Are you an ardent watcher of Oprah and her cadre of experts such as Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, Suze Orman and Jean Chatzky? Or is television the last place you would turn to advice? Along with many of my friends, you might not even own a TV, let alone trust it for advice.
I have gone through life-coaching training and the advice from life-coaching experts is NOT to give "advice" in the classical sense. Instead you should steer people in the direction of resources and finding and trusting their own inner wisdom that holds the personal solutions they need. So when I watch "in your face" advice TV that comes so boldly out of Dr. Phil when giving relationship financial advice, or Suze's mouth during her fiscal fitness sessions, my body instinctively cringes. Yet, it is exactly this type of personalities that thrive in TV ratings. Why?
When I was recruited to go to London to host a TV pilot called Live Your Life at Half the Price potentially for BBC, I jumped at the chance. After 10 days of filming, I had a new perspective of TV production "British Style" (think British Tabloids). They didn't really want my personality as is, they wanted me to channel the same type of energy that Suze Orman has and call the subjects naughty (with their money) and they need to get their act together, or else! They wanted a sassy American to come in and shape up their citizens spending and debt habits.
Later on in my career, I was called in to shoot a TV pilot for CNBC for your average investor called Main Street Money. I had a blast with my co-host Mr. Money: aka Mark Rothstein, however, CNBC also wanted me to be someone I really wasn't, with over-the-top Mad Money Jim Kramer-esq antics. I did the best I could making comments and asking pressing money questions to guests such as Mint Founder Aaron Patzer (who I initially thought was a handsome soap opera star on the set to film his next All My Children episode - how funny he was my guest and probably thought I was Mad Money's daughter with my crazy hosting approach.)
In both cases, these shows taught me an important lesson, which was to honor who I really am. If "in-your-face" advice and commentary that appeals to the least common denominator is not my style, then I shouldn't do it. We women need to honor and follow our true calling in life, which will lead us on the shorter path to success. So as an alternative, I created a TV network called Thrive Media and steered clear of "their" way. My way landed me a nice big fat paycheck in the bank. After I sold Thrive Media to Viacom, Disney launched a similar network (Live Well ) and now Oprah is about to launch her network OWN, which I am eager to tune in.
You might be wondering if I get my own advice from TV. I would say no, though I do glean a lot of valuable information from TV, especially Oprah. I file and store it away in my brain and circle back to tune into my own inner wisdom channel for personalized solutions only it can provide.
So if TV isn't your thing, keep in mind Ms.Money has nearly a thousand terrific articles on personal finance education at MsMoney.com.
I hope you click on over.
Tiffany
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