Amanda Taylor went from bouncing between jobs to building a career in real estate investing and wealth strategy. In this episode, we talk about the moment she realized her identity no longer fit the expectations around her, how curiosity led her into finance, and why she believes women investing differently can change the world.
Check Out These Highlights:
Amanda reflects on the pivotal moment when her husband told her their marriage couldn’t sustain her distraction, and how that conversation forced her to confront the gap between who she was becoming and who she was expected to be.
She explains how she accidentally fell into real estate investing, starting with a few hours of paperwork each week, and how curiosity turned that opportunity into her life’s work.
Amanda shares her perspective on women and money; from generational conditioning to the stigma of “not being good with finances”, and why she believes curiosity and authorship are more powerful than literacy alone.
We also talk about risk awareness, values‑based investing, and her conviction that when women control capital, they invest in communities, healthcare, and technologies that create lasting impact.
Her story is a reminder that you don’t need a finance degree or a trust fund to start building wealth; you need curiosity, confidence, and the willingness to take the next step.
About Amanda Taylor:
Amanda Taylor is a business and wealth strategist, entrepreneur, and host of the Expand Your Empire podcast. She helps women move from financial sidelines to financial authorship, building wealth strategies that align with their values and create lasting impact.
Connect with Amanda:
🌐 Website: www.expandyourempire.org
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-taylor-biz/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_amanda_taylor/
📑 Substack: https://genxhermoney.substack.com/
📋 Investing 101 Course: https://investing101.expandyourempire.org/investing-101
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Today's conversation is going to hit different depending on your relationship with money, and I mean that in the very best way. My guest today is Amanda Taylor, a business and wealth strategist, entrepreneur, and host of the Expand Your Empire podcast. In this episode, we talk about the Friday night her husband turned off the TV and told her something had to give, and how in that moment she realized who she was becoming through her work and who she was expected to be were no longer the same person. We also talk about how she stumbled into real estate investing by accident, and how that curiosity eventually turned into her life's work, helping women take ownership of their finances instead of just standing on the sidelines. This one's honest, a little emotional, and genuinely useful no matter where you're starting from. Are you ready to get into it? Let's go
Toby Myles: Hey, Amanda. Welcome to the podcast.
Amanda Taylor: Thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be here.
Toby Myles: I'm excited to have this conversation. Um, I usually share how we know each other because it can be, uh, something like we've been friends for a bazillion years, or it can be... Very often it's that somebody that I know or have had as a guest on my podcast introduces me to someone else, which I just absolutely love.
It was... It's one of those unexpected things about this podcast, is that I have gotten to meet so many amazing women, and amazing women know other amazing women- Yep ... which to me is just such a joy and feels like such a gift. So we were introduced, um, by Debra Newton. She was a guest- Yep ... on the podcast. I don't remember who introduced me to Debra.
It doesn't even matter. But here we are- Yeah ... and I know this is gonna be, um, a great conversation. So I would love for you to take me back to a point in time, or maybe it's like, um, a time in your life that you feel really, like, put you on the path that you're on right now.
Amanda Taylor: Yeah, I, if you could pick one, oh my gosh.
There were so many things that led up to this one, but I think the most pivotal thing I remember is I had been married for 21 years at this point. I had accidentally fallen into real estate investing as a semi part-time, not even a real thing, that turned into, like, this major passion that I loved. And I'm sitting on the couch with my husband on a Friday evening.
He's finished work for the week. I'm, we're watching TV, and I'm not even on my phone or anything, but I am thinking and distracted. And he turns off the television and r- you know, he's like, "A marriage cannot sustain this. You're too busy paying attention to this thing you're doing, this thing you're doing."
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm. "
Amanda Taylor: And you're not here. You're not here with me, with us." And there's a lot that went into that conversation, a lot that went into that happening, but it was one of those things where as a, as a woman, and I had had a quote unquote job forever, I was like, "This is the first time I've found something that I'm extremely passionate about," and there's someone telling me that that's taking away from them or their version of what we are supposed to be doing.
And it was the first time I felt this, like, I'm not supposed to be here. Mm. And it's, you know, like I said, there's way more that goes into that- Mm-hmm ... whole story and how it started, but having that realization that the person I want to be and the person someone else expects me to be are two very different things.
Toby Myles: Yes. Oh my gosh, yes. I have so many things I could say about that. So what... So without giving me all the things that led up to that moment, like, what were you doing prior to investing in real estate that maybe- Yeah ... wasn't lighting you up?
Amanda Taylor: Oh my gosh. I tell people that after I graduated college, I changed jobs like people changed underwear.
Like, I did not have a vision for myself. When I was in high school, my goal in life was to be a Broadway star. I was gonna go be on Broadway. And my parents, God bless them, were like, "Over our dead body are you gonna go to school for theater. And you'll just end up being a teacher," which no offense to teachers.
Yeah. I was married to a teacher for 22 years. It, it just, they were like, "No, that's not what you're gonna do." They had a standard. So I went to school, and I then was like, "I'll be a psychology major. I'm gonna be Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs." I'm gonna catch serial killers. Mm-hmm. This is it. And then I found out you have to have a PhD to practice psychology, and I was like, "I don't wanna be in school that long."
Well, fuck. So I got a marketing degree. And I, I did what I did and I got out and I was like, "Well, I have this job, I have this job. I bounce from this job to this job. This was open, I got laid off, I moved over here, I did this." And I never felt called to anything. I never felt- Yeah ... this in anything. I got a paycheck and I went home.
And sometimes that's amazing. Now-
Toby Myles: Yes ...
Amanda Taylor: now that I own my own businesses, I was like, "Man, why did I not like that?" Um. But I ended up in dental practice management for almost 20 years, and that was one that it was like, all right, this is a job. I did some personal training on the side. I did little things here and there, but I'm like, "This is a job.
I'm good at it. Just keep this going." And I had moved states, it was for my ex-husband's job, and I found a dentist that was only semi-re- he was semi-retired, so he was only practicing three days a week. And this lady I met just randomly comes up to me and she's like, "You seem organized. My husband and his friend just started this house-flipping business.
They need somebody maybe five hours a week to do paperwork. Are you interested?" And I was like I, I, I don't know anything about it, but I've watched HDTV. Like-
Toby Myles: Yeah ...
Amanda Taylor: why not? Let's- Right ... let's try this out. And it was an immediate, um, all the gears came on, and everything started to click. And I s- was amazed by this industry.
Not real estate and I go and I use a realtor and I buy a house, but actually- Mm-hmm ... as investment, as capital strategy, as all of these things. And I, my mind was blown. And to the point that, like, this is really cool. I wanna learn more about this, and I see my place in it. And that was a kind of the rest is history moment.
It went from five hours a week to, you know, working full time for those guys, and then starting my own company. So.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm. And what fascinates me, and this is not... I think this happens often, is that it would not be... It probably was not every- anything you could've predicted, right? But you had, you were faced with an opportunity, and for whatever reason you said, "Yeah, sure.
I'll give it a try." And I feel like so many of us just te- just follow those breadcrumbs or just take the- Yeah ... that next right step. And so at that time, do you remember, like was it just extra money? Was it extra time? Like, do you remember thinking like, what you were thinking at that time where you were just like, "Yeah, I'll do it."
Amanda Taylor: I wish I could go back and say that like part of me knew-
Toby Myles: Yeah. ...
Amanda Taylor: that this was my destiny. But it was literally like, "Oh, um, sure. I'll do that for this amount of money."
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: It, it was another paycheck, another stream of income, whatever you wanna look at it. It, it didn't have that like finally this is my thing.
Toby Myles: Right.
Amanda Taylor: I just did it because I knew, yeah, I'm organized. I know nothing about this industry at all, but I can figure it out. Mm-hmm. And that has been kind of a recurring theme when you talk about following breadcrumbs, is like say yes and figure it out.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: Most of the time that leads to some pretty cool stuff.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah. A- and, but and also it can be um, scary, right? Uh-
Amanda Taylor: Oh, yeah ...
Toby Myles: if, if it is your only source of income, which I wouldn't-
Amanda Taylor: 100% ...
Toby Myles: necessarily, um, recommend. But, um, you talk about just, like, s- staying curious, and you don't have to necessarily know the whole, how the whole thing is gonna unfold, but, like, that curiosity piece about, "Ooh, I wonder," like, "What if?"
Amanda Taylor: Yeah.
Toby Myles: It, it can lead to some amazing things.
Amanda Taylor: Yeah. Curiosity is one of my, you know, favorite traits, and just wondering, I would like to know more about this thing. Mm-hmm. I see... Instead of, and you know, it's the Walt Whitman quote via Ted Lasso of, "Be curious, not judgmental." Mm-hmm. And I think when we see something, our immediate reaction is, "No, I can't do this because X, Y, Z," you know, all the, all the reasons.
That's so easy to see.
Toby Myles: Sure.
Amanda Taylor: But to do the, "Oh, but maybe, what could, how could, let me see," is not our initial reaction to something usually. But if we can kind of train our brain to see possibility instead of, you know, all the obstacles.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: Believe me, I'm really good at seeing all the obstacles. Still do that really well.
Um, but to get curious about something, and just the, the initial point of real estate and getting into that is one thing, but learning about the financing piece of that and-
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm ...
Amanda Taylor: the creative piece of that, of buying and using other people's money and debt and capital stack and all that stuff, that started something completely different for me that may or may not have anything to do with real estate.
It opened up a whole new world, and this is coming from somebody who dropped her finance class in college 'cause I didn't get it. I didn't- Mm-hmm ... I thought it was too complicated. I didn't want anything to do with it. Even, you know, having a financial advisor while I was married, my husband's like, "Do you wanna sit in on our, you know, yearly meeting?"
I was like, "Uh, no, you handle it. I don't know anything about that stuff."
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: And you fast-forward to now, and I'm like- It's my greatest passion.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: It came from curiosity.
Toby Myles: Yeah. So I don't wanna paint a picture that most women don't care about finances, but I will say that a lot of women, and maybe of a certain generation, are like, like you were.
Like, uh, that's... I don't need to worry about that. My husband can worry about that. That's man's work or whatever. And so I'm curious about your mindset around that, how you transitioned, what it was like transitioning in- into the work, and how you find the, the women that you work with. You know, is that, is that a common thing that you find?
Amanda Taylor: Yeah. Anecdotally, um, and probably follow the data, yes. And you say a certain generation. It's Gen- I'm Gen X. I'm very proud to be Gen X. We had the best music and the best movies. But we, we carry a lot of that older generation, you know, just the systemic conditioning of like, "Oh, this is just the way it is.
This is- Mm-hmm ... gender roles and all the things. Mm-hmm. And, um, we didn't question much of it.
Toby Myles: Right.
Amanda Taylor: And I, you know, I could go in depth on this in a long time, but even the word patriarchy, I'd never heard it before the 2015, 2016 election period. Sure. I was like, "I don't even know what this word is." Right. I grew up in Texas, like-
Toby Myles: Yeah
Amanda Taylor: this . And once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it, so I started to see all these little things that kind of led up to this. And you talk about women and money. I read an article today that will describe it. A blister is something that hurts. It really bothers you. It, like, festers. A callus is something that's just there, and you've learned to live with it and work around it.
Mm. And I think we're callused-
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm ...
Amanda Taylor: on a lot of things, especially the idea that women aren't good with money.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: And we've been tau- taught that our whole life. Like, you- Sure ... count your pennies. You clip your coupons.
Toby Myles: Yep.
Amanda Taylor: Don't buy the shoes. Don't spend- Yep ... too much on coffee. Like, that is your role.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: He's gonna go over here and do the things that matter.
Toby Myles: Yep.
Amanda Taylor: And it gets just absorbed in us. And I will go speak at conferences or I'll meet somebody, I'll tell them what I do and what I stand for, and they will viscerally, like, back away from me. Like, "Oh, don't talk about money. I'm so bad with money."
Mm-hmm. And I'm just like, "No, you're not. You just haven't gotten curious about it yet." Yeah. And that was the thing that, that got me. I became curious about something, and when I started learning about it, I saw so much opportunity being missed, not just by myself, but women across the globe. Mm-hmm. And it is becoming more...
You know, people are getting louder about it. I'm running my mouth about it. There's lots of things happening in the world and good women doing great things, and we've still got a long way to go. Yeah. And there's plenty of people I talk to on a daily basis that are like, "That's... I, I don't know anything about that."
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: But maybe we could.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: Yeah. It's proven that we do it better. Um, and I don't say this anti-man at all. My greatest-
Toby Myles: Sure ...
Amanda Taylor: mentors, my greatest mentors were male, and I work- I have a lot of male partners. It is, you know, you see less than 2% of global venture capital going to female-owned businesses. Well, I was like, "Oh, I could be really mad at the patriarchy and go, you know, down with men," but why aren't women investing in women?
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: Why aren't women putting capital towards medical technologies and things that are improving communities and all this stuff? Because nobody told us we could.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: And now that there are so many of us out there, you know, preaching this message, more people are starting to pay attention, but they still don't know where to start.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: And I think that's kind of what I'm trying to get out into the world is you don't have to be a trust fund baby. You don't have to have a finance degree. You don't have to be a crypto bro. This stuff is accessible-
Toby Myles: Yeah ...
Amanda Taylor: to everyone.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: We've just been made to feel like it's not.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah. And I think that it goes, like you said, it's, it's very deeply ingrained in certain generations.
I'm at the end of the baby boomers and- Yeah ... you know, my dad handled the money. My mom had her part-time job, and that was her fun money or money for, you know, us kids to buy school lunches or, or whatever, but he was in charge of the real money to the point where we were not even really encouraged as kids to ask questions about money.
But we knew that it, it didn't, you know, grow on trees, so to speak. We knew there was, like, family constraints, right? We'd buy store brand foods and drinks and, you know, you can't always get, like, the name brand sneakers or jeans or whatever, right? And so which is all well and good. I mean, my dad, you know, we had a family of six.
He had to- Yeah ... he had to be frugal, but there was not that it just was not an open conversation around money. And- It is ...
Amanda Taylor: uh,
Toby Myles: yeah.
Amanda Taylor: Yeah. You're talking about deep conditioning on every level.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: Every level. There's the familial level of what are the things that you heard and were told or not told. What are, you know, religion and culture and society and the bigger picture.
It just keeps going, and it goes deeper and deeper and deeper.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: Um, and our generation, I'm, I'm the end of Gen X, um, so it's... We still had the Depression era grandparents, right?
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: And that was a whole, like, do not risk anything and be safe and all the... It's all a bunch of stories- And those things are true, and, you know- Yeah
let's, let's take the but out of the conversation. Those things were true for them, and we have different opportunities now, and we have dif- access to more things now, and, and, and how do we change that narrative internally so that we can then turn it externally and actually start using it?
Toby Myles: Yeah. Right.
Yeah. Exactly. So, so then I'm curious, h- how do you s- how do you get someone to start? Like, if you have someone that comes to you in this, you know, frame of mind that we just talked about, m- but they, they want more, they know there's more, they know there are opportunities, like w- how do you work with them?
What are the first steps?
Amanda Taylor: Mm-hmm. Yeah, luckily, um, the people that come to me already have that spark. Like, "Something's not right. I need to be doing something." So depending on whatever stage they come from, it's like, "What do you have right now, regardless of how much or where it is? Where do you want to be?"
And then how do we build the road to get there to fill in the gaps? Mm-hmm. Is this a gigantic gap that's kind of unreasonable? Um, that all depends on how- Yeah ... risky you're willing to be-
Toby Myles: Right ...
Amanda Taylor: to, to close it. Mm-hmm. So it is, it's what do you have right now? Mm-hmm. I don't care what it is, we just need to identify it because you can't read the label from inside the jar.
Toby Myles: Right.
Amanda Taylor: You can think, oh, you know, here's my 401or my IRA, here's my bank account, my savings account, and a couple of CDs. I can look at that and say, "Wait, but what about this? What about this? Do you own this kind of real estate? Do you have this kind of leverage? You could take all of this and transfer it over to here without paying extra taxes, and you could then put it over here.
That's gonna get you a greater return." And I don't wanna get all, you know, technical on terms and stuff, but you don't know what you don't know.
Toby Myles: Sure.
Amanda Taylor: And so if I can look at something from my lens, and you're looking at it from your lens, how do we take something and create an opportunity?
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: And so that's what it is, and I work with a lot of entrepreneurs and female business owners, men and women actually, and the ultimate goal is always, yeah, we want your business to make more money, but why?
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: What is that doing for you personally as the business owner? What is your personal wealth strategy? How is your net worth affected? How is your legacy being set up? Mm-hmm. Is it just about running this business day to day and, you know, scrambling to get from month to month to month, or are we building something that's actually funding the future version of you and your family?
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah. So one of the things, um, that you sa- you have said is that, um, one of your core beliefs is that when women control capital, the world changes, and I want to dig into that a little bit more because just that, that idea, I mean, I have a hunch on what I think it could mean, but I, I... You're the expert.
I wanna hear it from your perspective. What, what does that mean to you?
Amanda Taylor: Yeah, that's what I was talking about earlier, and let's use, um, Melinda Gates, for example, since this is a recent story. Um, oh, yesterday I read that raising money for women was one-- Olivia Rodrigo had done something and raised 10 million.
Melinda Gates came back in and gave, doubled it, went to 20 million. Mm-hmm. And I saw something last week about a medical technology where women can do at home, um, like vaginal exams for cancer screenings and things with a tool- Mm-hmm ... that Melinda Gates had funded. Mm-hmm. Okay? These are, and I'm just using her as an example 'cause she's at the top of my head.
Sure. Um, and she has a lot of money. Let's not forget that. But what I'm saying is women invest differently. If you go look at what they're investing in, these are values-based investments.
Toby Myles: Okay.
Amanda Taylor: And that is the turn that's coming, is values-based investing. I talk to women all the time who maybe do have a mutual fund or something, and they're like, "But I don't wanna be investing in companies that fund XYZ," or whatever your core value is.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: Are you using your dollars to promote that? And you can. And I think, again, we've been told, "No, these are your choices. You, you put it in your 401, or you do what your financial advisor tells you to do with this mutual fund." Right. And those are your two options. Right. And that's not true.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: Um, so I just think women invest, like I said, in communities.
If you had an opportunity to invest in real estate that housed, uh, victims of domestic violence, that's an entire niche of real estate for these houses or multi-family properties that are serving people in distressed situations to help them get back on their feet. I think that's an amazing thing. Mm-hmm.
It's income and impact. You can still make money and do good. Yeah. And then the more money you make, the more opportunity you have to do good, and it is just this cyclical system that women are collaborators most of the time. We are c- ... natural collaborators- Mm-hmm ... rather than competitors. Mm-hmm. So if we can see something and pool even resources together to start funding things that are important and that serve other people, I, I just think having that center changes the way we use our money.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah. That's so interesting because, you know, if we, if we kind of go back to the conversation of, you know, a previous generation of women would still have wanted to do good in their communities- Yeah ... and help others. But without that piece of it, like, "Ooh, I can also make money off of this, too," right?
And, and better my situation or better the situation for my, my family. So- Yeah ... i- in the amount of time that you've been in this, um, business, this industry, have you seen a shift in that thinking, like, among your clients? Or is it s- more slow-moving?
Amanda Taylor: It's pretty slow.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: I'm not gonna lie, because we have been so conditioned, and I think the, the banner flying has been financial literacy, financial literacy, financial literacy.
Which is fine. Mm-hmm. But I wanna take it a step further into financial authorship.
Toby Myles: Mm.
Amanda Taylor: Just because I understand something doesn't mean I'm actually out there doing it and making decisions based on that. And so I did it in one of my own podcast episodes, like, you can budget and do all this stuff, and maybe you come up with an extra $500 a month that y- You now have.
Mm-hmm. That's great, but what is that supposed to do? Right. And you have a choice in that. So it's this authorship of what am I building, and what am I funding, or what am I investing in that's going to create a return for me and my family, and, you know, hopefully do something great in the world.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah.
I could be wrong, but I suspect that not just women, but, you know, young people, women, men, some too, probably think, "Oh my gosh, but I need so much money to be able to do anything," right? And I, I know that's not true, but is that something common that you come across? Oh, yeah.
Amanda Taylor: That's probably the number one thing.
People are, "Well, I don't have any money."
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: A, okay, let's look at that. Again, let's start with where you are. Let's see where money's coming in and going out, just like I would do with a P&L in a business. Mm-hmm. You've got one for your life. And then, I mean, you can literally start investing with your spare change.
There are apps that do that. Like-
Toby Myles: Yeah ...
Amanda Taylor: you can start moving money, just whatever's left over goes into this investment account. And, you know, people... Oh, the other one is it's too late. Mm. Like, I'm, I'm 48, and so people I talk to, it's like, "Oh, I should have started this in my 30s." I'm like, yeah, you'd have more, but-
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Right ...
Amanda Taylor: the best, you know, the whole, the proverb, you know, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time- Right ... is now.
Toby Myles: To... Yeah. Yep.
Amanda Taylor: That's it. And so no, you don't need a lot of money, and that's the power of compound interest. Um, if you, you know, wanna watch a simple video on if you save a penny every day for, you know.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: It explodes. You get to this point of exponential asymmetrical return, and that's why Albert Einstein said it was the eighth wonder of the world. It's... And so few people understand it and know how to harness it. Mm-hmm. Because it's boring. It's not sexy.
Toby Myles: Right. It's
Amanda Taylor: not like, "I invested, you know, $100 in this stock and it went up.
You know, now I have a million dollars." Yeah. Not everything's a unicorn. And it is sometimes slow and steady wins the race.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: And I think a lot of people are thinking they gotta find the next big thing. Sure. "Oh, I wish I had bought Apple stock in," you know.
Toby Myles: Right. Who doesn't?
Amanda Taylor: Who doesn't? So it's, it's all relative, and understanding how money works is...
And you don't, like, again, it doesn't have to be this huge, like- Nobody needs to know everything. You need to know enough. You need to have the confidence to evaluate risk. Sure. That's what
Toby Myles: it
Amanda Taylor: is.
Toby Myles: Sure. Well, I'm glad that you brought up risk because, I mean, that's, that is a thing too, right? Like, for anybody, what's your level of risk that you're willing to take on, and where are you in life, and should, like, the worst possible thing happen, you know, are you, like, closer to needing that money, or are you further away, where you can recoup that money?
Um, i- is, like, how much of that plays into the conversations? 'Cause it's not, it's not your job to convince somebody to take on more risk than they're comfortable with.
Amanda Taylor: No, and I... You know, a thing I use with women a lot is we're not risk averse, we're risk aware. So I think everybody assumes, like, "Well, I don't want any risk."
No, I'm just aware of what the consequences will be, because as women, we tend to think further ahead.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: And see ripple effects of certain decisions differently. Um, and that's just the way our brain is wired. Again, I'm not saying anything different. I think intuition is a, an investment strategy, and that's- Yeah
something women have stronger intuition. But it, I think there's a floor you have to set for yourself, and you have to know what that is. And if you're not even to your floor yet, like the baseline amount that you have to have to survive for X number of months, whatever that is.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: If you're not even there yet, no, we're not gonna go put everything you have into some account that could lose money.
Right. Everything can lose money. Right. If somebody tells you there's no risk, they're lying.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: But understanding what your capacity is, both energetically, 'cause that's a thing you have to assess. Even if you did lose it, and you could survive, would you emotionally be capable of riding that wave?
That's- Yeah ... a whole other thing. And can you pay your mortgage?
Toby Myles: Sure.
Amanda Taylor: Those are things... I'm never gonna tell somebody, "You know what? You need a big win, so let's take it all and- Right ... put it over. Put it on black."
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: I don't wanna look at it as gambling. I wanna look at it as strategic allocation of capital that creates returns, whether it be cash flow, an appreciation, or an equity.
Like, there's multiple different ways to do that. And you talk about, you know, they call it in the finance world sequence of returns risk.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: Once I get to, like, 55 or 60, I gotta pay more attention- Right ... to what's happening. Because if I go take it out at a dip, if, let's say I'm talking about money in the market- I'm screwed, for lack of a better term, for a very long time, and I don't have enough time to make that up.
Toby Myles: Exactly.
Amanda Taylor: So it's, it's all... You know, everybody hates math. Nobody wants to do math. Right. There is math involved, and there's probability involved, and there's things involved that can help you make a more confident decision. Is it a guaranteed decision? No.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: But you can be a lot more confident.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah.
I find that, um, I have gotten really good at just- Not looking at things too closely sometimes. I mean, sometimes it's really a nice surprise to open up, you know, uh, uh, my money's with Schwab. Yeah. Um, I'm not plugging Schwab, but that's where it is. Yeah. And sometimes it's a lot of fun to open it up and see a lot of green, and other times it's like, ugh.
Like I had to go in there just to find one thing, and I really didn't want to look, but I saw it anyway, and now I'm like, you know, in a bad mood. There
Amanda Taylor: we go. There you go. There's the emotional capacity- Yeah ... for investing, and I've got an entire course on investing. And I have an entire module on your internal coordinates, your emotional capacity.
Is this going to cause you pain even if- Yeah ... there's no immediate... Like, the, and it- Yeah ... it just is what it is, and to prepare yourself for that mentally and emotionally. Um, 'cause I mean, I do the same thing. I have accounts that I'm like, "Oh, it's down," you know? Yeah. I'm at an age where I'm like, "Okay, I can ride this wave," but not everybody is.
Mm-hmm. So it just depends on where you are. And when you get there, you change your strategy a little bit. It's all about kind of moving the pieces around. It's like Tetris. Yeah,
Toby Myles: yeah.
Amanda Taylor: Like how do we do this for this stage? How do we move this over here for this stage? I don't want to pay too much taxes.
Mm-hmm. I need to have enough money to pay my medical bills when I get to, you know, 80 and healthcare costs- Yeah ... have gone through. And there's so much that goes into it that that's what gets people afraid of having the conversation.
Toby Myles: Right. '
Amanda Taylor: Cause it seems so daunting.
Toby Myles: Sure.
Amanda Taylor: But my mission on this planet is to translate these overly complicated terms and, you know, kind of fundamentals, and make them palatable, make them easy to understand, and just walk somebody through it.
Like I'm not a financial advisor. I'm, I'm looking at the entire picture, not just what I'm licensed to sell you.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: And I think that's what makes me a great advocate for these women, because I am agnostic to what you invest in. I don't care. Yeah, yeah. I just want you doing it, and doing it safely, obviously.
Toby Myles: Sure. Yeah, yeah. Well, so since you mentioned it, let's talk about your course and- Yeah ... and what it is, who it's for. Um, because I think that this is such a good conversation, and I, you know, I for one need somebody. Like I need an Amanda in my life to help me- Everybody does ... uh, unlearn, you know, things from my childhood, how I was raised.
So talk about the course, um- Yeah ... and who it is for.
Amanda Taylor: Yeah, absolutely. And let, uh, to go into that I think is key, 'cause you're gonna find somebody who's out there helping you with your money story. They're all over Instagram. Yep. Helping you receive more, manifest more.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: Cool. And then you're gonna have people who teach you fundamentals of investing and/or business or whatever, the actual tactical strategies.
Toby Myles: Right.
Amanda Taylor: I wanted to bring them both together- Okay ... because if you're just doing the internal work and you're meditating, waiting for millions of dollars to fall in your lap, what if your business sucks? What if you don't know how to s- Like, what if you don't understand? And then on the other side, if you're just doing all of the work and everything depends on your effort, you're going to burn out and you're gonna lose yourself in the process.
Mm-hmm. So how do we create both? Um, so my Investing 101 course, it came about just to teach women investing. Like, period. Like, I'll just... I'll say this in a nicer way, and people will get it. Mm-hmm. And then when I realized the aversion that women had to it and the deep, deep stories that we held and shame and everything around it, I'm like, "Oh, this has to be all of it together."
So it, it really is kind of breaking down, um, you know, concepts that seem complicated that I try to explain in a very normal, everyday kind of way so you can learn about different pieces of things and- Mm-hmm ... say, "Oh, that sounds interesting. I'll go dig further into that." Um, but it also builds out, like, where are we coming from?
Why do we think this way? What have we heard? I've got an entire journal I've built out on, you know, digging through those stories about, what did my dad say about money? What was the thing that came up all the time about money? 'Cause you don't realize how much it's affecting your decisions every day-
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm
Amanda Taylor: until you go back and really analyze it.
Toby Myles: Sure.
Amanda Taylor: So it's both. It is. Yeah. It's like, do you wanna learn about real estate? Do you wanna learn about private equity? Do you know what the difference between a stock and a bond is? Like, that stuff's in there, but it's all wrapped in a way that makes me feel supported and confident and gives me the identity of an investor.
Toby Myles: Sure. Yeah. Oh, that's so good. And I think, like, full circle moment, right, it goes back to that whole curiosity thing that we were- Yeah ... talking about i- in the beginning of our conversation, because, yeah, most people that take your course are not going to, um, build a business like you have. I mean, maybe somebody will.
I'm not saying that, right? But- There is something about kind of filling in those knowledge gaps that then fuels us to want to know more. Like now we have a baseline understanding, so it's not everything totally confusing, and now we can kind of build on that, right? But you gotta start, like, somewhere.
Amanda Taylor: Yeah, and everything we've done ever in your life has been a result of trying it before you knew how to do it.
Toby Myles: Right.
Amanda Taylor: And so the whole confidence thing, you know, confidence doesn't come from learning everything. It comes from actually doing the thing and learning as you go.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: And when it comes to money, though, people are like, "Well, I can't just do that out of...
You know, what if I lose?" So yes, there is a baseline understanding that needs to be there, and that's enough to motivate you to get to the next step. If it's not- Sure ... the market, great. There's a blue ocean of alternative investments that you can get in and keep liquidity and do all these things. Like, you just have to find out what kinda lights that little spark in you, and then go figure it out.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: Say yes and figure it out.
Toby Myles: Say yes and figure it out. Yeah, absolutely. I love that you talked about the course and how it kind of brings together multiple pieces, right? It's not just the factual information, but it deals with the emotional piece of it, too. And I mean, yeah, I, I think, like, a lot of people are ma- you know, trying the manifesting route, which- I, I mean, I don't know.
I'm not, like, trying to knock anything, but a million dollars has not landed in my lap yet, so
Amanda Taylor: Not from doing nothing.
Toby Myles: I don't think it's a good strategy.
Amanda Taylor: And that's not what manifesting is. Let me be-
Toby Myles: Right ...
Amanda Taylor: let me be very clear. I am, um, a proponent of, you know, metaphysics and manifesting and mindset and all of those- Mm-hmm
things. Do I believe that they have to be aligned in order for you to ex- have the greatest experience in what you're doing? Yes. Yes.
Toby Myles: Yep.
Amanda Taylor: I'm, I'm, I'm knocking it a little bit because I do think it has been over-simplified-
Toby Myles: Yeah ...
Amanda Taylor: in a lot of areas. So I, I... But I, again, that's why I say they both have to work together.
Toby Myles: Sure. Yeah. I think, I'm trying to remember who I heard talk about the idea of, uh, the opportunities that are there for you to take advantage of or experience. They're, they're already there, but it's like, like, you know, back in the day when people would listen to a radio. I know people don't listen to radios anymore.
But I'm hoping people will get this. You know, you had to tune into a certain station before it got clear. If you were off either way, there's all this static, right? And you can't, it's... You, you can't tolerate it. It's annoying, right? But this idea of things being in alignment is very much like you have finally, you tuned into that station.
That was there for you all along, but you have to tune into that station. Exactly.
Amanda Taylor: Yeah. Yeah. That's, uh, Abraham-Hicks, I have heard say that a lot. You can't hear what's on 101 FM if you're on 98.6.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: It just doesn't work. And I do. I believe in frequency. I believe in all of these things and being energetically receptive to certain things.
But it is- It's proximity. Like, you're raising yourself into a certain place where you are in proximity to opportunities that you wouldn't have recognized before.
Toby Myles: Yeah. You
Amanda Taylor: understand the language differently than you did before, so when somebody says something that you normally would have brushed past, you're like, "Tell me more about that."
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Taylor: Because your brain is identifying opportunity.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: And that wasn't there before because you just weren't exposed to it.
Toby Myles: Exactly. It's like that, uh... I was just talking about this the other day. My sister was telling me about a recipe that she made with, and I don't know if this is how you pronounce it, but, uh, she called it Kewpie mayonnaise.
Kewpie mayonnaise. It's K-E-W-P-I-E, and evidently it's made with, like, um, egg yolks, not, like, the whole egg, and it, you know, has this really good flavor and whatever. She mentioned it. I had never heard it before. And then the very next day I heard someone else talk about it, right? And it's one of those things where it's like I have never heard this in my life, and now two days in a row I've heard it.
And so I think that there is that part of our brain that, that, you know, it's something new, oh, but now the next time I hear it it's something familiar.
Amanda Taylor: Yeah. It's that reticular activating system, I think. You know, not to get all neurosciency on you. Thank
Toby Myles: you. You have all the right words for it. I'm
Amanda Taylor: just like- I'm not a neuroscientist, but I-
but I play one on TV. Um, no. But I've studied it, and it is. It's the... And forget the algorithm kind of screws with that a little bit. If I talk about- Sure ... a new skillet, I'm getting ads for skillets. Right. But there's a difference between the algorithm listening to you and you just being in conversation and noticing.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: That's, and that, yes, is the reticular activating system, and it's like if you start looking at Mazdas, I don't know. Mm-hmm. You're gonna see a Mazda everywhere.
Toby Myles: Exactly.
Amanda Taylor: The thing. So it's all real.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: It's all true. All of the things that you think are a little hokey or woo-woo, and I have to deal with that a lot in my generation 'cause that just wasn't a thing that we talked about.
Now it's kind of everywhere, and so we're- Mm-hmm ... but then you see the science of it. Like, that's an actual thing. So that's what- Yeah ... I'm saying with you have to align all the pieces. Yeah. And that's what makes us, you know, more open to everything.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Oh, my gosh. This is such a good conversation.
I needed this, and I know for sure that my audience will definitely find things in this episode that are helpful to them. So this is the part in the show where I say what... If you could give one piece of advice to the women who are listening, the men too, I'm not trying to exclude the men. Okay. But, uh, specifically the women, around, um, just getting started, just taking a little bit of control over their finances, what would you say?
Amanda Taylor: Yeah, so many things. Be part of the conversation, um, is one. And I'll use this example. Me, when I was like, "I don't want anything to do with that. You make all the decisions." And then I had a friend in her 30s, early 30s, three children, husband worked. She stayed at home with the kids. He went in for a routine surgery, and he died on the table.
Toby Myles: Wow.
Amanda Taylor: She didn't know that they didn't have life insurance Be part of the conversation. Don't assume. Your partner can be the most astute financial mind on the planet, but you deserve to know what's happening with your money, your future, your children's future, just to be aware.
Toby Myles: Yeah. And
Amanda Taylor: don't assume that you're not smart enough to understand.
Just be curious and be part of the conversation. You don't have to make the decisions, you just need to be aware.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: I think that's- That's
Toby Myles: step one. Okay, step one. Step one. Now, but if somebody is, um... Let's say you, somebody comes or someone's listening, they are debt-free for the most part, um, or pay off credit cards every month- Mm-hmm
and they do have some extra money- Right ... that they don't just want to drop in a savings account. Aside from taking your course-
Amanda Taylor: Yeah. Number one ...
Toby Myles: um, what's, what would be, like, one or two things you would suggest that they do?
Amanda Taylor: Yeah. Start, start reading, start listening, start learning, because like I said, there's a blue ocean of things that you could do with that money, and it's not up to me or anybody else to tell you what the greatest, you know, thing on the planet is.
Because you could be invest- you could buy whiskey barrels. They were one of the hottest commodities on the... Like, these used whiskey barrels were, like, making huge returns. Mm-hmm. And again, real estate or, you know, watches or arts or precious metals and, again, you don't know what you don't know, so get curious.
I don't know how many more ways to say it.
Toby Myles: Sure.
Amanda Taylor: If you start aligning your conversations or what you're listening to, what you're putting in, you're gonna start see things on the outside.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: There's a ton of great podcasts, great feeds, great ways to learn about stuff, great Substacks. If you just ask somebody, you know, rhetorically, like, "If I had an extra $10,000, what should I do with it?"
You're gonna get 100 different answers.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Amanda Taylor: So it's really about what do you value and what do you wanna learn more about, and-
Toby Myles: Yeah ...
Amanda Taylor: try.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah. Love that. Okay. So I would love for you to share where people can find you, follow you. You also have a podcast. Um, tell us all the places we can connect with you and continue to learn from you.
Amanda Taylor: Yeah. Um, Expand Your Empire is the podcast. The website is expandyourempire.org. That has all of the courses, all of the materials. It has the link to the podcast. It's got everything on there. Um, you can find me on Instagram at The Amanda Taylor. I post a lot of educational content, uh, on there as well. I'm always on LinkedIn working with other business owners.
So um, if, if it's there, I'm there, except TikTok. I don't, I don't do TikTok.
Toby Myles: Okay. All the places. Thank you so much. This has been so, so good. Uh, I'm so appreciative of your time and so thankful that you said yes. Um, and I know that, um, this is gonna be a very popular episode, and we might need to do a part two.
Amanda Taylor: I, I hope this is the origin story for a lot of people to hear this and say- Yes ... "I'm gonna, I'm gonna try something different with my money." I love it.
Toby Myles: Yes. Yes. I love that too. Thank you so much, Amanda.
Amanda Taylor: Thank you.