Transcript

Introducing Jade Warshaw and her journey to debt freedom

[0:01] Hello, friends. Welcome to another episode of Tell Us a Good Story.
Imagine getting married right out of college and your new spouse informs you that he has some debt, like a lot of debt, as in $280,000 in student loans, and he’s not a doctor.
Well, that is exactly what happened to our next guest, Jade Warshaw.
You guys, Jade and her husband combined ended up having over $460,000 in consumer debt after they got married. But today they’re debt-free, have their own business, and Jade is now a Ramsey personality for Ramsey Solutions. As you can guess, in this conversation, Jade shares the story of how her and her husband paid off this massive amount of debt. And she shares all the side hustles and jobs they had, including stories of working as entertainers on cruise ships. She has cruise life stories. Yes, she does. We can’t wait for you to hear this conversation with Ramsey personality, Jade Warshall. I’m Kevin. And I’m Stephanie.
And during our marriage, we have dealt with an electrocution, a brain tumor, brain surgery.
Then doctors telling us that children were not in our future, followed by miscarriage, and then Kevin’s cancer diagnosis.
However, today, we live a life completely healed and restored with three healthy children, who doctors said were not possible.
And we’re here to tell stories that inspire, give hope, and brighten your day.
Welcome to… Tell Us a Good Story.

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Introducing Jade Warshaw, a Ramsey personality for Ramsey Solutions

[2:00] All right, Steph, this is going to be so much fun.
We have been looking forward to talking with her and I’m super excited.
We’ve got a lot of questions.
Lots of questions. Well, friends, our next guest is a renowned singer, social media influencer, speaker, and financial coach.
She is currently working in her dream job as a Ramsey personality for Ramsey Solutions.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to Tell Us a Good Story, Jade Warshaw.
Thank you for saying yes to us, Jade.
Thanks for having me on Kevin and Steph. This is great.

[2:34] Oh, we’re super excited about this. Okay, so I think Dave Ramsey is absolutely hilarious.
I love how blunt he is.
I love how matter of fact he is.
Yeah, since you’ve been working with him, and you’ve been on the show, has he said anything to a caller where you’re like, Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you just said that or it made you bust out laughing?
Well, I always bust out laughing. As a matter of fact, I feel like I’m laughing all the time, and I have to stop, like, because the whole show I could just be going, the whole time.
And I have to not do that because you just can’t laugh the whole time.
But I find Dave to be very hilarious.
The other day he told somebody they were dumber than a dead brick.
And I was like, I don’t know what that means, but it’s hilarious.
What’s been your most memorable phone call that you’ve had so far?
Well, for the first, the first phone call we ever had when I, my first time on the show with Dave, A guy called in, and he had birds.

[3:33] And I hear, he was like, you know, I’ve got a business, you know, how do I know when it’s time to, you know, move on with my business? And in the back, we’re hearing like, like all this sound.
And I’m like, dude, like, do you have monkeys? Like, what’s going on back there? He goes, well, it’s birds. It’s exotic birds that I watch. And I’m like, oh, okay, this makes a lot more sense. It was great radio. It just was so, it was such a crazy call. It was all the sounds in the background that made it so funny. But Jade, you’ve been here, I guess, nine months now, right?
A year. A year. Okay. Yes. And you’re yesterday. Congratulations. Thank you.
So at this point, are you surprised anymore by any of the listener calls? Like, I gave all my money to the TV preacher or I spent all my money on crystals. Like, are you surprised at this point?
Um, no, I’m not surprised per se. It’s just like a guy called in the other day and he was talking about infinite banking, where you’re like getting a whole life policy and borrowing against it and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And he called in to argue with Dave. Uh-oh. You wanted to tell Dave that he was wrong.

[4:41] And so, we knew going in, the producers told us, they were like, hey, this guy, he doesn’t seem too irate, but do you want us to let him through? And we’re like, yes, let him through.
So, this guy is just like, he starts off with, Dave, you said something the other day and it really pissed me off.
And it’s like, all right, here we go.
But the guy was wrong, and, you know, Dave is putting him in his place.
And in my head, I’m thinking, did this guy really think that he was gonna be able to go toe-to-toe with Dave and win?
So, things like that kind of surprised me. It’s like, alright, try it. Try it.

[5:13] Okay. So you and your husband, Sam, were in debt over $460,000.
Oh, girl, I want to hear this. Yes. Can you share the story about how you and your husband got into that type of debt?
Like right when you got married as well. Can you share that story?
Yeah. So my husband and I, we met in college. We both had… We’re going to school for music and getting music degrees. And we got married one week after graduation.
And, you know, it’s like, here you are, you know, newlywed couple, it’s like, what do we want to do with our lives?
You know, we didn’t have careers yet, right? I’m working at the mall.
He’s doing some studio sessions around town.
No real career aspects, you know, we didn’t know what we were going to do exactly.
And we started looking through the bills and, you know, that first six months when you graduate, your student loan payment is not due yet.
It’s on forbearance. And then when the six-month point hits, that’s when the bills become due.
And so these bills start rolling in and it’s like, oh my gosh, like what’s going on here?
So Sam and I started having a conversation because I knew how much student loan debt I had around 34,000.
And it just seemed like there was a lot of bills coming in the mail with Sam’s name on it.
So I was like, what is going on?
And so over time, because these are conversations that happen over time, he was able to say to me, hey, I have a lot of debt.
I have $280,000 of student loan debt.
Now.
I can say that in this moment, looking back, now we know exactly how much it was. At the time.

[6:42] Starting out, it wasn’t quite that much because the interest and all those things hadn’t accrued yet. So, in his mind, he’s like, yeah, but when I signed the note, it was only for $120,000.

[6:50] So, we were so confused. We didn’t understand interest. We didn’t understand how these things work. And so, there was so much confusion around how did it get this big? So, there was that part of it. And then of course we had the credit card debt, you know, a little over $20,000 in credit cards. And we had two cars we couldn’t afford, which is painful because when I met Sam, he had a paid-for Jeep, Grand Cherokee, and we traded that in for a car note of a Hummer H3. So like, just doing dumb stuff. Like, we thought that that’s what you do. You graduate from school, you get a new car because you graduated, and you use credit cards because that’s how you build your credit. We thought we were doing all these things. You get student loans to go to school.

[7:34] We didn’t understand that it was going to create the mess that it created.
Not going to lie, it was pretty depressing. It was like, oh my gosh. And so I remembered hearing about Dave Ramsey on the radio. I’d heard him before. And in that moment, his voice kind of went into my head and I was like, hey, there’s this guy, Dave Ramsey. I think he can help us.
And Sam was like, oh yeah, I think I’ve heard of him. And so this was now a couple of years into our marriage. So we go to Barnes & Noble, we buy the total money makeover, and it was, the workbook version. And I remember taking it home to our apartment at the time that had nothing in it, and we start working through the numbers. And I looked at Sam at one point and I was like, we have no money. Like, how are we even going to start this? We have no money. And that was a rock bottom moment. It’s one thing when you know you have a problem, and so you go get help for the problem. It’s another thing when you know you have a problem, you go get help from the problem.
And then you look at it and you’re like, can this even help me?
Like, am I too far gone?
And so I remember wrestling with that, feeling like, man, I feel like we’re too far gone, but you just have to start.
And we started and we just said, okay, this is where we’re at. We have to start where we’re at.
And, you know, we started thinking about things that we could do to earn extra money and side hustle. And that’s how it started. And, you know, the rest is history.

Taking on Multiple Jobs to Alleviate Debt

[8:52] So what was the little things that you guys started doing at first to try to help alleviate some of this debt? Yeah. So at that point, you know, our core income wasn’t enough. We were musicians. We were making about $30,000.
Dollars and I’d gotten a job to work on a cruise ship and my husband had gotten a job to work on a cruise ship as well together and that was going to bump up our, you know, pay a little bit.
I think we’re going to be at $50,000. It was like, yes, $50,000, we can do this, you know?
But the problem with that job was it was seasonal.
So we’d go on for like six months and then be off for like three months, three or four months and then go back on. So we had these gaps of time where there was no money.
And so it was like, okay, what can we do? And we just put our heads together.
Both musicians, so we started teaching lessons. And I love cooking and baking, and so I started making cupcakes. And my husband and I love dogs and animals, so we started training dogs. And I got a work-from-home job doing customer service for Apple, and I worked at a vinyl tent and lettering place. And my husband built websites. We just did whatever we could to make money. And we sold all the furniture in our house at one point because I was like, it’s just the two of us, like we don’t have kids, so let’s sell our stuff. And so we did. And then.

[10:06] We took it a step further. We were like, we’re living in this townhouse. We’re only here part of the year. Let’s get roommates and cut the cost in half. So we just did that. And before you knew it, you know, we were we were getting the thing off the ground. Wow. Is it true you slept on an air mattress. Yes, ma’am. Yes, ma’am. Yes, ma’am. Oh, girl. Yeah, we sold our furniture in about in 2010.
And we had the air mattress, which we called the Cadillac of air mattresses, because it was like raised higher off of the ground.

[10:40] We slept on that until 2015, when we bought a new mattress in cash.

Staying Motivated Despite Financial Hardships

[10:45] It was really cool. Wow. Was there ever a point where you guys just started getting depressed?
Like what kept encouraging you guys to keep going on this journey?

[10:56] A couple of things. I think the way, you know, you don’t get to control everything, but you do get to control your attitude and you get to control like what you’re grateful for.
And at the end of the day, you know, we were in a lot of ways, even though life was hard financially, in that moment, we were living the dream career wise. We were working on cruise ships, which is something that we wanted to do. My career was performance. That’s what I always wanted to do. So I was doing that and I was getting paid to travel the world and perform.
My husband and I have performed in over 192 countries. And so there’s part of that, that that during that time was like, oh my gosh, life is amazing.
And then there’s this other side of it that’s like, yeah, but we don’t have any money.
So, you have to balance that, but it’s all about what you focus on.
At any time in anybody’s life, there’s things that are going on that are good and there’s things that are going on that are bad.
And we get to decide what we’re gonna focus on. We’re either gonna focus on life sucks because this thing over here sucks, or we’re gonna go, hey, this is not where I want it to be and I’m working on that, but everything over here is a blessing and I am not gonna walk through life and not be thankful that I’m healthy, be thankful that we get to travel the world for our jobs, be thankful that I have a great husband.
It depends on what you decide to focus on. And so that’s really all there is to it.
So is it true then, you had the conversation, Sam, we’re not having kids until we get all this debt paid off, is that true?
Yeah, it was a little like that. It was pretty mutual. I think both of us were like, we can’t afford it.

[12:23] I gotta make it clear. I would never tell anybody else, hey, don’t build a family, get out of debt first.
I would never tell anybody that because that’s such a personal decision and people have biological clocks and things like that.
But for us, I think it was one of those no brainers. It was like, look, this is a mess.
I really didn’t want to bring children into my mess. I wanted to clean up my mess before I brought them into it.
And just for like stress purposes, like kids are expensive, diapers are expensive.
And for us, there was a career component to it that it was like, okay, right now we’re traveling 40 weeks out of the year.
We can’t have kids and do that. So what will our career be in order for us to have kids?
And that was a big catalyst for us.

Finding Long-Term Solutions for Sustainable Income

[13:12] Figuring out how we were going to get our income up long-term, which a lot of people need to consider. Side hustling is great, but you’re not going to side hustle forever. And if that is the thing that is making your income sustainable, then you have a problem. Side hustle should just be to get extra income for a short period of time. And for us, it wasn’t that. It was really, supplementing our income, our core income to make it what it needed to be.
So we needed to get our core income up. We needed to come up with a way that we could have, a sustainable job so that we could have kids and also pay off our debt. And so that’s where we, came up with the idea to start a talent agency. Necessity is the mother of invention.

Steph’s Favorite Book and Book Promotion

[13:55] All right, Steph, I’m going to test you again here. What is your favorite book of all time?
Obviously, it’s the Bible, Kevin. Yes. Nailed it.
Very good. This time you didn’t say the book we wrote called You Met Her Where.
But it’s still a really good book. That is true.
And it would make a great gift for friends or relatives on their birthday or for Christmas.
Friends, you can order your copy of our book titled, You Met Her Where?
At KevinAndSteph.com and we will make sure to personally sign a copy for you or whoever you want.
And as always, thank you for listening to Tell Us A Good Story.
So Jade, for all of our guests, I like to give a list of fun facts to let listeners and Steph know what you’ve done, what you’ve accomplished.
And Steph is not aware of any of these. Okay.
Genuine reaction to these and you actually mentioned a few of them already.

[14:41] So as you were telling your story, I was like cringing like, oh no, don’t say this.
So correct me if I’m wrong on any of these. All right.
So to be honest. Fun fact number one, Jade got married to her husband Sam in 2007, one week after college graduation. Okay.
So like she said, between the two of them, they had $280,000 in just student loans. Uh huh.
That’s right. our doctors, because he went to Berklee School of Music, I believe.
That’s right. Yeah, that’s right. In Boston.
Wow. Very elite. That’s an elite school. Yes. It’s an expensive school. There you go.
Like she said, they did all these side hustles. From voice lessons, designing websites, hosting jet ski tours.
Oh yeah, that’s right. I forgot about that.

[15:27] To getting roommates. Okay, so that sounds terrible. That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen as newlyweds.
Okay, so do you have a worst roommate story from that time period, Jade, where you guys had people move in and you have an air mattress? Did they get a matching air mattress in the other room? So we moved in with some friends that were Sam’s friends. His name’s Dave. They’ve been, friends since high school. So Sam was like, I know Dave. I love Dave. I love Dave too. So I was like, let’s do it. We worked with Dave a lot with music and I knew his wife. And so we moved in and And honestly, it was great.

[16:04] The only thing is we’re grown people living together and we’re married, So we’re gonna have differences of opinions on.
I don’t know, like decor, although there wasn’t much decor. Or, you know, we’d be on a trip, we will have been gone several weeks and come back, and it’s like, you walk in and you’re like, why does the house smell like curry? You know, like, what have you been cooking? It’s just, roommate stuff, right? Nothing crazy, just, you know, when you share your home, folks live differently than you do, and that’s okay. But it’s different.
So then, with food being important, are you separating the fridge then, down the middle?
You get this side, I get this side?
Well, at that point, I was not a vegetarian yet. So not so much.
I think we were just, it was just an interesting situation. I mean, it was very separate, but also not separate.
I don’t really know how to explain it.
They had a better couch than we did. Let’s just say that. And probably a better bed as well.
Yes. They had a real bed. All right, Steph, next fun fact.
Jade’s background, like she said, is in music.

[17:14] She was a professional vocalist for 15 years, has performed in what I had here is 92 countries.
You said 192, I believe, just a minute ago. Yeah, I think that’s right.
Okay. Yeah, 192. 192 countries.
Alongside her husband, Sam, who studied at the Berklee College of Music. He’s an award-winning music arranger. So let me stop there. Do you still sing? Do you still perform, Jade, at churches or weekend events, karaoke night? Do you still perform anywhere? Not really. I don’t have time.
I did get to, last year at Smart Conference, one of our personalities, Ken Coleman, did a talk.
And part of his talk was a song from The Greatest Showman. And he was like, like, hey, can you sing the song? I was like, sure.
So that was fun. If the opportunity arises, I will do it. And if it’s a good opportunity, I’ll do it.
But I don’t really have the time to go do that. So not really.

[18:09] I bet Dr. John Deloney would love to have a GM session with her husband, Sam. I did, I did.
Did you? Yeah, okay, so I forgot about that. Here at Ramsey Solutions, we do a thing called Battle of the Bands. Okay.
And so like different people who work here, like there’s over a thousand people working here.
So there was like 10 bands.
Oh my gosh. Yeah, and John, he was like, hey, we’re like sitting there one day hosting the show and in between segments, he’s like, hey, I told the band that you’d come on and sing a couple songs.
I’m like, okay, great. And so that’s the way it happened.
And we ended up getting to perform together.
It was actually really, really fun. So.
How’d you guys do? We came in second. Did you? Second place.
Yeah, that’s right. Okay, that must be rigged. They’re professional performers.
How do you come in second place?
I don’t know. Well, A, we were singing like emo punk music. So there’s that.
There was that side of it. And at this point, it’s all for fun. I can’t be serious about it.

[19:06] All right, Steph. In 2007, Jade and Sam became cruise ship entertainers with Royal Caribbean.
Jade joined as a production cast member and her husband became the bassist in the ship orchestra.
Their unique talents led them to become headline entertainers across 10 cruise lines.
Wow, you know a lot about me. I feel kind of weird right now, Kevin. I’m just kidding.

[19:31] So just joking. Do you have any good cruise stories? Yes. You’ve got to have some good cruise stories.
You have to have some good cruise stories.
I have a lot of crew stories, let’s see, um…

[19:43] Okay, here’s a story. We were in I think we are in st. Thomas or st Martin and you know when you get off the ship, You have to be back on the ship at a certain time Like you you you pull up in port you have the day in port and then you’ve got to be back on a certain time So the ship can leave to go to the next port. So this one time we were there. I.

[20:03] Think of st. Thomas or st. Martin had to be back on the ship Let’s say four o’clock and the salmon are on the ship and we’re noticing. Hey, like we’re not leaving like what’s going on?
And so we hear the captain say, hey, we’re waiting to leave, but we’re waiting, we’re missing a crew member, so we’re waiting for that person to come on.
And so we’re waiting, waiting, waiting. And Sam and I are standing out on the balcony.
We see one of our coworkers, she’s running down the gangway to try to catch the boat.
And I’m like, oh my gosh, she’s running, she gets on. And so I’m like, okay, well, she made it.
I’m thinking it’s all over. But at the same time, I also know as crew members, crew members, if you’re late, you can get terminated, like you can get fired. And so later on that night, we find out that she has to speak with the captain and the captain gives her the choice. He says, because we had already started leaving and we had to come back for her. And so she’s running, you know, and they’re like, okay, let’s go back and get her. I left out the most important part. So we find out later that when she gets on board, we’re like, did you get fired?
Like what happened? And she goes, the captain gave me an option. He said that I could either be fired or I could pay for the gas that it took to turn the ship around and come back and get me.” Uh-oh.
She goes, I chose to pay for the gas. It was $20,000. No! $20,000.

Enjoying the Ship Life: Beaches and Performances

[21:21] Just to turn around. Yes. I was like, that is crazy. Yeah. I think I would have been terminated.
I was like, Hey, go and drop me off. I got to be back to the crib. Yeah. Oh man. For free.
For free. Yes. Oh man. I agree. What other stories do you have? I want another one.
Oh man. What is ship life? Like, I guess, is it groundhog day? Every day is the same. You’re You’re going to the same spots every two weeks or whatever.
Is that what it’s like?
In a way, yes. I remember when I first started working on ships, I truly had a guilt.
I felt so much guilt because my days were so incredible. I was like, this can’t be right.
This can’t be real life. Something bad is gonna happen because I know people are in their cubicle and I’m in St. Martin and St. Thomas and you’re a performer.
So in the day, your day is free.
And, you know, the cruises were a week long and then we would turn around, new people would come on board. And so we were only doing two performances per cruise.
And so the rest of the- Oh my gosh.
It’s only at night. You know, you’re working from seven to 1030 at night.
And so I’m sitting by the beach every day, you know what I’m like, is this real?

[22:36] Is there a meteor gonna hit the earth because this should not be how life is.
I shouldn’t be able to just sit by the beach all day long and then perform at night.
That’s a dream. And so, that’s why I was saying, yeah, we’re paying off debt, but we also had this really great side of things. Right.
You know, we had no money to buy a drink by the beach. It was just sit on the sand, but that’s okay.
-♪♪ Was your room and board paid for when you worked for the cruise ship?
Yeah, so you get a really small room, it’s like the size of a closet.
And my husband and I slept on bunk beds because that’s all they have.

[23:15] It’s super tiny. Like your bathroom, the shower is so tiny and they like would make the joke of like putting a shower curtain on it.
It’s like, what? The shower curtain, it does nothing. You know, like it’s like clinging to you the entire time.
It’s super tiny. It’s like college. Working on cruise ships is a lot like college And you have to have.
Like you could go out there and just blow all your money. Okay, so here’s a fun fact on cruise ships.
I don’t know if it’s like this anymore. I don’t think it is, but we used to get paid in cash.
Okay, so on payday, everybody would line up and when it was your turn, they would count out the cash to you.
Oh, my God. And so the way it would work is when you’re on board, you can buy, you know, drinks. There’s a crew bar, there’s, you know, a little grocery store.
And so you’re kind of like at a hotel, you’re scanning all these things to your card.
But when you get paid, it’s time to pay the piper.
And so we would literally stand in line, we would get our cash.

[24:13] And then, you know, you’d step to the next section and they’d give you your bill.
And I would literally see people hand back their entire paycheck because they bought too many drinks, they were going to the restaurants.
So you can go out there, you can either save a ton of money because you don’t buy anything, or you can get out there and wild out and hand back your paycheck every month.
So, that’s crazy. So, if you’re only performing two nights during the week, are they making you do other things? Are you cleaning the boat?
Are you, you know, making the food?
No, sir. No. You know, with cruise ships, it depends on your position.
With entertainers, with singers specifically, and musicians, if you’re part of the production cast, you’re there to do those shows.
I mean, that’s what you’re hired to do.
Some lines might have you do some other side things. things like everybody has to help with emergency drills because it’s safety. But other than that, no. I just thought it was. Jade, think of the people, the people have a gambling addiction and they’ve got casinos. They’re on the boat. You’re not allowed to go in the casino. Oh, you can’t. Okay. As crew members. No, you can’t gamble. So there is that. Thank God, because you’re right. That would cause. That would be a nightmare. Yes. Now it doesn’t stop people from playing poker or playing dominoes on their own time.
That’s true.
Yes. Let’s be honest about that. That’s true.

[25:34] Steph, what is one of the most asked questions we get about Tell Us a Good Story?
Do I really get that excited?
Besides that one.

[25:43] Oh, how do we get all these incredible guests? Correct.
And some of our best conversations have been with guests who our listeners have reached out to us and said, you should talk to this person.
To name just a few, Nick Vujicic, Coach Tom Ryan, Carol Motyka were all recommendations from our listeners.
So if there’s someone you would like us to interview and think they might be a great fit for Tell Us a Good Story, please let us know at kevinandsteph.com.
You don’t even have to personally know them. True, but do me a favor, before you submit their names, please make sure they are still alive.
That has actually happened and it is super hard for me to find their contact information.
But regardless, thank you for listening to tell us a good story.
All right, next fun fact.
Jade and Sam eventually started a business called Warshaw Entertainment, which you mentioned earlier, where they help hire musicians, vocalists, and entertainers for cruise ships.

[26:35] That’s right. In 2017, their business had a great year and they were finally able to pay off the last of their debt. And how long did it take? Seven and a half years? Is that right?
The whole thing. Yeah, the whole thing took seven and a half years. And yeah, that was the business that was created out of necessity. Because I said to Sam one day, we’re like laying out on the beach And I said to him, I said, if we ever want to have kids, we have to figure out what our pivot is.
I said, because we’re not going to be able to have a family and travel like this.

[27:01] If only we could duplicate ourselves. And that’s where the brain went, okay, yes.
How do you duplicate yourself? Okay, talent agency.
Because what would happen is we’d go out on these ships, and we’d have to work with whatever band was on the ship.
And I have a high standard for what I want out of a band. And so I’d go on the ship and be like, these guys suck.
Like, I could throw a rock and hit a better drummer, you know what I’m saying?
And so we started thinking, this is a problem that needs to be solved because we weren’t the only entertainers that would get frustrated.
And so we thought, this is a problem we can solve. And that’s really what it was born out of, not only necessity to pivot, but also solving a problem that was really an issue for a lot of entertainers.
So what was that feeling like, that moment when you paid your last bit of debt?
Yes, what was that like for you guys?
So, we’d been working with one of the major cruise lines for a while.
At this point, you know, our talent agency is up and running, but the cruise lines also would come to us for major projects that they were doing.
Like if they were making a production show or if they were making something and they needed charts or arrangements, they would come to Warshaw Entertainment.

[28:12] And so we had landed a really big project with one of the cruise lines, I probably won’t say which one. And we knew like if we can make this deal, like if we can create the terms of this deal and deliver, we can make a lot of money in one shot and it’s going to take a lot of work.
But this has the ability to set us free here because we had $90,000 left on one of our loans.
And so we structured the deal with the cruise line and then it was going to be an eight-month project. And so then we went to our student loan provider who happened to be a private loan service provider. And it turned out that that private company was on the verge of going out of business. And so they basically needed as much money as they could get. And so we called him up and we said, look, this loan is worth $128,000. What can we do here? We have $70,000 in cash.

[29:07] And they said, okay, well, you know, and we, they forgave this interest and they did that.
And we were able to get a deal on that and they forgave like $36,000 of interest.
And then what was left was like 91,000. And they said we had to, I’m trying to remember the exact numbers, but we had to pay a lump sum. And so from that project, we just like squirrels put that money aside from the project. And I remember my husband took a screenshot of our account when we got paid for the project and it was the most money I’d ever seen in our account and we immediately transferred it to the debt and paid off the $91,000 of debt and I was like.

The bittersweet feeling of paying off debt

[29:47] That was horrible but also very awesome because it’s like you work and you finally see this money and you’re like oh right I’ve never seen a hundred thousand dollars in my account ever and then And then you’re like, I’m going to go pay my debt.
I’m free, but I’m also very, very sad. Yes.
Hey, Jade, that’s wild because you and your husband are working so hard, but you’re not seeing the benefit physically. It’s not like you’re buying stuff.
It’s literally, it’s going right out the door.
Yeah, right out the door. Okay, so you make that last payment.
You literally now have no debt.
So how has your mindset pivoted? Are we paying cash for everything?
Are we still living in an apartment?
Are we buying a house? How has that changed? They at least have a bed now.
So that’s good. They have a bed.

[30:39] Yes. They’ve upgraded there. That’s right.
I think for us, going through that process for seven and a half years, the first few years of it being so scrappy and slow, and then the last half of it being able to move quicker and having more opportunity, it builds something inside of you.
You start to realize what’s important, what’s not important, what truly is a need, what truly is a want. And obviously, we did this walking through the seven baby steps from the total money makeover.
And paying off your debt is just baby step two. That’s the beginning.
And so we went right on to the next step, step three.
You save up three to six months of expenses.
And then the step after that is if you want to buy a house, you save a down payment for your house.
And so, to finally be at that point where we’re able to save up a down payment and now I’m pregnant, it’s like, wow, this is worth it.
All the things that we did is totally worth it.
And if you’re willing to stick with it through the journey, you do make progress.
You have those moments where it feels like, oh, I’m treading water, I’m not moving.
But if you keep going, you look up and you’ve reached the shore and you’re able to go on to these things that make it all worth it.

[31:52] And so, yeah, we bought a house, we put a down payment on a house, and we were finally starting to see the fruit of our labor, because it’s like, man, that’s the dream right there, right?
And we bought a second car in cash because we’d been a one-car family for such a long time.
And when I say bought a second car in cash, I need you to understand the timeline.
Last year, we bought a car in cash, our second car in cash. We were a one-car family for a decade.
And so, all of those things that we sacrificed was worth it.
Oh, it’s so good! So in 2017, when they paid off their debt, Sam and Jade were actually interviewed on the Ramsey Show stuff and did the traditional debt-free scream.
Okay, so I saw this interview. This was such a good interview.
And for listeners who are not aware of this, what is a debt-free scream?
Can you explain that? Oh, yes. So debt-free scream is…
Like I said, there’s the seven baby steps, right?
Yes. Baby step one is the $1,000 save. Baby Step 2 is you pay off all your consumer debt. So everything except your mortgage.
And it kind of happened haphazardly on Dave’s show decades ago. A woman called in to tell Dave that she was debt-free. And she was so excited that she just yelled it. She was like.

[33:06] And, you know, Dave cheered for her. And it became this thing of like, hey.

[33:12] We think other people probably want to do that as well. And so it’s become this tradition that when you finish baby step two and you pay off all of your debt but your mortgage, you can come up here to Ramsey Solutions, and we have literally a stage set up.
And you can tell your story to whoever’s hosting the show that day.
And at the end of telling your story, you get to count down three, two, one, and scream, I’m debt free! And it is the best feeling on the planet. Like, few things measure up to that.
And you have this line in the sand from now on, because you’ve kind of created a monument there, that I did this thing and now it’s set in stone and everybody’s heard it. It’s almost like when you get married, right? You like make this declaration, you know, between you and God and your spouse, like, this is what we’re doing. And that scream, man, it feels like that because after that you’re like, I’ve said I’m debt-free. I’m not going back into debt again. Like, I’m not going back. And so it’s cool, man. I tell people all the time, go do your debt-free scream because a lot of people they’re debt-free, but they’re like, I don’t think I’m going to go do it.” I’m like, No, no, no. Do it. This is like putting a ring on it. Go do it.
Oh, that’s good. Okay. So what’s the most consumer debt that you’ve seen since you’ve been at Ramsey Solutions? If you had $460, not that we’re trying to win a trophy here for this debt. What’s the most that you’ve seen from a listener or caller?

[34:39] In just consumer debt, I’m struggling to think of anyone that had more consumer debt. Sometimes people come in and they’ve got rental properties with it. And that’s what makes it go into the 700s or even like over a million. But at the same time, you’ve got an asset, you can sell it off, that’s great. So I have not, I personally have not dealt with anyone that had more than half a million in consumer debt. So you won so far. You won, yes. Congratulations. Look, I don’t know if I want to win this.
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[35:46] Final fun fact. Since December, 2022, Jade has been working in her dream job at Ramsey Solutions as a Ramsey personality. And so apparently she’s been with the organization since September of last year.
So it’s the same show that gave her and Sam hope years ago.
So now she’s sharing her stories and giving millions of other people hope the same way that Dave did to them, Which is incredible, the whole circle here.

[36:11] So can you share the story of how you actually became a Ramsey personality?
Because I’m actually not aware of this in my research, so I’d love to hear this.
Okay, yeah. So let’s go back to everyone’s favorite year 2020.
Like my favorite. Yeah, I know, right?
2020, as many people know, okay, so we’ve established the fact that I’ve been in entertainment before I came here.
And so 2020 was terrible for the entertainment world. closed down. I remember with our travel agency, we’ve got entertainers all over the globe. And when all this happened, it was like we had artists stuck literally on ships, on land, in hotels, all over the world. And I was like, this sucks. Like, what is happening? And from there on, the cruise industry was the first industry to close down. And because of the virus and all these things and all the regulations that had to change, the cruise industry was the last industry to open up. Our business was closed for a year and a half. And our business was our primary source of income. And so, thank God, I said it all the time. I was like, Sam, my husband, I said, can you imagine where we would be if we hadn’t worked Baby Steps? We would have been living in our parents’ basement. But because of Ramsey, we had plenty of money saved up.
We were just in such a good situation. So thankfully, we were able to ride that out. But.

[37:35] But it did give me a lot of free time because a year and a half is a long time to just be alone with your thoughts.
And so I remember thinking like, I know that our business is gonna open back up again.
Like I’m a Christ follower. So whenever things happen, good or bad, I’m always looking to be like, what am I supposed to be learning from this?
What’s supposed to be going on here?
And I’m like, God, this is weird that we’re just sitting here on our hands for, at that point, we didn’t know how long it was gonna last, right?
Like I look back on it, I know it was a year and a half, But in the moment, I’m like, I don’t know how long this is going to last.
What am I supposed to be doing? What am I supposed to be learning?

Uncertainty in the Music Industry and Career Transition

[38:10] And so I started having this thought of like, if music doesn’t open up again, I’m not good at anything else.
Like, what am I going to go do? Become a lawyer? Like, what happens to me?
Because everybody’s pivoting and turning their business to something else.
And I’m like, I’m in live events. There is no pivot.
Like, it doesn’t exist. And so I started thinking like, what would I do if this doesn’t come back?
And I just started remembering like, hey, you’re good at money.
Like, you know about money. People come to you for money.
People come to you to help them get out of debt.
That’s always been the case. Sam and I have always taught Financial Peace University to whoever will listen. We’ve always taught it in our churches and our friends have always said, hey, what should I do in this financial situation? So I started thinking about that and I was like, you know what? Maybe I should pursue this. Maybe this is a way that I can make some money during this weird worldly pause. And so I started a platform online. I called it More Feast, Less famine because I wanted it to be food and finance, two things I really love.
And I would offer coaching and all of that stuff. And it started doing all right for somebody who just started.
And my husband came to me, he goes, hey, Ramsey Solutions is hiring.
But I always made the joke, like, I could never work for anybody, but if I did, it’d be Dave Ramsey.
And so when he told me that they were hiring for personalities, I was like, that’s crazy.
That’s impossible. He goes, no, Jade, it’s true.

[39:33] So I was like, let’s just see, because I’ve always been a person that’s like, I’ll turn the doorknob, who knows what’s behind the door, if it’s a scary monster, just slam it, you don’t have to go through it.
So I’m like, let’s turn the doorknob and see. So I applied, they immediately got back to me and we started walking down this road together.
And it was a two-year process of getting to know each other, started in 2020.
And in 2022, at the end of the year, I was at dinner with Dave and he was like, I think time that we like pull the trigger on this.” And I was like, yes, Dave, that is a great idea. And so, you know, the rest is history. And I, you know, obviously in that two-year period, there was a lot of thought and prayer and, you know, because I resigned from our business and, you know, Sam has since replaced me and hired other folks and that’s going really great. And I didn’t know how I would feel about that, but it’s been great. So this is just another chapter in life.
Okay. That sounds like the longest job interview ever. It is the longest job interview. Two years?

[40:37] Yes. Two years. Two years. I was trying to put myself in your shoes as I was thinking of how you became a personality, because that is not a normal job, right?
No. So I was trying to think, what’s the training like? Do you do run-throughs?
Does Dr. John Deloney call in and ask you random questions? How do you prepare for that first show?
Oh, well, let’s be clear. The interview process is truly just getting to know you. It’s not tests.

[41:06] It’s not, can you do this? Can you, like, don’t get me wrong.
Part of the process, we do an event here every year. It’s called the Ramsey Influencer Event and different influencers online, they come, they’re invited to this event.
And during that time, you know, the company can kind of watch them and see how they interact with people, see how they speak on stage, see how they, So it is a time of evaluation for sure, but you don’t live and die by that necessarily.
So I was at the influencer event and I did give a talk and the talk went over well.
And I mean, that plays somewhat into it. I mean, you have to be able to do public speaking and that sort of thing.
But the two years really was just, are you crazy?
Because we want to make sure you’re not crazy. We want to make sure if you go on the radio, you’re not going to turn into somebody crazy and start talking like a weirdo.
You know what I mean? So there’s a big, right? You know, cause when you do, you go on stage and you have to represent the brand and you have to represent the ideals here.
And so you can’t rush that. You have to make sure that people really get it.
They’re truly on a mission. They truly believe in this. It’s a crusade, all of that.
And then once you get the job, then it’s like, hey, let’s talk to you about, you know, how to go on live TV.
And let’s talk to you about how to, you know, go on the radio.
That’s so brief. That whole thing is like, it’s fast. It’s like, you better come in here and just know what you’re doing. Yes, all that stuff is like four to six weeks.

[42:34] Okay, final question then here. So has people tried to push your buttons yet?
So on live TV, on live radio, social media comments, are they nitpicking about, I don’t know, what you’re wearing or whatever?
Are people constantly trying to push your buttons in this role, Jade?
They can try, but, like, they can try, but, but, like, I’ll quote Prince, since he’s on my T-shirt, the person who tries to play me plays themselves.
So when folks come on and they’re like, oh, that girl, I don’t like her hair, or I don’t like, like, they think that they’re gonna get in my head, I don’t care. Like, to me, if trolls are on the internet, they are sad people.
And if they have time to go in the comments and say something ugly about, they didn’t like the way you responded, or they think your answer’s wrong, or they don’t like your nail polish, or they don’t like, I don’t know, your glasses, or whatever.
That’s just one of those things that I’m like, oh, I feel bad for you.
It does not get under my skin at all.
I think that just comes with, I mean, it comes with it. I’m sure you guys, you, I’m sure you experience it.
You make a post and somebody doesn’t like the way you said something.
You know what your intent was. You know what your heart was behind it.
And so you just, like Jay-Z said, you got to like get that dirt off your shoulders and just roll on with it, you know?

[43:53] Jade, I love that. I love your confidence. I love that.
Well, listeners, for more information about Jade, you can go to the website jadewarshaw.com or her social media pages.
On Instagram, it’s at jadewarshaw and on Facebook, it’s at jadewarshaw personality and we’ll put links in our show notes so you can click on that and go right to those pages.
Well, Jade, you are fantastic. Oh my gosh. Dr. John said it. Yes. Dr. John. We talked to him a couple of weeks ago and he’s like, listen, y’all need to talk to Jade Warshaw. I’ve already told my wife. She’s probably going to be my boss in about five years. So just like you need to talk to her. And he was correct. You did not disappoint. You guys exceeded our expectations. I loved you guys’ energy. I feed off of that so So thank you. Thank you.
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