Rigging The Game

Tony Banta is the co-founder of the Client Success System, along with his wife Suzanne, and the host of The Client Whisperer™ Show.

Although companies now have a dizzying array of tools and systems on hand to make day-to-day operations run smoothly, no amount of cutting-edge software can take the place of strong leadership and a desire to serve clients at the highest level.  Tony Banta is the co-founder of the Client Success System, along with his wife Suzanne, and the host of The Client Whisperer™ Show. The entire process is designed to provide business owners with not only the systems, but the behavioral shifts they need to optimize their clients' journeys and get them incredible results.  On this episode of the Rigging the Game podcast, Dan and Tony discuss the practice of recognizing the systems that govern everything in order to optimize for the best possible outcomes, taking a fluid, process-based approach to making changes within your business (or even your clients) as opposed to a binary approach, ensuring that the help you give your clients lasts in the long term, and why your systems will remain useless if you don't have a strong focus on value creation. Join in for a necessary reality check on what your clients actually need.  What You'll Learn  What the signs in a company's bathroom can tell you about the culture of the organization itself How to troubleshoot the standard process to fit the results to your client's needs (because we don't all fit perfectly into the average) Why treating your clients like the boss is a disservice to you and them, and the process Tony uses to prevent this issue entirely And much more! Favorite Quote “I quickly found that the best code, the best software solutions were powerless in the face of dysfunctional leadership and dysfunctional organizational structures. And as a systems engineer, that bothered me. So that spurred the next decade of my career of getting out from behind the computer to figure out what makes leaders and teams and organizations tick.” - Tony Banta Connect with Tony Banta:  The Client Whisperer™ Show How to get involved Visit Dan Nicholson's website - Nth Degree CPA's and the Rigging The Game to learn how he helps small business owners cultivate good accounting and tax practices to achieve their financial goals. To rig the game to win and to set the outcomes that you want in life and business. Enjoyed the Podcast? Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. We love to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

Mark Fujiwara was raised to run a business. From early childhood, he was witness to the inner workings of his family’s restaurant - and when that restaurant eventually shut down, Mark took what he had learned and applied it to his budding career as a stockbroker and his general love of numbers.

There are plenty of ways to approach serving your clients. For instance, lots of service providers out there will simply ask what it is that the person wants, take them at their word, and simply accomplish the task at hand. But the ones who stand out above the rest know that there are so many levels beneath that conversation to explore.  Mark Fujiwara was raised to run a business. From early childhood, he was witness to the inner workings of his family's restaurant - and when that restaurant eventually shut down, Mark took what he had learned and applied it to his budding career as a stockbroker and his general love of numbers. From there, he went on to found what he refers to as a “family office,” through which he provides the highest possible level of service to each and every client, going far deeper than simple accounting.  On this episode of the Rigging the Game podcast, Mark and Dan dig into the process of figuring out the “point” of what you're doing for your client and focusing in on the one or two things that matter most to them, the unconventional methods Mark has used to excel at a given task (even something as small as selling pork buns), and how to engineer your conversations with clients to get beyond “more money” and dive into the heart of what they really want for themselves. Tune in to take your client service to the next level, and the next. What You'll Learn  What gross food-eating contests have to teach us about the art of rigging the game How Mark assembled his team of professionals, from physicians to air travel experts, to better serve his people Why working remotely during COVID-19 actually lends us a huge advantage in one very important way And much more! Favorite Quote “It's not the technical strategies, all the sophisticated, complex solutions you can do for clients. What really matters is delivering what exactly the client wants. And in doing this process over and over again, I found that my real value is understanding who the people I'm dealing with, what they really want and need and just really dive in deep into all the insights of their goals and their needs, situation, concerns, anxieties, what they really want to accomplish.” - Mark Fujiwara Connect with Mark Fujiwara:  Markfujiwara.com How to get involved Visit Dan Nicholson's website - Nth Degree CPA's and the Rigging The Game to learn how he helps small business owners cultivate good accounting and tax practices to achieve their financial goals. To rig the game to win and to set the outcomes that you want in life and business. Enjoyed the Podcast? Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. We love to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

Originally an attorney, Chris found that his interests lay less in the law and more in the realms of building systems, sharing his wisdom with other law firm owners and creating high-quality content.

Sometimes, small actions lead to huge outcomes. Daily blog posts turn from a simple exercise in journaling to new parts of your business (or even a new business) you never planned on. In any case, finding what fulfills you is an excellent first step.  It goes without saying that most of the unconventional people in the world don't fit into any one mold, and Chris Small is no exception. Originally an attorney, Chris found that his interests lay less in the law and more in the realms of building systems, sharing his wisdom with other law firm owners and creating high-quality content. Currently, Chris owns a law firm alongside his consulting business, and a media agency, all of which tie together what fills Chris up and drives him forward.  This episode of the Rigging the Game podcast features Dan and Chris discussing how Chris landed where he is now by "scratching his own itch," how to decide what it is that you actually want, in business and in life, and resisting the "yo-yo" mentality in order to set up sustainable, fulfilling habits that take you where you want to go. Listen in to find your ideal and start pursuing it.  What You'll Learn  Why the common image of a business that goes from 0-100 very quickly is misleading How to start to navigate the pressures and comparisons of those around you to get to what makes you happy and fulfilled What philosophies Chris has in mind that make up his idea of a perfect day And much more! Favorite Quote “You have to take some action. If you want to see results in your life, you have to be willing to put some work in and find a way to enjoy the process. You have to find some way to be able to wake up every day and do the things that you need to do to get to where you want to go.” - Chris Small Connect with Chris Small:  Unconventionalattorney.com How to get involved Visit Dan Nicholson's website - Nth Degree CPA's and the Rigging The Game to learn how he helps small business owners cultivate good accounting and tax practices to achieve their financial goals. To rig the game to win and to set the outcomes that you want in life and business. Enjoyed the Podcast? Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. We love to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

Justin and Michelle DeMers met in college as fellow art students, and as they built their first photography business together, they came to realize that simple beauty isn’t enough to sustain actual meaning or satisfying success. There has to be more.

Have you ever taken time out to examine the factors that make up your idea of success? For many of us, those factors come from our upbringing, our peers, or others in our industry. So, in your case, who's at the wheel?  Justin and Michelle DeMers met in college as fellow art students, and as they built their first photography business together, they came to realize that simple beauty isn't enough to sustain actual meaning or satisfying success. There has to be more. The two of them combined their strengths - Justin's vision and Michelle's organizational mind - and created a life and a way forward filled with success and impact as they define it. On this episode of the Rigging the Game podcast, Dan sits down with Justin and Michelle to discuss the path they took into a world of independent creativity, how putting in the effort to connect deeply with clients changes the game, and structuring a business (and therefore a life) that helps you play your own game to the best of your ability. Listen in to embrace what makes your way the best way.  What You'll Learn  Why Michelle and Justin believe that beauty should be backed up by substance - and how it impacted their business in the early days How to gather social proof from clients without damaging the relationship by making it transactional Why seemingly risky choices may actually be a necessary, and safer than you think, part of your upward trajectory And much more! Favorite Quote “Take a pause and make sure that you're actually going in the direction that you want, not the direction that others may think is more attractive or impressive. And make sure you've got good support to help you make the change when change seems hard or when it's uncertain. But if you can see that where your path is taking you is not where you want to be, you need to make a change somehow.” - Justin and Michelle DeMers Connect with Justin and Michelle DeMers:  Social Proof Club How to get involved Visit Dan Nicholson's website - Nth Degree CPA's and the Rigging The Game to learn how he helps small business owners cultivate good accounting and tax practices to achieve their financial goals. To rig the game to win and to set the outcomes that you want in life and business. Enjoyed the Podcast? Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. We love to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

Dan talks through the nuances that make up financial readiness, recognizing group indexing vs. personal indexing, and how to put these concepts together for optimal decision-making.

Have you ever sought advice from someone you trust, only to walk away feeling like that advice just didn't fit? The secret to action steps that actually work for you is in knowing the difference between the factors in your life that you can change and which ones you simply have to withstand. On this episode of the Rigging the Game podcast, Dan talks through the nuances that make up financial readiness, recognizing group indexing vs. personal indexing, and how to put these concepts together for optimal decision-making. Listen in to stop feeling powerless.  What You'll Learn  How to tell the difference between rhythms you can't control and decisions you can What steps to take once you've isolated the data of your individual lifestyle How to stop trying to solve the unsolvable and make your decisions count And much more! Favorite Quote “Oftentimes folks haven't thought about the rhythm thing versus decisions and they're always trying to solve every problem. And we need to be able to separate out what's an actual problem versus something that's not.” - Dan Nicholson How to get involved Visit Dan Nicholson's website - Nth Degree CPA's and the Rigging The Game to learn how he helps small business owners cultivate good accounting and tax practices to achieve their financial goals. To rig the game to win and to set the outcomes that you want in life and business. Enjoyed the Podcast? Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. We love to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

Dan digs into Wealth Acceleration and lays out the exercise that will help you align your behavior with the tax code to your best advantage, as well as an example equation for turning a minimal investment into a massive amount of money.

Many of us dread tax season. But have you ever thought about ways you might shift to make the tax code work in your favor? Tax time gets a lot less frightening when you've got a plan to drive down your taxes and save for the future.  On this episode of the Rigging the Game podcast, Dan digs into Wealth Acceleration and lays out the exercise that will help you align your behavior with the tax code to your best advantage, as well as an example equation for turning a minimal investment into a massive amount of money.     What You'll Learn  Why the tax system - whether we like it or not - is intrinsically fair How different business entities get taxed (and how you can start to figure out where you want to be on the quadrant) How to choose what you accelerate with your money And much more! Favorite Quote “If your specific objective is to accelerate wealth, then you want to drive down your tax, take that extra money reinvested in things that are going to grow and accelerate.” - Dan Nicholson How to get involved Visit Dan Nicholson's website - Nth Degree CPA's and the Rigging The Game to learn how he helps small business owners cultivate good accounting and tax practices to achieve their financial goals. To rig the game to win and to set the outcomes that you want in life and business. Enjoyed the Podcast? Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. We love to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

Andrew S. Kaplan began his Shatter the Mold podcast with the idea of helping others transition out of group-think and towards expanded perspectives and individual thought.

Remember the last time you let an exciting idea fall by the wayside? Maybe it was too risky, too time-consuming, or you got discouraged at the thought of someone else having done it first. How do you tackle the mental blocks and execute your ideas effectively? Andrew S. Kaplan began his Shatter the Mold podcast with the idea of helping others transition out of group-think and towards expanded perspectives and individual thought. Ironically, the name itself is an escalation on “breaking the mold”, and it's exactly that intent that drives Andrew as he teaches his audience to forge a unique, well-informed path forward. On this episode of the Rigging the Game podcast, Andrew and Dan break down the ways that each piece of your life connects with the others – and how to recognize the framework, the future of current social media platforms as we progress and shift our focus, and the practice of harnessing the power of storytelling to access your audience on a biological level. Join the conversation to get the most from your ideas.  What You'll Learn  Why you should pursue different ideas boldly (and why being timid could cost you) How to establish your authority before you begin selling to an audience What you can do to fireproof your business structure against burnout and maintain balance And much more! Favorite Quote “I just want to give people a new way of looking at things so that they can make better decisions and wiser decisions that will help them. Everyone, their life, whether it's business, health, relationships, whatever that might be.” - Andrew S. Kaplan Connect with Andrew S. Kaplan:    Shatter the Mold podcast It Doesn't Matter What You're Selling   How to get involved Visit Dan Nicholson's website - Nth Degree CPA's and the Rigging The Game to learn how he helps small business owners cultivate good accounting and tax practices to achieve their financial goals. To rig the game to win and to set the outcomes that you want in life and business. Enjoyed the Podcast? Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. We love to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

Dan breaks down the difference between agreeing and aligning, tips for reaching a happy conclusion when communication has gone off the rails, and how alignment removes excuses and promotes progress.

Most of us have lived with a roommate or significant other with their own solidly-held ideas on how the dishwasher should be loaded, and we therefore know what it's like to butt heads on the issue. How does the issue get resolved if both sides aren't even using the same language? This episode of the Rigging the Game podcast breaks down the difference between agreeing and aligning, tips for reaching a happy conclusion when communication has gone off the rails, and how alignment removes excuses and promotes progress. Listen in for important insight from an unexpected place.   What You'll Learn  Why the word “agree” makes us hesitate How to tweak your communication strategy for maximum efficiency How confrontation happens in a room full of results-oriented people And much more! Favorite Quote “The word choice of ‘agree' tends to carry a lot of weight because you're in your head. Like if I have to agree, then that means that it's the way I would do it, and it's not the way I would do it.” - Dan Nicholson How to get involved Visit Dan Nicholson's website - Nth Degree CPA's and the Rigging The Game to learn how he helps small business owners cultivate good accounting and tax practices to achieve their financial goals. To rig the game to win and to set the outcomes that you want in life and business. Enjoyed the Podcast? Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. We love to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!eloped their own strategies to rig the game to win.

Alan Andersen specializes in leadership; through his work as the Managing Director of the Shandel Group, an executive leadership organization.

Autopilot is a big pitfall for business owners and anyone responsible for making decisions that affect themselves or others - which is most of us. We often don't take the time to figure out our own values, goals, desires and ways that we might reach them. That said, when we do shift into alignment with these parts of ourselves and move forward in our unique value, we win as only we can.  Alan Andersen specializes in leadership; through his work as the Managing Director of the Shandel Group, an executive leadership organization, Alan has fine-tuned the process through which he walks leaders, teams and audiences to help them emerge with a crystal-clear view of their game and how to play it with incredible success. On this episode of the Rigging the Game podcast, Dan and Alan lay out the four aspects of your life to examine in order to define and pursue your own definition of success, the questions to ask yourself that will help you collaborate with others who share your values, and the blueprint to help you determine your primary purpose (along with the reason why knowing that purpose will set you apart). This is an interview you can't afford not to hear. What You'll Learn  How to evaluate your business to lead well, add value to the market and confidently play the long game What Forrest Gump teaches us about when to optimize vs. maximize How to develop your collaborative intelligence (and why it's part of a healthy sense of self-preservation) And much more! Favorite Quote “Figure out your strengths, figure out your potential blind spots, figure out what your uncommon advantage is, figure out what the game looks like for you, so that when you do get punched in the face - and you will...you have a greater likelihood to stand and persist and be patient and move forward.” - Alan Andersen Connect with Alan Andersen:    The Shandel Group On LinkedIn   How to get involved Visit Dan Nicholson's website - Nth Degree CPA's and the Rigging The Game to learn how he helps small business owners cultivate good accounting and tax practices to achieve their financial goals. To rig the game to win and to set the outcomes that you want in life and business. Enjoyed the Podcast? Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. We love to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

Dan dives deeper into the concept of “playing your game”, explains how to discern your unique style of business using your favorite sport, and explores why we lose touch with that singular style as we grow up.

What do high school sports have to do with succeeding in business? Answer: more than you think. You can only play the game your way once you know what “your way” is, so how do you go about finding that out?  On this episode of the Rigging the Game podcast, Dan dives deeper into the concept of “playing your game”, explains how to discern your unique style of business using your favorite sport, and explores why we lose touch with that singular style as we grow up.   What You'll Learn  How your greatest strength can overbalance and become your greatest weakness What your memories can teach you about finding and operating in “your style” How we are conditioned to operate according to what we “should” do - and why that really doesn't matter And much more! Favorite Quote “What's the point of winning if you have to play someone else's style?” - Dan Nicholson How to get involved Visit Dan Nicholson's website - Nth Degree CPA's and the Rigging The Game to learn how he helps small business owners cultivate good accounting and tax practices to achieve their financial goals. To rig the game to win and to set the outcomes that you want in life and business. Enjoyed the Podcast? Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. We love to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

No one's story reads like yours. But business ownership and the world of entrepreneurs can make it feel necessary to tell a story that isn't yours, or to make yourself into someone you aren't. Suddenly, you're not making decisions that fit with you anymore. How do you get back on track and continue to succeed?  Zachary Babcock lasted exactly half a shift at his first job. Equipped with a naturally restless mind, he walked a winding path – including drug use, 5 years of prison time and a stint in life coaching – and ended up finding a way to make an impact on others like him through podcasting. Now, he runs the Underdog Empowerment podcast, which has drawn an avid listener base and reached the top 50 list on iTunes.  On this episode of the Rigging the Game podcast, Zach and Dan walk through the concept of “playing your own game”, the blueprint for (quickly) churning out unique, high-quality content, and how Zach turned the perceived “weaknesses” of his childhood into superpowers. Join the conversation to start focusing in on your own story.  What You'll Learn  How ignoring your intuition in favor of what you “should be doing” will compromise your success Why strategically being yourself is different than filtering your personality to be popular (and why one helps and the other hinders) Which metrics will get your podcast into the top 200 on iTunes And much more! Favorite Quote “No matter who you act like, there's always going to be a bunch of people who don't like you regardless. So, it's a lot easier being yourself.” - Zachary Babcock Connect with Zachary Babcock:    Underdog Empowerment   How to get involved Visit Dan Nicholson's website - Nth Degree CPA's and the Rigging The Game to learn how he helps small business owners cultivate good accounting and tax practices to achieve their financial goals. To rig the game to win and to set the outcomes that you want in life and business. Enjoyed the Podcast? Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. We love to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

Have you ever looked back at your bank statement and realized that you're still paying for the $20/month software subscription you don't use anymore and forgot about completely? Unfortunately, seemingly small amounts of waste like this can compound over time to make a larger impact – much like a couple of Oreos a day.  On this episode of the Rigging the Game podcast, Dan dives deeper into the 2-Oreo principle and discusses how to purposefully organize and optimize your time and energy, what it takes to correct the aftereffects of waste, and a few relevant examples that you might have experienced yourself.   What You'll Learn  How to shift the scope of your perspective with useful data Which aspects of your life might be hiding a few extra Oreos How to put this principle in action to cut down on wasted time and resources And much more! Favorite Quote “Let's be intentional about it, let's opt in to where we want to spend our money and spend our time…We can actually make a conscious choice to identify those Oreos.” - Dan Nicholson How to get involved Visit Dan Nicholson's website - Nth Degree CPA's and the Rigging The Game to learn how he helps small business owners cultivate good accounting and tax practices to achieve their financial goals. To rig the game to win and to set the outcomes that you want in life and business. Enjoyed the Podcast? Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. We love to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

What do a professional football player and a financial planner have in common? As it turns out, the answer is a strong sense of goal orientation, exceptional perseverance, and the ability to reverse-engineer the process of reaching the finish line.  Jedidiah Collins' eclectic story began with a record-breaking stint in college football at Washington State, followed by 8 years in the NFL, much of which was spent with the Saints. The wealth of knowledge and strategy he gained there unexpectedly carried over to a financial planning career with industry giant Brighton Jones. Ever evolving, Jedidiah got involved with speaking and went on to start the Rookie to Veteran podcast, where he dedicates himself to teaching others the ins and outs of financial fitness.   On this episode of the Rigging the Game podcast, Dan and Jedidiah share insights on topics ranging from the lessons we can take from Drew Brees' practice rituals, how journaling connects you to both your loved ones and yourself, and the critical importance of beginning with the end in mind. What You'll Learn  How incremental gains add up to a lofty goal Why following the process will bring the results to you What Oreos have to do with your spending habits And much more! Favorite Quote “I can steal inches daily. And that's how I'm truly going to add up and get to the ultimate objective, is by identifying, where are those marginal gains I can go and get?” - Jedidiah Collins Connect with Jedidiah Collins:    LinkedIn  Instagram  Rookie to Veteran Podcast   How to get involved Visit Dan Nicholson's website - Nth Degree CPA's and the Rigging The Game to learn how he helps small business owners cultivate good accounting and tax practices to achieve their financial goals. To rig the game to win and to set the outcomes that you want in life and business. Enjoyed the Podcast? Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. We love to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

How do you tackle a tough choice? Maybe you flip a coin or consult an expert - but if you're looking to make better choices that serve you down the road, it helps to have a solid framework in place.  On this episode of the Rigging the Game podcast, Dan discusses exactly what constitutes a preference-based decision and introduces the principles that help him make important choices - beginning with the concept of optimizing vs. maximizing. Listen in for the first part of a conversation that will change the way you choose. What You'll Learn  How our brains are hard-wired to make decisions based on instincts and conditioning What factors into a long-term decision-making approach versus one that lives in the short-term Why you make different choices than Amazon does And much more! Favorite Quote “Principles allow me to work through these preferences and navigate life with less anxiety because I'm not going back to this binary mindset of 0's and 1's and fact and fiction.” - Dan Nicholson How to get involved Visit Dan Nicholson's website - Nth Degree CPA's and the Rigging The Game to learn how he helps small business owners cultivate good accounting and tax practices to achieve their financial goals. To rig the game to win and to set the outcomes that you want in life and business. Enjoyed the Podcast? Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. We love to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

Where do we get our definition of success from, and how often do we challenge it? Growing and achieving within the walls you've been taught to surround yourself with is tempting – but what you find when you break through and begin to create as only you can will take you further than you ever imagined.  Randy Massengale is an educator and coach who devotes his days to helping entrepreneurs and business owners achieve with strategies, philosophies and habits that work for their unique blend of creativity and expertise. He has contributed his genius to giants like Intel and Microsoft, and remains a prolific reader with a love of self-educating. On this episode of the Rigging the Game podcast, Dan and Randy break down the reasons why mentorship is vital to your success, I-shaped people versus T-shaped people, and the art of staying in your lane. Listen in to start growing on your own terms.  What You'll Learn  Why formal education isn't completely useless How doing the research changes the game What to do about the energy-sucking people in your life And much more! Favorite Quote “I bring back the creativity as a coach, I'm trying to bring back the creativity and then have you do it within context. You may do it within the financial world. Someone else may do it within technology. Someone else may do it within fashion, but there's still this creativity that we want to bring to bear on it rather than we just reinforce rules all the time.” - Randy Massengale Connect with Randy Massengale:  SPU.edu - Bio of Randy Seattle University Linkedin How to get involved Visit Dan Nicholson's website - Nth Degree CPA's and the Rigging The Game to learn how he helps small business owners cultivate good accounting and tax practices to achieve their financial goals. To rig the game to win and to set the outcomes that you want in life and business. Enjoyed the Podcast? Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. We love to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

What labels did you grow up with? Were you the nerd, the artist, or the future Rhodes scholar – and when did you come to realize that you are much more?  Dan Nicholson had a stellar track record in finance. After hitting all the milestones in education and his career, and achieving at ever-higher levels, he began to see that the term “accountant” didn't begin to cover who he is. As a result, Dan set about developing the principles to help other entrepreneurial oddballs recognize their style and use it to their advantage. On the first episode of the Rigging the Game podcast, Dan sits down to introduce himself, tell the story of kid who grew up knowing he didn't fit in, and discuss what it means to rig the game in your favor so you can succeed while staying true to you. Join the conversation to win in ways that only you can. What You'll Learn  Why the labels you've been given don't really fit How to shape your business to suit your interests and talents Why business is personal And much more! Favorite Quote “If you're going to start a business, why not rig the game to win? Why not set yourself up to get the outcomes that you want while playing your style?” - Dan Nicholson How to get involved Visit Dan Nicholson's website - Nth Degree CPA's and the Rigging The Game to learn how he helps small business owners cultivate good accounting and tax practices to achieve their financial goals. To rig the game to win and to set the outcomes that you want in life and business. Enjoyed the Podcast? Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. We love to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!