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Welcome to Career Convos with Nikki, where I share my experiences as both a leader and an employee in corporate America. In these episodes, I cover everything from finding a job and landing that promotion to managing employees and navigating the unwritten rules as a black woman and disruptive millennial in the workplace. I also answer career questions from my audience, offering advice and insights to help you find professional clarity and pursue your career goals with confidence. I'll talk about accounting a lot as that's my area of expertise but this career advice you can apply regardless of what field you work in. You're in charge, and you deserve it!
I tell you one thing I learned over this whole process. These last 4 and a half, 5 months of buying a new home, a new construction home at that, is the importance of experiencing discomfort. And as much as we don't like to be in uncomfortable situations, Those situations are essential to our growth. And as much as we don't like being there, as much as we don't like how it feels, there is so much to be learned, to be gained, to explore, to develop during this uncomfortable phase that you're in because you're on a journey to get somewhere greater. And I would not know how resilient I really am had it not been for the uncomfortable situations that I have placed myself in.
Nikki Winston, CPA:Some were voluntary, and a lot of them were involuntary. Let's just be clear. From a work perspective, if I feel like I'm ready to take my career to the next level, I'm ready to try something new, learn something different, take on a big role, that is me voluntarily welcoming discomfort. If it's a situation where you're buying a house and you are still waiting for a clear to close 24 hours before you are supposed to close because balls were dropped and things that should have been said were not said. Or if they were said, they weren't said in a way that would make sense.
Nikki Winston, CPA:So that's a whole another story for a whole another day. But discomfort is like a very ripe learning ground and you're gonna take some l's, and they're not gonna feel good at all. But there is something to be learned. Once you get past the not feeling good about losing, there is something so valuable to be learned from losing. Because if you are passionate enough about what you're going after, you're gonna look at that that l and say, what do I need to do next time?
Nikki Winston, CPA:So that I take this loss, this gut wrenching loss, whatever it might be, and I can turn it into a win next time. A lot of times, we find ourselves going in circles and feeling like we're not progressing because we're sticking in the same place. I remember early in my career, there were there were a lot of talks about the glass ceilings, but then there was also talks about the sticky floor. And the way I look at that is the glass ceiling is something that is involuntary or something that is outside of your control. But the sticky floor often feels like it's self inflicted, and we've put ourselves in a position literally and we are so afraid of that next step that we are scared to move our feet from where we're standing.
Nikki Winston, CPA:And in order for you to get to the next level, you're gonna have to you're gonna have to get the knees up to your chest. So not everybody is ready for that. A lot of people want it, A lot of people wish for it. A lot of people hope for it, but they don't want it bad enough to work for it. And that is a huge distinguishing factor in how you live your life, in how you interact and engage with other people, in the quality of the relationships that you build.
Nikki Winston, CPA:And really it it drives a lot of what you do on a daily basis. Because here's the thing, specific to buying my home, building my home and buying my home. Before I even found this lot that I wanted to build my house on, I found it out of frustration because I wanted to stay in a specific area. I wanted to be in the specific space. And so I limited my search to that area.
Nikki Winston, CPA:And even when I was like, I don't like none of these houses. They alright, but they not to a point where they enticed me enough to make an offer. So then I was still in this same area, and I started going back to the same houses trying to make it fit. Or trying to be okay with things that I really didn't like because I just, I was ready to go. So that's that.
Nikki Winston, CPA:And because divine timing is everything, the moment, the one visit that I made outside of the area that I wanted to stay in was when I found my house. It was the very first time I said, you know what? I'm getting frustrated. I'm not seeing what I like in the area I wanna be in, and I'm not willing to come down on my standards and what I want and what I deserve just to stay in this space. So let me open myself up to more opportunities and see what else is out here.
Nikki Winston, CPA:And the first day that we went house hunting, we might have looked at we rode by 1 house that we couldn't get in because our agent wasn't with us at the time, but we was like, we'll circle back to that one, but let's go look at this other one and or at least look at the model and see the lot in the backyard and how it sits and where the sun faces and all of that. We walked through the house. It was framed up. It wasn't nothing but a frame. So it was hard to visualize where the rooms were and what was what, but we've gone through enough new construction houses.
Nikki Winston, CPA:We had our first home built from the ground, and we've walked through a lot of homes over the years just as we would think about what we desire our next house to look like. So we could say, okay. Here's this. This is where the a bathroom is gonna be, and this is the fireplace and this is the pantry. So we were able to vaguely visualize what the house would look like.
Nikki Winston, CPA:And there was something about standing in the frame of that home that felt right. And we made the offer on the house standing in the house in those frames. We didn't know what the house was gonna look like, And because of supply chain issues, a lot of the materials were already ordered, so we had to be okay with the the color floors, the type of cabinets, the carpet, all of that. We had to be okay with what they preselected. Another angle of the discomfort is you're not going to always have control of everything.
Nikki Winston, CPA:And even when you don't have control, you gotta be okay with it. And it was smooth. It was a smooth process, and the thing with new construction is you gotta wait. There's milestones. Certain things happen at certain times.
Nikki Winston, CPA:So if you go buy a a pre existing home, you make an offer, you go through diligence or whatever, and you can close within 15, 20 days within within a month. With new construction, you don't need a closing date until the house is a certain percentage completed. So usually the milestone is once the countertops are in, we'll give a closing date. But the other half of that statement is once the countertops are in, we'll give a closing date as long as the gas line is also installed. Otherwise, we're gonna have to wait until the gas company comes out and runs the line.
Nikki Winston, CPA:We don't know how long that's gonna be. We know that they're backed up and all we know is that y'all are on the list, So you have to deal with the uncertainty. The uncertainty of the status of your new home even as you are closing up shop and packing up and throwing things away in the existing home. You have to make sure everybody's on the same page, that there's no last minute hiccups that's going to create any delays or any issues. And it's a lot.
Nikki Winston, CPA:It's a lot. But when I think about the fact that the day when I finally got my closing date, it was a bittersweet moment because I don't get to pick my closing date. It's whatever the however far along my house is. Once we get to that certain percentage, then we can say, this is when we're gonna close. So I didn't have any control over the date.
Nikki Winston, CPA:And out of the 365 days on the calendar, the date that was chosen was the anniversary of my brother's transition. So that's further like this was the right move. This is the right house. This was the right, this is the right decision. And, again, for the most part, it's been smooth.
Nikki Winston, CPA:There have been. I I would be sitting up here lying if I said it wasn't. There have been some utterly frustrating moments as we got closer to the end of things. It got utterly frustrating for a moment, but I had to remind myself that this is a temporary circumstance first. I also had to remind myself is that despite what is happening for me, to me, and around me, I have control of how I respond and how I react and how I move going forward.
Nikki Winston, CPA:And that this is what's destined to happen. This is the this is the van time and inaction. So let me not get angry, upset, frustrated because things are happening. Because little things are happening right now, and when I got my keys, it was worth every bit of nervousness, anxiety, frustration, anger, defeat. Like, there were so many emotions that I felt, but I had to remind myself this is a temporary circumstance.
Nikki Winston, CPA:I had to remind myself of what is waiting for me once I get through this discomfort, this uncomfortable stage. It's short lived. Yes. It's uncomfortable as fuck, but there is something greater on the other side of this discomfort that I am experiencing right now. So if you are feeling doubtful, anxious, nervous, afraid, scared to jump off the porch.
Nikki Winston, CPA:I am here to tell you it is so worth the leap. The discomfort that you will experience is going to be a temporary circumstance. I say temporary. I don't say it's gonna be a day or 2 weeks or 3 months or a year. It could be 2 years.
Nikki Winston, CPA:It can be 3 years. But it's important that you receive that discomfort and stew in what you're going through so that if you happen to find yourself in a situation like this again, you know how to navigate. And because you've been through it before, now you can navigate a little quicker, a little swifter, you got a little more swag as you duck and dodge the obstacles that come your way. And it's less stressful on you. It's less nervousness.
Nikki Winston, CPA:It's less of an emotional roller coaster for you because you know what to expect. But you also know the beauty, the greatness, the prize that awaits you on the other side of that discomfort. So you either gonna worry and stress about the discomfort becoming a reality and that's why you haven't jumped off the porch because you know what awaits you. But the bigger thing to keep in mind is the prize that you're working toward, that you're running toward. So think about that.
Nikki Winston, CPA:When you don't know if you should post your content, you don't know who's gonna like it. When you don't know if you're smart enough. If you don't feel like a subject matter expert because people in your industry look and sound smarter than you. Because you don't have confidence that you can sell your expertise and sell your services and promote your brand to where people will want to invest with you and partner with you. Because you don't know if you're ready for the promotion even though you're doing all the work.
Nikki Winston, CPA:You don't know if you're ready for the stress of buying a house. What if something goes wrong? What if they tell you your credit's not high enough? What if you don't have enough down payment? What if this, what if that, what if that?
Nikki Winston, CPA:It was exhausting just to say that. So imagine the level of exhaustion of feeling that every day and having those thoughts run through your mind every day. When you can take that energy and divert it to prepare preparing yourself for the discomfort that's gonna come along. And who's to say, maybe everybody's experience is different. Maybe there's something that you think is so insurmountable and such of a challenge that you're not even willing to try it.
Nikki Winston, CPA:But then you try it and it's like, it was it was it was uncomfortable at times, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. And sometimes we get we get those sticky feet on those sticky floors because we in our own head. And even when I had the couple I was a major hairball. Even when I had the couple of hiccups that I had, and I had to pick up the phone and call some folks, The people who I trust, the people who I can be vulnerable with, the people who I know genuinely want to see me win, who have supported me from day 1, those people. Before we got off the phone and at some point during our conversations, they all reminded me, you got this.
Nikki Winston, CPA:You good. And they they ran down my list of my list of accolades. And it was like, yeah. Why am I stressing? And I say that because it takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a village to reach your goals too.
Nikki Winston, CPA:And sometimes, you need to pick up that phone and you need to talk to people who will remind you of how great you are. Who will remind you of your dopeness, who will talk you down and help alleviate some of that anxiousness, some of that fear that you may be experiencing. So that's it. It was an experience. It was life happening.
Nikki Winston, CPA:It was some discomfort that I experienced and there were times of course just zoom down the street there were times I can't wait till my office is fully finished. But there were times see, that just made me forget what I was about to say. But I'm a wrap up because that literally just made me draw a blank, and I had something good to say and I don't remember. But listen to this. Think about it.
Nikki Winston, CPA:Share it with somebody that you know who needs some encouragement, some motivation, some guidance, who needs just one little nudge for their greatness to explode. Thank you all for tuning in. I'm Nikki Winston, founder of the Winston CPA Group. This is a special financial literacy series of the Working Mamas Podcast. We're talking about money.
Nikki Winston, CPA:We're talking about living paycheck to paycheck and how to stop doing that. We're talking about how to raise your credit score, credit card misconceptions, how to save money and still live your life, realistic budgeting. Everything that I know, things that I've gone through and learned from that have made me better financially, I want y'all to know that. A lot of times we don't explode in our greatness because we don't know what we don't know. So this is my my contribution to helping you learn what you need to learn.
Nikki Winston, CPA:To know when it's time for you to step out of the what do I wanna call it? The basic banks and move up to getting a private banker, where you don't wait in the line to see a teller. The person you bank with is a contact who saved in your phone, who you can walk in the bank and walk in they office and sit down and have a conversation with them. All of that and then some. To learn more about the financial literacy education portal at winstoncpagroup.com, definitely share this episode with your friends, your family, your business besties, people you know who need a pick me up and who are stuck because they're afraid of the discomfort that they'll have to endure in order to get to their greatness.
Nikki Winston, CPA:I'm done. I got more toast to unpack. I'm loving the openness and the spaciousness and the emptiness in my house right now because I got rid of most of my furniture. This move was more than just a move. It was also a cleansing.
Nikki Winston, CPA:So I probably have 30% 30 to 40% of I would say 30. I probably have 30% of the stuff in this house that I had in my other house. And this house is twice the size of my last home, but I only have 30% of the things. I started cleansing. I started looking at things.
Nikki Winston, CPA:Have I used this? Am I gonna use it? Am I gonna wear this? Do I need it in my new space? Or is it just gonna be clutter and things?
Nikki Winston, CPA:So if anything fell into that clutter and things category, it was donated or it was thrown out. I didn't even wanna waste time trying to sell it and make money off of it, which I knew I could have because I got rid of some pretty good stuff, like Calphalon cookware, and I got rid of some pretty good stuff. But I know that my trash is somebody else's treasure, and I was like, I'm a just donate some of this stuff. Some of it I'm a throw out, and I'm a start fresh. So I'm loving this openness right now, but thank you for tuning in.
Nikki Winston, CPA:Thank you for rocking with me with this episode. Come back for more for money and credit and budgeting and all that good stuff. Y'all be good. We'll talk soon.