Rachel: We are so excited to get into our topic today, but we do have a little bit of housekeeping to get out of the way first.
Cheyenne: Our show is made possible, in part, by our patrons on Patreon. For as little as $3 a month, you can get episode shout-out access to topic polls and be able to listen to hilarious outtakes.
Rachel: We'd also like to invite you to follow us on social media. You can follow us on Facebook at What the Finance, Twitter at finance_what, and on Instagram at what_the_finance. We would also be delighted if you emailed us at what_the_finance@protonmail.com
Cheyenne: Alright, so this is fun for everyone else who's not recording right now which is everybody except Rachel and I....
Rachel: Laughter. . .
Cheyenne: We are recording at a different time than we usually do, which I feel like it's very fitting for the kickoff of season two of What the Finance. Typically, we record, as you've probably heard at this point, Tuesday nights. Usually around 8:00 or 8:30 and we're very tired by then. And it's hilarious and this time, scheduling just happened to be that we started at noon on a Sunday.
Rachel: Huh
Cheyenne: And for those of you who are very concerned, which is probably no one, we started recording this at the end of July. So, we are not missing any Vikings football right now.
Rachel: Hahahaha. Speaking for myself, I was missing it anyway, I'm no Vikings fan.
Cheyenne: That is very.
Rachel: If you want to leave the show for that, well then don't let the door hit you on the way out, ‘cause I’m not changing that stance.
Cheyenne: We understand, yes. And also, you know feel free to fight us on that one. That's a debate I think that we would be happy to have. Not very often on here that we're like yes please criticize us but that one. I think we can have some fun banter with.
Rachel: I think we could, for real.
Cheyenne: I will say I'm not like a I'm not a hardcore Vikings or football fan and, and honestly for anybody that knows me, or has known me for the last tenish years you know that I spent a decent chunk of those not watching any football because I do not particularly love the NFL and how they how do I say this how they don't value women.
Rachel: Yeah, I think that's probably the best way to put it.
Cheyenne: That's really the only way now.
Rachel: I will say, I grew up watching the San Francisco Forty-Niners for two reasons. First, Utah doesn't have a professional football team, like an NFL team. But also, at that time, Steve Young was the quarterback for the Forty-Niners, and my dad went to college with him. And so, it was just kind of this super cool personal connection. But once he retired, we stopped watching football. And then I became an adult and realized that they really don't take a lot of serious issues that I take seriously. . . They don't hold those issues in equal weight, and that's a problem for me.
Cheyenne: I would agree.
Rachel: We mentioned a few times that this episode is the first one of season two. So if you missed us in August, let us know. But we really wanted to spend some time with this episode, talking about what we're hoping to do with season two, but also take this opportunity to solicit some feedback from our wonderful listeners, as to what it is that you would like to hear in this season.
Cheyenne: Yeah. So, we, you know, we really loved season one. Obviously, that's why we did it for almost a year. And looking back, we're almost exactly a year away at this point from when we first started recording the first episodes of what the finance. I was looking at our Trello board which I'm a little surprised we've never mentioned as a tool that we use, actually. I know that we're to not give a lot of name recognition to things, but Trello is not one that I would have any issue with. So that's kind of interesting that we've never mentioned it before.
Rachel: Right.
Cheyenne: I was, I was looking back at our board and realize that it was around this time last year in the midst of a pandemic that you drove up and we recorded the first episode in my living room.
Rachel: What a year.
Cheyenne: Yeah, I know. in that time so much has happened. We've learned a ton. But something that's always been a little bit funny to me in this space, I guess, is we about, about a third of the way through. We ended up switching roles. We started off with me doing the editing, and you handling the social media and I quickly realized that I hate editing that it is basically a level of purgatory for me. But you learn that you love it.
Rachel: Right.
Cheyenne: And that you're good at it, and that it's funny to me because it always struck me as something that I would enjoy and would be like fascinated with and I guess I enjoyed learning how to do it but I definitely do not enjoy doing it.
Rachel: well and I think for like that nugget of it I think has surprised me. Also, but now the more that I've thought about it. . . And I do also have my internet shingle out as an audio editor so if you would like to hire me, let me know. And as I've been going out there and looking for clients is I realized that this is maybe something I'd like to do, maybe full time-ish is that it's a storytelling piece that like really appeals to me right like I want to help people, including us get their story out clearly right without all the filler words, which we have a ton of, and weird tangents. So, the more I think about it, the more I realized that it makes a ton of sense. This was, you know like, I've always been very interested in storytelling. So that's been interesting for me just to like have that realization that this is a good way to do that.
Cheyenne: Yeah.
Rachel: ‘cause I would have thought about it is purely a technical piece previously.
Cheyenne: Yeah, obviously. Yeah, and I think that I would have as well which is also probably why I assumed that I would enjoy it more than I did because I do enjoy those technical pieces and it's not right, don't enjoy the storytelling piece of it. It's just that. . . This is no secret anybody that knows me. I really struggle with holding attention on things sometimes. it's both a blessing and a curse.
Rachel: I hear that.
Cheyenne: So, listening to the same episode, no joke probably upwards of 40 or 50 times while you're going through was a huge struggle for me. And I have nothing but respect for the people who it to enjoy it and can do it well because I'm not one of them. I think something else that we learned through Season One was. . . And I would not change this piece. I'm going to I'm going to start with that. We were much less organized than we intend to be for season two. We, we had a lot of outside conversations, which I don't necessarily think will change, per se, but I think that will be a little bit more mindful of them because that is part of what we would consider to be our charm is that we're very conversational type podcast as opposed to talking at you. But. . .
Rachel: Yes, yes.
Cheyenne: But I also do think that there were some episodes that we did a lot of research into, but most of the episodes that we did in season one were topics that we knew well enough that we could just wing it and I think that getting into season two, we're starting to get a little bit more out of our comfort zone and that that sense. And so, we'll have to be more prepared, which I think will translate to smoother episodes for our listeners.
Rachel: Agreed. And I think another big takeaway for me even for those episodes where we do end up winging it because I also accept that we’ll still be doing that, on some level. Because life gets busy. And we both get tired making notes for me is an area for growth. Like, even if we're winging it. Like I personally should probably still do some more preparation to make sure that I'm hitting the things in the topics that I think are the most important.
Cheyenne: I would agree. And what's funny to me is that I started off doing that, and then kind of moved away from it and as I was reflecting on season one and preparing for this episode specifically. I realized I’d stopped doing that, ‘cause I used to have little pieces of paper everywhere that I had notes written on I have a notebook that I used, and I kind of moved away from that. And I, I'm not sure when or why, but it happened.
Rachel: Yeah, well I think for a while there, like I was writing outlines for our episodes. But then is we got as my family was preparing to move me, that was something that kind of just fell off the edge of my plate. And so, I think that creating those outlines will also be really helpful.
Cheyenne: Yeah.
Rachel: Yeah, it turns out that when you're making a podcast in your spare time sometimes things just fall of your plate because there are other things that are while you might not weigh them as more important, they take up more time.
Cheyenne: Yeah, I think that's actually a really good segue into a piece that I wanted to mention something that we said from the very beginning with this is that it needed to be fun, and in a sense, functional. For us, this continue to be a space that was guilt and stress-free, and this is, this is fun for us, and it has to stay that way. And because of that, that does mean that when our lives, get more chaotic which happens. This is the thing that falls off. And we recognize with the other one that that is how it has to be and that that's okay. I think that continuing that through season two, but also because we have learned so much being able to plan a little bit differently, I know for me, social media, that one is it's a struggle because I'm very busy and so when I am done with my work day. I don't want to sit at my computer anymore and plan out social media posts I want to go outside, or I want to go spend time with my puppy and my spouse, you know, and so like. . .
Rachel: Right.
Cheyenne: What's funny to me though is that I used to plan out I blocked out time to do those social media posts for a while on Sunday mornings, and it worked out really well.
Rachel: Isn't that funny though? Right like if you have something on your calendar, like, even if you have forgotten or right the morning is not going how you're expecting. If you get that notification on your phone. Somehow, at least for me right like having that that visual reminder if that makes it easier to say like to your spouse. Oh, hey I completely forgot but I'm going to be. . . Here's my phone, I'm going to be doing this thing for the next two hours, or whatever I think it makes it easier for me but I think it also makes it easier for my spouse, like, Oh yeah, I forgot I you know I also forgot you were going to do that thing, It's on the calendar.
Cheyenne: Yeah, I definitely agree, and I will say that one of the things that I think that we did really well throughout season one, and I think this is just something that we do in our relationships in general. We are very good with communicating with our spouses. And so, communicating the time commitments that this has taken has been really easy for them, because everything is always in our calendar and that's, that's not just for them that's for us as well so that we remember because you would be surprised how often we reschedule. I mean, most of the time we're recording at like eight o'clock on a Tuesday night, but we are also very flexible with each other schedules knowing that we're both elected officials and sometimes stuff gets scheduled for Tuesday night and we can't say oh, I'm sorry I can't, I can't sit on this committee because that interferes with the side projects that I do for fun, it doesn't, it cannot work that way.
Rachel: Right.
Cheyenne: So, having those things in our schedule and on our calendar, just really, really helps everybody plan.
Rachel: Right. So, one thing that I am really excited about for season two is you know of course like longtime listeners of the show will be aware that we made a switch from doing an episode weekly to an episode every other week. And that's something that will continue to do because like Cheyenne just said we're both busy people with community commitments and families and full-time jobs. But what we're hoping to also do is in the off week to do like a mini-episode that are going to be maybe a little bit more of like the random chit chat there us too. So one thing that we talked about. That will be an outtake if you want to subscribe to Patreon at $20 a month. In our last episode, um, was it Cheyenne, and my husband Nathan have both had jobs as assistant managers at movie rental stores. Right, and so it'll be kind of like those off week episodes are going to be kind of fun things like that like comparing experiences and things like that but. . . I don't know I think that's something that's going to be really fun. And I think it'll be fun for us and I think it's going to be fun for our listeners to.
Cheyenne: And I think also, it will give us a little bit more of that freedom to feel like we can talk about those little random tangents, that we know on, we try to both rein them in and also accept that that was part of our charm. In a weird balancing type of way and I think it worked, I do, but I also think that I also think that the new format will hopefully lend itself better because I don't think I don't think that we gave ourselves enough time to do some of those, those fun things like that conversation between Nathan and I, that's just that would have been an entire episode itself, which is great, but it would have been tied in in somehow to something else and that would have been I think less of a focus and so being able to spend time just focusing on the fun, And that will be super cool..
Rachel: Mhm, I agree. I agree.
Cheyenne: And also, everybody knows that Blockbusters better.
Rachel: Another thing I think that we are hoping to do in season two is to have more guests. So, if you know somebody who would be awesome on the show, or if you want to be on the show, we would love to have you.
Cheyenne: Absolutely, and honestly, as we've said before, there's pretty much not a topic that that doesn't relate to finances in some way, and you don't have to be an expert. Like, we are not experts, so you don't have to be like if you're just like, you know what, I'm one of your friends, and I just, I think it'd be fun to sit and talk with you too for a night. Let's do it will find a topic, we'll have some fun.
Rachel: Yeah!
Cheyenne: Share a giggle or two. And we'll figure it out because I do enjoy the episodes that we have guests, I almost enjoy those more, because . . .
Rachel: Right
Cheyenne: I think that as can happen sometimes when you surround yourself with people that believe much the same that you do you just create kind of an echo chamber, and I think that Rachel and I are an echo chamber, we don't really disagree on anything so it's just kind of. . . It's interesting to hear other perspectives.
Rachel: Yes, it is.
Cheyenne: Also if there's a guest that we've had that you really enjoyed and would like to hear more on or are a topic that we covered that you would like to hear us go more in-depth or recover, or anything, please reach out to us on those social medias or in person if you know us in person like we are not opposed to expanding on something or if we didn't get is in-depth as we could have, or if it was just a really fun topic and you want to hear us Do more, we’re totally down for that.
Rachel: Yes, we are. One other thing that we haven't really talked about on the show is the music that's on the show. And we're going to have some new music coming up for season two. And I didn't know perhaps this is nepotism at its best, but the person that does the music for our show is my brother, Caleb Kelson. And he does do commissions. So, if you like our music, and would like to get in touch with him about doing music for your own podcast or really anything else he's very talented composer. Hey, let us know. I kind of feel like this ride is coming to like a slow end here.
Cheyenne: Yeah, I hit all of my little points that I wrote down so I think, I think we've got it. Thank you for listening. We hope that you didn't miss us too much through August.
Rachel: Thank you for making it to the end of the episode, and the end of the season, with us.
Cheyenne: Mhm.
Rachel: And we’re really excited to have you along for the ride for Season Two.
Cheyenne: Yes! We are super excited.