that could do that. Let's get on to time, talent and treasure.
I love the story. And I, I, I think we can gather a bit of what you, what you, what you invest your time, talent, and treasure in. What do you really invest your time in now?
[00:31:29] Speaker C: What do I invest my time in?
I invest my time in various puzzle pieces of my life.
And, you know, one puzzle piece is my family. That's a big, huge one. My husband, my son, my, my parents, my sister.
I invest my time in my clients and my content.
I invest my time in, you know, trying to eat right, trying to exercise. I don't always do well at that. I invest my time in trying to, trying to find, trying to relax. You know, I really spend time, My husband and I spend time trying to set, trying not to let work overwhelm us, remembering why we're doing this.
But my family, my clients, and my content, I think, are the, are the three most important things to me.
[00:32:23] Speaker B: Not a lot of people have actually said their content.
They may say, you know, we film and things of that nature. But, but the way you say my content, it's, there's just a heart to it that's a little bit more.
There's something behind it. And I think we all know what it is.
And so I appreciate that there's something there that people can relate to and they may lean into because they may not know what it is. And until they maybe listen to this or listen to you in future areas or future puzzle pieces of your life, they can find something that they could relate to.
You know, people spend time, much of their, much of their time doing things that may not necessarily mean much later. And 30 years in a career, most businesses don't last more than five. Most businesses don't survive more than one.
And to do it for 30 years and to keep on going and to go through all the stuff that you've gone through, and I'm sure people have gone through things too, it takes a lot of courage, takes a lot of discipline. It takes a lot of effort. And for you to put it into your content, the heart, into your content.
I think people can tell the tell when people do that.
[00:33:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:31] Speaker B: So thank you for that.
What about your talents? What, what talents do you invest in?
[00:33:36] Speaker C: I believe that my talents are in the storytelling category. I believe that, you know, my talents, of course, are caring for my family. I love that. But I think a lot of people think that that's the answer they're supposed to give. And I think the reality is, is that I genuinely enjoy, you know, from, in my work life, I genuinely, genuinely enjoy translating intimidating concepts into understandable things. Whether, whether I'm making, whether it's in content, you know, whether it's with my friends or family. I tend to be like the one who's always trying to keep the peace or this one who's always trying to find a way for everybody to understand and all come together.
You know, I, I, that's what I try to do is try to try to bring people together and lay down emotions and lay down preconceived notions so that we can figure out a solution to a problem and, and, and find a way to, to love ourselves through the process and not, not hate ourselves and find confidence.
I really, honestly think that that's my talent is just being able to sit with people and help them see that they're not a bad person, that they can move on, that they truly do deserve to start that business or whatever. And you know, those are traits that are obviously profound in my personal life, but they, those are really what I see in my professional life that are driving me.
[00:35:19] Speaker B: That's my talent, the, the development of that talent to be able to empathize, realize within, internalize maybe even a little bit, and then be able to help by almost modeling someone's thought process, I guess, and understanding that and finding a puzzle piece that'll get them out of it at some point, or maybe they get a key that they could turn that'll help them get it out of that at some point. And I almost feel like that's, that's like you're a sage almost in that situation. Right. It's almost like a, like people come to you at the right times and they, they may need it at that time.
Awesome. So time, family talent, being able to under help people understand each other or different things.
Education. Right. I guess you could say what's, what about treasure? What do you invest? And we don't have, it doesn't have to be money. It could be spirituality. It could be anything that you like. But what is it that you invest your treasure in?
[00:36:18] Speaker C: I mean, I invest my treasure. I invest my, my time and my money in obviously family.
That's, that's obvious. But my community, I think, you know, especially since my daughter's death, I have even more appreciation for my community. I work harder to try to help others in our community.
And I, I spend a lot of time investing my time and my money in educational content for people to try to help them get through the these difficult times.
I am spending my money on the, the in. In my time, on the people around me who, who have shown me that they care about me and my clients and followers.
That's what, that's what I do. That's. That's where I like to. That's where I like. I also, I also like.
I also like food.
I'm a foodie.
[00:37:21] Speaker B: I love food that came out of nowhere. That was great. Awesome. I love it. We can talk about the food stuff after the episode.
[00:37:29] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm a big foodie.
[00:37:31] Speaker B: I love the fact that you've been able to bring about change in so many different ways in your own life and been able to express it through your profession, whether it was in workers comp or through this bankruptcy lawyer or this bankruptcy firm or through your content. And I could definitely sense that Treasure, time and talent. Don't.
Don't aren't separate.
[00:37:52] Speaker C: Right.
[00:37:53] Speaker B: They are very much a thing that is holistic in its. Which is the reason why I have this podcast. It's holistic in its own. It's in its own right to be able to show others that how you spend your time and your talent and your treasure really is where your heart is. And I love that. Most of the people that I've spoken to, it's family, it's. It's really about, you know, helping the community and it's. And for you, it's really been about the content, at least from what I've gathered. Others are heard about the content too. But I think on your end there's. There's this hook of emotional strength even, particularly because of the situations that you've been through. I really appreciate the.
I don't even call it a concept. I really appreciate the openness that you shared with what you've gone through personally over the past years and how you went through it and what it means for you now to be in this career that's not anxiety driven.
Not from, you know, I gotta be partner and I gotta be all this. But it comes from a place of do it because you want to be happy. Do it because your daughter said, yeah, right.
Just so we could go back to this one thing that she said. And I want to, because I want to remember it. What did she say to you before she passed for to have you go and do your. Do this?
[00:39:12] Speaker C: She told me that it was my time. She said that I had outgrown the law firm. And she said that it was My, my purpose in life was to help other people to get out of misery. She, you know, debt relief with dignity has always been my tagline on my, on my social medias. And my daughter really felt that my daughter was an empath. My daughter was, was a lot like me, only more.
And so she, she worked at a non profit food bank. That's where she worked when she passed away. And so, you know, I was, I always had, she would call me from work and you know, she'd bring people over to, you know, file bankruptcy for them because she'd sit and talk to them and be like, my mom can help you. Right. And so it was just, it was amazing. I'm just so grateful that I had, you know, 22 years with her and that I had enough time with her that she was able to teach me this. You know, I have to tell you, when we're talking about time, talent and treasure, I'm not sure what my answers would have been five years ago.
And, and, and I want to say that these have evolved over time and I'm in a wonderful place in my life. And, and, and I hope that your listeners, even they don't know what they don't feel like their time, talent and treasure is being, is going in the right place. I just want them to urge them to keep trying because it takes time. We're constantly evolving and these are how I spend my time, my energy and my talents right now.
And I'm very proud of the way that I do it, it. But this hasn't always been the way that I've done it. And, and I think that that is the gift that my daughter has given me.
[00:41:15] Speaker B: I love.
It's, it's your time, right?
[00:41:19] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:41:20] Speaker B: I don't know the quote, but I'm gonna butcher it. But you were chosen for such a time as this.
[00:41:25] Speaker C: I love it.
[00:41:26] Speaker B: I guess that's a quote. I'm not sure I heard it somewhere. Don't quote me. If you guys find it, comment down below, let me know what it is. But yes, I fully believe that we are made for these times and some certain tragedies may end up being one of the best things that has happened to us. I usually ask one more question and that last question, you kind of answered it, but I'll ask it anyway. From the start of your career, if you were to go, if you were to look back on your future and see where you started, what would you tell yourself at that moment?
[00:41:58] Speaker C: If I could go back to my younger self, I would tell myself to be More authentic to care less about what everybody else around me thought I was Gen X.
And so I came right out of high school, went straight into college, went straight to law school, got that job. I was climbing that mountain.
I look back and I really feel like that. That I wish that there had been other voices around to tell me that there were other options.
And I wish I'd listened maybe to myself a little bit more in those early years instead of just doing what I thought I was supposed to do.
Maybe, you know, doing what feels more authentic and what. What feels better. What. What. What you like.
I don't have any regrets. Of course I don't. I don't have any. Everything I did brought me to this point, but I feel like I was going through the motions and doing what I was told I was supposed to do without bringing into the picture who I was, what my personality was, and what made me happy.
And I think that that would be what I would try to change for myself.
[00:43:19] Speaker B: I think it's been an awesome episode. I think being authentic and knowing that your time is now is something that we all could take and move forward and invest in, honestly. And I'm being very literal, really, about that. Invest in your time and invest in being authentic is something that we all should strive for.
Is there anything that you want the rest of the viewers to know before we get out of here?
[00:43:44] Speaker C: Yeah, I want everybody to know that I left my job as a partner, as a senior partner, the only female partner, and my firm after 27 years, and I went out on my own, and I took all of the scary steps to start a business, and I have an accountant and everything, and then I had terrible tragedy. But as we sit here 16 months after I left and went out on my own, I am financially back to where I was.
And I would say that it's largely because I am just truly enjoying what I'm doing.
The money is coming much more easily than it ever did because I'm truly doing what I enjoy. And so if nothing else, I would say that following, you know, following your heart and your soul might actually be, you know, lucrative for you, because when you really, really enjoy what you do, it's not work. And I know people have said that my whole life. I've never believed it.
And I believe it now because I understand it now.
[00:44:55] Speaker B: Thank you, everyone. Thank you for being a part of this episode of the what's your Investment Series with Adrian Hines here. Give us a shout out, reach out. Follow us like, like, subscribe. Do your thing. Go follow Adrian. She has a book out. Go, go go grab it. I think you're going to enjoy it. The book's called Bankruptcy Magic the Life Changing Power of Debt Relief With Dignity. Just the title alone is really interesting because many people probably are going through situations where they don't feel as open or as, you know, willing to share those things or feeling a certain way about it inside.
You may want to pick it up or have a conversation with Adrian and get on that line. So I want to thank you, Adrian, for being a part of this. It's been a very, very, very awesome pleasure to have you on as a guest and be able to interview you on the what's yous Investment series. Thank you so much for your time and your talent and your treasure. Take care.
[00:45:50] Speaker C: Thank you so much.
[00:45:52] Speaker B: Hey, thanks for watching the what's yous Investment podcast. Please like follow and comment. And don't forget, check out our other videos. We got the Deeds in the Desert and the Day in the Life episodes. See you there.
[00:46:04] Speaker A: Thank you for tuning in to this episode of what's yous Investment, brought to you by Ignite Funding. Don't forget to like, comment and follow. For more, check out our other podcast, Deeds in the Desert and let us know who you would like to come onto the show. We'll see you next week.
The views and opinions expressed by guests on this program are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Ignite Funding. Ignite Funding does not endorse or promote any individual brand or investment featured in this podcast. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. All investments involve risk, including the potential loss of principal.
