INTRO

Welcome to YAPfirmations!  A new series brought to you by the YAP Media team aimed to help brighten up your days and boost your self-esteem so you can live your best young and profiting life! 

What is a yapfirmation? it's anything you say to attract a young and profiting lifestyle - so you can be profiting in all aspects of your life: financially, personally, professionally, and even in your relationships!

Consider this series your positivity boost on demand. Replay this episode anytime you want to reset and get in the right mindset for success! 

So this is how these episodes will work. I’ll first start out with some clips from a past episode to get us inspired and in the right state of mind to say our affirmations and to get ready for the exercise we are going to do together at the end of the show.

To conclude the episode, we’ll go through an interactive exercise where I’ll say a series of affirmations one by one and you will repeat after me - preferably out loud but in your mind is okay, too.

This week our yapffirmation is inspired by Dandan Zhu

I spoke with Dandan Zhu way back in episode #6. That was when I first started the podcast - I remember dandan left such an impact on me that day. I felt truly inspired to start living in my full potential and i’m happy we get to replay some of the highlights from that conversation today so you can walk away with that same feeling too. 

Dandan is a self-made millionaire and entrepreneur, who gained her financial freedom before hitting the age of 30. Dandan is the Founder and CEO of her own recruitment company and has written finance articles for FORBES, The Huffington Post, Newsweek, and more. 

As we enter a new year, creating wealth, whether that be monetary, spiritual, physical, or mental - it's on everyone's mind. That's why today we are going to take some time to dive deep into manifesting wealth affirmations with Dandan’s advice. 

In this first clip, she asks us to reflect on our lives by asking questions about our habits. Many of them sound like: What does my day-to-day look like? Where am I spending my time? And - What are my current habits? Ultimately, this gives us a glimpse into our future and the person we are developing into. If you don’t have a sense of direction about where you are going, or how you’re wanting to achieve a wealthy life, then it’s time to begin your journey of self-discovery and profit. 

It's a holistic thing. It's not just like, oh, just the money. So like a, if you have problems with health, you have to start addressing lifestyle and you're living. If you're an alcoholic, like a lot of people in our generation I think are, or drug use. Yeah. Think about why you're doing that stuff. These are life choices, habits that you have to determine.

What's the actual value of me doing those activities. That's the first step is self-reflection it's like, okay, what am I doing on a daily basis? That is making me question my development. Am I, this person that works then goes and grabs drinks then goes and gets. Repeat. And then on Sunday, a Saturday, am I doing brunch that, and I'm hanging out at the beach.

If you're doing all those things, you have no time to invest in yourself because you did not budget any time to invest in yourself. The majority of people are short term people. They only look at today tomorrow, next month. And this year, they're not thinking by the time I'm X years old, I need to have done Y and even then if they do it sort of sincere thought it's a general.

It's not really like that detailed. They're not really going to commit to it. So the first thing is you got to a realize what are the things you lack in your life and be you got to start setting some serious goals for yourself. It's very hard to drive yourself to a question. Mark question marks are very hard to aspire to.

There's there's a vision in a question, mark. It's gotta be like a real thing that you inherently truly want for yourself because that's the only thing that's going to then connect it. Point a, which is self-reflect and go, oh. Aspects of my life. Am I going to now, forsake, is that television watching, is that shopping retail addiction?

Is that drinking on a three to four times a week basis? Is that smoking weed? I don't know how many successful people smoke weed. I think a lot of people do, but that's just not me. I have never spoken weed. I don't plan to, it's just not part of my lifestyle. These are things that, again, you have to look at on a macro.

Like, what, what do most successful people do? Are most successful people hanging out with their friends and smoking weed and eating out and drinking every day and partying on the weekends? Probably not. Most likely not. I read I'm an avid reader. The majority of what I read is like, Related wealth related.

So rich dad, poor dad was one of the first books. I read seven habits of highly effective people. These are like the cornerstones of success, how to make friends and influence people think and grow rich. You there's things that I've read since my early twenties. And I would just sit there and read. I, like I told you, uh, weekends, I just study real estate.

So it's just spending the time making the time, making it a part wordy to read. I've read biographies of like Hillary Clinton. Warren buffet. These are biographies that I really enjoyed reading because they gave me inspiration in some way. Right? So reading about other great people, I'm studying these things, making friends with really great people, very successful people.

That's the easiest way to get successful. And that is another tip that I think a lot of young people today don't want to do is you have to cut out the dead weight in your life. You have to cut them out, whether it's family. Or friends, they got to go. If you try to make money, you trying to get somewhere and you got someone pulling on you.

That person has got to go. You got to put them into what we call the cold palace. You know, like in Chinese you say put them into the coal palace where you like you basically, you put someone on. That's what I do. If someone does not align to my goals and where I'm headed and don't support me and get my way being dramatic and wanting this and that, oh, you're not doing this or B, you're not doing that.

I'm out. I have a lot of friends, a lot of acquaintances, although huge network. But I do not party with people because the requirements of socializing with people who are on a hamster wheel that does not fulfill my lifestyle. And that's a decision I made at a very young age.

I love Dandan’s philosophy on choosing to surround yourself with people who help you align with your goals. Because it's no secret that you become the sum of the 5 people closest to you. So it's important to choose those friends wisely. 

Take character traits like self-control - we all want that right? - well if you hang out with people who have self-control - it can rub off on you too, even if you’re someone who doesn't naturally have it. 

According to a study by the Association for Psychological Science, if you are struggling to develop restraint, befriending a disciplined person can actually boost your willpower. And better yet, surrounding yourself with intrinsically or naturally disciplined people can, over time, help you achieve your goals and find long-term success!

But besides surrounding yourself with great people, it’s equally important to reflect on your life. When I take the time to reflect, I always want to consider where I have been, and where I am going. I look back to see what I can do better, and I look forward to see the opportunities I have for personal and professional growth. Having the time to sit and think allows me to plan out the most intentional, and most profitable goals that I want to achieve. 

My personal go-to for setting profitable goals is the SMART model. This covers five main questions you should be asking yourself when you’re writing out your objectives. 

The first is “S”- Is my goal specific enough? 

“M” - Can I measure it in some way so I can see my progression? 

“A” - Is it actually attainable and realistic? 

“R” - Is this goal truly relevant to myself, or my company? 

And lastly “T” -  how much time will I give myself to get this done?  

After fine-tuning your SMART plan, take action and make a commitment to yourself to achieve these goals. 

I like what Dandan says next about making a commitment to our growth. By aligning our lives with what we desire, we can lead a fulfilling life - and interestingly enough, she explains this all through side hustles. 

I don't really believe in side hustles as an adult because I find that it's too risky.

And this is the reason why side hustles take a lot of time out of your day to day. So you're trying to manage a career. I've never seen side hustles to be how a lot of entrepreneurs get Uber successful. Again, it comes down to how big your dream. Right. If you want to start an e-commerce business and you take your time and you side hustle outside of work, it's just going to take you longer because you're only doing it.

Part-time so side hustles are very dangerous. The reality is, is a lot of. We'll not have the strength, the control, the discipline to work a side hustle as hard as they work, their main hustle. So my advice is why don't you align your main hustle with your side hustle? Make your side hustle your main hustle.

You actually probably have a better chance. I think anybody who wants to get rich and has the time to do a side hustle Nisa question themselves. I'm not a big. Side hustles. I think that side hustles are not really a risky move. It's like a safe way. I've just not very safe because I don't see safe routes ever generating any real results.

It's very unlikely that your side hustle is patentable and is something of a high. Chances are your side hustle is what a lot of people are doing at the very same time with the same ideas. And all of you guys are too scared to go for it a hundred percent, which is why there's like mom and pops. So the goal is if you're happy, just getting some side income, you're doing it for fun.

Go for it, do your thing. But if you're really trying to make a business and be like rich, then again, it just calls for another level of commitment and expertise that puts you at a competitive advantage against other people who are most likely doing the same exact hustle you are doing to succeed.

There's always a level of commitment that cannot be dodged, no matter how you slice it.

I agree with a lot of what Dan Dan’s saying. Only caveat is that I would add that sidehustles are cool to test the waters and test the demand of a new idea. My currency company yap media was a sidehustle for six months, i started it while working full time at disney streaming services. I quit my job when I already had 35 employees and was generating about 80k a month in revenue. But, honestly I should have quit my job months earlier, by month one I was already making more than 30K a month with my side hustle. There was no logical reason to stay at my job other than the fact that I was scared to be an entrepreneur.  I was so scared of taking that risk. And once I actually wasn't scared I had people like my friends and boyfriend telling me I was making the worst decision if my life. 

But I did it anyway. I trusted my gut, I may have been a few months too late but I did it. 

Quitting my job and turning my side hustle into my main hustle was the best thing i ever did. It gave me full focus. And I know my time and focus can change the world. I’m so thankful I had the courage and the dedication to start a side hustle - and the discipline to do my main job and my side job equally as well because that’s the key - if youre not the type of person to sacrifice - like sacrifice watching tv or going out with friends - then starting a side hustle won’t work at all because you simply wont have the time for it. 

It can be tough to gain the courage to commit and take action. But once you reflect on why you truly want to achieve, you’ll better understand that commitment, and you’lll know that taking the next step is a must in your life. 

I started my marketing agency as a side hustle because I knew I was too big to be working on someone else’s dream forever. It would have taken me 20 years to get promoted to CMO or CEO - and potentially never happen. I wanted control over my destiny and my financial potential.

At times like this, I like to remember this famous quote by Dale Carnegie: 

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”

But then many people ask, when’s the right time to take that next step? 

When it comes to growing your wealth, Dandan suggests asking for more when you are in a comfortable position, rather than in a desperate one, before taking steps to advance your goals. That way, if some efforts to expand your wealth don’t work out, you are not financially crippled. 

Well, there's always two ways. The one is negotiate directly with your employer or a number to get other offers.

So that's really. Negotiate with your direct boss or look externally and bring forth your options, obviously, without an intent to force a counter offer. That is not ethical. Certainly that's just not right. And it doesn't make sense for you. That's going to hurt you. Long-term if that's your game, you're not doing it.

Push your current employer to give you more. If you want to push your current employer to give you more, the only way to do it is to bring it up to them and make it a sticking point and make a stink about it. And that's the only way you're going to get up into the ranks or you schmooze and you politically advanced.

That's just playing the corporate game. The second one is obviously go external, get a few offers, pick the one that gives you the best money come out, super strong. And the trick there is negotiate from a point of power. If you're unhappy with your pay, if you know you're being on a pay. Do it while you're in a good spot at your career.

And this is a piece that people mostly forget about when they're having a good time on their job, people are enjoying life. They're not really thinking ahead. They're not really worried. That's exactly how you miss out on opportunities. Complacency is a breeding of normality. They're just not going to get anywhere.

If that's your mindset. If you want to make more money than you have to do it from a position of comfort, you have to be in a good situation to negotiate for the best deal, because you will. The best cars in your pocket bargaining chips. So that would be my advice there is to do it before you need to do it.

If you are starting to feel a little unhappy address the issue ASAP, don't wait until it snowballs into a real problem because then emotions get involved and then you're going to be willing to take less salary, or you're not going to negotiate as hard as you would if you were almost like a hundred percent.

I personally know the benefits of taking risks when I’m in a comfortable position. This is exactly why my family and friends told me quitting my executive job at disney would be the worst decision of my life. I was making a lot of money and had a good trajectory of growth. To the people in my life - i had gotten my mba - worked my way up the corporate ladder and was throwing my life away.  I was technically in a really good spot in my life and in my job when I decided to take that leap. But inside, I was unfulfilled and unhappy and i knew i could handle more.  It was a big risk to leave my cushy job - but I knew i was too big of a fish for that pond.  I didn’t know it at the time, but I kept repeating affirmations to myself, like “Now is the time for action.” “ I deserve to get paid to do what I love” “i set myself up for success and now is the time for action”

   … and after saying these things over and over again Until I finally had courage to give in my two weeks. 

I know that, in entrepreneurship, it's assumed that many of us act like daredevils, gamblers, or major risk-takers. People think we are willing to bet it all when it comes to building our companies, but I believe successful entrepreneurs know how to manage risk, and make calculated decisions about their next move. No one should walk into a decision blind or emotional, especially when money and jobs could be on the line. I waited until I was absolutely sure, but I took the leap before I had to - I chose to leave a good thing for something better. 

Building wealth, like Dandan mentioned before, does not happen in our comfort zone. But unfortunately, there can be many mental blocks holding us back from our true potential. Other times, it’s distractions, excuses, and our lack of selfishness that can block us from reaching our goals. 

In this last clip, Dandan asks us to look past our barriers and start believing that we can do more, achieve more, and be more.  

I think everything starts off with. A dream. And I think a lot of millennials in our day and age, they're experiencing pain and suffering and frustration. And I see the problem with my peers and the problem with my colleagues and people that I've worked with in the past. There's so much pessimism, I'd say overall, there's a lot of pessimism on what's possible and what's capable.

And it's because of the system it's because of school, student loans. It's because, you know, um, romantically, it's hard for me to date because I've got these student loans and like, my job doesn't pay a lot, blah, blah, blah. There's so many excuses being made. So I think in general, for us specifically, it's probably just too.

Honestly start, like believing that you can do more, that you can be more than you think you can't be. And really just kind of like take a break from social media, take a break from all this distraction. That's not really going to take you anywhere, but I think every generation today is suffering from the over inundation.

Social media technology and how that's changing our lives in a way that's distracting and not productive. So I think the biggest thing I wish that millennials would do is take a step back, read and adjust, and just be selfish, but less selfish at the same time. Being selfish about your time being selfish about what you do on a day-to-day basis to garner success, being selfish about giving yourself the time you need to get your life in order, but at the same time, Being not selfish and thinking about the impact that you can make on a bigger scale.

That's what drives me is thinking that me being selfish today are by time on what I need to do to be the person I need to be, to organize my life the way it needs to be organized. I will become a person that can change and move mountains. I can change entire demographics. I can give inspiration to people.

Normally, I wouldn't be able to, if I wasn't selfish in the beginning, I have to be selfish to get to a level where I am today. The long story short is if you can start sacrificing on a short-term basis, I think you'll get a lot closer to success and happiness in the long term.

In a world where everyone is scrambling for your time, it’s important to take a step back and really evaluate what you want for yourself. And in order to chase the life that you want, and to build the wealth that you know you can have, you need to eliminate all of these negative influences, distractions, and excuses that hold you back from what you truly want.  

Dan Dan talks about sacrifice on a short term basis, and I can completely relate. For a little over 2.5 years I worked in corporate while hosting this podcast and for a portion of that time running my agency. I literally didn’t watch tv that entire time. My train rides were for working on my podcast, I would clean and study for my interviews, work out and study for my interviews, I would record my interviews over my lunch break. I didn’t really do anything on social media aside from posting content and engaging with the community i was growing on linkedin - I used social media to build an asset - not to drain all my time and compare myself to others. I spent the weekends working on my dream. I woke up early to work on my podcast, and worked on it when i came home until midnight. I built a team overseas and my meetings with them would start at 9pm. I worked 16 hour and 18 hour days most days - And yeah - some people might think that hustle is unhealthy - but fact I was driven by passion and I enjoyed every moment of it -  and fast-forward to today I feel like I am on top of the world. I have no regrets. With that hustle I’ve 5xed my income and essentially set myself up for the rest of my life. I established myself as a key player in my industry in marketing and podcasting. And while I still work long days - I can literally do what I want and go get a facial in the middle of the day now - or take a week off if i feel like it -  I have the freedom to do whatever I want!

 It’s your life. You’re allowed to take ownership over it! The best way to take hold of your life is to express gratitude for what you do have, and use your power to manifest what you desire. Reciting affirmations is the perfect way to start taking hold of that power! We’ll get to that after a short break from our sponsors. 

Hopefully, Dandan has gotten you feeling inspired and ready to say your YAPfirmations!

If you’re listening to this YAPFirmations, you may believe that you don’t deserve to make more money. You may have limiting money believes like MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL  - OR MORE MONEY CAUSES MORE PROBLEMS, OR THAT RICH PEOPLE ARE NOT HAPPY. OR I AM NOT MEANT TO BE RICH.

This negative self talk and negative self thinking is preventing you from ATTRACTING WHAT YOU WANT and preventing you from making money and building wealth!  

With daily affirmation, visualizations, and positive thinking  you can train your brain to start thinking differently. As Marissa Peer, the inspiration from our first YAPfirmation episode says, TELL YOURSELF A BETTER LIE!

Affirmations are positive statements about yourself that you may or may not believe at the present moment. The positive words will build up when you repeat them over and over again, so the subconscious mind picks them up.

The thoughts you think with your consciousness make up for about 4% of your actual thoughts. I know right, that’s insane! So that means that 96% of your thoughts are subconscious. You cannot actively influence them, because you do not even notice them!

Let’s work to turnaround your negative subconscious thoughts into positive ones and make it so you attract money and abundance in your life! 

You won’t find yourself optimistic, energetic, and manifesting your dreams from day one, but if you do these yapfirmations everyday there will be a gradual shift in your energy.

Over time, you can create the reality you want. Receive the wealth life offers and release every block that is holding you back.

Let’s get ready to say our affirmations.

After each affirmation, I will pause, allowing you to repeat them to yourself out loud if you can, or in your head if you’re out and about. I also recommend inhaling deeply before saying these affirmations and breathing out these words. Let’s begin! And feel free to rewind, reflect, and meditate as we go along. 

I am committed to acquiring wealth

I release all negative energy over money.

I release all my fear around money.

I align myself with a mindset of abundance and prosperity

Money creates a positive impact on my life and the life of others.

I am passionate, driven, and hard-working 

I am dedicated and make time for my long-term goals

I visualize my goals and take massive action to achieve them

I am free from excuses and limitations holding me back from financial security

I am paid well for doing what I love.

I get rich doing what I love.

I know that I have the power to be wealthy.

Money is my friend. Money is good.

Money flows to me from lots of different sources

I see and appreciate the abundance in my life 

I am a money magnet, money is drawn to me

I seek out opportunities that will bring me prosperity 

I capitalize on my opportunities

Money comes to me in expected and unexpected ways.

I am ready and able to receive unexpected money.

Wealth flows toward me from all directions 

Everything I touch turns to gold

I am attracting money at this very moment.

I am excited about all the money I’m attracting into my life right now.

I use money to improve the lives of others.

I use my money for good, and the universe is always rewarding me with more.

Thank you for doing these affirmations with me! 

When you say these affirmations consistently and daily,  Negativity will move from your life. Daily affirmations will reprogram your unconscious mind and change your thoughts, vibrations, and self-talk!

The key to the success of these affirmations is repetition! Replay your yapfirmations as often as you need to turn these words into wealth!

If you like this series let us know by writing us a review on your favorite podcast platform! Or find me on instagram @yapwithHala or linkedin Hala Taha!  

 And if you have an idea for the next yapfirmation episode be sure to tell u,  too 

Big thanks to the YAP team as always. This is Hala, signing off.