10 Questions with Face and Fitness

Today is the 37th edition of our periodic guest post series called 10 Questions. We have a list of 17 questions we pose to fellow financial bloggers, and they are free to pick and choose 10 or answer all of them. Let us know if you would like to be featured in a future edition of 10 Questions.

This week’s 10 questions are answered by Kennedi Rose from Face and Fitness. She writes about creating beauty inside and out, and believes beauty comes from confidence. Her mantra is “Beauty shouldn’t break the bank.” Without further ado, here is Kennedi Rose.

Tell me about your blog and why it’s great.
Face & Fitness (www.faceandfitness.com) is a budget-friendly beauty and health blog designed for women.  It is meant to inspire and to empower women to be the very best version of themselves that they can be.  What society believes to be ‘true beauty’ these days is usually a combination of photoshopping, caked on makeup, and/or meticulously maintained bodies; this blog aims at dispelling some common beauty myths and to make women feel more body-positive, regardless of their outer appearance.  After all, true beauty comes from within!

Tell me how you’re going to change the world with your blog (dream big or don’t dream at all!).
Well, it’s really my hope that women of all ages will read it and realize that we are in this together.  We don’t have to conform to society’s perceptions of beauty.  My dream is that by spreading this message of self-love, girls will no longer grow up with body image issues.  It’s not fun to go through, yet it is so pervasive that the majority of women have struggled with it – myself included.  Not feeling like you’re pretty/skinny/stylish enough is so destructive and I don’t want our (ie the world’s) future daughters feeling like they are not “enough.”

What goals do you have for your blog, short and long term?
Right now my goals are to just grow the following and reach as many women as I can.  I want to get the word out.  So I’ve taken to social media pretty heavily, and also working with other bloggers who have similar or overlapping messages.

If blogging isn’t your full time gig, what is?
I work in real estate sales.  The blog business is just a side gig for me, as another passive income stream.  I’m also very involved in my local tech/start-up scene as I have a degree in Innovation Management and find those projects exciting.  However, being a woman in business is tough and I often get overlooked – which is also why this blog is sort of a creative outlet for me.

When you are 90 and look back on your life, what do you hope you have accomplished?
Honestly, I will be most proud of the relationships I’ve built.  I already am, but they’re a continual work in progress, as many things in life.  I help my friends not for the glory (I hate being in the spotlight) but out of a genuine desire to just do good.  I hope by that point I will be far richer than my wildest dreams and able to give that money away to people who need it the most.  And not just money, but everything else I also have to give… love, time, knowledge 🙂

What is the best money management or investment tool you have come across?
I’m actually going against the grain a bit here, but I don’t use any fancy money or management tools.  Just a plain ol’ Excel spreadsheet.  I’ve tried the sites out there but as a perfectionist, I found that none of them really fit my needs.  So I have a budget and investment tracker that I update every few days and it works out great for me.

How do you handle people with different views on money, ie spendy people?
Even though it’s super tempting to face punch people (anyone on the MMM forums will get this reference) for their incredibly spendypants ways, I try to not be too overbearing with my views and instead, lead by example.  Lead a horse to water, can’t make him drink type deal.  Instead I position myself as an ally, someone they can go to if they are curious about how to better manage their money (and some have!), but I don’t force my views on them… as that wouldn’t be pleasant for either parties.

Did your parents teach you about money as a kid? How so?
Definitely by example – we lived very frugally.  I was raised by a single mom who put both me and my brother through private school, so there wasn’t a whole lot of wiggle room (and in her mind education was essential).  I think the biggest lesson I got was when my mom bought me a pony when I was 10 years old. From that day on, I was out at the barn mucking stalls, scrubbing water buckets, feeding horses, bringing them to/from the pasture, cleaning tack, etc.  Only after that was done did I get ride time.  By working off the cost of boarding my horse, I learned that you must work for the things you want in life.  I loved every minute of it though, so it didn’t even feel like work 🙂

What is the best thing you’ve read lately.
‘The Sell‘ by Fredrik Eklund.  He is the tall, baby blue-eyed Swedish real estate broker on the TV show ‘Million Dollar Listing New York.’  Even though the book is written by a real estate agent, it is a must-read for anyone out there.  It reads like a modern day version of Carnegie’s ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People.’  He talks about building your brand (you!), being a genuine person, and how to work at max efficiency and achieve greater success than you’d ever imagined.  I make it a habit to re-read it periodically.  I would highly encourage anyone to read it.  I really enjoy his warm, witty writing style – it feels as if you’re having a relaxed conversation with Fredrik over a cup of coffee, rather than reading words from a page.  Really cannot recommend it enough.

What do you do for exercise?
I go for a run at the lake about 3-5x a week, depending on my schedule.  It’s a 3-mile loop, and the lake is so beautiful.  The trail is paved but surrounded by tall pines, and it’s hilly enough that it actually is a pretty extreme leg/thigh workout.  There’s something so calming about water that sets my soul at ease.

Super thanks to Tiffany for answering our questions this week. Keep up with her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Read more from her at www.faceandfitness.com.