Frantonia Pollins discusses how women are becoming debt free and creating success in all areas of their lives on this episode of Leading Las Vegas.

Frantonia Pollins – Becoming Debt Free [Video Transcript]

Danielle Ford: Hello, and welcome to another episode of Leading Las Vegas. I am Danielle Ford of DanielleFord.com where visibility makes a difference, and my guest today is Frantonia Pollins. She is wonderful. I have known her for several years, have been so blessed to work with her throughout different events and functions and groups here in the Las Vegas community and I’m just uber impressed with her, so of course I had to have her on the show and find out more about her new mission that she’s starting, what she’s doing to help women empower their lives. Yeah, you’re the first lady … What’s your official title?

Frantonia Pollins: I’m America’s first lady of empowerment.

Danielle Ford: Love it. Can you tell us a little bit about what you do, what you have been up to the last couple of years with your business, and a little bit where you’re going with it?

Frantonia Pollins: Absolutely, so primarily I guess I would be considered a success coach. I work with high achieving women to help them identify and remove the blocks that are keeping them from moving to the next level of success. I use a holistic approach. I believe that how you do one thing is how you do all things, so if you are having a challenge around success or moving to the next level in your career, we identify other areas of your life where that may be showing up as well. We do a holistic approach to creating success in every area of your life.

Danielle Ford: I love it. You were also Ted’s speaker. I was there for your Ted talk and that was one of my favorite ones of that day.

Frantonia Pollins: Thank you.

Danielle Ford: Yeah, so that rolls over into the new mission you have with women. Women, sex, God and money?

Frantonia Pollins: Well, yeah. That’s a course that I teach that is part of a new movement that I’m launching called One Million Women Debt Free. Yes, it’s literal debt, so financial debt, but debt is an acronym that stands for doubt, envy, betrayal, and trepidation. As I’ve coached with women over the years, those are some of the major blocks that get in the way; self doubt and expression of envy towards each other as women, which is a part of how we’ve been conditioned to see each other. Betrayal, first betrayal of ourselves around the boundaries and the non-negotiables that we will establish in both our business and our personal lives and then trepidation. Many of us will get great ideas and inspiration and fear will set in and we will hesitate on taking action on that, so I’ve created this movement where I’m working with women to help them move beyond their fears about money and wealth, identify their uniquely divine and powerful purpose on this planet, so that they can utilize it in creating a business that creates multi-generational wealth.

Danielle Ford: Is that all?

Frantonia Pollins.: It’s a mouth full, but yeah that’s the mission.

Danielle Ford: Wow, that’s amazing. I would like to talk more about the debt because I’ve dealt with it myself. I’ve seen a lot of girls do the same thing. I feel like women are preconditioned or told we’re bad with money. Do you think that’s true?

Frantonia Pollins: There’s some truth to it. I don’t necessarily know that we are innately bad with money. I think there is some social conditioning around women and money. Many of us grew up in households where money is never discussed with the children. It’s something that parents take care of and the intentional conversation is never had with the children. We grow up in a society that still, regardless of how far we’ve come, we’ve come a long way, baby, but we still have a long way to go as women in this society. It was just 1975 that a woman could have a credit card in her own name without her husband’s approval.

Danielle Ford: That was not very long ago.

Frantonia Pollins: Absolutely. It wasn’t that long ago and so there’s still some residual conditioning around women and their ability to have money and how we are seen and viewed through the lens of this society when we have money.

Danielle Ford: I feel like that’s still … I’m a single mom. I’ve lived alone for my whole life, since I was 18, and even still if someone walks past my door it’s like, “Is the head of household home?”

Frantonia Pollins: You’re looking at her. Here she is.

Danielle Ford: What do you want? Yeah. It’s almost like it’s told to me that I’m not in charge. Do you ever feel like women are told we should just be spending money all the time? I’m not really a shopper and it makes me feel weird that I’m not.

Frantonia Pollins: Okay, so that is what I’ve found in my experience is that is a whole different issue. That’s an issue about when I teach this distinction around wealth creation for women, we talk about the inner game of wealth and the outer game of wealth. A lot of the habitual spending, a lot of times it is used as a form of numbing, as a form of avoidance on looking at what the real issues could be in our lives. We’re talking about shopaholics, not somebody who just shops.

Danielle Ford: Retail therapy.

Frantonia Pollins: Yeah, and we’ve given it these cute monikers. Absolutely. A lot of times that is about utilizing external things to create the illusion of internal worth and value. Women have been conditioned, again, around that we live in a society that judges us on how we look versus what we know, versus who we are internally, our personal constitution. The things that are intangible. A lot of times when women have not reconciled their inner game of wealth, they utilize material things to express the illusion of the outer game of wealth.

Danielle Ford: Almost like I can trick the people to see me differently.

Frantonia Pollins: Absolutely.

Danielle Ford: Then, it’ll almost start to tell me that I’m better.

Frantonia Pollins: Well, it gives me a buffer between knowing the truth about what’s going on with myself-

Danielle Ford: And dealing with it.

Frantonia Pollins: And actually doing the work to deal with it.

Danielle Ford: Wow, so obviously this is a loaded question, but what kind of work do you think is needed that you’re doing, that you’re leading in your groups and everything? What’s gonna fix the problem?

Frantonia Pollins: I think real, honest conversations and as I described it before, it’s a big umbrella with a whole lot of stuff under it. Honest conversations with women about where we have been historically and where we are now and what has taken place in between. The good that’s taken place in between and the areas of opportunity that still exist. Women are stepping into leadership positions. Women are getting more positions of corporate leader and in the corporate world and women are getting more degrees and things like that. Again, that’s the outer game. What are we doing internally so that when we’re in those corporate boardrooms and now it’s not just one woman, there are three women, how do we deal with the competitive energy that often shows up between us? How do we deal with lifting as we climb? How do we bring our sisters along with us when we still have not yet dealt with the internal challenges around being a woman in power?

Danielle Ford: Right, I feel like I wonder if this is something that you have seen also, that it’s almost … I guess I’m stuck on what society tells us, but it is almost told to us that there’s only enough, so if there’s one woman who’s already on top or she’s the most famous or she’s doing it like this, then you can’t. Yeah.

Frantonia Pollins: “Where scarcity is perceived, competition will ensue.” That is a quote that I spend a lot of time working with my clients on really getting them to understand that. If you come from a scarcity mindset, if you believe that there’s only room for one and that it is not an abundant universe, the minute that you see that one you will begin to compete with her, so that you can take her position. Who’s king of the hill versus creating enough room, enough opportunity where we all come along. Back to the lift as you climb. As I’m climbing the ladder of success, it is my responsibility to lift another sister, to lift somebody else so that we can both occupy a space and create more opportunity for each other. It is back to the social conditioning and part of that goes to the way that women have been conditioned to compete for the ultimate attention.

Where scarcity is perceived, competition will ensue. - @DrFrantonia Click To Tweet

Danielle Ford: Men.

Frantonia Pollins: That is the attention of men. Absolutely.

Danielle Ford: Rolling into that, another question I had was do we hold ourselves back from making money, from saving money, from investing and things like that because we don’t want to intimidate men?

Frantonia Pollins: Absolutely.

Danielle Ford: Do we do it on purpose or is it subconscious?

Frantonia Pollins: I think that it could be a combination of both. I think, sometimes it can initially start as a subconscious thing and then at some point you go, when you’re listening to the chatter in society, the chatter on social media, people will say, “Well, a man doesn’t want a woman who earns more than he does,” or “He doesn’t want to move into your place,” so you wait and you don’t buy the house. I hear women say, I want to travel the world, but I’m gonna wait until I have a husband or I’m gonna wait until I have the perfect mate. The other part is that we equate a higher level of value to a woman who is in a relationship and a higher level of value, even than that to a woman that is married. A lot of times, women prevent themselves from moving into, again the trepidation, moving into the fullness of the dream that they hold for their lives waiting for a man to come along to either propel them into that, lift them into that, or give them the okay to do it.

Danielle Ford: Just knowing that men don’t think it’s attractive when you say, “We’re not gonna spend money on that. Actually, what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna put it into a 401K.”

Frantonia Pollins: Absolutely.

Danielle Ford: I definitely do. I think I’ve seen that with myself and other people as well. How do you think we could change the perception or do you think it’s gonna take men’s help to do it or do you think women need to be the ones to demand what we’re gonna do?

Frantonia Pollins: I think that it is incumbent upon women to, let me say this, for adult women to be honest enough with themselves, to recognize the truth about where they are in relationship to their inner game and outer game of wealth, their self value and how it’s showing up in their wallet and in their bank account and in their investment accounts. Again, we have women who are making 70, 80, 100, six figure incomes, but they don’t have any net worth. I recently read a report that said the average net worth for Caucasian women is $46,000. The average net worth for women of color is $5. There is something wrong with that when, if you do further research, we control multi-billion dollars worth of money on an annual. There’s something going on there with the inner game. That’s the first thing that adult women have to acknowledge their challenges around money.

Danielle Ford: Do you know the average net worth of a white Caucasian man?

Frantonia Pollins: I don’t.

Danielle Ford: Don’t have that? Okay.

Frantonia Pollins: I didn’t look that up.

Danielle Ford: I’m gonna google that. Sorry to interrupt you.

Frantonia Pollins: No worries. I think adult women have to do that; have to get honest about … In the black community we say, “It’s not what you cop, it’s what you keep.” It’s not what you make. It’s what you keep. It’s how you’re investing it and how your money is growing and working for you. The second thing we have to do as adult women is understand the game of money and how wealth is created. Stop avoiding the education. 50 years ago, I might have understood it. Now, with Google at your fingertips and free online classes at your fingertips and coaching and mentoring available to you, there’s not reason for us to not know how we can improve our financial situation. Then, finally from the time they’re old enough to understand language, we must begin to talk to our children, especially our girls, about wealth. I have a daughter who happens to be 28 years old.

Danielle Ford: She’s so beautiful.

Frantonia Pollins: Thank you. From the time that she was young, I would sit her down. These are the bills, this is how much money is coming in, this is how we create our spending plan, our budget. At the time, I didn’t know I was creating this program.

Danielle Ford: You had to.

Frantonia Pollins: That’s what I was doing because I feel like we do our daughters, we do our children in general, but our daughters specifically in a society that still has rape culture and a society that still has patriarchal beliefs and a society that still somehow gives this unspoken permission for women to be mistreated, we send our daughters out into the world like lambs to slaughter when we do no empower them in every way possible. A girl who is sent out into the world with financial challenges, not understanding how to provide for herself, becomes prey.

Danielle Ford: Oh, my God. Stop it. That’s gonna be a quotable for sure. That’s so good. Oh, my gosh. I think you’re absolutely right especially here in Las Vegas. They do that a lot. Do you think the first step for that is just finding a mentor, joining this group that you are leading now?

Frantonia Pollins: Well, yeah. Absolutely. I think joining One Million Women Debt Free is a perfect start. Engaging yourself. Sit down and look at your credit report.

Danielle Ford: Some people avoid it just like, “I don’t want to look at it.”

Frantonia Pollins: “If I don’t look at it, it doesn’t exist.” I tell people, audit your bank account. Look at where you’re spending your money. Here’s a quick tip for your viewers. Pull your bank statements for the last 90 days. Take a couple of different color highlighters. Use one color for eating out. Use another one for entertainment. Use another one for your bills and your living expenses. Take a look at where your money is going. You will be shocked at how the five dollar late adds up or how the $15 lunch everyday adds up. I did this for myself one time and found that I was spending $800 a month eating out.

Danielle Ford: Holy moly.

Frantonia Pollins: $800 a month. Ridiculous. I’m not saying … If we work hard, we should play hard, but let’s be smart with the way that we invest our money, so that at one point in time our money gives us a return on that investment.

Danielle Ford: Even cutting down 10% and putting that away.

Frantonia Pollins: Absolutely.

Danielle Ford: Yeah, that’s amazing. Thank you.

Frantonia Pollins: You’re welcome.

Danielle Ford: This was so empowering. I can’t wait to join your movement. How can the viewers find you on social media and also get connected with you to talk, to get all of it?

Frantonia Pollins: Awesome, so OneMillionWomenDebtFree.com. That will direct you to the Facebook group and once you sign up on the list, you’ll get a free download. There’s a list of top 10 things women can do to create conscious wealth and on April 15th, we will be officially launching One Million Women Debt Free, so get on the list so you get the early information and be a part of this incredible movement. We’re gonna create wealth for women and the next couple of generations of women.

Danielle Ford: Thank you so much. It’s so needed.

Frantonia Pollins: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Danielle Ford: I’m going to share it far and wide because you’re amazing.

Frantonia Pollins: Thanks. I appreciate that. Thank you.

Danielle Ford: Thank you guys so much for tuning in. This has been another episode of Leading Las Vegas. I’m Danielle Ford and I will see you in the next episode. Bye guys.