Podcasts about CPA

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Today I am speaking with Dave Chase from Health Rosetta, and I'm asking Dave Chase three inferno-level burning questions—questions that, across the country, many self-insured employers are trying to find the answers to. For a full transcript of this episode, click here. If you enjoy this podcast, be sure to subscribe to the free weekly newsletter to be a member of the Relentless Tribe. Now, an important underlying point that comes across loud and clear but remains unsaid, actually, in the conversation that follows is this: There are amazing brokers and EBCs (employee benefit consultants) and benefits advisors or TPAs (third-party administrators) who put their clients first and have the receipts (ie, they have data and they're willing to share it to prove this). And then there are those with the exact same titles, often enough, who are very much the opposite of this but super charming, I'm sure. I mean, it'd be a stretch to assume that the same roles don't apply to brokers or EBCs that apply for titles like hospital administrators where there's great ones and really not great ones; but everybody often gets lumped into the same category or even the term hospitals. Each of these terms is a broad stroke and contains multitudes. And do listen to the bonus clip from two weeks ago with Jonathan Baran for just more on this point. We dig into it for like 10 minutes or something. I also talk about this same concept in an upcoming episode with Mick Connors, MD. So, keep that underlying and unsaid theme in mind because a lot of these questions do boil down to, How do you figure out who's on the up-and-up and who's not? And if you need an example of the latter category, listen to the show with Ann Lewandowski (EP476) about the whistleblower lawsuit or the show with AJ Loiacono (EP379) about the myriad of brokers taking $7 or $14 per script written payable by the PBM (pharmacy benefit manager) and not reported on, as far as I know. This is very much still going on today, by the way, despite the CAA (Consolidated Appropriations Act) and the 5500 forms. Alright, so, first burning question, Question 1: After seeing J&J (Johnson & Johnson) and Wells Fargo sued for fiduciary breaches, what specific questions do I need to ask my benefits advisor to prove that my benefits advisor actually protects my interests? Okay, paraphrased, this question is employers trying to figure out what they can ask or how they can figure out if their benefits advisor or broker or employee benefit consultant is really as trustworthy as they'd like you to believe they are. There's been a whole bunch of shows that circle up on this. The thing is, though, the stakes are very, very high right now. So, yeah, I can see why this is turning into a burning question for anyone worried they might get sued personally unless they can figure out how to vet, for real in writing, who their broker, EBC, or advisor serves actually at the end of the day. Question 2 that I ask Dave Chase, and I'm not giving you the answers to these questions. You gotta listen to the show. But here's the second question I ask: How do I avoid personal liability when my TPA contract has hidden conflicts that could trigger an ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) lawsuit? Kind of a continuation of Question 1, but yeah, you can tell that self-insured employer teams are really digging in here and many, many are very aware of, first of all, the extent and depth of middle people doing things like, again, allegedly taking $20 million of employer clients' money and funding their executive bonus pool. So, yeah, definitely this is another doozy of a burning question. Also on these same topics, listen to the show with Justin Leader (EP433) and also the one with Cynthia Fisher (EP457) about spread pricing. Question 3 that I ask Dave Chase: My pharmacy costs keep climbing despite PBM guarantees. How do I tell if I am being systematically overcharged? Well, if your consultants are taking your rebates to fund their executive bonus pools, as I just mentioned there's a whole show about with Ann Lewandowski, or if they're taking $7 a script for every script that gets written for your members, which, yeah, that's afoot. I've seen the contracts and the cease and desists currently flying around our industry about that one. Or read that Osceola County lawsuit against their longtime brokers. Bottom line and end of this intro, informed employer teams are, for sure, wondering these questions. But even more than just wondering, what these questions signify to me, kind of at the macro level, they're realizing the danger of kind of sitting on that knowledge or just assuming that because everybody else is doing whatever, it's somehow safe—though status quo is getting kind of more and more dicey every single day. As some additional foreshadowing, this show finishes up with Dave Chase talking about the open-source resources that are available so that you too can create a high-performance health plan where members get higher-quality healthcare and, as Dave Chase says, the cost savings for free. There are links to many things that you can get from Health Rosetta and their sister company, Nautilus. Again, all the stuff is for free. Go to nautilushealth.org. That's their main Web site. Dave Chase, who has been on this podcast—I think this is his third time, although it has been a while—Dave Chase is co-founder and CEO of Health Rosetta. Also mentioned in this episode are Health Rosetta; Jonathan Baran; Mick Connors, MD; Ann Lewandowski; AJ Loiacono; Chris Deacon; VerSan Consulting; Justin Leader; Cynthia Fisher; Nautilus; Andreas Mang; Blackstone; Jon Camire; Claire Brockbank; Elizabeth Mitchell; Scott Haas; Paul Holmes; Chris Crawford; Luke Slindee, PharmD; Mark Cuban; Marilyn Bartlett, CPA, CGMA, CMA, CFM; Leah Binder; and Dawn Cornelis.   You can learn more at Health Rosetta and follow Dave on LinkedIn.   Dave Chase is on a mission to restore hope, health, and economic well-being to communities through healthcare transformation. As creator of the community-owned health plan (COHP) model, he is building a nationwide movement that turns health plans from drivers of wage stagnation into vessels for well-being and wealth creation. As founder of Health Rosetta, Dave has helped transform healthcare for thousands of employers covering more than five million Americans. What began with identifying just five successful health plans nationwide has grown into a movement with thousands of sustainable successes that deliver superior care at 20% to 50% lower costs. In 2024, his team launched Nautilus Health Institute, catalyzed with $4 million in Health Rosetta intellectual property and investment. Nautilus provides open-source standards, contracting templates, and technology infrastructure (including METL, an open-source healthcare data platform) that establish new market norms benefiting employers, clinicians, and communities. Dave's work in healthcare transformation has reached over 10 million people through best-selling books (The CEO's Guide to Restoring the American Dream, The Opioid Crisis Wake-up Call, Relocalizing Health), media, TED Talks, and TV/film appearances. He has received the World Health Care Congress's Lifetime Achievement Award for Health Benefits Innovation. Dave is dedicated to transforming healthcare through transparency, community ownership, and proven solutions that restore the American Dream.   06:36 What questions does a plan sponsor need to ask their consultant, EBC, or broker to ensure they are protecting the interest of the plan sponsor? 07:59 EP478 with Andreas Mang and Jon Camire. 08:49 EP453 with Claire Brockbank. 09:51 EP433 with Justin Leader. 09:53 EP436 with Elizabeth Mitchell. 11:03 How can plan sponsors avoid personal liability when their TPA has hidden conflicts of interest? 11:40 Tiara Yachts v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan lawsuit. 13:48 EP483 (Part 1) with Jonathan Baran. 14:18 EP457 with Cynthia Fisher. 16:18 The Marshall-Hickenlooper bill called the Price Tags Act. 16:50 Summer Short with Elizabeth Mitchell. 17:36 How do plan sponsors figure out if they are being overcharged for pharmacy benefits? 18:09 EP365 with Scott Haas. 20:18 EP397 with Paul Holmes. 20:22 EP465 with Chris Crawford. 20:37 EP429 with Luke Slindee, PharmD. 22:56 EP476 with Ann Lewandowski. 28:38 Where to find open-source resources to help guide plan sponsors with making better health plan decisions. 29:47 How the open-source trend is growing for health transparency. 30:48 What to look forward to at RosettaFest.   You can learn more at Health Rosetta and follow Dave on LinkedIn.   @chasedave discusses questions #plansponsors need to ask on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #financialhealth #patientoutcomes #primarycare #digitalhealth #healthcareleadership #healthcaretransformation #healthcareinnovation   Recent past interviews: Click a guest's name for their latest RHV episode! Jonathan Baran (Part 2), Jonathan Baran (Part 1), Jonathan Baran (Bonus Episode), Dr Stan Schwartz (Summer Shorts), Preston Alexander, Dr Tom X Lee (Take Two: EP445), Dr Tom X Lee (Bonus Episode), Dr Benjamin Schwartz, Dr John Lee (Take Two: EP438), Kimberly Carleson, Ann Lewandowski (Summer Shorts), Andreas Mang and Jon Camire (EP479)

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Are credit cards what we think they are? In this thought-provoking episode, Tommy Kilpatrick shares his insights on how credit card debt works, what might be hidden in plain sight, and why it's important to question financial norms. Tune in to learn, think critically, and make more informed financial decisions.

2026 might still seem like a ways off, but now is the time to start chipping away at preparation. Tiff and Kristy walk practices through what to do to be ready for a fresh start come January 1. They talk about lag and lead measures, what to put on your calendar now, fee schedules, and a ton more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:01) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. I am back at you today, Miss Tiffanie, Spiffy Tiffy. No one's called me that in a while. I have not recorded with Kiera in a hot minute. That's how I know I have not recorded with Kiera, because I haven't been called Spiffy Tiffy in a minute. ⁓ We're here today. I have Miss Kristy with me today. She has just done a slew of recordings with me. We blocked out two hours today, and we said, you know what? We're just going to bust out a bunch, and we are doing it. Summertime gets a little wild.   and it gets hard to schedule these suckers in there. So Kristy, thank you for being here with me today. Thank you for scheduling this in your schedule and making sure that we could get this done. How are you?   DAT Kristy (00:39) It's always fun spending time with you. We don't get to do this all the time.   The Dental A Team (00:44) I agree. We really don't. And I started doing ⁓ for you specifically because I'm like, gosh, we really don't. I still get like so much time with Trish, Monica is in, you know, we're doing so much onboarding. ⁓ And so I was like, no, we need, I need Kristy, like just touch base, check in one on one time. Like I need that outside of our monthly one on one. So I agree. And I'm excited to be here today. I think we both have animals at home and it's funny. We like   go a certain amount of time and then they've hit their limits. And I don't know, I've got a cat that's running around just screaming right now. I don't think you guys can hear it, I hope. But I think what happens is she's just like, okay, I'm tired of hearing your voice. Even when I'm on coaching calls, like maybe my inflection is different or I don't know. There's something about podcasting that she hits her limit at about an hour in, hour and a half. She's like, I'm done. I'm either podcasting with you or you're being forced to turn it off.   Yeah, anyways, animals are wild. ⁓ They are. my gosh, they are like kids. They're exhausting. Yeah, they are like, because I think they're worse than kids. You know, when I was little, they used to say, I don't know if people still say this or not, but they used to say, when you think you're ready for kids, get a dog. And I used to be like, that's easy, right? And I'm like, actually, I find that my animals are way more work than my son is. they just require so much of me at   DAT Kristy (01:43) I like kids.   The Dental A Team (02:10) their own discretion. Like it's just, it's when they want it. And I have, I have two cats and a dog and the dog is much chiller, but even puppies, I'm like, puppies are hard. Puppies are not like a newborn. I does not, in my opinion, the same apples to apples, but maybe that's why they say that because you get exhausted by the puppy and you're like, I can't, I can't do this right now. So who knows, but we're not here to talk about dogs or cats. We are here.   We're here today because we are rounding out the year you guys. August is always like such a weird time ⁓ for me because it's like the beginning and the end. It's the beginning, like we're not even too fall yet for Arizona. It feels like fall. We don't really get a fall so we start in August. ⁓ But it feels like we're coming up on the end, but we just started. We get to August so quickly and so.   With that, a lot of times we can kind of forget to prep for the upcoming year until it gets to the last minute because we're like, gosh, it's so early, Tiff. Like, Kristy, we've still got so much of our goal left. We're still working on these things. How am I supposed to think past that? But we really truly do have to prepare in a lot of different ways to ensure that we're ready when January hits. I don't know about you, Kristy, but I know in my practice, I think the   before I was office manager, my office manager and my doctor probably sat down and like did some goals, right? They knew what they were doing. But we didn't know until the end of January when we had our team meeting what those new year's goals were. And that was really hard because I'm like, well, shoot, we're already behind because like, what are we doing here? We had no idea that we had increased our goals because we're still working off of old goals. And I think that that likely happens more often than not.   Because we want a fresh start. We want our January kickoff and it's like if we're not doing January kickoff on January 2nd It's not a kickoff anymore. I guess now we're playing catch-up So a lot of practices really need to start doing this in December November even but December really talking about what next year is going to look like with your teams ⁓ Kristy do you feel that that kind of we talked about this a lot today? Like what was it like back went back in the day when we were in office But did you feel like you kind of ran that same?   trajectory that same calendar year advice.   DAT Kristy (04:31) Yeah, 100%. I think ⁓ in dentistry, we get so focused on lag measures. And I don't know that we ever intentionally focused. It's just the way it's always been. And so you and I talked about this before. We just do it because that's how somebody else did it. And we think it's the way to do it. But I think, again, when you know better, you do better. And we always need to look at the lag measures. looking at lead measures and starting literally now,   The Dental A Team (04:38) Yeah.   Bye.   DAT Kristy (05:01) is a great practice and and to be honest the ones that I see hitting goals for my teams ⁓ we look at them early and we set the tone early. Yeah.   The Dental A Team (05:11) Yeah, yeah,   it does a great point. You hit the nail on the head. We really do focus so much on lag measures, which are a lot of my lag measures will feed into our lead measures. So totally. But I do think that dentistry as a whole misses the mark on lead measures. Even like I had a client the other day that said, Oh, I died, because he died. She's   DAT Kristy (05:35) you   The Dental A Team (05:36) She said, yeah, my CPA, I'm just not too sure about them. They said that not to get too crazy about it, but that I would get my PNLs by the 28th every month. And I about fell out of my chair, because I was like, what the heck? That is a two-month lag measure at this point, because by the time we're reviewing them, we're into two months later from those statistics, those overhead stats. And how are we supposed to make adjustments and change? So you're telling me,   that we are gonna have potentially two bad months because we didn't know it was a bad month until we're at the third month. And I was just like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. If that's the case, if that's their standard, it doesn't fit our standards. This is not going to work. We have to have better, quicker lag measures so that we can change the lead measures. And I think what you just said plays right into that. Because to them, that CPA, it was like totally natural and normal. It was like, yeah, fine, we'll get them to you.   You can see them, but they're not using them to tell you how to change your business. Some CPAs are, work one-on-one with a couple of different CPAs for my clients and with my clients that are doing that. They're fantastic, they're giving them information and advice every month based off of what they're seeing. That's massive. It's very uncommon also. CPAs at the end of the year would be like, well, this year you overspent in this category, so drop this.   ⁓ for the love, could I not have seen that earlier and made adjustments so that I didn't overspend for an entire year and then could have changed this entire P &L? That's what we do. We look at the P &L with you and we dive into it. And like I said, I do have a couple of CPAs that dive into that with me with clients or sometimes I'll have questions and I'm like, hey, I'll shoot over an email and like, what is this? What are you seeing? And they'll give me the answer. And I'm like, fantastic. Thank you. Those are   freaking phenomenal. Those are clients that I can really dive into numbers and be like, let's change this. Let's turn the dial on this. Because at the end of the year when they're like, next year you can't. I don't want to ever tell you that. Next year you can't. No, next year you can because we adjusted things on the lead measures, meaning what's to come because we were able to see your lag measures. So Kristy, that was brilliant. That was a massive tangent, but that was brilliant.   And I think it really flows into all of those because if you're year to date at August and you don't know those numbers, you haven't looked at them with someone with a CPA, a coach, a consultant, get on that. Do that because what's gonna happen is November, your CPA is gonna be like, let me tell you all the things you shouldn't have done this year. I don't want that to happen. Get on it today. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com if you want advice, if you need help, if you want to one-on-one coach with us, we can help you dive through it.   We are here for it. We have had plenty of clients that have seen incredible profit year over year because of the consulting that they've received, because of the directions that we've been able to push them that they weren't able to see. Again, focusing on the the log measures to push the lead measures. Now, other things, I really wanted this to be like a let's prep for the next year, which I don't know when you're listening to this, but right now it's August, 2025. So we are prepping for...   2026, which is crazy to me. I told, actually I told Kira this morning, my son, started senior year today as I took his little picture and I'm just like, my gosh, and he graduates, you know, 2026. And I'm like, I knew this day would come, but it always felt so far. Like this is, I think when I was a kid, I thought we'd be flying around in cars by now, which I think we're actually really close, which is crazy. But.   To me, like 2026 felt so far away when I was a kid, I thought we're gonna be the Jetsons by then. So again, I think we're actually really close. But it's crazy to think we're prepping for 2026. You guys, we gotta round out 2025 and really be able to project into 2026. And there's some simple things, you guys, we have checklists for this too. So reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. We can pop you over some checklists, but there are some really simple things. Kristy, like.   I want you to go through, like you were talking earlier on another podcast we recorded about really scheduling some things out. So what are some things that can be done next year that should be in the schedule? And then we'll kind of dive into the goals and stuff that they're going to have to do before we get to the 2026.   DAT Kristy (10:11) Well again, we're all about projecting forward right because you touched on not saying no and part of saying no Maybe adding things so we can say yes, right? So looking at the schedule putting in your HIPAA your OSHA any training CPR, right? ⁓ Is there CE we're planning on let's research it. Let's figure out how much it's gonna cost Are we taking team not taking team? What's the what's the average?   cost because all of that can be factored into our lead measures right and and what is what do we have to make in order to have that happen is it a year for raises have we done fee valuations for the upcoming year a lot of offices don't look at that yearly and I encourage my offices to because here's the thing especially if you're a high PPO you never get to go to the insurance companies and say   hey, I haven't raised my fees in five years, so now I'm gonna make this big jump. They don't let you. So doing those incremental jumps every year, ⁓ another area where people fail to ⁓ evaluate is if you're selling products. Have you looked at the invoices to see what you're paying? And nowadays, that's a big thing, right? Adding in the tariffs and different things that are affecting what we're paying for. Have you adjusted it? Because a lot of my practices charge just what they're paying for it, and then   The Dental A Team (11:15) Yeah.   DAT Kristy (11:40) we look at it and go, my gosh, we're in the hole because we've never adjusted the fees. ⁓ getting your new fee schedules, right? If there's any negotiations that need to happen, I would add that to the list too.   The Dental A Team (11:45) Yeah.   Yeah, and now is the time to do that to start negotiating it so that you can have it for that new year. That was massive because that hits both making sure it's scheduled out to update your fees, but then also right now sending in the request for increased fees to be updated. So that was a twofer right there in my opinion. So good job. Yeah. I also remember earlier you said the PCI compliance. So making sure all of those PCI OSHA HIPAA   all of those training CPR, everybody's up to date and checking all of those. Like when was the last time anyone, that any one individual did those pieces and are there people that need them updated? I know there's a lot of, gosh, specialty practices that will offer for GP practices, the CPR training. We used to do that through the orthodontist we worked hand in hand with. He would just, I mean, it was a referral, a referral mechanism for them, right? It's marketing for them, but they would hire the CPR trainer and then they would invite   dental offices to come get the CPR training for their team. So it's free for us and that orthodontist paid for it. So check with those things as well, but making sure those things are scheduled out. And that's something doctors that your office manager should have that kind of a yearly checklist to make sure that they're going through those. Another thing that you kind of touched on there was like maintenance of different. ⁓   everything right you've got all of your everything needs maintenance so what does your practice look like what are your compressors looking like do they need to be maintenance your ultrasonics like really just diving in and every year it should be that fresh start and looking at what are we going to do now Kristy you mentioned which i love because it goes hand in hand with that too of really budgeting that so budgeting your ce's i had a practice this year they're like help me   our cash flow, what is going on? When we delve into it, there were a ton of ⁓ auxiliary necessary purchases and updates that were made to the practice, to the ⁓ exterior of the practice. So these things were necessary, but they were unplanned for that.   I think you can look at and probably project towards the end of the year to really build out a budget and a percentage and a bucket within your 2026 goals because you guys, it's really easy. If you know it's going to be X amount of money, divide it out over the 12 months and say, great, how am I going to make that up in production and collections to get that money so it's not costing you? It's coming out of the profit for that year, which is what happened with this other practice. We just thought there'd be more profit, but that profit then   went towards, you know, the renovations, excuse me, that needed to be done, but we could have built it in a little bit better had we known they were coming.   So that leads into our goals and really looking at what would a 7 to 10 % increase. Those are the numbers I typically go with increasing from this year 7 to 10 % next year, 7 % for inflation you guys, 10 % because why not be profitable on top of inflation? So you can do 7 % and kind of call it status quo. 10 % is gonna be that growth space that you hopefully and probably are desiring. And really when you look at it 10 % over the course of the year,   is really a drop in the bucket. Kristy, have you found that same thing where that 10 % is like a couple hundred thousand over the course of the year split up over the month is realistically not that much? Kristy, do you see that same thing?   DAT Kristy (15:27) 100 % TIF, I think the problem we get into is we wait till the last minute and then we're trying to crunch it in that short amount of time. But when we look forward and we have the whole year, guys, it can be as simple as one more crown a week, you know, or one more crown a month, depending on where you're lying. and when we break it down like that for teams, it makes it so digestible and and it helps fire us up when we make it that simple. Nine times out of 10.   The Dental A Team (15:41) Yep.   DAT Kristy (15:57) I see them even going further because it's like wow it was so easy right and it never I mean Think about it in our field and we all know this to be true I don't none of my doctors are immune from this but November and December are crazy months. Why do we do it to ourselves? Let's start now   The Dental A Team (16:11) Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yeah, I agree. And that makes me think of   a practice I went into one time, and we did their goals. And I said, Okay, well, in order to finish the year where we want to, we need to ⁓ increase your daily goal by $2,000 across for hygiene to doctors, right? $2,000. They were like, you're crazy. And I'm like, No, I'm not.   This is how much it is per provider. And they were like, Tiff, we love you. We love your training. And we think you're crazy. going to put it on there. We're going to try our hardest. And we're going let you know. The next day, they went above and beyond that $11,000 goal by almost $2,000. The next day, they hit the goal consistently. After setting that goal, they hit it.   and they were like, Tiff, I was getting texts from the team members for days. Like, I can't believe we're doing this. We didn't think it was possible, but actually it was right there, because it was all within the scheduling, right? How are we scheduling things? What are we prioritizing? How are we looking at the structure of our schedule and still serving our patients? So I totally agree. The increase is easy.   as long as it's broken down in a digestible amount. The full yearly amount, you're like, all right, guys, we did 1 million, we're gonna do 1.2 this year. And they're like, my gosh, like, when is it enough? But if you're like, 1.2 is X amount per month, X amount per day.   They're like, okay, we can hit that. We can figure that out. And you're like 30 % from hygiene, 70 % from doctor or 25 % from hygiene, 75 % from doctor. Like figure out the numbers and then figure out daily goals for everyone so that it is digestible, because that's much easier to work with.   ⁓ Another thing to be really, really prepped for is, ⁓ what did we say? We said, updating the paperwork, you said, Kristy. So making sure we know what next year needs to look like. We just did a podcast on OSHA and HIPAA compliance, so making sure you're scheduling that out, but then also making sure that your HIPAA paperwork is updated, is gonna be massive, your health history.   If you are taking CEs, does that need to be updated on your health history? Do you need to ask sleep apnea questions or Botox questions or implant questions? Like, do you need to update that at the beginning of the year and making sure you have all of your patients' data? Kristy, I know you talked about too, you have some clients that just don't have everyone's emails. This day and age, most of our communication is going out by emails. I know most of my clients are sending statements by text and email. There's really not a lot of paper. So making sure   updating those as well. And then Kristy, I don't want to glaze over those you guys, practice software updates too, but I kind of do because I kind of want to talk a little bit very quickly though.   As we're adding goals, Kristy, I you do this a lot. You help practices project what their profitability point is, which is also like your BAM, your bare ace minimum, right? Same thing, different words. How do you also help them project? Do they have enough people? So as they grow their goal, they need to potentially increase staffing and making sure they have the right seat. How do you help them see that when you're helping clients build out those goals?   DAT Kristy (19:36) Yeah.   think that's an important piece of it. Running some reports in your software is going to be helpful. Look at your active patient base. Has it grown? If it's not growing, why not? Are we missing working re-care? And again, lag and lead, guys. I have a lot of practices where maybe capacity, they're booked out, and so they don't work re-care, and those people are falling through the cracks. I would challenge you, even though you are booked out, to still work that re-care.   because every day we wait, they're getting pushed out that much further, right? And it's nothing that we have to shy away from, but again, it's like, man, our hygienist are in high demand. Let's get you scheduled, right? And bring that information. You guys need to look at that. our next new patient openings, when can we schedule for perio maintenance? When can we schedule for root scaling? We need to look at our procedure counts and add in maybe extra blocks.   The Dental A Team (20:40) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.   I totally agree and making sure at the same time then that we have enough team to accommodate those patients that act as patient based how many patients can one hygienist see in a year? How many hygienists do you have compared to your doctor time? How many assistants do you have compared to the columns of treatment that you're working with? And then one piece I think gets missed, Kristy, in that conversation too is front office team. So like how many back office team members do you have in comparison to your front office team?   I usually like to use an easy ratio of like the number of dental assistants it takes. I should have front office as well to kind of duplicate that to make it super simple. But you're right, pulling those simple reports from the system to ensure we're doing everything we can to get those patients in. But what is that active patient count? Because that's gonna tell a really big story on how much growth we can sustain on the size and the capacity that we have now and the team that we have. So, beautiful. Thank you, Kristy. ⁓   you guys this wraps up a ton for 2026. hope you're feverishly taking notes if you are not driving. If you are driving, re-listen. But as always, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. We can shoot you over some really easy end of the year, beginning of the year prep checklists ⁓ for office managers, doctors, whomever. And just make sure you guys that you're pre-scheduling things. And I would even pre-schedule this time of year, next year, start prepping for this stuff. Put it in your calendars as an office manager. I had everything in my calendar this time of the year. I was starting to   for the following years, so 2026 goals, but I was also...   ⁓ requesting fee increases. I was sending out end of year letters, right? Like get your treatment done because what happens is we tend to wait till October and that's why November, December is crazy. If you send them now, you can fill September, which we also call September. Start reaching out to those people now and get September filled, October filled and don't make your life too hectic November and December. You can even those out. So you guys go do these things. They're not hard. They're actually really easy and they can be really fun.   Hello@TheDentalATeam.com we can send you over this information and you guys, have so many consultants on our team, Kristy, Trish, Monica, Dana, they are here helping clients every single day to work through these things and so much more. We would love the opportunity to chat one on one with you to see what we can do to help you as well. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com, you guys, we'll catch you next time. Thanks so much.

On this second episode in our Pathways to PwC Series, we speak with Greg Rowley, a Tax Partner at PwC. Greg shares his experience going to Community College and what his transition into Accounting was like. He also discusses the CPA exam, how he found PwC and much more.

Are you making sales but still broke at the end of the month?

Clement Manyathela speaks to Lefa Mabuela who is the Chief Executive Officer of the Bela-Bela Communal Property Association to understand how the community reclaimed its land and how residents now benefit from their land through various business ventures. The Clement Manyathela Show is broadcast on 702, a Johannesburg based talk radio station, weekdays from 09:00 to 12:00 (SA Time). Clement Manyathela starts his show each weekday on 702 at 9 am taking your calls and voice notes on his Open Line. In the second hour of his show, he unpacks, explains, and makes sense of the news of the day. Clement has several features in his third hour from 11 am that provide you with information to help and guide you through your daily life. As your morning friend, he tackles the serious as well as the light-hearted, on your behalf. Thank you for listening to a podcast from The Clement Manyathela Show. Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays from 09:00 and 12:00 (SA Time) to The Clement Manyathela Show broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/XijPLtJ or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/p0gWuPE Subscribe to the 702 Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/v5mfetc Follow us on social media: 702 on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/Radio702 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio702 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Discover the transformative journey from corporate finance to entrepreneurial success with Shanli Liu, founder of Freedom Folio. What if leaving a steady career could lead to a more fulfilling life and business? Shanley's story is a testament to resilience and the power of personal connections, tracing her path from a childhood fundraising event in China to establishing her own CPA practice in Boston. The episode offers a candid look at the pivotal moments that fueled her transition, including learning from a seasoned CPA and leveraging her corporate experience to launch her own firm after motherhood inspired a new direction. Learn how tax planning can elevate your practice management strategies with insights from Shanley's collaboration with POSBOT and her mentor, Tyler Thompson. The episode explores her evolved mindset from merely fulfilling tasks to embracing the entrepreneurial spirit, emphasizing the importance of strategic client selection and holistic tax planning. Shanley's experiences underscore the necessity of educating clients about tax complexities and the pitfalls of fragmented approaches. Discover practical solutions for scalable client education that combat industry-wide misinformation, ensuring both practitioners and clients are aligned in achieving financial success. Explore the balancing act of entrepreneurship and personal life, as Shanli addresses the challenges of setting boundaries. Through personal anecdotes, including the extreme of taking a client call during labor, the conversation sheds light on the pressures faced by professionals, particularly women, in juggling work and family. Drawing inspiration from Tim Urban, the discussion highlights the need to prioritize family time amidst professional commitments. This episode is a heartfelt reminder of the importance of boundaries to prevent burnout and ensure you remain present for those who matter most.   Timestamps 00:00:00 - Introduction and Welcome to the Podcast: Shanli Liu's Journey 00:00:12 - Shanley's Early Life and Inspiration from China 00:02:05 - Transition from Corporate Finance to Entrepreneurship 00:03:30 - Founding Freedom Folio and Building a CPA Practice 00:06:45 - Balancing Motherhood and Entrepreneurship 00:09:15 - Importance of Learning to Say No in Business 00:11:37 - Embracing Entrepreneurial Mindset through Tax Planning 00:12:45 - Lessons from POSBOT and Training with Tyler Thompson 00:14:30 - Strategic Client Selection for Scalable Tax Planning 00:16:10 - Addressing Fragmented Tax Planning and Client Education 00:18:27 - Holistic Financial Planning for Small Business Owners 00:19:30 - Collaborating with Financial Advisors for Diversification 00:21:00 - Setting Boundaries to Maintain Work-Life Balance 00:22:36 - Challenges of Overworking and People-Pleasing 00:24:00 - Societal Pressures on Women Entrepreneurs 00:25:30 - Reflection on Family Prioritization and Tim Urban's Work 00:27:00 - Conclusion: Aligning Professional Success with Personal Well-being Episode Resources: Connect with Shanli here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanli-liu-234b16b/ Legacy Podcast: For more information about the Legacy Podcast and its co-hosts, visit businesslegacypodcast.com. Leave a Review: If you enjoyed the episode, leave a review and rating on your preferred podcast platform. For more information: Visit businesslegacypodcast.com to access the shownotes and additional resources on the episode.  

Buy a big car in 2025? I have bad news for you...

Cutting it close, but this episode is certified ON TIME. And on this extra long episode, we're joined with LA-based cartoonist Ryan Cecil Smith. Ryan is known in many small press circles as one of the kings of risography. We dig into his history with riso, why he keeps making comics while juggling freelance work as a full-time artist, his experiences working on animation projects for TV, modern artists' dependence on social media, and why he needs to hire a CPA.   Follow Ryan on Instagram @ryancecil. Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email us at gutterboyspodcast@gmail.com and we'll read it on the next episode, or give the Gutter Boys a follow on Instagram and Twitter (JB: @mortcrimpjr; Cam: @camdelrosario). And of course, please rate, review, like, share, and subscribe on your preferred podcast platform and help grow the Gutter Gang Nation! If you're feeling generous, subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/gutterboys (or gutterboys.top) and browse our different subscription tiers to receive exclusive merch, behind-the-scenes comic process updates, bonus episodes, plus much more! Support this podcast: https://gutterboyspodcast.podbean.com/

Welcome to the Wholesale Hotline Podcast (Subto Edition), where Pace breaks down creative finance strategies like subject-to, seller finance, and novations in plain English. Show notes -- in this episode we'll cover: Learn how to buy properties without cash, credit, or credentials—no gatekeeping. Deep dives into real deals, seller conversations, and deal structuring from A to Z. Tactical advice for scaling a portfolio with little to no risk using powerful creative tools. Community-driven, high-value episodes that help you solve problems most investors run from.   ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ ☎️ Welcome to Wholesale Hotline & Subto Breakout✌️✌️! ☎️ Need discounts and free trials!? Check this out for the softwares/websites/contracts/scripts/etc we use in our business: ✌️ https://shor.by/pace-youtube ✌️ ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖

In today's RaiseMasters Radio episode, Adam is joined by Stewart Heath to discuss his journey from CPA and C-level executive to raising capital for “boring” but powerful cash-flowing commercial real estate deals. We talk about the importance of consistent investor communication, lessons learned during challenging capital-raising periods, and how to build a strong portfolio foundation with stabilized assets. Tune in to hear how Stuart is helping investors generate reliable income while creating opportunities for collaboration within the RaiseMasters community. Resources mentioned in the episode: Stewart Heath Website Interested in learning how to take your capital raising game to the next level? Meet us at Capital Raiser's Edge. Learn more here: https://raisingcapital.com/cre  

Ed Slott, CPA, is a nationally recognized IRA distribution expert, professional speaker, television personality, and best-selling author. He is known for his unparalleled ability to turn advanced tax strategies into understandable, actionable and entertaining advice. He has been named “The Best Source for IRA Advice” by The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today wrote, “It would be tough to find anyone who knows more about IRAs than CPA Slott.” • • • This episode of the podcast is hosted by Jon Luskin, CFP®, a long-time Boglehead and financial planner. The Bogleheads are a group of like-minded individual investors who follow the general investment and business beliefs of John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group. It is a conflict-free community where individual investors reach out and provide education, assistance, and relevant information to other investors of all experience levels at no cost. The organization supports a free forum at Bogleheads.org, and the wiki site is Bogleheads® wiki.    Since 2000, the Bogleheads have held national conferences in major cities across the country. The 2025 conference will take place in San Antonio, Texas, from October 17 to 19. In addition, local Chapters and foreign Chapters meet regularly, and new Chapters form periodically. All Bogleheads activities are coordinated by volunteers who contribute their time and talent.   This podcast is supported by the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy, a non-profit organization approved by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity on February 6, 2012. Your tax-deductible donation to the Bogle Center is appreciated.   Show Notes: Bogleheads® Live with Mike Piper: Episode 36 Bogleheads® Live with Mike Piper: Episode 23 Bogleheads® Live with Mike Piper: Episode 9 Bogleheads® Live with Sean Mullaney and Cody Garrett: Episode 11 Bogleheads on Investing with Cody Garrett: Episode 61 Asset Location For Stocks In A Brokerage Account Versus IRA Depends On Time Horizon Bogleheads on Investing with Phil Demuth, “The Tax-Smart Donor”: Episode 83

Mark Kohler is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, attorney, CPA, and the founding and senior partner at KKOS Lawyers. Specializing in tax, legal, wealth, estate, and asset protection planning, Mark has helped thousands of small business owners and investors align their tax strategies with their real estate and business goals. He is also the host of The Main Street Business Podcast and Directed IRA Podcast, educating entrepreneurs on practical ways to build wealth and save taxes.    

How to save so much on your taxes it feels illegal.

Hector Garcia returns to discuss Intuit Enterprise Suite's summer 2025 release, highlighting the incredible development speed while addressing ongoing pricing transparency issues and migration messaging problems. The discussion covers game-changing features like AI-powered contextual search, automated chart of accounts mapping across entities, dynamic expense allocation based on company performance, and revolutionary intercompany sales transactions that automatically create bills on the receiving end. From multi-entity consolidated reporting challenges to new milestone tracking in projects, this technical deep dive reveals which Enterprise Suite innovations are ready for prime time and which still need work.SponsorsDigits - https://uqb.promo/digits(00:00) - Welcome to The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast (01:38) - Hector's Recent Adventures (04:05) - The Evolution of Pricing in Accounting (05:58) - Intuit Enterprise Suite: Compliment Sandwich (07:08) - Feedback on Intuit Enterprise Suite (13:11) - Challenges with QuickBooks Online (19:20) - New Features in Intuit Enterprise Suite (25:29) - Multi-Entity Management in IES (39:22) - Navigating Multi-Entity Chart of Accounts (41:53) - Expense Allocation Enhancements (47:30) - Intercompany Sales and Transactions (56:13) - AI-Powered Cash Flow Forecasting (01:00:22) - A Few More New Features (01:07:27) - Milestones (01:13:30) - Upcoming Training and Events Alicia's upcoming classes featuring the new interface: learn.royalwise.com?affiliate=5393907Kristen Nies Ciraldo's Restaurants (and Bars) in QuickBooks Online: August 19, 9am to 12pm | 3 CPE, intermediate-level class |Register at http://royl.ws/restaurants?affiliate=5393907Hector's App RightTool: https://righttool.app/Hector's Reframe Conference: https://www.reframeaccounting.com/We want to hear from you!Send your questions and comments to us at unofficialquickbookspodcast@gmail.com.Join our LinkedIn community at https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14630719/Visit our YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@UnofficialQuickBooksPodcast?sub_confirmation=1 Sign up to Earmark to earn free CPE for listening to this podcasthttps://www.earmark.app/onboarding

In this episode, Kathy Jones and Liz Ann Sonders dive into the latest economic data and its implications for the Federal Reserve's policy decisions. They analyze the recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) report and assess the risk of latent stagflation. They also examine the Fed's dilemma in considering a September interest rate cut, a possible 50-basis-point reduction, and ongoing labor market and inflation pressures. Kathy and Liz Ann stress the importance of looking beyond headline figures to understand revisions and underlying economic trends. They also address recent changes at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and their potential impact on the reliability of economic data. Finally, Kathy and Liz Ann discuss the data and economic indicators they will be watching in the coming week.On Investing is an original podcast from Charles Schwab. For more on the show, visit schwab.com/OnInvesting. If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts.Important DisclosuresThis material is intended for general informational and educational purposes only. This should not be considered an individualized recommendation or personalized investment advice. The investment strategies mentioned may not be suitable for everyone. Each investor needs to review an investment strategy for his or her own particular situation before making any investment decisions.All expressions of opinion are subject to change without notice in reaction to shifting market, economic or political conditions. Data contained herein from third party providers is obtained from what are considered reliable sources. However, its accuracy, completeness or reliability cannot be guaranteed.Investing involves risk, including loss of principal. Indexes are unmanaged, do not incur management fees, costs, and expenses and cannot be invested in directly. For more information on indexes, please see schwab.com/indexdefinitions. Performance may be affected by risks associated with non-diversification, including investments in specific countries or sectors. Additional risks may also include, but are not limited to, investments in foreign securities, especially emerging markets, real estate investment trusts (REITs), fixed income, municipal securities including state specific municipal securities, small capitalization securities and commodities. Each individual investor should consider these risks carefully before investing in a particular security or strategy.All names and market data shown above are for illustrative purposes only and are not a recommendation, offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security.Technical analysis is not recommended as a sole means of investment research.Diversification, asset allocation, and rebalancing strategies do not ensure a profit and do not protect against losses in declining markets.This information is not a specific recommendation, individualized tax, legal, or investment advice. Tax laws are subject to change, either prospectively or retroactively. Where specific advice is necessary or appropriate, individuals should contact their own professional tax and investment advisors or other professionals (CPA, Financial Planner, Investment Manager, Estate Attorney) to help answer questions about specific situations or needs prior to taking any action based upon this information.Rebalancing may cause investors to incur transaction costs and, when a non-retirement account is rebalanced, taxable events may be created that may affect your tax liability.Currency trading is speculative, very volatile and not suitable for all investors.Forecasts contained herein are for illustrative purposes only, may be based upon proprietary research and are developed through analysis of historical public data.The policy analysis provided by the Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., does not constitute and should not be interpreted as an endorsement of any political party.(0825-YCMU)

In Part 2 of our conversation wtih Sean Graham, Founder of Maven Cost Segregation Tax Advisors, we dive deeper into powerful tax strategies, focusing on cost segregation and accelerated depreciation. Sean explains the Look Back Strategy and how it can help amend past tax returns, shares insights on renovations and CAPEX opportunities, and outlines how cost segregation applies to new construction. We also discuss the importance of working with trusted professionals and reveal the biggest red flags to watch for in tax advice. Sean is an entrepreneur, investor, and registered CPA with a background in public accounting and private equity. He manages a portfolio of residential rentals and invests in self-storage developments. Sean is also the founder of Maven Cost Segregation Tax Advisors, a national leader in cost segregation services for commercial real estate. His expertise in real estate taxation helps investors accelerate depreciation and maximize after-tax returns.In this episode:Cost Segregation & Depreciation Strategies: How investors can accelerate depreciation to maximize after-tax returns.Look Back Strategy: Understanding how this approach works and its impact when amending prior tax returns.Identifying value-add improvements that can boost property performance and tax benefits.Cost Segregation in New ConstructionWhy experienced tax and cost segregation experts are essential for accuracy and compliance.Biggest Red Flags in Tax Advice : Common pitfalls to watch for when receiving tax guidance.The Norris Group originates and services loans in California and Florida under California DRE License 01219911, Florida Mortgage Lender License 1577, and NMLS License 1623669.  For more information on hard money lending, go www.thenorrisgroup.com and click the Hard Money tab.Video LinkRadio Show

Send us a textAfter college, Michael was hired by a mid-sized CPA firm and embarked on a ten-year journey that led me through luck, fate, or magic to financial services. Through that, he founded a "fee-only" Registered Investment Advisory firm, discovered financial life planning, then the magic took over. He has written two books on Financial Life planning (one for professionals and one for consumers), countless articles for business publications, spoke all over the country to professional and consumers audiences and even spoke to the largest financial planning conference in India. Then, he became a Certified Life Coach and created Chapter X, a community for men transitioning to life after their careers. Believe it or not, there is much, much more.  This is his story, and it's worth listening to, so Listen NOW!http://www.michaelfkay.com/Contact US:  Rumble/ YouTube/ IG: @powerofmanpodcastEmail: powerofmanpodcast@gmail.com.Twitter: @rorypaquetteLooking for Like-Minded Fathers and Husbands? Join our Brotherhood!"Power of Man Within" , in Facebook Groups:https://www.facebook.com/groups/490821906341560/?ref=share_group_linkFree Coaching Consultation call whenever you are ready... Message me!Believe it!

Live from ENGAGE 2025, Erin Hartman, CPA, Senior Manager – Firm Services, sits down with Argel Sabillo, CPA, Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer of HeyApril Inc, to discuss the ways he is reshaping the profession and leaving tradition behind. With a client base rooted in internet-based startups and small businesses, HeyApril offers full-scale, end-to-end accounting services. Argel shares how his journey has been defined by bold leaps of faith, innovation, and community impact. Argel offers practical insights on value-based pricing, subscription models, and tech stack optimization, while passionately advocating for firms to niche down and align their business models with mission and outcome, not just services. He also previews HeyApril's next frontier: using Large Language Models (LLMs) to turn client data into real-time, actionable insights. This is an episode packed with inspiration, strategic guidance, and a glimpse into the accounting firm of the future. To find out more about transforming your business model, explore our business model transformation resources at aicpa-cima.com/tybm. You'll also see a link there to all of our previous podcast episodes.  This is a podcast from AICPA & CIMA, together as the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. To enjoy more conversations from our global community of accounting and finance professionals, explore our network of free shows here. Your feedback and comments welcomed at podcast@aicpa-cima.com  

In This Episode Business growth isn't just about strategy—it's about building systems that keep everyone aligned, focused, and accountable. In this engaging conversation, host Adi Klevit speaks with Greg Benson about his journey from CPA to serial entrepreneur to EOS Implementer. Greg shares how his early career experiences, both successes and setbacks, shaped his approach to helping companies create strong leadership teams and scalable systems. They discuss the heart of the EOS model—vision, traction, and healthy—and how Greg enters the “danger zone” in meetings to address the issues others might avoid. He explains the importance of documented processes, the “followed by all” principle, and how simplicity is often the key to getting started. Greg also offers insight into his favorite industries to work with, from construction to manufacturing, and why trades-based businesses are often the most overlooked when it comes to implementing systems. This episode is packed with practical takeaways for leaders who want to strengthen their company's foundation and drive sustainable growth.  

Ever wonder why it feels like you're working harder than ever but never seem to get ahead financially? You're not failing because you're lazy; you're failing because you're financially directionless. That's the hard truth, and today, I'm bringing you the raw, no-fluff advice I wish someone had told me decades ago about what it really takes to get rich—and (spoiler alert) it's NOT about grinding harder, hoarding cash, or chasing the next big promotion.In this episode, I walk you through the nine non-negotiables for building true wealth—the real stuff, the uncomfortable truths that rattle your comfort zone, and the practical, step-by-step tools that move you forward. This is your financial education with a bit of sarcasm, a lot of heart, and a proven pathway to true freedom.Drawing on over 30 years as a financial advisor, CPA, and lifelong student of wealth-building, I'll show you how to craft a vision for your life, transform your relationship with debt, conquer self-sabotaging money stories, prioritize investing, and much more. The goal? To help you build your money machine—so your money works harder for you than you ever did for it.IN TODAY'S EPISODE, I DISCUSS:Why knowing your destination—your vivid vision for an ideal life—matters more than a bank balanceThe difference between building a life account versus a bank accountThe difference between productive and destructive debtHow your money stories and childhood beliefs shape your financial trajectoryWhy you can't save your way to wealthRecognizing that the real currency isn't cash—it's timeRECOMMENDED EPISODES FOR YOUIf you liked this episode, click here to enjoy these and more:https://melabraham.com/show/Why Dumb People Are Making More Money Than You15 Things That Are a Complete Waste of Your MoneyIf The Dollar Is Collapsing - Is It Worth Saving Money?7 Smart Habits of Quiet Millionaires7 Reasons Why The Wealthy NEVER Trade Time For MoneyRECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU If you liked this video, you'll love these ones:Why Dumb People Are Making More Money Than You: https://youtu.be/ISY01uDuyJk15 Things That Are a Complete Waste of Your Money:https://youtu.be/0aeP90sF5UQIf The Dollar Is Collapsing - Is It Worth Saving Money?: https://youtu.be/yG3CoFaYV2Y7 Smart Habits of Quiet Millionaires: https://youtu.be/aeTEvvI_H40ORDER MY NEW USA TODAY BESTSELLING BOOK:Building Your Money Machine: How to Get Your Money to Work Harder For You Than You Did For It!The key to building the life you desire and deserve is to build your Money Machine—a powerful system designed to generate income that's no longer tied to your work or efforts. This step-by-step guide goes beyond the general idea of personal finance and wealth creation and reveals the holistic approach to transforming your relationship with money to allow you to enjoy financial freedom and peace of mind.Part money philosophy, part money mindset, part strategy, and part tactical action, these powerful frameworks will show you how to build your money machine.When you do you'll also get over $1100 in wealth resources & bonuses for FREE! TAKE THE FINANCIAL FREEDOM QUIZ:Take this free quiz to see where you are on the path to financial freedom and what your next steps are to move you to a new financial destiny at http://www.YourFinancialFreedomQuiz.com

How P&L can Help with Law Firm Pricing.

If you're trying to do everything for your clients, you're doing them a disservice. Yep, I said it. As financial coaches, we don't know everything there is to know about finances, and that's okay. We're focused on our niche and expertise and while there's nothing wrong with learning and growing with our clients, there comes a time when referring them to another professional is the best next step.I used to think that referring clients to other professionals meant I wasn't good enough at my job. Turns out, it's actually one of the most valuable things I can do for them. When you position yourself as the quarterback of your client's financial journey, you become more essential to them, not less.Most people have a financial advisor who doesn't talk to their CPA, who doesn't coordinate with their insurance agent. That leaves your clients trying to figure out how all these pieces fit together on their own. And that's where you come in.This week, I'm sharing exactly how I've learned to recognize when my clients need specialized help and the clear indicators that tell you when it's time to bring in other professionals. And you know what? Some referral relationships have become some of my best sources of new clients.Here's just one example: For 12 years, I handled student loan guidance myself. But when the rules started changing rapidly, I made the decision to partner with a specialist instead. I didn't feel bad about this decision. I felt proud that I cared more about what was best for my clients than my own ego.Your scope of practice isn't a limitation. It's actually what makes you valuable. Listen in to hear specific language for these referral conversations and explain how to build relationships with other professionals so you have a solid network ready when your clients need help.Links & Resources:Ultimate Growth GuideJoin the Facebook groupEpisode 66Episode 53Key Takeaways:You're not your client's only financial resource, you're their quarterback. Coordinate the game plan while bringing in specialists for specific plays.Refer too early rather than too late. If you're unsure whether a client needs specialized advice, lean toward making the referral.The strongest referral relationships develop through consistently positive experiences with mutual clients—so be patient and focus on quality over quantity.Frame referrals as expanding resources, not passing clients off. Say, “To help you reach your goals faster, I'd like to bring in a specialist” instead of simply “This is outside my expertise.”Your scope of practice isn't a limitation, it's what makes you valuable. When you try to be everything to everyone, you become less effective at what you're truly great at.Clients need your coaching support most when implementing advice from other professionals. Schedule specific sessions to help them translate technical recommendations into practical action steps.Build relationships with professionals who care about staying in their lane as much as you do. Look for people who won't tell you how to do your job while you respect theirs.

Thanks to our partner PromotiveThe mega-money players have arrived—and they're changing the game for independent auto repair shops.Private equity is buying up some of the best shops in the country, often paying prices that make long-time owners' jaws drop. But what does this mean for you—the shop owner still running your business day-to-day? Should you be worried, or is there a hidden opportunity in all this change?In this episode of Business by the Numbers, Hunt Demerast, CPA at Paar Melis & Associates, breaks down what private equity really is, why they're suddenly so interested in auto repair, and the strategies they use to buy, scale, and sell. You'll learn not just how they operate—but what independent shop owners can borrow from their playbook to boost profitability and stay competitive.What You'll Learn:(02:51) Why this episode isn't about “how to sell”—and what it is about(03:27) The number one rule when approached by private equity (and why going it alone is risky)(04:42) How other industries—collision, HVAC, dealerships—have already been through this wave of consolidation(08:57) The big labor rate advantage collision shops have, and why private equity thinks it can apply to repair shops(11:16) The mindset difference: why private equity is only about profitable work(13:50) Strength in numbers: why 80 small shops are worth far more together than apart(16:10) How tire sales and bulk purchasing make their numbers work(17:57) The lessons independent shops can steal from private equity's approach(20:15) The choice: build for community or build for maximum money(22:27) Why a private equity buyout might actually make your life easier(24:37) The two possible futures for private equity in auto repair—and which is more likelyIf you've been curious, concerned, or just plain baffled by the rise of private equity in the auto repair world, this episode gives you the insider view—and the tools to prepare for what's next.Thanks to our partner PromotiveIt's time to hire a superstar for your business; what a grind you have in front of you. Introducing Promotive, a full-service staffing solution for your shop. Promotive has over 40 years of recruiting and automotive experience. If you need qualified technicians and service advisors and want to offload the heavy lifting, visit www.gopromotive.com.Paar Melis and Associates – Accountants Specializing in Automotive RepairVisit us Online: www.paarmelis.comEmail Hunt: podcast@paarmelis.comText Paar Melis @ 301-307-5413Download a Copy of My Books Here:Wrenches to Write-OffsYour Perfect Shop The Aftermarket Radio Network: https://aftermarketradionetwork.com/Remarkable Results Radio...

In this episode of The Dental Boardroom Podcast, Wes Reed, CPA, CFP, continues his financial planning series for dental practice owners by diving deeper into the concept of break-even levels and the importance of creating a business financial plan that supports your personal financial goals.Wes revisits the three key break-evens every dentist should know:Practice Break-Even – Covering fixed costs, variable costs, and debt.Living Budget Break-Even – Covering your practice costs, personal living expenses, and taxes.Financial Independence Break-Even – Covering all the above while setting aside money for your future.From there, he outlines the five critical steps to building a business financial plan, with a special focus on Step 3: Completing a Tax Plan. Wes shares why tax planning is not just a one-time event but an ongoing process tied to your overall cash flow and long-term financial independence.Whether you're just starting your practice or have years of experience, this episode offers a practical roadmap for aligning your business and personal finances so that your work today fuels the life you want tomorrow.Key PointsRecap of the three break-evens: Practice, Living Budget, and Financial Independence.Why defining your version of financial independence is essential before planning.Four core steps in the financial planning sequence for dentists.Five steps to creating a business financial planImportance of structuring your practice as an S Corporation for tax efficiency (in most cases).Tax planning as an ongoing process, not a one-time task.Balancing current needs with future goals through strategic planning.#DentalBoardroom #PracticeCFO #DentalPracticeManagement #FinancialPlanningForDentists #BreakEvenAnalysis #TaxPlanning #SCorporation #DentalBusinessPlan #DentistFinances #WealthPlanning #CashFlowManagement #DentalCPA #FinancialIndependence

Thanks to our partner PromotiveThe mega-money players have arrived—and they're changing the game for independent auto repair shops.Private equity is buying up some of the best shops in the country, often paying prices that make long-time owners' jaws drop. But what does this mean for you—the shop owner still running your business day-to-day? Should you be worried, or is there a hidden opportunity in all this change?In this episode of Business by the Numbers, Hunt Demerast, CPA at Paar Melis & Associates, breaks down what private equity really is, why they're suddenly so interested in auto repair, and the strategies they use to buy, scale, and sell. You'll learn not just how they operate—but what independent shop owners can borrow from their playbook to boost profitability and stay competitive.What You'll Learn:(02:51) Why this episode isn't about “how to sell”—and what it is about(03:27) The number one rule when approached by private equity (and why going it alone is risky)(04:42) How other industries—collision, HVAC, dealerships—have already been through this wave of consolidation(08:57) The big labor rate advantage collision shops have, and why private equity thinks it can apply to repair shops(11:16) The mindset difference: why private equity is only about profitable work(13:50) Strength in numbers: why 80 small shops are worth far more together than apart(16:10) How tire sales and bulk purchasing make their numbers work(17:57) The lessons independent shops can steal from private equity's approach(20:15) The choice: build for community or build for maximum money(22:27) Why a private equity buyout might actually make your life easier(24:37) The two possible futures for private equity in auto repair—and which is more likelyIf you've been curious, concerned, or just plain baffled by the rise of private equity in the auto repair world, this episode gives you the insider view—and the tools to prepare for what's next.Thanks to our partner PromotiveIt's time to hire a superstar for your business; what a grind you have in front of you. Introducing Promotive, a full-service staffing solution for your shop. Promotive has over 40 years of recruiting and automotive experience. If you need qualified technicians and service advisors and want to offload the heavy lifting, visit www.gopromotive.com.Paar Melis and Associates – Accountants Specializing in Automotive RepairVisit us Online: www.paarmelis.comEmail Hunt: podcast@paarmelis.comText Paar Melis @ 301-307-5413Download a Copy of My Books Here:Wrenches to Write-OffsYour Perfect Shop The Aftermarket Radio Network: https://aftermarketradionetwork.com/Remarkable Results Radio...

In this episode of The Visibility Impact Show, we dive into the world of money, taxes, and financial visibility with CPA and tax strategist Tiffany Phillips, CEO of Phillips Business Group. Tiffany shares the truth behind why most business owners are overpaying tens of thousands in taxes, and how to change that using smart, legal strategies. She breaks down what proactive tax planning actually looks like, the common mistakes entrepreneurs make, and why most CPAs are keeping you stuck.Tiffany also opens up about the mindset shifts required to take control of your finances, why visibility builds trust in the financial space, and how she used her podcast to grow her brand and impact. Whether you've been avoiding your numbers or want to optimize what you're already doing, this is a must-listen for women business owners who are ready to feel confident, empowered, and strategic with their money.Grab Tiffany's Book and connect with her:https://yourbiggestexpense.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffany-phillips-cpa-528587187/Drop us a message...Join this FREE Telegram space, Broadcast... https://thevisibleceo.com/broadcastBROADCAST is for the human-first leader who refuses to be muted by algorithms, AI, or outdated strategies. You've got something to say, and it's time to say it like you mean it. If you are ready for me to shift your thinking on how you can create a business WITHOUT living on your phone - this is the space to be! OMNI is my full visibility system built for CEOs who want to grow online without living on their phone. If you're ready to be truly seen, more strategic, and unmistakably in demand, head to check out OMNI at www.omniqueens.com Take the FREE Quiz to find out how visible you really are at www.thevisibleceo.com/quiz Review, share with a friend and tag me! IG: itscrissyconner FB: crissyconner LI: crissyconnerOMNI is my full visibility system built for CEOs who want to grow online without living on their phone. If you're ready to be truly seen, more strategic, and unmistakably in demand, head to check out OMNI at www.omniqueens.com Take the FREE Quiz to find out how visible you really are at www.thevisibleceo.com/quiz https://www.instagram.com/itscrissyconner/https://www.tiktok.com/@crissyconnerhttps://www.facebook.com/crissyconnerhttps://www.youtube.com/c/crissyconnerhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/crissyconner/

In this episode, host Jarrod Bridgeman sits down with financial experts Steve Levy and Brodie Hough to discuss a crucial distinction for any business owner: the difference between a proactive and a reactive CPA. They dive into what it means for a CPA to be proactive—actively monitoring your finances, staying ahead of tax law changes, and providing timely advice that saves you money.The trio shares real-world examples of how this approach can significantly benefit dental practices, from optimizing quarterly tax payments to strategically structuring major investments. Learn how to identify a CPA who will be a true partner in your practice's success, not just an annual tax preparer.Interested in more info on how to: Earn More, Save More, and Retire EarlyUpcoming Tour Dates: Go to our EVENTS page for infoFacebook: Four Quadrants AdvisoryInstagram: @fourquadrantsadvisoryLinkedIn: Four Quadrants Advisory

What if nonprofits could actually deliver 85% of donations straight to the mission, and ditch the admin sludge that holds them back? In this episode, Matt and Luigi sit down with impact strategist Missy Mastel (CPA, CGMA), founder of Masstel Consulting. They unpack how nonprofits (and even for-profits) can streamline operations, leverage AI, and build purpose-driven cultures. Highlights include administrative hacks, fundraising wisdom, and how social-good strategies attract both donors and top talent.   Here's what you'll learn: ✅ How nonprofits evolved from Roman corporations to IRS tax code heroes ✅ Why 85% of donations should hit the mission—and how Missy makes that happen ✅ The real difference between nonprofits, foundations, and B Corps ✅ How to fast-track your 501(c)(3) approval—and avoid rookie mistakes ✅ Why corporations like Subaru and Rolex use impact as a marketing play ✅ How younger donors give monthly on autopilot—and why that's gold ✅ The secret to landing big-name donors: talk to the marketing team, not the CEO ✅ What a “triple bottom line” really means—and why your org needs it to stay relevant ✅ Estate planning, charitable trusts, and how Boomers are making peace with the planet   Who is Missy?  Missy S. Mastel, CPA, CGMA, is the founder and principal at Masstel Consulting. She streamlines nonprofit admin, accounting, fundraising, board development, and AI automation, so mission folks can actually do the good. Author of Generation Giving Back, and creator of ImpactNonprofits.co, a matchmaking database connecting nonprofits and for-profit partners.  

Blake and David discuss how both AICPA and NASBA have officially endorsed a 120-hour CPA licensure pathway in the ninth edition of the Uniform Accountancy Act, validating Blake's long-standing advocacy against the 150-hour requirement. They also examine Baker Tilly's policy, which requires CPAs to remove their designations from email signatures and LinkedIn profiles due to alternative practice structures. They move on to the launch of GPT-5, praising its improved integration but noting concerning chart errors in OpenAI's presentation and ongoing hallucination issues. Rounding things out, they also discuss Trump's firing of newly-appointed IRS Commissioner Billy Long after just weeks in office, comparing it to his dismissal of the Bureau of Labor Statistics head over unfavorable job revision data.SponsorsOnPay - http://accountingpodcast.promo/onpay Keeper - http://accountingpodcast.promo/keeperMissive - http://accountingpodcast.promo/missive TeamUp - http://accountingpodcast.promo/teamupChapters(00:41) - AICPA and NASBA owe Blake an apology (02:35) - AI and GPT-5 Launch (04:17) - CPA License Controversy (13:04) - IRS and BLS Firings (24:54) - Tariffs and Economic Impact (37:13) - Impressive Results with GPT-5 (41:13) - Private Equity and Accounting Firms (45:16) - AI Errors in High-Stakes Presentations (56:41) - SEC's New Stable Coin Regulations (59:56) - China's Response to US Stable Coin Regulations (01:01:16) - KPMG and the Silicon Valley Bank Collapse (01:03:20) - Macy's Executive Bonuses Clawed Back (01:05:33) - Luckin Coffee's Auditor Penalized (01:08:34) - Mike Lynch's Estate Hit with $1 Billion Judgment (01:09:51) - Match Group's Stock Surge and Economic Optimism (01:12:58) - Final Thoughts and Continuing Education  Show NotesNASBA, AICPA give blessing to 120-hour CPA pathwayhttps://www.cfo.com/news/governing-bodies-of-accounting-give-blessing-to-120-hour-cpa-requirement/754033/ AICPA and NASBA Approve Model Legislation for New CPA Licensure Pathhttps://nasba.org/blog/2025/05/13/aicpa-and-nasba-approve-model-legislation-for-new-cpa-licensure-path/NASBA and AICPA Publish Ninth Edition of the Uniform Accountancy Act (UAA)https://nasba.org/blog/2025/07/22/nasba-and-aicpa-publish-ninth-edition-of-the-uniform-accountancy-act-uaa/Alaska Becomes the Latest State to Offer an Alternate CPA Pathway, With No Help From the Governorhttps://www.goingconcern.com/alaska-becomes-the-latest-state-to-offer-an-alternate-cpa-pathway-with-no-help-from-the-governor/CPA requirements by statehttps://www.cfo.com/news/cpa-requirements-by-state-cfo-accounting-updates-changes-150-hour/740328/Baker Tilly Secures Private Equity Investment in Largest CPA Transaction to Datehttps://insidepublicaccounting.com/2024/02/05/baker-tilly-secures-private-equity-investment-in-largest-cpa-transaction-to-date/Trump ousts Billy Long as IRS commissioner, names Bessent acting headhttps://www.cnn.com/2025/08/08/politics/billy-long-ousted-irs-commissionerIRS Commissioner Billy Long replaced after less than two monthshttps://www.npr.org/2025/08/08/nx-s1-5496549/irs-billy-long-trumpTrump removes Billy Long as IRS commissioner, giving him the shortest-ever tenure in the rolehttps://federalnewsnetwork.com/management/2025/08/trump-removes-billy-long-as-irs-commisioner-less-than-2-months-after-his-confirmation/OpenAI botches the charts in GPT-5 introductionhttps://flowingdata.com/2025/08/07/openai-botches-the-charts-in-gpt-5-introduction/GPT-5 Launch Demo Plagued With Catastrophically Dumb Errorshttps://futurism.com/gpt-5-demo-dumb-errorsSam Altman addresses 'bumpy' GPT-5 rollout, bringing 4o back, and the 'chart crime'https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/08/sam-altman-addresses-bumpy-gpt-5-rollout-bringing-4o-back-and-the-chart-crime/Introducing GPT-5https://openai.com/index/introducing-gpt-5/Need CPE?Get CPE for listening to podcasts with Earmark: https://earmarkcpe.comSubscribe to the Earmark Podcast: https://podcast.earmarkcpe.comGet in TouchThanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040.SponsorshipsAre you interested in sponsoring The Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus.Need Accounting Conference Info? Check out our new website - accountingconferences.comLimited edition shirts, stickers, and other necessitiesTeePublic Store: http://cloudacctpod.link/merchSubscribeApple Podcasts: http://cloudacctpod.link/ApplePodcastsYouTube...

Title: Travel Like a Billionaire: The 90% Off Secret to a First-Class Lifestyle with Eli Facenda In this conversation, Eli Facenda shares insights on maximizing travel experiences through strategic use of points and credit cards. He discusses his nomadic lifestyle, the entrepreneurial journey that led him to travel hacking, and the importance of understanding the value of different points systems. Eli emphasizes the need for a structured approach to travel, focusing on maximizing points, optimizing travel upgrades, and effectively using credit cards to enhance travel experiences. The discussion also touches on the significance of having a clear strategy for business owners and how to navigate the complexities of travel rewards. In this conversation, Eli Facenda shares his expertise on maximizing travel experiences through strategic use of points and credit cards. He discusses the importance of community in travel planning, innovative solutions for entrepreneurs, and his personal journey in the travel industry. Eli emphasizes the significance of experiential wealth and actionable steps listeners can take to enhance their travel experiences. Links to Watch and Subscribe: https://youtu.be/c7QqSscsajc Bullet Point Highlights: Seth and Eli kick off with casual banter about van life, audio gear, and the nomad lifestyle. Eli shares his background going from broke entrepreneur to travel-hacking expert. He explains how he got obsessed with using points after a free trip to Thailand changed his mindset. Eli now helps entrepreneurs take $20K–$50K luxury trips for 90% off using credit card points. His 3-part system includes maximizing points, optimizing travel perks, and redeeming for bucket-list trips. He gives a real-world example of booking a $20K ANA business class flight to Japan for just $12. Seth dives into a real-life org structure and Eli explains how points flow to the guarantor, not the LLC. Best practice: 2–3 business cards and 2–3 personal cards tailored to your biggest spend categories. Eli introduces his new “DreamTrip Alert System” that delivers full trip itineraries at massive discounts. In the Million Dollar Monday segment, Eli shares how he made, lost, and remade his first million. His next million will come from scalable digital products and a wider reach through content and community. What makes Eli top 1%: He walks the walk, traveling the world and running a business around it. His #1 tip: Pick your dream trip, put it on the calendar, and commit, then let the how figure itself out. Transcript: Eli Facenda (00:00.059) What's up, Seth?   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:01.43) Yo, what's going on, brother?   Eli Facenda (00:03.237) How we doing, man? How we doing?   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:05.141) Excellent man, what's happening?   Eli Facenda (00:06.893) Not much. you, how's the audio coming through here?   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:11.032) Sounds good, sounds good.   Eli Facenda (00:12.547) it clean? Okay, because I'm, it's basically we're in the middle of a Nomad trip here, so I normally have like a, like a shirt mic like you have, but on the road I haven't had, so I haven't had to test this yet, but I figured the DJI's are pretty solid, so I wanna make sure it's actually coming through decent.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:16.962) Okay.   Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:26.732) Nice. Yeah, no, it sounds good. Sounds good, man.   Eli Facenda (00:29.425) Okay, cool, awesome. Awesome Dave, we'll get to connect with you.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:33.802) Yeah, brother definitely, so I don't butcher it. How do you pronounce your last name? Facenda, okay, cool. Cool Awesome, man. Yeah, we've we've crossed paths on social media. I think or maybe our va's have crossed paths who knows   Eli Facenda (00:39.077) for sender. Yep, yep.   Eli Facenda (00:47.663) Yeah, think that was where, yeah, think we were initially connecting, yeah, totally. Instagram, I think, was the place. Yeah. Because you're out in California, right? Nice, I'm in West Palm right now. And I mean, normally based in Austin, but we're in the middle of a like, six to eight month nomad adventure. And so we are, we're on the road here, and we go to Europe in a few weeks for like the next several months.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:53.42) Yeah, nice, nice, where you at right now? Yep, San Diego.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:10.446) Sweet dude.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:17.166) That's awesome dude, awesome, awesome. Love it man, that's a long time. So we did last May we did, man it's been like a year, geez. We did like 30, 33 days in a van trip. So we took our van up through Wyoming into Montana and into Canada. That was a long time for us, but 68 months. Right, yeah.   Eli Facenda (01:18.117) Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, man.   Eli Facenda (01:33.455) Nice.   Eli Facenda (01:37.465) sick. Yeah, well vans are intense too. You know, I haven't done van life but my fiance, she did that before and it was like a lot for her. But yeah, so totally depends on the way you're traveling as well. Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:47.266) Yeah.   Nice, nice. Cool, man. Just give you a quick rundown. our audience, my audience is typically, so it used to be passive investors, right? So it used to be the passive income attorney podcast. I think when we might've tried to schedule before and that was for investors. So accredited investors trying to get them to invest in my commercial real estate deals, that sort of thing. But now I've rebranded to raising the bar, which is more geared towards active investors and entrepreneurs and folks like that. So still,   Eli Facenda (02:10.619) Mm-hmm.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (02:19.982) Still, I'm sure your clients, wealthy folks that are starting businesses, that have businesses, that are raising capital for real estate or private equity or other types of businesses, that sort of thing. And then we'll do about, we'll do it a little on the shorter side. So we'll do about 30 minute interview, probably at the longest. And then we'll kind of just close that out. And then I do two little smaller sections that I break down into like little five minute episodes. One is a million dollar.   Eli Facenda (02:25.403) Totally.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (02:49.622) Monday I put that in the notes and it's basically just like real quick, like how you made your first million dollars, how you made your last million, how you plan on making your next million. then, yeah, and then the last one is the top 1%. Basically just kind of what separates you and makes you the top 1 % in what you do.   Eli Facenda (02:59.675) Cool. Yeah, I love it. It's great.   Eli Facenda (03:08.699) Okay, beautiful. And then as far as, is there any place you want me to point people that is connected to you or do you care if you're asking about that? I don't have any hard call to action kind of pitch thing, but it's more just like.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:19.916) No, man, whatever, it's up to you, man, whatever you want to do, whatever you, whatever call it action you want to use, if want to send it to your website or social media, whatever you want to do,   Eli Facenda (03:26.577) Cause you know what we do have, I can do this. We have a pretty cool playbook that's normally 150 bucks and I'm happy to give it to your listeners for free. So I could give them a code, just say what would be the best code for that?   Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:37.175) Okay, awesome.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:43.429) Um, just raise would probably be good. use that a lot for like call to action, like DME raise. So you could use a raise.   Eli Facenda (03:46.161) Cool. All right, so yeah, so I'll just say go to the website and just DM or just put in the code RAYS and you'll get it for free. But it's like a whole playbook on how to maximize points for trips. I've act like legitimately I've had someone buy it and within 48 hours he texted me a screenshot. was like, dude, I just saved 20 grand on a trip from your ebook. And I was like, wow, okay, it works. So it's good. Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:57.07) Sweet.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (04:09.366) Nice, Cool. All right, man, well, we're already recording, so I'll just jump right in, and then if I need to add anything to the beginning, I'll do that later. And cool, man, yeah, we'll just jump right in.   Eli Facenda (04:14.129) Sweet. You're welcome.   Eli Facenda (04:20.27) Awesome.   Eli Facenda (04:24.913) Let's do it.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (04:27.444) Eli, what's going on, brother? Welcome to the show.   Eli Facenda (04:30.181) Thank you man, excited to be here and I we're going coast to coast today so this will be good.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (04:34.382) Absolutely, man. So we chatted beforehand, but I think you're tuning in on a road trip right now. So you're living proof of what you do, right?   Eli Facenda (04:44.065) Yeah, totally. are, well this part's kind of like a road trip. We're in West Palm Beach right now, but this is basically leg number two out of, we'll end up being probably an eight month nomadic adventure with me and my fiance and our little puppy. And so we're in West Palm Beach right now in Florida. We head to Europe in less than a month and we'll be bouncing around different parts of Europe for about four months roughly before we decide where we're gonna go next, which we're not exactly sure.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (04:58.904) Nice.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (05:12.28) That's awesome, man. Are you using all your hacks and secrets and travel tips that you put out there?   Eli Facenda (05:18.449) Absolutely, yeah, 100%. I mean, we just got back from a crazy trip to Japan. This was really cool. I run an entrepreneur mastermind. So we integrated our own trip around Japan around this mastermind event. So I had 53 people come out for like eight days. We went snowboarding in the mountains in Niseko in the Northern Park. And then we went down to Tokyo for the cherry blossoms. But for myself personally, to get there and back and do a lot of the hotels, we used points. We saved over 50 grand just on that portion of the trip. We then...   know, flew down to West Palm on points and then going over to Europe and a lot of the stays over there will also be leveraging the point strategies that I help clients use and then I talk about on social media and the stuff that we'll dive into today. But yeah, I like to be living proof of it because it's pretty awesome. It's something that's really impacted my life. I love doing it. And when I do it, I get to share it too. So has like a multiple benefit for everybody.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (06:06.648) That's awesome, man. I'm excited, dude. I'm excited to dig in here, because it's just for my own personal benefit and education, because I'm super stoked about this stuff, and I travel a lot with my fiance, or my fiance, my wife, and it's something I'm personally interested in as well. We've had past conversations too, so it's great to have you on, man. So just to start off, man, if somebody, you meet somebody in the street, they ask you what you do, how do you explain that?   in a sentence, right? Like without going into some crazy like tangent about all the awesome things that you do. Like what, how do you answer that question?   Eli Facenda (06:36.453) Yeah.   Eli Facenda (06:41.329) Sure, sure, Yeah, it really does depend on the situation, but I oftentimes will ask a couple questions because it makes it easier for people to understand. So usually it's like, do you have any big dream bucket list trip you've ever wanted to take? And they'll be like, oh yeah, Greece. I'm like, well, what we do is we help you get to Greece in business or first class, stay in five star hotels, have the trip of your dreams at about 90 % off. So that's kind of the tagline is take the trip of your dreams for about 90 % off.   I'll get into the whole point side of things, but some people don't know what points are, or some are really well studied in that world. So I just leave with the trip because that's usually what people want. They want to have the experience where it's you and your wife flying first class, sipping champagne on the way to Paris to go see the Eiffel Tower and the points and the credit cards. That's really the mechanism. That's how we make the experience happen. But at end of the day, what we want is the amazing memories, the beautiful experience, all that stuff. So I leave with the trip when I talk about it.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (07:37.848) That's awesome, man. Yeah, I mean, you're literally selling the dream, right? Like in marketing, you sell the dream or hit on a pain point. Like you are like the quintessential selling the dream. Like that's what everybody thinks about. So.   Eli Facenda (07:42.969) Yeah, exactly.   Yeah, Right. Well, it's funny because, you know, in marketing, they'll say like, sell the destination, not the vehicle, right? They'll be like, sell the outcome, not how you get there. And so we do that in our marketing. But then when you think about it, when people are taking a trip, what we are helping them do is make the vehicle to get to the destination part of the destination. Because really, when you travel well, and you do it in style, the flight becomes a part of the trip that you're excited for.   I can't wait to see the the drinks and the champagne and the food they're gonna have and how awesome the seat is and the movie selection, how big's the screen. At least for people that love to travel, it becomes a fascination of the trip, not just getting there. So that's a big difference maker when people start to go on these flights, and this is what a lot of our clients will say, and for me, it goes from flying economy to like, I'm counting down the hours to get off this freaking plane.   to like, we do another lap around the city? Cause like, I'd love to just hang out here longer, right? And like the flight attendants treat you really well. So yeah, it's a whole experience.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (08:49.314) That's awesome, man. Yeah, that's great. Was there a trip that you went on personally where you just kind of thought, man, I can turn this into a business, right? Like you're just enjoying it so much that you just were like, like the light bulb went off or how did this business spawn?   Eli Facenda (09:04.515) Yeah, there wasn't one trip that I made the connection between like, trip is awesome, let me start a business. But there was one trip that gave me the light bulb of, my God, I am obsessed with this, I need to learn everything I can. There was zero intention or thought about business that when it first started. And that'll take you back about 10 years. So was around 22 years old and I'm just coming out of college. And basically I'm in my mom's basement and I remember this really...   like heavy feeling because I went to a good university near New York City and all my friends went to Wall Street and they were making like six figures plus right out of school. And I had this like entrepreneurial bug. I was like, that's not for me. I don't want to sit in an office. I don't care if I can make a lot of money. I want to like play life on my terms, even if it means I'm making less. So at this point I have friends that are making tons of money, know, lots of disposable income and I'm making like 20 grand a year. I'm working four side jobs. I was trying to build a company. I remember getting this text.   And my stomach just dropped, because I was like, shit, I'm going to miss out on this incredible experience. was friends inviting me to go to Thailand. And I was like, if I don't figure out a better strategy of either how to make more money or figure something out, I'm not going be able to go on this trip. And I was like, damn, this is going to be just a life of missing out on experiences. Is that what it means to follow my dreams with entrepreneurship? It's like, I have to forego everything that my other friends are doing. And so was like, let me think about this differently. And I had a mentor that told me, you don't need more money, you need a better strategy. And he was talking about growing a business.   But for me, I was like, oh wait, there's this credit card point thing. What if I could figure that out? So I ended up piecing it together. I got a trip to Thailand for free. I had this amazing experience with some of my best friends. It's like still, you know, 13 friends in Thailand at age like 22, 23. Memories you don't get back. So was really grateful to have that. And then I came back from that trip and I got another flight a few, probably a year later to Europe in business class where it was a $6,000 ticket that I paid $6 for. Now after that one,   I came off that flight and I was like, I will read every blog, I will watch every YouTube video, I will learn everything about this because it meant I could travel the world and have this incredible lifestyle without having to go take a corporate job. So was like, I get to have my entrepreneurial dream and the travel I want without any trade-offs and I was like, this is amazing. So that was my first time I got hooked. It took me years of researching and reading blogs and websites and doing stuff for myself before I even had the thought of helping anyone else. I just became obsessed with it on my own.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (11:27.086) I love that you recognize you had the entrepreneurial bug early on, right? Before you got drugged down into the corporate ladder and then you got the golden handcuffs, we like to call it, and that sort of thing where it gets much, much harder to escape that gravity. I know for myself, it took a really long time. ended up going to, I went to med school, then I got my MBA, and then I went to law school, and then I worked in a big law firm, and it just took me all this time to figure out like, I don't want this.   Eli Facenda (11:38.405) Yeah.   Eli Facenda (11:49.201) Mm.   Eli Facenda (11:56.763) Right, well the social pressure alone of like everyone year round is going one way, it takes a lot of guts for you to zig when everyone else is zagging, like it's not easy to do. Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (11:57.015) And I think it's.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (12:06.648) For sure, for sure. Yeah, it's tough. It's tough, right? And especially when you see your friends making six figures right out of college, you're like, man, I could do that right now if I wanted to do it, but I don't want that. So it takes guts to be able to go out there and do your own thing.   Eli Facenda (12:21.873) Totally. And I think everyone has their own version of that still. There's even vert flavors of that today that are still existing for me where it's like, everyone's kinda going this way, but when I really get quiet and listen to myself, I'm like, yeah, you could do that, but you actually, what your soul or your heart really wants is to go over here. And so I've always just tried to listen to that more because I think about one of my North stars is, at the end of my life, I'm 80, 90 years old, I do the rocking chair test and look back, it's like,   What regret would I rather not have when I'm 90? I'd always rather be like I bet on myself than like I took the sure, you know, the well-paid path, which is the old cliche, but I think it's really true.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (13:01.004) Totally, I love that North Star, man. Have you ever asked ChatGBT to give you advice as your 80 or 90 year old self on your deathbed? It's great. Yeah. I love it, man. I love it. Yeah, it's great. It you great insight. You start reading, you're like, this is good.   Eli Facenda (13:07.409) Yeah, yeah, I actually created a custom GPT and it's my future me that coaches current me. yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah.   Right. Exactly. Yeah, totally.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (13:21.326) Awesome man, well let's get back kind of on the business of travel, right? So somebody comes to you, they do that introduction that we talked about, you get in a deeper conversation, they're super interested in it, they wanna learn more about these travel hacks and strategies, like where do they start? Where do you point them?   Eli Facenda (13:42.447) Yeah, so in terms of the process, I like to chunk it into three main buckets.   And it's important to have context around this game because if you don't, it just starts to feel like there's so many moving pieces and who has time for that and it's too confusing and then it becomes overwhelming and overwhelm just basically leads to an action. And then that is the person who's like, well, I just don't wanna do that, I'll just take a cash back card or I'll just stick to my Delta card, right? And so when you have the right context, you can start to understand the highest leverage moves to make and then you know really how to get the result you want with the least amount of effort. So that's what we focus on and specifically like I've worked with   probably over a thousand business owners now. And with business owners, investors and entrepreneurs, it's a different, the points game takes on a different context, right? Because usually the constraint we have to solve for is time and complexity. And if you work a nine to five, you know, after five o'clock, you've got hours for your night. But entrepreneurs, it's like every hour is kind of an asset that you can use. So it's a little bit different. So the three buckets are, the first one is to maximize the points that you earn. So this happens from getting the right cards and the right expenses.   because all of these different points are like currency, so you wanna earn the right type of points and then you wanna maximize the amount of them by getting the right cards and the right expenses. So that's the first piece and that's really, really key, because nothing else happens if you don't get that right. The second bucket is gonna be to upgrade and optimize your travel. So you've got domestic trips for a conference, are you getting TSA pre-check and clear, are you getting the best lounges, are you getting first class upgrades and free bags and hotel suite upgrades and free breakfast at the hotels and free wifi. Really it's just like,   There's all these opportunities available for people that are traveling domestically for work, for family events, you know, your kind of ordinary traveling might have. And what we want to do is we just want to enhance the quality of all of that and reduce all the headaches and annoyances by maximizing benefits on cards and status perks and all the kind of like little tactics that you can play. So that's the second thing that just makes your travel more comfortable. And then the third bucket, which is really the most important in terms of impact in your life and the most meaningful piece is to take your dream bucket list trips for 70 to 90 % off.   Eli Facenda (15:45.775) And so that's where you're gonna take the points you've accumulated. You're gonna use some strategies that I can break down here around transferring these points from the banks to the airlines and hotels, and you're gonna get these dream trips for literally a fraction of what they should cost if you're paying cash, or compared to if you were using your points through a site like Amex Travel or Capital & Travel or Chase Travel. Okay, so that's a mouthful, but those are the three. So maximize your points, get the best possible upgrades, and then take your dream trips for 90 % off.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (16:13.934) Yeah, dive into one of those little those connecting strategies there that you mentioned.   Eli Facenda (16:19.183) Yeah. Yeah. So I'll talk first about the cards. That's the order. This is the first mistake that most business owners and individuals are making is they're just getting random cards. They're like, well, I live in Dallas. Let me get the American card or live in Atlanta. So I'll get the Delta card or, whatever it may be. Or live in San Diego and I fly domestic. So I'll just get the Southwest card. Well, they don't realize is that again, these points, these points like currencies. And so if I told you, Hey, do you want 150 Mexican pesos or 150 us dollars for your couch that you're selling on Facebook marketplace?   you're obviously gonna take the US dollars, right? Because the currency is much higher. But with points, people don't realize that. So they might be racking up Hilton points or Delta miles or other points and miles that just aren't as valuable as other ones out there. And then they burn through them quick or they don't go as far. And they end up just basically sitting there being like, I feel like I should be getting more. This is the common thing I hear. I feel like this should be taking me further, but like it's not doing much. And so what we wanna focus on is bank points that are transferable. So certain banks,   have this ability to convert the points to the airline hotel loyalty programs. And what happens is the banks have a different way of pricing than the airlines do. And certain airlines and certain hotels have really good what we call sweet spots or opportunities for you to get the best possible deals. Okay, so when you earn these effective points, which the top ones I recommend are generally Amex, Chase, and Capital One, and there's a new program built actually is out where you can put your rent on a card with no fees and earn points, it's really cool. But when you get those right,   And then you look through your expenses and you say, what do I spend the most on? Is it groceries and dining and the personal side? Cool. There's a card like the Amex Gold that is specifically really good for those types of expenses. Then you look at your business. What do I spend a lot on? Is it ads and software and taking clients out for dinners? Great. The Amex Business Gold earns four points per dollar on those categories, but maybe it's you're spending a lot on flights for company travel, or maybe you have inventory you're buying, or you're paying a lot of contractors, or you have a lot of payroll. You want to assess where you're spending the most money.   and make sure you have the optimal card lined up for that type of expense. So I'll pause there, but that's kind of the first bucket. The other one is on using the points effectively, which I can talk about too, is pretty powerful. But that first one is really the linchpin. Because if you have a bunch of Delta miles and you want to go to Europe, I'll give an example actually one more before I kind of pause. There was an example recently I saw of a client and they wanted to go to Europe and we're looking at different options. This was from JFK to Amsterdam. If you have Delta miles,   Eli Facenda (18:43.547) The ticket for Delta One, this big awesome Delta Suite, was 320,000 miles. That's what Delta was charging to go from JFK to Amsterdam. It's really expensive amount of miles. But the same exact flight, like same flight number, same aircraft, everything, if you booked it through Virgin Atlantic, it was 50,000 miles. One seventh of the amount almost. It's really, really big difference. And so here's the kicker, right? If you have a Delta card, you only earn Delta miles, so you have to pay the 320,000.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (18:46.765) Mm-hmm.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (19:02.124) Hmm.   Eli Facenda (19:12.497) but if you had an Amex card that earned Amex points, so like the Amex gold or business gold, you could actually convert those points into Virgin to book the Delta flight because Virgin and Delta are partners, and you'd pay 50,000 points instead of 320,000. So this is the part where like, for people that kind of get this, they're like, whoa, and the other people are like, what did you just say? So I get it can be, it can be tricky for some people that are just getting to grasp it, but I want to make sure to lay out the whole game so people can understand really what's possible for them.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (19:34.764) Yeah   Seth Bradley, Esq. (19:42.329) Totally, totally. Yeah, it's just, mean, I'm sure people out there listening, it's both, right? Some people know these things exist, but they don't know the extent of it. And you're opening up their minds regardless, right? Like all the possibilities. I think most people are just like, sure, I need to find a great car that has a welcome offer of some sort. That's usually what people look at. And then they just try to pick, perhaps they take it a step further and they're looking to see like what they spend money on the most and they'll...   Eli Facenda (19:54.139) Tour then.   Eli Facenda (20:04.443) Mm-hmm.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (20:11.128) calibrate that card to that. But you're taking it step further because you know, it's kind of just opening yourself up to knowing all the possibilities, right? All these different connections, where to spend the points, where you can earn the points, those sorts of things. How thick is your wallet, man? Do you have, is your wallet like this and it's got 25 cards in it or what?   Eli Facenda (20:19.419) Totally.   Right. Yeah.   Eli Facenda (20:28.123) Haha   Yeah. Yeah.   Well, caveat this first by saying when we work with clients and we might do recommendations for people, I always recommend if you have a business, two to three personal cards and two to three business cards. That is a simple way to set this up. That's only four to six cards across both things. That's enough where you're really gonna get some serious ROI, but it's not so much that's really complicated. Some people are kind of curmudgeoned about it, like I only want one card. And I'm like, that's fine. There's no right or wrong in this. It's really preferential, but you should just know if you do that, you're gonna be leaving for most business owners that spend at least a few thousand a month.   that's gonna cost you tens of thousands of dollars of free trips a year. So I'm like, is your simplicity of having one card worth that much? If it is, great, but maybe having a second or third card doesn't add that much complexity. But if you get an extra $30,000 a year trip out of it, probably worth it, right? So that's the first thing. But to answer your actual question, so I have an entire thing called the Credit Man purse. It's like this portfolio binder, and it's just stacked with cards. I mean, I have over 40 credit cards, but I've been doing this for a long time, right? And there's like, here's the thing also with credit.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (21:28.28) Hahaha   Eli Facenda (21:34.041) A big question, a lot of investors, specifically people that are doing real estate or business owners, really want to their credit clean and we're huge advocates of actually not just keeping your credit score the same but improving it over time. And when you get business cards, they don't show up on your personal credit report. Okay, the vast majority. The inquiry will, but the actual card won't. And some banks, you can actually get multiple cards with no additional inquiries. So like when we do a custom card plan for someone or when we're just recommending it, we're always saying like, make sure to look at which banks you already have relationships with.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (21:48.142) Mm-hmm.   Eli Facenda (22:02.373) which ones you can get a soft pull from, the order matters of these card applications. But at end of the day, you just want a couple of specific cards that are really gonna be custom built for you, and you don't have to go crazy with it. If you get excited and you're like passionate about it, you can get 10, 15, 20 cards over the course of several years, and if you do it right underneath your businesses, it's not gonna drop your personal credit score. Your personal credit score will actually go up over time.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (22:26.314) Mm-hmm. That's a good hack, man. I'll get I'm put you on a spot a little bit. I'm gonna explain like what what I see a lot of the people that are probably listen to this show have in place structured wise like organizational structure and it's kind of similar to mine. Mine's probably a lot more complicated, but just to keep it simple, you know, there might be a parent company, right? Like this overhead parent company that owns everything. So let's let's call it parent company, right? And then below the parent company, the parent company owns, let's say a management company.   This management company probably manages funds, manages properties, manages equity for investors, that sort of thing. And then they also might have these other businesses, right? Like it just depends on the person. Like for instance, I own gyms and some other, my law firm, things like that. So they might have these own individual operating companies that owns a gym or owns another business or does these other things. you know.   Eli Facenda (22:55.889) Mm-hmm.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (23:20.066) Based on that structure, so you've got a parent company, you've got a, let's call it an equity management or fund management or property management company, and then you've got kind of this other operating business. How would you structure, what credit cards I guess would you kind of recommend? Not necessarily specific ones, but like, do they need one for all three or, yeah, how would you think about that?   Eli Facenda (23:27.301) Mm-hmm.   Eli Facenda (23:36.593) Yeah, yeah, but how would you think about that? Yeah, totally. I mean, it's a super common question. Like this is exactly the kind of clientele that we work with all the time where they're like, are you sure this is gonna work for me? I have four rental properties, two companies, one holding company. I have an investment thing. I have this thing over here. It's like, yeah, it all works. So simple is the key. So it's always a spectrum too. Like some people are, again, really minimalist with like what they want. we always, like when we're doing this for a client, we custom build it. But.   The real recommendation there is we wanna, again, assess which of these companies are actually generating the highest amount of spend. And those are the ones we wanna start with first in terms of cards and really optimizing. Now, if you have a bunch of different companies and they all have a bunch of spend, the first key thing to know is that the points will go to the business owner, the person who personally guaranteed the card, not to the business. So there's no business points account. It's underneath your name, even if it's underneath the LLC.   So the points go to you. So if you have like six different companies and you have like three Chase cards and three Amex cards, all of those three Chase cards and all of those three Amex cards are gonna basically funnel up to your account, okay? So that keeps it simple in terms of how you can think about accruing these points. They're not gonna be scattered everywhere where you can't use them. So that's good to know. Same with the airlines, right? doesn't matter if it's an airline or a bank card. So that's the first thing. For these management companies, usually lot of them don't have much spend.   So what we'll tend to do is just get one card that is like a catch-all card. And so this would be a card that we want to have earn around 1.5 to two points per dollar spent. Because what we've done is we've taken the floor of what you're gonna earn on your everyday spend and we just increase it by 50 to 100%. Okay, so like let's say a parent company is used for some client meetings and some basic legal and admin stuff and it's like 1,500 bucks a month just to do upkeep and normal stuff like that.   and it's not a crazy amount of different categories to spend. You're not running ads, you don't have that much software, there's not really a lot travel happening with it. But if that's the case, then what we wanna do is get a card, maybe like the Chase Inc. Unlimited, which earns 1.5x on everything, and we'll say, look, we're gonna keep this simple. That holding company doesn't have a lot of points earning power, so let's make sure we get a card on it just to earn, but we don't wanna like go crazy and get a bunch of cards and try to maximize every dollar. But this company that owns four different gyms and spends...   Eli Facenda (25:52.369) 50K a month on equipment and advertising and payroll and all this stuff, that's the company where we wanna look to get maybe two or three cards that are specifically aligned with that business to spend because that is where you as an entrepreneur, as an owner, are gonna be generating the most return. It's gonna be from that one entity. So I hope that breaks it down in a way that makes sense, but this is also where, again, having your cards across two to three main banks will keep it relatively simple because even if you have four different entities, if it's under one Amex login, that makes it nice and easy too.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (26:22.53) Totally, totally. Awesome, man. I knew you could handle that. Easy, easy peasy. Cool, man. Let's go to number two, right? Using the points effectively. You kind of touched on a little bit of that strategy, but let's jump into that.   Eli Facenda (26:26.682) Easy basic.   Eli Facenda (26:32.709) Yeah, yeah, so the second thing was optimizing the upgrades and all that. I'll cover that one really quick. If you're going through the airport and you don't have TSA PreCheck and clear and lounge access, you're missing out on some really easy perks that will just make your life way more enjoyable. So that's the first thing. There's a lot you can do with hotel upgrades and status. So like when I travel and go to Miami tonight for a conference, I have status at Hyatt. I'm staying at Hyatt for two of the nights down here.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (26:39.628) Okay.   Eli Facenda (27:02.225) I probably would get upgraded to a suite that's worth like thousand to 1500 bucks a night because I know how to use the suite and I certificate, it's my globalist status, I know how to message the hotel the right way. So there's some strategies there where if you do that, whenever you're traveling, you just get a much better experience. You get early check-in, late check-out, the free suite upgrade, much more spacious room. A lot of times they have lounges at the property like when we were in Tokyo, a bunch of us stayed at the Grand Hyatt there. They had a beautiful lounge overlooking the city. They had breakfast every morning.   They had drinks all day. They had a great lounge area. We actually had a mastermind session in there and they like a 15 person breakout room for us to go to. It cost us $0 to use it. They had afternoon drinks and stuff like that. So these are just the things that make your travel much better. So small tweaks that over time just again, make it a much more enjoyable experience. But that bucket on how you use your points, this is one of the most critical pieces. And I've already kind of alluded to it with that Delta One example, but   I'll share another one. So on the way to Japan, right, we flew ANA business class. This is all Nippon. It's one of the premier airlines in the world for international business class travel. They actually have a seat called The Room because it's so spacious and big, your own big sliding door. They have like an omakase menu. You've got ramen, champagne. It's like really, really good. Amazing sake and green tea and all this good stuff.   It was like an incredible way to fly and you know, it's an 11 hour flight and I didn't sleep a wink because I was just eating the whole time. But here's the deal, right? So that flight for my fiance and I, it would have been $20,000 for the two of us. It's 10,000 a piece. Okay, San Francisco to Tokyo. We're going in peak season, mind you. So I have three options to book that flight. I pay cash for it, which you know, I do decent in business, but I'm not dropping 20 grand on flights.   just to get to Japan, like that's out, that's way out of my bucket of what I would ever want to do. The second option, I go to the bank site. Okay, so again, if you have AMEX points, a lot of people have AMEX cards, like the platinum or the gold card, and this is a good start, but when you go to the bank site, each point is worth one penny. Okay, this is the baseline value of a point. So what happens is if you go to AMEX travel, they'll say, okay, this flight would cost, let's call it 20 grand. So 20 grand times one cent for each point equals 2 million points.   Eli Facenda (29:20.977) So my second option would have been to go to Amex's site and pay two million points, which I don't even have. Okay, so I'm like, that wouldn't have even worked, but that's what most people are doing at use points. They're going directly to the bank site and they're booking using Amex travel and they're getting absolutely screwed. Okay. There's kind of, and then there's a third option, which is to go through the airline site. So there's like three A and three B. Three A would be like, again, you only have Delta miles and you're kind of screwed going just to Delta. I don't recommend that. But the last option is what we did.   which is where we had Amex points and Chase points, and I looked at my different options and I said, okay, what are the best partner airlines I can book through to get to Japan? Well, it turns out, ANA is a part of the Star Alliance, okay? United is also part of that alliance. Chase and United have a partnership where I could convert my Chase points into United miles. When I looked that up, I ended up finding the deal and there's ways you have to kind of search this and track it, but that same flight that would have cost me two million points,   through Amex or Chase travel directly cost me 220,000 points to transfer from Chase to United. And I paid $12 out of Okay, so $20,000 flight, I paid 12 bucks. But how did I do it? I had the right points first. I had enough of them because I had the right cards and the right expenses. I knew how to search for this flight. And then I was able to transfer these points from Chase into the airline. So the hardest part of this entire process   Seth Bradley, Esq. (30:30.402) Hmm.   Eli Facenda (30:49.413) is figuring out the points transfers and which partners are the right ones for certain airlines. That gets very nuanced and complicated. It's kind of like, you know, if you were talking to a CPA and someone's trying to explain how like the Augusta rule works, whatever, and like the CPA pulls up like the tax code and is like unveiling this long list of tax jargon. The average person is just like, what, just like tell me how to do it, right? That's kind of the same thing here. There's a lot of different like angles and transfer partners and bonuses and.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (31:12.43) Right.   Eli Facenda (31:17.689) alliances and partnerships and it gets kind of complicated but that's how it works.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (31:22.434) Totally, totally. So let's talk about that. how do you help people keep track of that or learn that or execute, I guess, on these strategies?   Eli Facenda (31:32.241) Sure, yeah, so for us, our company really has two main levels to it. So we have a community-based level where it's like you're just getting the fast track, you're getting help from experts. So I'm really good at this, but I'm more of an entrepreneur than a points nerd. So as I built this, initially I was the one on the phone with all the clients, walking everyone through it, and then I built a team. So I found basically some of the other points nerds in the world that I was mind blown by. I knew them from social media and just seeing their stuff, and I was like, that person has their stuff. So I brought them onto the team.   And so our clients will interact with both me and them inside of our community, but it's not just points. We're also providing really cool travel experiences. So for example, I posted this, but I'm going kiteboarding in Egypt in June on this epic like entrepreneur kiteboard trip where it's 40 entrepreneurs going to learn how to kiteboard together and masterminding on one. And so I'm attending, I sent it out to our clients and I said, Hey, if you want to come on this, our team will help you plan the flights out there on your point so you can get business class on the way out.   So I like to, because ultimately I wanna help people, my mission is to help people create more experiential wealth in their life. There's financial wealth, and a lot of people accumulate dollars, but they're not turning it into experiences. So I'm like, let's create more experiential wealth, and the points are the way to justify it. So we have that community level where you get access to our team, there's calls you can jump on, ways we help you plan trips, and then we have the done for you services, where we basically just handle it for you. That's more like, think of like a travel agency on points for entrepreneurs.   That's more of what that is. And in there we'll do the custom card planning and map out what cards you need based off of what your specific spends are and stuff like that. So we do some pretty deep intake. And we kind of are almost like a travel agent. It's a little bit different in some ways, but that's basically the two levels in how we help people.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (33:12.29) Great, man. I love how you build in the experience, right? Like that's part of it. Like that's what you're teaching anyway. So it's like, it's not like, hey, join this, join this group and then we'll talk about all these things. You're actually doing it. You're actually inviting them to execute on what you're teaching so that they can see it in motion and then they can continue to do it and experience life at a different level.   Eli Facenda (33:32.497) Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, like, I really love it too. like, I'm like, everyone that works with us is really, usually a pretty cool person. Like, if you're an entrepreneur and you have the guts to build your own business, and then you wanna travel the world, like by nature of that, you're already probably a pretty cool person. Like the majority of people that are doing that, I think well-traveled people are some of the most interesting people. If you want the best stories in life, like, someone who's traveled the world is gonna have some stories for you. And so when you combine those two, it's like, these are people I wanna hang out with anyways. So like, I'm going on a trip to Egypt. I'm like, come with, like.   Whoever in the community wants to come, let's have a party, let's go do it. So it's great thing.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (34:04.994) That's great. Awesome, man. How are you raising the bar in your life and your business right now? Like what are you doing to build your business further, building off of some of the things that you're offering right now? Where are you taking it to the next level?   Eli Facenda (34:18.833) Yeah, so we have a new project we're rolling out inside of our community, which I'm really excited about, which is even just in our lower tier membership, and it's called our DreamTrip Alert System. So what this is, is when people come in, this has never been done before in the world of points and miles or travel at all. So we're the first to do this, which I'm really excited about. So let's say you were to sign up. You're gonna come in and give us your DreamTrip destinations, the seasons or windows that you could go, the points you have, your home airport, all this stuff.   and our team is going through and we're not just finding you like a flight, because there are different alerts out there that'll be like, hey, we found a flight. And it's like, cool, one way from LA to London, but like, what am I gonna do when I'm there? Where am gonna stay? How am getting back? Right, it's like part of the puzzle, but it leaves a lot on you to figure out. And for our clients, most business owners and entrepreneurs, investors, they're too busy to piece all that together. So they're like, well, cool, that doesn't really help me. So we decided to do, we said, what if we...   just basically sent people like a mystery subscription box of their dream trips. And so when you come in and you fill that out, we gather it. And then a couple times a month, we're gonna send out alerts where it's like a 30, 40 or $50,000 type trip, somewhere incredible in the world. We're talking Greek islands, Amalfi Coast, Japan, New Zealand, African safaris, Maldives, Bora Bora, places like that, business and first class flights, five star hotels, four pennies on the dollar. So these are like, we get $40,000 trips where people will end up paying a thousand bucks, 1500 bucks, two grand out of pocket.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (35:25.389) Mm-hmm.   Eli Facenda (35:44.337) And so we're gonna send the entire trip to you. So it's like the flights, the hotels, the entire step-by-step booking, the recommendations on the ground, the entire experience. And so we're sending those out so people come in, they tell us when, where, like the things they wanna do, and then they're just gonna get these alerts where it's like every month they're gonna be like, you you're sitting there with your wife, hey babe, you wanna go to Bora Bora in like June? It's gonna cost us like 800 bucks and it would be a $30,000 trip. It's like that's what I want. That's what I wanna create. So that's us raising the bar in the industry and in our business.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (36:06.35) you   Eli Facenda (36:13.615) I'm very excited, it's brand new for us, so I'm just pumped to see that continue to roll out, because it's, for me the mission is to help people live with experiential wealth in the form of travel. And so, usually there's some barriers that get in the way. There's time, there's planning, and then there's cost. And what we're trying to do is eliminate as many of those barriers as we can to make it just easier to say yes to the trip.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (36:34.252) Yeah, man, sign me up, dude. Sign me up. I feel like you've got to get both significant others on your list, right? So they both see it and whoever's like the person is like, we've got to do this, you hit both of them and then they convince the other one to do it.   Eli Facenda (36:36.625) All right.   Eli Facenda (36:49.477) Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly. There's usually one. There's usually like sometimes it's the husband's on the call and he's like, dude, I don't know where we ever travel. Like I'm gonna pay for this, my wife's gonna do everything or it's the opposite where the guy's like, you know, she just shows up and I tell her where we're going. And so like that's my relationship. I'll be like, you know, it's my industry, my passion. I'm like, we're going here and then here. And she's like, tell me where to be. And she just has no idea where we are and she just loves it. And I'm like, I like planning. So, you know, but it's different for everybody.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (37:11.736) Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (37:17.144) For sure, for sure, man. All right, brother, this has been incredible. Tell our audience where they can find out more about you, where they can get involved with all the things, all the incredible things that they've heard on this show. Throw it out there,   Eli Facenda (37:28.859) Totally. Yeah, a couple of main places. So the first thing I'll share is that we have what I call the CEO Points Playbook. This is something I custom built. Took me a long time, and this was not a Chad TBT prompt. Like, I really built this on my own. And it is like a 30 to 40 page playbook that any business owner or entrepreneur can use to really maximize their travel experiences, get better bucket list trips, figure out the right cards for them. And it's normally 150 bucks, but if you go to freedomtravelsystems.com   forward slash playbook and you put in the code RAYS, you're gonna get it for free. Okay, so anyone listening, it is free for you. And so that's gonna be freedomtravelsystems.com forward slash playbook and then use the code RAYS, maybe we can put it in the show notes. And so that'll be the first thing. Second place is if you're like just want done for you services, just take off that forward slash and go to freedomtravelsystems.com. can talk to myself and one of the team members. And the last place, I hang out on Instagram and post a lot there, that's where we connected.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (38:14.049) Absolutely.   Eli Facenda (38:27.595) And that's where I'm sharing the most like behind the scenes and as I'm booking this stuff, as I'm planning it, as I'm showing like what our clients are doing, you get to see more of the visuals and the fun and come along for the ride. And so I love engaging on Instagram as well.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (38:40.27) Great. Thanks Eli. I really appreciate you coming on the show,   Eli Facenda (38:43.973) Thanks Seth, appreciate you having me on.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (38:45.806) All right, brother, talk soon.   All right, sweet dude. Nice. Yeah, right around 30 minutes. Let's see. Yeah, we'll just jump into these last few questions here.   Eli Facenda (38:51.748) Awesome.   Eli Facenda (38:55.205) Perfect.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (39:03.862) Welcome to Million Dollar Monday with Eli Fisenda. Let's just jump right in. Hey brother. Yeah, how did you make your first million?   Eli Facenda (39:09.243) Let's do it.   Eli Facenda (39:13.499) So I actually made my first million in a tour company. Now I made the first million, I didn't get to keep the first million, but what we were doing, we were running sports trips all over the world. This is actually part of how I fell in love with the travel industry and the work that I now do with points. And ultimately what we were doing, we were creating these international tour packages for youth sports teams and families to go on these international tours. think of like a 14 year old baseball team in your, you're in San Diego. We'd like do a selection of kids.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (39:19.694) Sure.   Eli Facenda (39:41.329) from that area and the families would come and they would go to Japan or Italy or wherever and travel for 10 days, experience the culture, have an educational tour and also play the local teams. So we did that in a variety of sports, ice hockey and baseball and lacrosse and all these different sports. And we were growing a lot and then that was ramping right until COVID and that just decimated the entire business. we took us about two years to get to a million and then we started to double almost every year for a few years and that was like.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:02.432) Mm.   Eli Facenda (40:09.399) Really, really tough break at COVID, but that was the first million.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:11.63) COVID man. Nobody saw that coming. mean.   Eli Facenda (40:13.881) No, definitely, you know, group, large, large group sports international travel was like the worst potential. Like you can't go overseas and you definitely can't do it with 60 people. So was, was a brutal industry to be in.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:25.506) Right? Yeah, there were certain sectors that just, I mean, there was nothing you could do. We opened up our first gym actually two weeks before COVID hit in 2020. we had our, us like two years to open and then our grand opening. And then we had a bunch of free clients in those first two weeks. And then they ended up being free clients for about a year because we couldn't charge them. Cause we couldn't get them back in the gym. We're doing online workouts and all that kind of stuff is insane.   Eli Facenda (40:36.817) Ugh.   Eli Facenda (40:47.696) Wow.   Eli Facenda (40:53.337) And that's like where the true entrepreneurial muscles are definitely strengthened in times like that though. mean, like the people that bounce back and figure it out, like you just have a new sense of confidence of like, you know, I can handle anything.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:54.22) But hey, we adapt,   Seth Bradley, Esq. (41:06.764) Yeah, man. I mean, you pivot, right? Like I actually ended up launching my first podcast during during COVID because I was stuck inside and it was like, all right, let's let's do this. Let's get on Zoom and interview people and all that kind of stuff, man. So that leads us right to the next question. And how do you make your last million? How do you make that transition?   Eli Facenda (41:12.859) Cool.   Nice. Cool. I'll it.   Eli Facenda (41:24.143) Yeah, so the last million that I made was in the current business that I have. so essentially what we've been doing there for about four years now is helping entrepreneurs maximize their travel on credit card points. So helping them get their dream bucket list trips, these 30, 40, $50,000 trips all over the world for about 90 % off by leveraging credit card points. And we've traditionally had some pretty high ticket services. I mean, not crazy expensive, but like, you five, 10, 15 K and that range has been the main main service. And so,   We cracked our first million about two years in, so that was 2020, 2024 actually was the first year we made a million there.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (42:00.526) Awesome man, awesome. How about your next million? Where are you scaling to?   Eli Facenda (42:04.305) Yeah, so the next million I wanna make is the same business. love what I do, I really enjoy it. And what I wanna do is do it in a more community oriented and lower ticket way. So I wanna have bigger reach, more digital products, more of the community, more affiliate services and stuff like that. And I'm really excited about kind of cracking the code on that, because we've done it decently with the higher ticket stuff, more agency level, service level stuff, which is great. And we're still cranking on that, we're gonna keep growing it. But I really wanna see what we can do with...   So the lower ticket stuff, creating awesome stuff on YouTube that leads to different channels and distributions there. So that's the next million and same business, just different type of money.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (42:41.57) I love it man, yeah, that's kind of opposite of how some people approach it, right? You usually start with a lower ticket and then you have to build up that base before anybody will give you, you know, higher, pay for that higher ticket product, but you're kind of working backwards because you want to help more people.   Eli Facenda (42:56.677) Totally, exactly, yeah, and there's a limit. mean, what we do in the high ticket is incredible, but it really is a specialized skill. Like you think about like a bookkeeper or an accounting firm or something, like there's like a million bookkeepers. There's like 50 people that know points and travel to the level that I need them to know it to really serve clients with the highest level. So there's a real limit on the ability to scale that. And so it's also just like, we wanna be able to do really quality work for less people, but then serve more people with the other stuff too.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (43:25.368) Totally, totally.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (43:29.518) Cool, let's jump into the next one dude and we'll wrap up. Eli, you're clearly in the top 1 % of what you do. I don't even know if there's that many people out there that do what you do at all, period. So clearly in the top 0.0001%, what is it about you that separates you from the rest of the field?   Eli Facenda (43:49.701) I think it's our ability to actually live what we preach. This is something where, you know, there are other fantastic people that talk about credit card points, but very few of them are actually business owners, like that's who we serve, and very few of them are actually traveling in the way that they're trying to help people travel. So we've done both. I've built multiple businesses, so I understand the psychology and the relatability of how you wanna think about travel and points and the various stresses in your life, the limitations on time and complexity. And I also,   Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:06.062) Hmm.   Eli Facenda (44:20.636) What just happened?   Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:22.998) I'm not sure. We can splice it together, but let's see. Lost the video.   Eli Facenda (44:26.748) Let me see here. Did my camera die or something?   Bizarre. second.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:36.076) Yeah, weird. Never had that happen.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:42.038) Not a big deal, we can splice it together, but let's see if we can get your camera working again.   Eli Facenda (44:46.992) Don't see my camera get help. Is the audio coming through okay? Did it switch over there to my MacBook from the other one? Or it sounds the same.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:51.564) Yeah, I can hear the audio.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:57.806) I don't know. All I see is like a car. It's like I don't know. It's a card with a symbol on it I wonder what that is that riverside or is that your symbol? I can't be your symbol   Eli Facenda (45:06.556) weird. Get help.   Eli Facenda (45:12.006) Let me see.   trying to check this out.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (45:19.458) We can also just finish it with audio.   Eli Facenda (45:23.556) Is it, Dude, I don't know what's going on. Sorry about that. I've never seen...   Seth Bradley, Esq. (45:28.654) no worries, dude. We can just finish it with audio anyways.   Eli Facenda (45:31.63) New recording track created the participants have been recorded.   Issue device struggling to record. High load on your device. Try closing all other apps. Give me one second. I don't have any apps open. That's really weird.   Eli Facenda (45:53.126) Yeah, I don't know man. I apologize. I Okay, well yeah   Seth Bradley, Esq. (45:57.219) you're good, We'll just finish an audio and then I'll pull up for the video. I'll just black screen to a logo or something. So all good. I don't exactly know where you're at. If you want to start that sentence over.   Eli Facenda (46:04.048) Okay, cool.   Eli Facenda (46:07.866) Yeah, I'll just, I'll say, I'll just start. So yeah, so not only have we really walked the walk with actually living what we preach, but we also understand that psychology of what it's like to be a business owner, your limitations on time and complexity and all that stuff. And because we're talking about travel, people also want to know like what's actually in store for me in this destination. I've been to 50 countries now and my business partner has been to almost 100.   We have other team members who are all over 30, 40, 50 countries. So we've been to a lot of the destinations around the world that we're advising people to go to. So we know the ins and outs, best places to stay, hidden gems, top restaurants, stuff like that, that really add another layer of personalization and true experience into the service. So I think those are the things that really make us most credible in this space.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (46:57.506) Dude, it's so important, right? Like there's so many, you know, there's so much content out there now. There's gurus and coaches and mentors, whatever you want to call them. Like the ones that are truly valuable and that people should pay attention to are the ones that are actually practicing what they preach, right? The ones that aren't just selling you education or aren't just selling you a product. Like they're actually, they've done what they're selling and they continue to   enjoy or do what they're selling.   Eli Facenda (47:28.635) 100%, yeah, if you're a living embodiment of what you do, it makes it that much easier to communicate it and sell it because you just are the thing you're selling.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (47:38.764) Yeah, absolutely. What's one thing someone listening could do today to get 1 % closer to their dream life?   Eli Facenda (47:45.089) One thing that would be the easiest is to spend 30 minutes, go on Instagram, go on your favorite social media site, go on some travel blog site, look for your dream destination, then pull up your calendar and put a time on the calendar where you're committing to go. One of my favorite quotes is from Tim Ferriss, I forget the exact quote, but basically the idea is that if you don't schedule your fun first, it won't happen.   because your business and your life will take up as much space as you allow it to. So most people find that I'll take the trip when it's convenient. I'll take the trip when I have more time. That time is never coming until you make it a priority. So the one thing they can do to get closer to their dream life is to just make a more bold commitment to putting the time on the calendar and be like, I am going and make some sort of investment, whether you're telling someone, whether you're putting some money down, whether you're learn the point stuff, that's gonna be the biggest leverage you can make.   to make sure that you actually follow through on taking these trips and then you'll find how to get there on points if you need to from there.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (48:50.766) 100 % man, gotta put it, people, entrepreneurs, people like us, we work in all the time, you've gotta put it, put it in your schedule. You've gotta block it out, commit to it.   Eli Facenda (48:59.821) Absolutely, 100%.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (49:04.554) Alright dude, I think we got it wrapped up, man.   Eli Facenda (49:05.743) Beautiful. Awesome, Dan. Well, this was super fun and I apologize agai

Send us a textIf I were starting a business today, this is exactly how I'd approach tax planning from the ground up. In this episode, we're tackling tax strategy hierarchy every small business owner should follow. From core strategies like hiring your kids and maximizing deductions, to advanced moves like asset purchases, oil and gas investments, and captive insurance, you'll learn the right order to implement them for maximum savings. We also answer listener questions on short-term rental deductions, the Big Beautiful Bill, and how to structure partnerships for smarter tax planning. 

The Strange Bed Rule.

Does your Bookkeeper Give You Quarterly Tax Strategy Reports

The Strange Bed Rule.

Cary works with small to medium-sized business owners to help them break through growth barriers. It's incredible how Cary helps businesses double their profits in under a year while ensuring all operations run like a well-oiled machine. And who wouldn't want their business to run smoothly? That's the reality Cary creates for her clients. Cary sets business owners up with tools to manage by the numbers, allowing them to handle unexpected challenges with precision. This approach allows leaders to stay ahead and design the future they envision for their business. Cary could bring a whole new perspective to your audience, with practical insights and a real-time management style. Cary Prejean is a CFO consultant and executive coach. He has an accounting and CPA background with several companies primarily in the manufacturing, wholesale and construction industries. He is also a certified ontological coach since 1992 by Newfield Network, giving him unique insight in working with executives. Cary's mission is to turn business owners into visionaries and prime business generators vs. minutiae managers. https://strategicbusinessadvisors.org https://strategicbusinessadvisors.us/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/caryprejean/

Learn more about PEAK FREEDOM Hey podcast listener, just a heads up — I'm in France for five weeks and not recording while I'm here.I hope you're enjoying the episodes I lined up before I left — and if you're a new listener, the back catalog is full of gems worth digging into.Enjoy the rest of your summer, and I'll meet you back here with a brand new episode on September 3rd.…Link to full shownotes: https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/361…If you feel trapped by your own accounting firm, I can help you stop the chaos and end the long hours without losing revenue or hiring. Join 3000+ other CPAs who get my single-tip daily emails..Subscribe here: geraldinecarter.com/subscribe.Readers say they love it because they're short and on point.…Want client interviews?310 From Exhausted to Having Her Life Back: Wendy Norman, CPA304 From 55 Down to 15 Hours; Same Take-Home Pay with Melissa Downs, EA293 What it Takes to Work 15 Hours per Week with Erica Goode, CPAComplete list:geraldinecarter.com/client-interview-episodes…FOUR ways I help overworked CPAs go down to 40 hours without losing revenue or hiring:THE EMAIL COURSE – Freegeraldinecarter.com/stop-working-weekendsStop Working Weekends will teach you how to reduce your hours without giving up revenue. THE BOOK – $9.99geraldinecarter.com/bookDown to 40 Hours – A Roadmap for CPAs to End Overworking Without Losing RevenuePEAK FREEDOM COMMUNITY – $197/mogeraldinecarter.com/peak-freedomFor solo and small accounting firm owners who want to rise above the insanity of hustle-cultureDOWN TO 40 HOURS ACCELERATOR – $995/mogeraldinecarter.com/40For the overworked CPA at multiple six figures of revenue who is ready to stop working weekends, wants to implement overdue changes, and doesn't want to do it alone. You'll make progress faster and with more confidence. …

Send us a textHey ambitious bookkeepers! In this episode, I'm getting real about my "accidental" start in accounting and why NOW is always the best time to start your bookkeeping business. I'm sharing my journey from elementary education major to single mom working at a health food co-op, all the way to building my own virtual bookkeeping firm while raising kids. Spoiler alert: success doesn't require a perfect plan!In this episode you'll hear:How I got into accountingThe exact steps I took to transition from corporate controller to freelance bookkeeperLessons I learned the hard way so you don't have toand much more!Resources mentioned in this episode:The Bookkeeping Business Accelerator

When Johnathan Walton learned that his best friend had conned him out of nearly $100,000, his first instinct was a little unusual—he told anyone who would listen about what happened. The story that ensued consumed his life for several years, ultimately sending his career in unexpected directions, with a hit podcast, assisting other victims with their frauds, and now, his new book, Anatomy of a Con Artist.SponsorsRoutable - http://ohmyfraud.promo/routable(00:00) - Introduction and Podcast Overview (05:01) - Meet Jonathan Walton (07:32) - Jonathan's Early Life and Career (22:14) - The Pool Problem (24:37) - Con Artists Don't Outsmart You (40:00) - The Final Scam and Realization (47:08) - Confrontation and Recording (48:36) - Police Inaction and Persistence (50:37) - Building a Case (54:29) - The Arrest and Legal Battle (57:53) - The Trial and Conviction (01:02:49) - Post-Conviction and New Scams (01:05:38) - Extradition and Ongoing Pursuit (01:10:35) - Reflections and Lessons Learned (01:24:43) - Conclusion and Final Thoughts BUY JONATHAN'S BOOKAnatomy of a Con Artist [Penguin Random House] HOW TO EARN FREE CPEIn less than 10 minutes, you can earn NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode. Download our mobile app, sign up, and look for the Oh My Fraud channel. Register for the course, complete a short quiz, and get your CPE certificate.https://www.earmark.app/Download the app:Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/earmark-cpe/id1562599728Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.earmarkcpe.appCONNECT WITH CALEBLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebnewquist/Sources:Queen of the Con [Spotify]Queen of the Con [Instagram]johnathanwalton.comEmail us at ohmyfraud@earmarkcpe.com

"Rubble and Skye" in Minnesota want to spend $65,000 a year in retirement, and they'll have $67K in annual fixed income. Are they cutting it too close? "Atouk and Tala" in New Jersey will have retirement money, Social Security, and “Lumpy,” their lump sum pension - will they be okay? We'll find out today on Your Money, Your Wealth® podcast number 542 with Joe Anderson, CFP® and Big Al Clopine, CPA. Plus, should David in Redondo Beach California use his Roth money to buy a home? And what do the fellas think about "Charlie Pepper" in Colorado using a home equity line of credit (HELOC) for retirement spending, instead of living off of pre-tax money? Free financial resources & episode transcript: https://bit.ly/ymyw-542 DOWNLOAD the Investing Basics Guide WATCH Financial Boot Camp on YMYW TV COMPLETE the 8th Annual YMYW Podcast Survey for your chance at a $100 Amazon e-gift card! (secret password: ymyw) ASK Joe & Big Al for your Retirement Spitball Analysis SCHEDULE your Free Financial Assessment LEAVE YOUR HONEST RATINGS AND REVIEWS on Apple Podcasts SUBSCRIBE or FOLLOW on your favorite podcast app JOIN THE CONVERSATION on YouTube DOWNLOAD more free guides READ financial blogs WATCH educational videos SUBSCRIBE to the YMYW Newsletter Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro: This Week on the YMYW Podcast 00:43 - $250K Saved, $67K Fixed Income, $65K Spending. Are We Cutting Retirement Too Close? (Rubble & Sky, MN) 05:20 - We Have a $700K Pension, $335K Retirement, Plus Social Security. Will We Be OK? (Atouk and Tala, NJ) 13:14 - Watch Financial Boot Camp on YMYW TV, Download the Investing Basics Guide 14:03 - Should I Use My Roth Money for a Home Purchase? (David, Redondo Beach, CA) 21:03 - Complete the 8th Annual YMYW Podcast Survey for your chance at a $100 Amazon e-gift card! (secret password: ymyw) 22:01 - HELOC vs. Pre-Tax Account for Retirement Spending (Charlie Pepper, CO) 34:23 - Next Week on YMYW Podcast: Guest Co-Host Marc Horner, CFP® 34:53 - YMYW Podcast Outro

Derick Van Ness of Big Life Financial returns to the podcast to discuss with Kiera the new realities of the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill — and how dentists can capitalize on the impacts. They discuss bonus depreciation, research and development credits, and more. Further, there's an opportunity for DAT listeners at biglifefinancial.com/DAT, where you can learn if you're overpaying on your taxes and what new opportunities exist. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today I'm excited to welcome back a popular guest. He and I have chatted multiple times. We've gone around and around on different topics of how to help dentists build more wealth. So Derick, ⁓ with Big Life Financial, we talked about our research and development credits. Today we're going to be talking about this big, beautiful tax bill, how it's going to impact dentists, how it's going to impact building wealth. I do think it also impacts team members. So Derick, welcome back to the show. How are you today?   Derick Van Ness (00:29) I'm great, Kiera. I really appreciate you bringing me on the show again. It's always fun to talk.   Kiera Dent (00:34) Of course, we all know that I love wealth strategies. love ⁓ it takes time like you and I were talking about pre show. ⁓ I think it's something to educate ourselves on and to be around really smart people and to constantly be looking at different things like I know hot in the real estate world right now and with buying businesses and buying practices, the big beautiful tax bill is actually great for the bonus depreciation coming in. So just like educating ourselves and that's what I wanted today to be.   not getting high into politics. These are bills that are into place ⁓ and how to take advantage of them, how to maximize them. Derick, you work with a ton of dentists. So Derick, for those who don't know, you kind of give a little bit background on how you and I even got connected, how you got into dentistry, ⁓ how does Big Life Financial play into this. We have a lot of mutual clients together. So just kind of give people a background on who you are and how you got to the dental space.   Derick Van Ness (01:26) Absolutely, you know, I started out back in like 2010 2009 2010 helping small business owners with taxes and financial strategy I was working for another firm at the time and I had been a house flipper and if for those of you who remember 2008 wasn't so good if you're a house flipper, right and When that whole thing fell apart kind of fell in my head I took a lot of the skills that I had and a friend of mine hired me to help   Kiera Dent (01:46) It is not.   Derick Van Ness (01:55) small business owners with taxes and financial and business strategy. ⁓ Working with them, I had a chance to work with about 1,500 business owners over seven years. And then eventually went out and started doing my own thing because there were some different things that I wanted to do that they didn't offer. ⁓ essentially, in that time, I worked with a lot of dentists and a lot of doctors. ⁓ And so I kind of stayed in that arena, which led me to ⁓ meeting you, Kiera.   through Mark over at DSI and all the stuff that I'd done with him and then found you guys and just love what you guys do with helping people to build their teams. Cause I'm such a huge advocate of how important that is to have the right team to run your practice, right? Especially if you're going to have multiple practices, it just can't be about you. And so it was just kind of a natural fit. And like you said, you, you definitely love financial strategies. So.   We got into it, we talked about a bunch of different things, had a chance to work together. Like you said, have shared a lot of clients along the way, but it just seems like dentists have a lot of the problems that we solve, which is they pay a of taxes, they make good money, and most of them didn't get an MBA in college to understand how business and finances work. They've had to learn along the way. And so we see ourselves as part of that process of helping dentists become.   better business owners, better entrepreneurs, and honestly create freedom in their life instead of just having a business that runs them, because it's easy to have that happen in dentistry. So that's sort of how we got connected. I don't know, over the last, since whatever 2008, 2009 was, last 15 plus years, I've probably worked with somewhere between 2,000 and 2,500 business owners. I would say a good chunk of those have been dentists. So that's how we ended up together.   Kiera Dent (03:48) Yeah.   I love the journey. love hearing what you've done. I also agree on like building wealth. And I think going through dental school, working at the dental college, dentists are coming out with, you know, upwards of 500, 600, 700, $800,000 in debt somewhere up towards that upper million. Midwestern was a very expensive school. looking at that and then watching offices and I remember the first dentist that I worked with and we were partners. We, called her 2.5 because we were 2.5 million debt.   Derick Van Ness (04:03) Cheers.   Kiera Dent (04:18) was like, you better straighten that spine 2.5. Like we need that spine for a long time. But it was something where I realized like, that's a substantial amount of debt. One to walk out of school with two you buy a practice on top of that and then you want to try and like even remotely live your own personal life. It just felt like the odds are possibly stacked not in a dentist favor. I've had several dentists where this is the case where they're multimillion in debt, trying to get these practices off the ground. And so really coming up with   Derick Van Ness (04:43) Mm-hmm.   Kiera Dent (04:47) like yes, long-term, if they make it, awesome. Hopefully it will pay off for them. But what are maybe some strategies and tips that they can do now? I think like so many of us look at real estate and wish that we would have gotten in at the 2008 because now you're selling them out or even in 2020. And so it's like, what can people do now, even if they didn't maximize or we didn't buy practices back in the day when they were so cheap, they were pennies on the dollar. What things can we do now to maximize? I was even talking to this girl the other day.   And she's like, yeah, my baby was born on New Year's Eve. And I was like, wow, talk about a great tax write-off. And she's like, I didn't even know that that was a tax write-off. I didn't even know the benefits of things. And so I feel like just so many little pieces that could make us smarter business owners to, I'm here, I love living in the United States. I love paying taxes for the country that we get to live in. I love the opportunity that we have to be business owners. With that said, I also think it's smart for us to be very wise stewards over our money to figure out different strategies.   And no, it's not sexy. No, it's not fun. A lot of it is just like save, like invest, do the things you're supposed to do. And it's going to be part of what is it? Like the eighth wonder of the world of compound interest. Like there are other pieces, but Derick, like, let's talk about this big, beautiful tax bill. How does this work? How does this impact business owners? What are some of the benefits we can take care of? Now we're talking in 2025, things will change and shift as the landscape shifts, but knowing that's in place, what are some of the things dentists owners can do now?   to maximize that coming out.   Derick Van Ness (06:18) Yeah, you bring up a good point, Kiera. You know, it's not that this stuff happens overnight, but it is, it's systemic, right? You're doing it day in and day out. And tax is one of those things, whether you like it or not, you have to file them every year. And I'm not going to lie to you, that's part of what I like about being in the tax world is people have to do it every year. It's a pretty good business model that way, right?   Kiera Dent (06:30) Right.   I   was gonna say you've got the reoccurring opportunities because it has to happen every year just like dentists have profis every six months. I mean it's a great built-in business. mean kudos to you. I don't enjoy it but it is a necessary evil to be done.   Derick Van Ness (06:52) I totally get that. If you would have told me you're going to work in taxes even 15 years ago when I first got into it, I would have said absolutely not not interested. But what I can tell you is every dollar you make in taxes is the same as a new dollar you make in your business. Right. But you don't have to have employees and risk and additional insurance and additional equipment and all this other stuff. So it really is pure profit when you can reduce your taxes. So   even a small amount of tax strategy can go a very long way in increasing what you get in the bottom line, right? And if you could just take a lot of dentists across the country, they're in the 40 % tax bracket, maybe a little higher or lower depending on your state, but somewhere in that range, if you could even lower that by 10%, that's keeping an additional 10 % of your income. That's a lot of extra money for people to be able to save and put to work without having to go do more risk and...   buy a bigger building and do a build out and deal with more personalities in the office because all of those things are variables, right? So I see it as a pure profit machine if you get it right. And so I've chosen to think it that way because I spend so much time in it, but it really does come down to just keeping a lot more of the money you make. And it's a very potent way to do it because honestly, with 10 to 15 hours a year, so think of that as like one hour a month.   you can really add a lot to the bottom line of what you get to keep. In some cases, we can cut taxes almost in half for high, high income earners. So it's a pretty big deal.   Kiera Dent (08:25) Well, and as you said that I think it's a big deal for today because yes to have that back to you is great. But like we talked about compounding, compounding until you've experienced compounding seems like not real. Just like I think when like you have bought your first house and it's like, how am I ever supposed to do this and make money on it until you bought your first practice? A lot of those things I think feel ⁓ arbitrary, they feel false. And then once you get into the compounding world and you're like, my gosh, like   we're making money without having to do anything. It's like, yeah, I could save on my taxes in a legal, ethical way, have more money at the end of the year that I could then put towards this, like you said, make it work for me. Well, now that it's just duplicating, it's multiplying, it's replicating, those things to me are things I get excited about. Those are things that I look for, because I don't think there's a lot of money.   I call it the money making machine. What things can we put into your money making machine to where it's working for you day in, day out without you having to do any extra work? I think all of us check yes, let's say yes to that. So Derick, let's talk about how we can create more of these money making machines, putting our money to work for us rather than constantly trying to chase the money dream to where at the end of our careers and even during our careers, we're living the lives that we wanted to get to when we first started out into these careers.   Derick Van Ness (09:29) Yep.   Yeah. And I can tell you guys this, if you only walk away with one thing, it's the idea if you want to build wealth, you need to create systematic savings, right? Systematize putting money aside, whether that's actually savings account or investing or however, but just getting money out of the spending cycle and into the building cycle. And it's like watching your child, right? Like in the beginning, kids grow and it's like day to day, you don't see it, but year to year,   it starts to make a bigger and bigger and bigger difference. And then, you know, when they're teenagers, you're just like, what's happening, right? So it's the same kind of thing with your money. In the beginning, if you're just watching a day to day, you don't really see the growth. You have to trust the process, right? But the biggest thing you can do is put that on autopilot, because if you have to automatically go into your bank account every month and move money over or every year, move money over, it's much harder. And like writing,   Kiera Dent (10:28) Mm-hmm.   Derick Van Ness (10:42) 25, 50, 100, $200,000 checks feels hard. Setting aside 2,000, 3,000, 5,000, $10,000 a month, and then you cut that in half per pay period, and all of a sudden it gets a lot easier. It's like, oh yeah, $1,000 a pay period, not that big a deal. Much easier than writing a $25,000 check, right? Or two or $3,000 per pay period. It really does add up. And that's where the tax piece comes in is, in many cases, it's like found money. I try to teach our clients to...   Kiera Dent (10:46) Mm-hmm.   Derick Van Ness (11:11) save like you're going to pay full blast on taxes. And then when we do the tax strategy, all this money is left over. And so it feels like extra money, and then you can put it to work, right? And that's where you do get to play with some bigger chunks. ⁓ But really, it's that habit of automating, setting money aside. If you can just only take one thing from this, it's that. And taxes can create a huge amount of that for you along the way. So let's talk about the tax bill, right?   Kiera Dent (11:24) Mm-hmm.   Yeah,   let's talk about it. And I just want to highlight on that, Derick, of I was talking to a CPA the other day on the podcast and he talked about how like there's a different psychology of business owners. ⁓ We go from getting a W-2 paycheck that we're used to being able to spend all of it because taxes have already been taken out to them becoming business owners and not having taxes automatically taken from that and needing to be super disciplined on saving. And so I agree with you. And when I realized like,   I got so annoyed when I'm like, great, so now I never get a refund check ever again in taxes. I was like, no, actually it's actually so much better now than it ever was. Because if I just set it aside, I'm like, taxes are pretty simple. I guess there's some nuances to them, but it's pretty much like whatever tax bracket you are, take your profit at the end of the month, set that aside. And lo and behold, if you do the tax planning strategy, like you said, usually I'm ending up with a pretty good substantial chunk at the end of the year that I count as my like quote unquote, like   the refund check or whatever. It's been so long since I've gotten one that I don't even know what it is. But it's awesome because then you have this huge lump of money because you've been saving it. You weren't expecting it. All your expenses in your life is taken care of to where now, like you said, it is really fun. Is that an investment? Is that buying something that I've always wanted to get? Is that real estate money? Because the amount of cash, if you are strategic in how you do it, is exponentially substantial.   It is truly life-changing. So I'm excited, Derick. Let's talk about the tax bill, but I will second you and ditto you and just say, yes, there's discipline to it, but that discipline equals so much freedom on the other side that just try it. Trust us on this. Save, learn to save on it and ⁓ be blown away at how much you're able to have at the end of the year if you do it really well.   Derick Van Ness (13:25) Yeah, I 100 % agree and I love your approach, Kiera. That's exactly what we try to teach with people. So let's talk about the tax bill, right? There's a ton of stuff that's in there that we're not going to touch on because like the child tax credit go up $200 a year. Yes. Is that going to move the needle for you as a business owner? Not really, right? Is there a little bit for senior tax relief in there where there's $6,000 of income that they don't pay taxes on? Yes. Does that really matter for you? Probably not, right? So we're going to...   Kiera Dent (13:33) Okay, let's talk.   Derick Van Ness (13:55) we're going to talk a little bit about a couple of key things that can really move the needle. One of them you alluded to, Kiera, that I think is really important is the idea of bonus depreciation, right? People who don't know what bonus depreciation is, it's when you buy certain types of equipment or real estate, you can take all the depreciation in the first year, right? And that can be ⁓ a huge chunk, especially when you combine it with something like cost segregation. For those of you who don't know what cost segregation is, the two really   Kiera Dent (14:04) Mm-hmm.   Derick Van Ness (14:24) work well together. So I think it's worth taking just a sec, even though it's not new, it really enhances this strategy. ⁓ Cost segregation is when you have a piece of real estate, you bring in an engineer, and there are companies that do this, right? So you don't have to know all this stuff. ⁓ But they come in, they reclassify as much of your building as they can as equipment. And so what you get to do is depreciate a portion of the building, the stuff that's equipment much more rapidly. So a lot of times five, seven or 15 years.   versus either 27 or 39 and a half years. So you get a lot more depreciation on the front end. It's not like you get more overall, but money today is worth a whole lot more than money 20 or 30 years from now. You can invest it and use it to grow your business, et cetera. But then when you add bonus depreciation to that, you can get a lot more of it in the first year. what this really means is if you're   Kiera Dent (15:06) Mm-hmm.   Derick Van Ness (15:21) buying the right kind of equipment or you're buying a building or you're doing big improvements, you can get a lot more depreciation and that depreciation can save you in taxes, right? And this is one that I feel like most CPAs kind of get bonus depreciation, but a lot of them don't bring in the cost segregation piece. So if you own a piece of real estate, especially if you bought it in the last few years and you haven't done a cost segregation study, this is something that you would have to know about because someone has to physically come to your building. If you haven't done one,   Kiera Dent (15:39) Mm-hmm.   Derick Van Ness (15:51) should talk to your CPA about it or talk to someone about it. I'm sure Kiera knows people, we know people, there are plenty of people out there who do it. But that's something worth looking at, especially if your building's worth, I would say, $250,000, $300,000, and you've had it less than five years and you haven't done this, yeah, it's totally worth looking at. It could be a real nice windfall. So that's a big one. It had been in place, then it started phasing out from 100 % to 80 % to 60%.   Kiera Dent (16:04) I   Derick Van Ness (16:20) but now we're back at 100%. So this is a big one, especially if you own your building or you're buying a lot of equipment. ⁓ Another really big one is the SALT tax. Now, people hear SALT tax and they're like, what? They're thinking of like the SPICE, right? SALT stands for state and local tax. And really to simplify this, and there's kind of a workaround in almost every state where you can do it as a pass-through setup. And essentially what that means is,   Kiera Dent (16:27) Mm-hmm.   Bye.   Derick Van Ness (16:49) If you pay all your state taxes before the end of the year, those state taxes become a write off for your federal taxes. Now this was in place up to $10,000. So if you were in a 40 % tax bracket, it could have saved you $4,000. Now it's up to 40,000, four zero, $40,000. So if you're making a lot of money or you're in a high tax state, you can pay those state taxes before the end of the year and it creates a federal tax write off.   And so like if you were in a, you know, paying in a 32 % tax bracket and you paid $40,000, it's going to save you, you know, between 12 and $13,000 in taxes that year, which is pretty significant for found money. All it has to be done is you have to pay those taxes and then your, your CPA or your tax pro has to claim that. Right. So that's another big one that got raised and you probably heard a lot about it in the news because   People were trying to get it raised higher and some people thought it should be lower. It really does favor business owners. It's not something a person who doesn't have a business can do. And that was part of the controversy, right? ⁓ But at the end of the day, it's law. So you should be taking full advantage of that.   Kiera Dent (18:03) I feel like that definitely impacts like the high state tax ⁓ states like California, New York, like some of those bigger ones, definitely because I live in Nevada, it's a no state income tax state. So if I understand correctly, Derick, and this is where I love bringing smart people on, the salt tax doesn't apply to me per se in Nevada, because we don't have state income tax. Is that correct? But in those higher ones, it definitely helps you out tremendously by being able to take those those credits and apply them.   Derick Van Ness (18:32) That is correct, yeah. And like another really high one is Oregon. They have quite high state tax, whereas Washington has none. So yeah, that doesn't apply to everybody. But if you're in a state that has even medium, like I'm in Utah, income tax there is right around 5 % for the state. It's still significant, right? You can still do up to the same amount. You'll just get there slower than if you're in California.   Kiera Dent (18:36) Mm-hmm.   I agree.   Right.   Derick Van Ness (19:00) Once again, just one of those things like you talked about, know, having kids or, you know, having the ADA like disability access to your building or a lot of these other things that like there are a bunch of little things, but they really do add up doing the Augusta rule. I'm sure you guys have talked about a million times and paying your kids properly. And we have a whole strategy of actually how to help people use tax strategy to pay for their kids college, which is a pretty cool one using some of that.   Kiera Dent (19:15) Mm-hmm.   Derick Van Ness (19:29) But those aren't part of the tax bill, so we won't dig into that today. ⁓   Kiera Dent (19:32) But they   are smart things to know because as you're listing it off, I think when someone's making, let's say your practice is doing a million, let's it's doing 2 million, 5 million, let's say you're at a 50 % overhead, let's just do 5 million, that's 2.5 mil. Not all of that's going to come to you as profit, but let's use like, it also could be coming to you as profit, even if it's in the form of distributions and different pieces. I'm like,   Derick Van Ness (19:42) Mm-hmm.   Kiera Dent (19:55) on that 2.5, if that's your taxable income, now let's just do, let's say you're in the highest, like that would put you in the highest tax bracket. So we're at a 37%. Like that's almost a million dollars worth of tax money right there on 2.5. So I understand that say 12 grand doesn't seem like that much, but I'm like, but 12 grand is still going to chip down this tax bill. And then you do another 20 grand here, then you do another 15 grand here.   All of that does exponentially chip down and like the bonus appreciation. That's why I think Derick, you're talking like the $200 on a million of taxes, not really going to move the needle, but 12 grand, 15 grand. It's the stacking and being able to keep that money. You have to pay this tax no matter what. And why not like benefit and minimize and reduce it and keep that money. then even worst case scenario, you even go invest it or you put it somewhere like a high yield savings account, but still making 4 % for you.   that you wouldn't have been making so that money's working for you. I think it's a no brainer ⁓ no matter what tax bracket you're in just to see. But like I also think this is where I don't like to get lazy on my taxes like, is it really worth doing the Augustus roll? Yes, it is. Because like you said, every dollar saved today, if I could even take that 600 or that 2000 or that 12 grand, put it in right now, like go back to college. How many of us wish we would have invested at that point in time? 20 bucks when we were in college.   Derick Van Ness (21:02) You   Kiera Dent (21:19) into the stock market and what that would be worth today, I think that there's just value in being strategic and smart and this is how you build wealth. It's not sexy, but if you do it consistently, you will exponentially become wealthier much faster than otherwise. I think it's the fastest way to get to wealth long term because you've got a runway in front of you.   Derick Van Ness (21:38) Well, I'm going to throw something out here, Kiera, because I get to see behind the scenes, right? I work with a lot of successful dentists and dentists have a really good income. Dentists generally are not great at creating wealth. I'll just be totally honest with you. A lot of them, they make enough money that they, ⁓ they can spend and they have a good life and they're able to put some money away, but proportional to their income, a lot of them are not great savers because of exactly what you talked about. A lot of them make all this money, but they got to pay off a lot of debt.   Kiera Dent (21:42) Mm-hmm.   I would agree.   Derick Van Ness (22:08) right, student loans and a business loan. Well, that's a lot of cash flow, especially in the first five years going out of lot of people's pockets. So a lot of times I'll see a dentist and they're making, let's say they're taking home $500,000, which is very common. ⁓ But you look at their investments and everything and they've got 300 grand saved. And they've been at it for 10 years and you're like, what happened? it's they paid off student loans, they paid off business debt.   Kiera Dent (22:27) Mm-hmm.   Derick Van Ness (22:33) They've had to invest in equipment along the way. They've had to remodel their office. They bought a house. You know, and they have some nice things. But now when you start going back and saying, hey, we can do this, this, and this, and now you get to save an extra, let's go really, really low, an extra $20,000 a year. Okay. I did some math the other day for our newsletter, $20,000 a year. If that's what someone saved and they just put that money to work at 7%. Over 30 years, they'd have $2.1 million roughly.   Right? So it's like, it's not, it doesn't appear to be a huge thing, but over time it really does add up. And to be quite honest, someone who makes $500,000, I can think of a bunch of ways that are outside of the new tax bill, things we've been doing for years that can really save them a whole lot more than that. And so for a lot of people, like if somebody is making two and a half million dollars, there's actually some advanced strategies that can really move the needle in a big, big way. But these small things like paying your state tax by the end of the year,   It takes you five minutes and you saved 13 grand. Okay, that's a big deal. Doing, making sure you're paying yourself properly so that you don't end up paying self-employment tax unnecessarily on more of your income than you. Okay, that's another seven, 10, 15, 20 grand. ⁓ Paying your kids, Augusta rule, bonus depreciation. Okay, now all of sudden we took a bill that was maybe 120,000 of taxes for someone who makes 500 grand and now they're paying 50.   Kiera Dent (23:34) Hmm.   Derick Van Ness (24:00) So they kept 70,000. Like that's a big deal. You put that together and using the math I just did there, that's about $5 million over 30 years, right? So it's significant and I bring up the two and a half million thing, because I don't see a lot of dentists. I have a few clients that make that kind of money, but most of the dentists, especially people who own one or two practices, they're making between on the lower end, maybe 300, 350, on the higher end, maybe 800, 900,000.   Kiera Dent (24:00) Mm-hmm.   Mm-hmm.   I agree.   Derick Van Ness (24:29) You know, so suddenly an extra 50, 70, 80, $100,000 a year is a lot of money. It makes a really big difference.   Kiera Dent (24:37) I agree.   I even think though, on no matter where your bracket is, I think like, well, one, I just hope I don't know, Derick, I need to surround myself with people like this. I hope that no matter what income I make, I don't ever like pish posh 70 grand. Like I just hope I hope I never I mean, I hope that I'm a freaking billionaire at one point in my life, like that'd be incredible. And like the amount of good that we'll be able to do in this world, like even today. But I'm like, I hope that I stay   humble and grateful enough that I would never say like 20 grand or 50 grand is not worth my time to do ⁓ in a small effort. ⁓ And so I think that that's just a zone of like, let's remember the humility as well of like, yes, these things are tax savings, but they're also going to exponentially grow you, you, your practice, your family, like your contribution, your good that you're able to do in this world. So even if you're not using it for yourself, think of the good that you can give back to this community in this world. So I think   And then I'm also like, yeah, and if you're at 300, 70 grand is a lot. If you're at 900, 70 grand should still be a lot. If you're at 2.5 million, 70 grand should still be a lot for you to where I think like, I also feel it's a skill of staying sharp rather than getting lazy and sloppy as we evolve. I know I've done it. Like I used to be way more scrappy when I first started the company and I'm like, yeah, well, do we really have to do all this? And it's like, but I think this...   sharper we can keep ourselves and the more disciplined we can to be expert saviors. Like I talked to Ryan Isaac of Dentist Advisors often and he and I talk about like the biggest thing is like being a great saver, like building your wealth, but then also not losing your wealth by doing dumb things or not being disciplined and watching what you've built. Like it's kind of two sides of the coin and being able to get there at the end of the day, I think is what we're all striving for. So I think it's brilliant and I hope that nobody says pish posh to us.   Derick Van Ness (26:12) Mm-hmm.   Kiera Dent (26:34) 70 grand if we could save you that much in taxes.   Derick Van Ness (26:37) I sure hope not, right? And if you do, it's because you've got a better use of your time than that. But quite frankly, most of this stuff, especially taxes, the cool thing is we've had a few tax rewrites in the last, you know, 10 years or so. But typically we don't have a lot of tax rewrites. So once you know the rules, it doesn't change that much year to year. A few little things change here or there, but for the most part, if you can take the time.   get yourself the right team or learn the rules yourself. mean, I think even people who know how to do this themselves, having a good tax pro on your team can be worth a lot because things do come up. ⁓ But honestly, most of it, once you know it, doesn't take a lot of time, right? We're talking a couple hours a year. And if you know what you're doing, a lot of this you kind of do along the way or it's already set up, like setting the money aside for taxes that's already set up, paying before the end of the year. That's just the thing you do one time, you write one check or make one payment online and   Kiera Dent (27:17) Mm-hmm.   Derick Van Ness (27:32) and you're done, right? And a lot of these things are easy. ⁓ Another one that's a really big one that came up with the tax bill that I'm very excited about is they brought back the research and development credits. And this is another thing that for a dentist, it'll probably take you two hours of time ⁓ to do it, like an hour to work with someone to do the projects, which is basically an interview of what have you done, what's the research so that the tax team can look at that.   Kiera Dent (27:43) Mm-hmm.   Derick Van Ness (28:00) And then just getting your tax returns over because not only do these credits come back, but you can retroactively, we've got one year to do this retroactively. You can go back and claim the credits for 2022, 2023 and 2024. And so that gives us three years where you can amend and go back and get that money. And I mean, for a typical dentist, I see on the low end, there are a lot of them. If you're investing in equipment, trying new stuff, which   Kiera Dent (28:15) Wow.   Derick Van Ness (28:29) most dentists to compete have to be doing today. If you're doing, you know, still doing mercury fillings from the seventies, then maybe that's not you. But most people who are listening to your podcast are...   Kiera Dent (28:32) Mm-hmm.   I was going to say you, most of the podcast   community should be in that realm.   Derick Van Ness (28:44) Yeah, I'm kind of joking, but typically, I mean, it's between $10,000 and $20,000 a year. if you have a big practice, I mean, we've had clients that have gotten multiple six figures back because they did some major overhauls and a bunch of stuff. But let's call it $15,000 to $20,000 a year for a lot of dentists. It takes 45 minutes to do it, the interview, and then a little bit of time to review that, make sure it's good.   So let's call it two, maybe three hours of total time to get that money back, right? And you can do this every year when we amend. You have to amend them and they go back to the IRS. And the IRS is taking about a year to get checks out. They're a little buried ever since COVID. They got behind and they just never caught back up. But once you get on top of that for 2025 and beyond, like you can just do it proactively. You just don't pay the taxes. You don't have to wait for a refund.   And so it's another one of those things where you spend an hour or two a year and you get 10, 15, 20, $30,000 a year that you just get to keep. Right. And so this one to me is a huge one for dentistry because the rate at which the industry is changing, right. Uh, went from, from cone beams to milling people, milling their own crowns. Now it's 3d printing pretty soon. It's going to be, you know, a lot of these things you see at the shows with the robots doing things and all kinds of different things that   Kiera Dent (29:50) Awesome.   Totally.   Derick Van Ness (30:12) Dentistry is a very progressive industry, right? A lot of AI coming in with answering phones and scheduling people and answering questions and all of that kind of stuff. You may as well get credits for it. You're doing the work, you're buying the equipment, you're figuring this stuff out. So if you're doing anything where you're upgrading, trying new technology, looking to get better, faster, more efficient, you're probably accruing the credits. ⁓ And it's just something you don't want to miss out on. R &D credits are... ⁓   not as well known as they could be because it's very much a specialty thing and it's relatively new to the tax code. It only became permanent in 2015. It's been around since the 80s but it changed a bunch and became permanent then. And the reason we didn't do it through 2022 through 2024 was there was a change in the 2017 tax code and you know they gave tax breaks.   Kiera Dent (30:43) Mm-hmm.   Derick Van Ness (31:07) to corporations, they had to make it up somewhere. And this was the place where they said, if people claim R &D, they also don't get to write off all the expenses without going into all the detail. It just wasn't worth doing. Now we can go back and recover that. Congress didn't think it was even going to become a law. I think they thought they were going to amend it. And then COVID happened. And they sort of forgot about it. So it became a law in 22. Anyway, this is all fixing it. So to me, this is a huge one. It's an easy win for a lot of a.   Kiera Dent (31:18) Yeah.   Derick Van Ness (31:36) a lot of dentists to be able to go out and just get a bunch of money back in taxes you've already paid for stuff you've already done. And it's pretty minimal effort. ⁓ There are lot of different people out there who do it. We do a free estimate for people so they can kind of see what's on the table. But yeah, it's pretty straightforward. To me, that's probably the one specific to dentistry that's going to apply to almost everybody listening almost every year. And so   I kind of saved it toward the end here because I think it's the big win. know, the others, the bonus depreciation can be bigger, but you're probably not buying a business or massive amounts of equipment every year. But if you are, then that's going to be a huge one too.   Kiera Dent (32:20) Yeah. No, Derick, I love that. And I did some math because you talked about like one hour approximately per month to do these things. And I just I did some really, really conservative numbers. So I was like, if we were doing 20 grand of how much we get for tax savings of like actual dollars to you. And that was in 15 hours a year. That's 1333. So about 1400 per hour. And so thinking about a dentist who's producing 1400 per hour.   That's actually, that's a pretty high production. You're producing about $11,000 a day as a dentist at that rate. Then I was thinking like, okay, the R &D is 10 grand, 20 grand in two hours. That's now producing $10,000 an hour. I was like, that dentist would be producing $80,000 a day. Just to put in comparison of your dollar per hour on production, you apply that to your tax savings. I think that it's to me,   Not all dentists are even producing $1,300 an hour. Even very, very skilled dentists, like 500 to 1,000 is actually pretty great. That's what we try to target for doctors to do. 8,000 a day is a pretty good amount. So when I just did the quick math and I'm like, a lot of dentists are not working five days a week. A lot of you are working four days a week. So if you just added this as part of your CEO time, one hour per month to dedicate to this.   What's the ROI of that time? think it's very well worthwhile. And I will agree with you, Derick. We've had you on the podcast before. That's why I had you come back on, because I am seeing multiple clients get these R &D credits coming through that I just think it's a worthwhile thing. Again, I feel like it's Geico. That's what I feel like right now. Like one hour or like one quick call could save you 10 to 20 grand. I think that that to me, again, let's be sharp. Let's be savvy. Let's make sure we take advantage of these opportunities because again,   Derick Van Ness (34:00) you   Kiera Dent (34:13) Like you've said, the compound of that 10 or $20,000 that you get over the course of the next 20 to 30 years while you're doing dentistry, even if it's five years, even if it's 10 years, ⁓ that to me is so worth your time. I feel like that's the best use of your time you can possibly do as a CEO, as a business owner. So Derick, that's why I want to do back on because I think everybody should connect with you. Everybody should talk to their CPAs about this.   I know you guys do the R &D credits. I also know that you guys do accounting. So if people are looking to connect with you, Derick, like what's the easiest way? Like I'm fired up listening to this podcast. I'm committed to my one hour a month. It's like one and a half guys. So you're gonna have to be a little bit more, but I'm committed to that. Where do I start? How do I get going to make sure that I can maximize this big, beautiful tax bill and also the R &D credits for my practice.   Derick Van Ness (35:03) It's a great question. So we actually set up a page just for Dental A Team listeners, right? So it's just, my company's called Big Life Financial. And we do that, it's not big money financial. Our goal is to help you get money out of the way so you can live the life you're here to live as a human, right? And really spend the family time and make the contributions and express yourself as you want to. But it's BigLifeFinancial.com/DAT. So if you go there, it's a research and development credits   opt in right for the page because I think that's the biggest win. But we will also do, if you would like, a full three year tax review for people. Anybody who wants to see, have I been overpaying? There's a million things we didn't touch on today because they're not part of the new tax bill. There are things that have been around for a long time. ⁓ But we can help you to get a good idea of have you been overpaying and what are the opportunities out there? ⁓ And so that's a great way to start. And then from there, if it seems like you want to   Kiera Dent (35:46) Mm-hmm.   Derick Van Ness (36:03) find out more, you have questions or things come up, but that's a good starting point, right? It's like a diagnostic that gives us a good place to start from. So BigLifeFinancial.com/DAT will set up a free call. It should only take maybe 15, 20 minutes at first just to answer any question. That's great.   Kiera Dent (36:19) 15 or more could save you.   It really fills up, it's true. It's true. Daria, I do have a question though, because people get creeped out by taxes. How often do doing this and looking back at past taxes alert audits within the IRS? Because people creep out about this.   Derick Van Ness (36:37) So doing it,   so the R &D credits, especially this because they literally passed a law and said, yes, you can go back and do it. So there's going to be a ton of people doing it. So I don't think it's going to be any type of audit unless you really weren't doing research, right? But that's what the interview is for, is to help us to identify it. And our team will essentially tell you what does and doesn't qualify. But there's no risk to it, especially because they're saying, hey, yeah, you can go back and do this. You could.   I mean, you could have claimed it before, but nobody did. So it's not going to stand out. also, even in the past, when we've done this for people prior to that law change, I think out of 16,000 filings, there's been like maybe 12 or 15 audits. It's lower. It's even lower than a typical audit range. And I don't know how that's even really possible, but it's just been very low. It's not something the IRS is really worried about. It's not huge amounts of money.   Kiera Dent (37:10) Mm-hmm.   Derick Van Ness (37:35) You know, some of these other strategies care that you're aware of. people are getting 50, 100,000, $200,000 tax breaks and those are much more highly scrutinized. You really doing this work, which dentists do, uh, and based on your industry, I don't think they're really going to bat an eye. It doesn't mean there's a zero chance, but it's very, very low. Just like if you had a piece of equipment, forgot to depreciate it. Now you went back and amended to do that. It's that straightforward. It's a permanent part of the tax code. It's not gray area stuff.   Kiera Dent (37:42) Right.   which is super helpful. And that's just where I wanted to clarify because I know people get kind of weird of like, yeah, I want to save on my taxes, but I'd rather not get audited. And so I think this is a world where you can be both. You can save on taxes legally, just like the Augustus rule. Like that is something very common. People do it if you don't know about it, talk to your CP about it, ⁓ your kids having real jobs. So I feel like it's something where, like you said, it's not talked about as much, but that does not mean that it is not as commonplace or that you shouldn't bonus appreciation on real estate, on big equipment.   Derick Van Ness (38:10) Yeah.   Kiera Dent (38:36) These are things that I also feel this is the time like a political landscape for you as a business owner to take advantage of tax benefits. The person who's in the White House currently, whatever you choose to believe or not believe is very pro businesses in a lot of ways. And so I'm like, if you're ever going to try it based on who's in office, ⁓ I think now is a great time ⁓ with how many things are coming forward for businesses and being more business. ⁓ I would just say   business friendly, I think is where the political landscape is currently. Again, not to go down a political path, just to be looking at like, if I'm hedging my bets, now is probably a really good time where odds of audits are probably a little bit lower than maybe at other times of the political landscape. So just things to think about. Derick, I love these podcasts. I love building wealth. So guys go to BigLifeFinancial.com/DAT, so Dental A Team. So it's just DAT our initials.   Derick Van Ness (39:15) Yeah.   Kiera Dent (39:32) And Derick will take great care of you. Derick, any last thoughts as we wrap up today? I appreciate you so much being on here.   Derick Van Ness (39:38) No, just think, you know, dentists work really, really hard and I feel like a lot of them don't get the fruits of their labor because there's a lot of these little things that they haven't been taught. And I think all the little things do add up. So, you know, this is one of those things that if you choose to just take it on, figure it out in a year or two, you'll be way ahead of the game and you get to benefit from that basically forever. Right? lot of this stuff, once you figure it out one time, you can just ride.   80%, 90 % on autopilot. So if you've been afraid of it, would say it's climb over that hill, whether it's with us or someone else, it is really worth it. You guys work too hard, take too many risks, deal with too much headache to not get the full amount of the money that you really deserve to keep. So yeah.   Kiera Dent (40:23) I agree.   That's why Derick gets to be on the podcast because we're very aligned. I've always said I want dentists to be insanely wealthy, insanely. I see what you go through in school. mean, 2.5 million debt ⁓ to even get the opportunity to practice. ⁓ That's really where I was on a very strong mission to help dentists just like Derick to be as successful as you want to be. And there's little strategies like what we talked about that are big strategies. So take advantage, get over the hump.   Chat with Derick or your financial advisor or your CPA. But these things, I think, need to be part of your every single year conversations. They need to be talked about multiple times. You need to be asking what's been changing in the tax bill, keeping yourself a part of it. Very simple moves, big gains this year. Derick, as always, thanks for being a part of it. I really appreciate you. And for all of you listening, thank you for listening, and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

On today's episode, Dr. Mark Costes sits down at Thrive Live with Doug Fettig, CPA, MBA, and dental business advisor, for a deep and dynamic conversation on leadership, joy, and what it really means to run a successful dental practice. Doug brings energy and perspective to the challenges facing dentists today, from burnout and depression to poor delegation and leadership struggles.  They discuss why so many dentists are trapped in the “Eeyore” mindset, how to break free by embracing abundant thinking, and why hiring the right office manager can transform your business and your life. Doug explains why outsourcing everything but leadership and clinical work is essential, and how to avoid confusing abdication with effective delegation. If you've ever felt stuck in your practice or unsure of how to lead, this is a conversation you don't want to miss. Be sure to check out the full episode from the Dentalpreneur Podcast! EPISODE RESOURCES https://www.gradyhealth.org https://www.truedentalsuccess.com Dental Success Network Subscribe to The Dentalpreneur Podcast

Title:  How Survive When Real Estate Deals Fail with Ruben Kanya Summary: In this conversation, Seth Bradley, a securities attorney and real estate investor, discusses the complexities of capital raising, the importance of experimentation in finding one's niche, and the critical role of networking and trust in the investment landscape. He shares insights from his journey in real estate and tech, emphasizing the need for grit and public speaking skills to succeed in capital raising. The discussion also highlights the challenges of the first capital raise and the lessons learned along the way. In this conversation, the speakers delve into the multifaceted benefits of hosting a podcast, emphasizing the importance of listening and connection. They explore the intricacies of capital raising in real estate, discussing the significance of grit, networking, and leveraging other people's money. The dialogue also covers compliance with securities laws, compensation structures in syndication, and the emerging trend of fund to fund structures. Tribevest is introduced as a solution for simplifying fund management and ensuring compliance in capital raising efforts. Links to listen and subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/raising-capital-the-right-way-compliance-funds-and/id1341895972?i=1000688593916 Links to watch and subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyF9Z72m2R0 Bullet Point Highlights: You need a license to raise capital legally. Experimenting with different models helps identify what works for you. Building authority and trust is essential in capital raising. Networking with high net worth individuals is crucial. The first capital raise is often the hardest. Grit and determination are key to success in entrepreneurship. Public speaking skills can enhance your ability to communicate effectively. Learning from clients can provide valuable insights for your own journey. You can leverage your existing skills to add value in capital raises. Building a strong network can facilitate easier capital raising. Having a podcast enhances listening skills and fosters connections. Capital raising requires grit, a strong network, and resources. Leveraging other people's money accelerates business growth. Compliance with securities laws is crucial in capital raising. Compensation structures in syndication vary based on deal size and type. Fund to fund structures are becoming more prevalent in real estate. Effective communication is key to successful networking. Tribevest simplifies the process of raising capital compliantly. Understanding the legalities of capital raising is essential for success. Building a community can expedite personal and professional growth. Transcript: Ruben Kanya (00:00.142) whole idea here is you're actually not allowed to raise capital without a license. So just like being a doctor or a dentist or an attorney, you have to have a license to be able to raise capital and it's called a broker dealer or potentially an RIA, registered investment advisor. So if you're not one of those people, if you don't have a license, you need to have an exemption from having that license. if it's your, this is speaking in generalities, but if it's your own deal, if it's your own fund,   If it's your own syndication, if you're the one buying the property, that's an exemption. You're exempted. You can raise capital for your own deal and that's okay. And that's kind of the co-GP concept that we talk about sometimes. I actually don't like to say co-GP because to me it's a fallacy. There's no such thing as a co-GP. You're either a GP and an active partner.   Who's this? you're an entrepreneur? you're a real estate investor? you're trying to learn from those who did it? Well, come into the lab then. Put your white coat on, gloves on, notepad, and let's go, Joe.   Experiment nation this episode was a really fun one with Seth Bradley who is a fun manager Invest in entrepreneurs. He's an attorney he as a startup founders of software as a service and Really what I loved about What he's built is   Everything that he's built, it's vertically integrated, which I love, but he really embodies the principles of experimenting. Right. And what I mean by that is he has tried multiple models in real estate, which allowed him to get exposure, which I think is really important when I talk about having a well-rounded experiment in your lab, LabAK being your life, so that you can at least identify   (Seth Bradley) (02:10.529) what you like, what you don't like, what gives you return on energy, what drains you. I think those are all important things for us to then be able to niche down. A lot of times we talk about niching down, but we haven't even gotten a taste of what's on the menu to even understand what it is that we want to niche down in. And so part of what I created here at Experimentation in the lab is to bring you   folks who can present the menu of the different options that there is in not only real estate, but in business and even career to then give you that exposure so that you can then get a taste even from this show and then implement it yourself and maybe try one or two or three experiments or four or five. How many it takes for you to feel like this is the thing. This is the thing that I'm going to hold on to and grasp to and go all in on. Right. And that's what we did.   And keep in mind that life has seasons. A lot of us can do something and it could be four seasons. Your season could be five years, 10 years, 15, but I do believe in the compound effect. his journey, Seth's journey, he was able to get his first duplex, then quads, then small multifamilies and big multifamily units. And the next thing you know, he's doing $120 million a deal just in 2022 alone, right? In one year.   But with that, one thing I wanted to highlight, so one thing is the experiment, different exposures, AKA building blocks towards the very thing that he's doing now. But the other thing is being able to get a free, or I should say, get a paid internship. And that's through servicing your clients, learning from them, and then taking a page from their book. He was an attorney that was putting down together his SEC deals of syndications,   capital raising, and then he learned from his clients because he had full transparency. Sometimes, often we're in a position where the proof of concept is right in front of us, but we don't grab it by the horns. We just see it for what it is, just clocking and clocking out. No matter what job you have, there's an opportunity for you to actually take lessons, systems, SOPs, structure, any skillset to take it to the next level for your own endeavors.   (Seth Bradley) (04:38.252) And what I mean by that is I was a realtor and I was a realtor for the investor. understood how investors, underwrote their deals. And that was my win for me to hone my craft in real estate, underwriting deals, pulling comps, walking properties, understanding value at all. That was when I was the realtor for the investor. You can still look it up on bigger pockets. You can still see my page. That's what I was doing. I was helping investors invest until I then became an investor myself.   And in this case, he was an ICC attorney providing these, you know, going through the process of doing syndications, fund to fund, et cetera. And then he learned and he said, not only do I have a practice that does it, but I can also be on the other side of that transaction. So don't you ever forget the importance of being on the other side of the transaction in whatever service that you offer, even if it's just call it.   You work in hospitality at a restaurant to make ends meet. There's a system, there's a SOP, there's a checklist. There's something in there that is a proof of concept that you can then take and implement somewhere in your business. And the universe will tell you its secrets if you listen. The clues are all around us. Last but not least, I love our conversation around being an authority, building a brand.   Essentially, that's what capital raising is and he talked about three pillars. I don't want to talk about he said money Right is one heart of the center trust in your network, right? Your network is you gotta have a big network He talks about having a platform like this where I think everybody should have a podcast because you get the interview you get to learn the skills of communication listening, etc but most importantly you foster relationship while on the air and then   It builds trust to whoever's listening. I'm sure that if you're listening right now and you and I wanted to go into a deal together, there's some form of trust. If this is not your, your first episode. So there's that, right? We talked about having a meetup, restarting our meetups. That's key. Connecting people, they trust in you. Being an authoritative figure, trust. They can't flow you if they don't know you. So stop being cute and stop hiding and put yourself out there. Right? Money. Money follows all of the above network and trust.   (Seth Bradley) (07:00.408) people who have money in your network will make it easier than those who are in your network who are broke. So surround yourself with people who have money, not just because they have money, but of course it can help you tremendously if you're trying to raise capital. And there's something that goes about saying with people who have money, it's not that they're better or anything, but there is a level of opulence and abundance.   And I think there should be a good balance. But certainly if you're trying to raise money with people who don't have money and you're in a circle, people don't know how many doesn't mean to say that you can't uplift them when you have an opportunity, but it's going to be hard to raise capital from people who don't have capital. Right. So that's one thing to keep in mind. Money trust network and being an authority. You can build an authority from home in the lab, in a studio, in person.   And you don't always have to be an expert in something else. Sometimes you can actually have authority within your own circle. If you're a dentist and you're trying to raise capital with other dentists, they trust you. You have authority maybe in your current marketplace, you're a manager of some kind or you're a lead or you're just someone that people really trust. You have that authority. You have trust already with like-minded people in your circle. So this was a great one. He brought a lot of core values home. And that's what I love about   the show. It's every time you listen or anytime you interview someone who's had done some amazing leaps and experiments in their own lab, there's always some consistent clues that kind of bring to the surface and maybe it just, I'm aware of them, but if not, my goal is to extract that and make them aware for you. So I trust that you're going to get a lot from this episode without further ado, Seth Bradley in the lab, y'all.   Experimentation, what's going on? Your host Ruben here. Today I have the pleasure of connecting with a gentleman that we connected with, had some mutual connections. And I was like, I didn't want to let the serendipity go to waste because I saw there was a mutual beneficial component to the lab, as I always say. And I always think you're as good as your tools, you're as good as your resources. And so I'm really happy to have the gentleman here step into the lab with us to give us insight. And I also love the   (Seth Bradley) (09:21.39) I'll call it a vertical integration I think and maybe Seth will keep me honest here, but without further ado I want to welcome Seth Bradley. How's it my man? Welcome to the lab brother   Going great, man. Ruben, really appreciate you having me on. Thanks for having me in the lab.   Absolutely, man. I should so listen if I'm curious so Seth because you know, we we start to talk a little bit and I was a car We're getting to the weeds of things. I want to make sure I hit this record button, but I'm just a curious guy and I'm so curious that if I'm at a real estate conference and you and I sit next to each other and I say hey I'm Ruben Seth. Nice to meet you. You know, what do you do for a living? What do you lead with because you have a very interesting background? So I want to we're gonna reverse engineer, but I'm so curious as to   at the time that we're recording this, what do you lead with if you don't know what my interests are, you don't know where I'm coming from, I could be an investor, I could be interested in putting my money to work, what do you lead with? I'm just so curious.   I love that question, man, because sometimes I have a hard time answering it. It's an easy question to answer for most people, but for me, I have to think about it for a second. But typically I'll lead with I'm a securities attorney, specifically a real estate securities attorney. So if you're raising capital for real estate from passive investors, I'm your guy. can help you put together your fund or your syndication compliantly and secondarily, or, you know, one B I'll call it a tech founder. So involved in a few tech startups as well.   (Seth Bradley) (10:48.238) That's awesome. Then that opens up the window because I see her tech founder and then I securities attorney. Is that that accurate?   Yep, nailed it.   securities attorney. would you do you happen to do you still do I mean, of course, you've been involved in raising capital yourself, which is what I want to lead with next. But are you actively investing? And if you are, what is the model? Is it more investing in the startup? Or is it more investing in actual capitals? I should say social capital relationships, or even you know what, maybe it's some form of real estate, what is your current I guess, investing   season for lack of better words.   Yeah, it's all across the board, man. mean, everything that you mentioned, I mean, just quickly, I started in real estate in 2013. House hacked into a duplex did kind of the bigger pockets podcast. Listen to that. Red Rich Dad, Poor Dad, you know, the typical journey you take and house hacked into a duplex and started buying bigger and bigger properties got to the point where, you know, I wanted to get into syndications and funds and start raising capital. So I started actually investing passively into real estate first and I got my feet wet.   Ruben Kanya (12:01.55) figured out what that investor journey looked like. And then I started raising capital myself from my own syndications where potentially I could be just a capital partner or also an operator. So I raised a good amount of capital from 2019 to 2023, I would say, before the interest rates started to spike. And then we slowed down a bit, but we still own a good amount of that real estate and just put it in perspective. We bought about $120 million with the real estate in 2022 alone. And now I'm kind of   involved with a handful of tech startups where I'm also in that same capacity where I'm raising capital or helping the CEO raise capital for seed rounds for these startups.   Okay, very interesting. So I'm glad let's go to the very beginning because you talked about bigger pockets with shout out to bigger pockets, right? Because that's or did you say bigger pockets? I did hear you say that. Okay, cool. had a mutual kind of, know, I was planning my seeds. I think that they did an amazing job, of course, like minded investors together. 2013 get a duplex. I'm sure one thing I'm curious about and you know, someone else might be listening is, you know, what   point now every everyone's situation is different with that said, but at what point did you start to think, okay, it's time to bring in some outside capital and, I'm going to lead with you. It seems that you strike me as a guy who does things strategically. enlighten me a little bit as to get the duplex. Was there another lever that was pulled to get the next property before you start to raise capital? Or is that right away, right into, okay, now it's time to raise capital. Cause   duplex going to take me so far. Tell me about that journey.   Ruben Kanya (13:43.732) No, I mean, that journey was, you know, a lot of different types of things. mean, I've wholesaled, I've fixed and flipped single family properties. We were doing that in Cleveland for a while. Then we kind of moved on to multifamily, you know, smaller multifamilies up to four units, which is still residential, but then up to, you know, like 16 units, those sorts of things. Then we started getting to where, you know, capital starts getting constrained, your own capital, or if you're doing like a JV, starts getting constrained. But I was fortunate enough that my legal practice, which also started in 2013,   was highly related to what I was doing. So as a real estate attorney, my real estate clients were raising capital for their real estate deals. So then I got into securities law. So I saw how they were raising capital. Then I started helping them raise capital from the legal side. And then I started raising, and then I realized that, hey, if we want to go bigger, I've got to be more like my clients who are buying, you know, 50, $100 million properties. How do we do that? Well, like they do it. They need to raise capital from either   passive investors or from, larger investors like family offices and places like that. So I knew that that was the pathway. So I was fortunate enough to kind of have that perspective shown to me by my clients and they kind of showed me the blueprint. Hey, this is how you need to do it. Now, a lot of other attorneys see that same blueprint and they don't really have that entrepreneurial mindset. So they're kind of just like that service oriented, Hey, let's do what I'm doing. And I'm just going to help. But I have an entrepreneurial mindset. I I'm like,   I want to do that. I want to buy that property. I want to run that business. I want to scale it. like anything else, though, I still had a little bit of reservation, I would say. So I decided to invest passively first just to get my feet wet, just to see what that investor experience was like. And then once I did that a few times, I really got into the active side and dove right in.   Oh man, I love so many elements of that. Let's unpack the experiment phase, right? Because that's what I truly believe in. I'm curious to what your thoughts are on this, right? Before I even preface by saying this, I think, and this is just a thought, could be wrong. I'm experimenting life as it is. But when you ask someone, hey, what do you want to do for a living? Right? It's like, well, I don't know. I haven't been exposed to enough.   (Seth Bradley) (16:03.116) Right. But then when you start experimenting with a lot of different things, then you can niche down because you've been exposed to like this that I don't like, et cetera. And there's a second leg to that, but I want to touch on that for a second because you said you did wholesale fixing flips, then you need small multifamily. What do you think you were able to gain from that? My personally, when I see that, I see, well, you were able you were able to get insight, but   Again, maybe you see things differently. Maybe it's like you needed to do those things and you thought it was true. And then you were led down one path and led to another. What do you take from that? Were you experimenting or was it more or less of the natural progression of events and what you thought was going to be your end all be all ended up progressing into a new ideal. Tell me about that experience.   Yeah, I mean, I think it was an experiment. It was me trying. I knew I wanted to be in real estate. I love real estate. I've always been drawn to it. It's just been an interesting thing for me and interesting subject. I remember when I was in undergrad and I couldn't afford to buy any kind of real estate or didn't have a job at all. And I was trying to figure out, well, man, how can I buy like these townhouses that I'm living in and rent those out? Like, I remember just being interested from the get go. So I knew I wanted to be in it, but it was certainly an experiment to see.   how to break into the market, how to scale a business. Because once you got into a duplex and your house hacked and bought a few other single family properties, it was like, okay, well, we can continue to do this, but I'm always looking again to scale. And to do that, a lot of times you do need to bring in other people's money to be able to fund that scale. But not always. mean, I think it would be a better pathway, honestly, if you can scale without other people's money, because then you can own 100 % of it. But a lot more difficult to do. So if you want to...   you want to grow with scale fast, typically it's with other people's money. And again, luckily I was already in a profession that gave me that experience to be able to see that pathway and be able to execute on   (Seth Bradley) (18:02.35) Now tell me that's a great insight or at least a transition point there, Seth, because we, know, in our professions, we spend a lot of time, but not a lot of folks spend the time to have the lens of an entrepreneur to say, hey, maybe I can actually take a page from their book. Right. Because I think it's interesting that it's we all are entrepreneurs. Right. So we go into business ourselves to run away from maybe possibly corporate. Some people.   And then we build our own companies. We install systems, we invest in resources. And then it's like, we turn into the thing that we were maybe running away from, but there's a lesson that we get to build it our way and have maybe learned lessons from these big corporations. In your end, it reminds me a little bit of me because I again, certainly not an attorney by any means. And I won't compare being a realtor to an attorney, but you are servicing clients and you get to at least,   at least get nuggets from their journey and then say, Hey, why don't, why don't I take a page from their book? Can you talk to us about that? Because I think honestly, it's an unkept almost secret and not even talked about enough where it's like, Hey, you're taking this opportunity right now to get to understand the playbook, see how they've done it, learn from their mistakes, right? Right. Through service and while getting paid. And then you're like, okay, now I'm going to do it for me. So   Do you see it that way as well? was it kind of, know, or did you strategically go into it thinking that you do that? Or it was kind of like, you know what? This is kind of cool. Let me try it myself.   Yeah, I mean, and Ruben, hats off to you, man, because a lot of realtors and brokers, they're around real estate every single day. That is literally their business. They have access to deals before other people. They get to see things that other people don't get to see. They get to see the transactions. They get to see how they change hands. And as you know, most of them don't invest in real estate. like, you even own your own house? Do you own any investment properties in...   Ruben Kanya (20:11.918) 90 % of them don't, right? Unless it's, well, maybe their own house, but that's probably it. They don't invest. And it's crazy to think about that when they're around that all the time. And it's the same thing with attorneys, right? Like, know, they're, whether there's somebody like me, there's real estate or securities, and they have clients that are, that are buying large properties and raising capital, or it's, you know, some other practice like and A where they're combining companies and building companies and things like that.   I think that there's a certain entrepreneurial DNA that's in some of us and it's not in others. And that's okay. Like some people thrive in an office atmosphere or thrive in a W-2 type of atmosphere. And a lot of times I don't even like to disrupt that. Like people, you know, are comfortable there. They like the steady paycheck and that's okay. And I think the vast majority of people do want that and they do like that. They like the predictability of it. But some of us out there, like me and you, I believe are, you know, we just,   We're not a fit for that. Like we need to build. I think that's the key is, is the build, right? Cause you were talking about, you know, we start putting all the systems and the processes and the things into place to ultimately end up in the, the same machine that we didn't want to work for. But I don't think that's the piece that's important. The piece is important is that that climb the build, we want to build like we were builders. love to build.   Yeah. Have you ever had a conversation, with maybe your associates on? I don't know if this is a hypocritical question, because I don't know if I could answer this. But I'm curious, have you had a conversation with another attorney? Like, hey, you see this all the time. Have ever thought of doing it yourself? What's the mindset behind? Have you had that conversation? And have you had around those? Yeah, just curious.   Yeah, I definitely, I definitely have. think, you know, at least specifically with the attorney industry or with that profession, we are, we're trained to look at risk. We're trained to evaluate liability. We are trained to be conservative in nature. and that is totally different than when you're an entrepreneur and you're out there building a business and you're, don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. And there's going to be a problem that pops up today that you didn't expect.   Ruben Kanya (22:30.01) And you don't know if you're going to be able to pay payroll and all these different things that come up as an entrepreneur, as a business builder, that's totally a different mindset than it is that attorneys are trained for. So I think that's definitely a separation. like, you know, I have a lot of investors that are attorneys. That was, that's who my investor base is. Typically it's other attorneys. A lot of other capital raisers don't go after attorneys because they are paying the ass. We ask a lot of questions. Like I said, we are risk averse. Like, you know, we're not the ideal.   person or people to raise from.   I'm gonna predict my money isn't really the case.   with a cold on the page. 137 second paragraph line four. What does that mean? Why is that? And, know, that's the kind of stuff you have to deal with. But, you know, they do make a good amount of money. So there's a, you know, there's a push, there's a give take there. But, you know, I think that that's, I have identified that with conversations with my investors and obviously my prior colleagues. I mean, that in itself is, is a big difference.   It's a big difference. We're just as attorneys, we're just trained to find and look at risk and think about all the bad things that can happen. And man, when you're building a business, when you're growing out on your own and you say, I'm done with my W-2, I don't want that paycheck anymore. That's a lot of risk, right? Or at least it's a lot of risk to a person that thinks that way. I actually don't think that way. I think it's more risky to be have one income stream and be a W-2, but that's certainly not the way that they typically look at it.   (Seth Bradley) (24:02.306) Yeah, no, it's interesting what you're saying. But I'm also curious though, that if they are also investing, because it sounds like you've also worked with some associates, or at least your investors have come from the same cloth, it sounds like they might be, instead of again, raising the capital like you are, high risk, high leverage, they're willing to put their money to work. Do you find that   And I guess maybe that's it. Do you find that that kind of archetype is finding that to be of a less riskier approach versus flipping versus doing it themselves? Or do you find that it's more of time constraint thing? it's like, listen, I got the money. You mentioned it. I have a high net worth. I'm an accredited investor. Let me just do it with someone who's an expert. What have you seen since you've been on both sides, and especially as a fundraiser?   Yeah, I think it's that investor profile. You know, these are folks that make a lot of money from their W-2. They have no time on their hands because their W-2 is so demanding. then any time they have outside of that, it's got to be spent with family. So they really just don't have any time, but they do have capital. So it's just that investor profile that you're dealing with with attorneys and some of the similar, you know, with doctors and dentists and engineers and people like that. Same thing. You know, they're highly paid professionals.   You know, they went to school for a long time. They make a lot of money, but they don't have any time. And unless they really want to venture out and say, okay, I want to raise capital or, or, I don't know, you have to figure out a way to carve out more time because they certainly don't have it. I know when I worked in big law firms and I'm trying to bill 2000 hours a year, I don't have time to, you know, invest actively. In fact, I actually got fired from my big law job, my last one, because of that, because I'm raising capital and doing real estate deals.   and starting businesses and guess what? You don't have time to do that if you're working at a demanding job, whether that's as an attorney or Dr. Dennis, whoever that might be. So I think it just comes down to that profile and do you have time? Do you have capital? And then whatever one you have a surplus of, that's probably where you're going to fit into the asset. So you can invest if you have capital and no time.   Ruben Kanya (26:26.126) You need to find something a little bit more passive and that comes through like funds and syndications and things like that.   All right. So that's very helpful and I think very interesting because you've seen both sides. You not only were on the other side, but you've also been the capital raiser and then you've also yourself invested passively. Tell me about the first deal that if you recall, at least the like kind deal when you raised capital, who did you go to?   Did you start with your client base? Did you start with friends and family? And then maybe we can even get into the granularity. I know there's different non-accredited, accredited 506V versus 506C. There's a lot of different kind of foundational pillars. But talk to us about what your first deal was like, if you recall some of the numbers and what kind of asset type and then who you actually pulled in. So people can start thinking of actually what's possible when we talk about capital.   you know, in fundraising, we think of it as this big thing, but people like you and me can actually start initiating these kinds of transactions. Talk to us about your first one.   Yeah, man, I mean, don't remember the actual specifics, but it was like 100 because there's around 150 unit multifamily something like that was your first That was the first raise it was the first raise but I was brought I I wasn't the primary operating partner I brought in as a capital raiser that sort of thing and also providing some legal services as well. Um, but I was   (Seth Bradley) (27:48.078) That was your first race.   (Seth Bradley) (28:01.422) Hold on. That's interesting. Now you kind of you're kind of double. Is that is that how you got your general partner essentially? Were you a general partner on that? Or were you tell us about that? Because from what I understand, you can correct me if I'm wrong here. You're the expert. You can bring in different subject matter expertise to the table to value your I guess your position and a capital raise. Maybe one is investor relations, one, et cetera. Did you from what I understand, bacon?   some of your services and as a GP or is that, what did you?   Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I was a general partner on that deal, baking in some of my legal services as well. Started leveraging my skillset that's super valuable. Obviously, it's applicable to these capital raises. I can help you raise capital and also be the securities attorney and also potentially the real estate attorney as well on the deal. So lots of different ways that I can get in there and provide value to the active partnership.   But yeah, I I was tasked with raising, you know, half a million dollars. I didn't hit it. I hit way under. I think I might've raised like a couple hundred thousand dollars. And I was pretty happy that I even hit that because it's the first time. I'm, and I'll tell you what, man, like capital raising is hard. Like I think that, you know, you see all these masterminds out there and these coaching programs and things and they're teaching how to raise capital and some are great. And I'm actually in a couple of them. but they are, you know, they, have to sell you on that. easy, right? They have to sell you on, Hey,   I'll give you the systems, the processes and boom, you're going to be able to raise a million dollars easily. It's not that easy. unless you already have a built in network of high net worth individuals, that's where you'll find success. Or maybe you have a platform like yours where you can access a lot of people that you already have a relationship with and you'll like, and trust you that love what you're doing. And they're like, man, if he's investing in this, it must be good. So that those people, like you, and then also people that are.   Ruben Kanya (29:59.426) we tend to see a lot of doctors and dentists that are very successful right out of the gate. Cause guess what? They work with other doctors and dentists who already trust them, who have money, who already trust them. So they do great. and then others, like me are probably somewhere in the middle, right? We we've got a base of investors that are like attorneys, which seem like they'd be great because they have money, but guess what? They're a pain in the ass. So there's, there's a little bit of give take there. and then you have other folks who,   you know, maybe they're a school teacher or something like that where their colleagues maybe don't have a ton of money to invest and they have to follow just like, you know, follow the processes, the systems and the marketing funnels and those things and rely really heavily on that. And typically it doesn't go that well. It doesn't on the first one. You've really got to be scrappy. Like you've got to get in there. You've got to literally make a list of a hundred people that you know, that might want to invest right.   type it up, go systematically through that list, and you've gotta break out of your shell and not be afraid to just reach out to these people, no shame, get your pitch together and just do it. And it feels awkward and you don't wanna do it and you feel like a salesperson, but you've gotta do it. You've gotta break through those reservations and make it happen because that first raise is a bear. You've gotta just be.   You've got to be scrappy and you've got to do whatever it takes and 10x whatever you think is going to take.   Experiment nation, you've heard me talk about how multiple investors across the nation are landing these lucrative midterm rental insurance contracts by making these small tweaks on the branding and marketing side, especially if you're an existing short-term rental operator, there is a quick and easy shift that you can make with the ride guide in place. And because we've launched a two-day bootcamp,   (Seth Bradley) (31:59.278) that not everyone could attend in real time, I've put together a recording where you can get all the materials and all the guides to focus on rebranding either your short term rental business or your current midterm rental business so that you can actually have the insurance companies reach out to you. And then day two is if you want to actually play offense, how you can reach out to them by listing on the right platforms, et cetera.   If you're looking to get this MTR bootcamp so that you can start optimizing and you can start receiving these lucrative contracts that again, provide less headaches, less turnovers, unlike the Airbnb space, you can start receiving inquiries today by having the right guide in place. So please go to experimentrealestate.com for slash MTR bootcamp or click the link in the bio to make sure you get your hands on the   and midterm rental insurance bootcamp to fast track your way into landing these lucrative insurance contracts the exact same ways multiple investors have taken advantage of this unknown and untapped niche within the midterm rental umbrella. Wow, so I'm a systems guy and as you're speaking, I'm taking notes here guys. I heard three key pillars and feel free to add to them because I wanna hear.   kind of the downfall of some of what folks are coaching. I heard one is money, number two is trust, and number three is network. And I like how you highlighted those because I hear, well, if you have a network and you can get access and you have a large pool, then there's probably people who are gonna have money in there. Then if you have what I'm hearing is authority, trust, AKA I'm a doctor, you're a doctor, we speak the same language. And by the way, guess what? Third pillar, we all have money.   So that's kind of like the sweet, sounds like that's the sweet spot. MTN money trust and network. What did I miss?   Ruben Kanya (34:03.89) You nailed it, man. That's it. That's kind of the big level, the high level things that you need. I mean, you need that authority or you need to be able to show that you know what you're doing, that you know what you talk about and what you're talking about, that sort of thing. And then obviously that network, you either have to develop that through your W-2 that you already have or however it might be, or maybe you have a platform, right? Like maybe you have a platform like a podcast or an investor group.   or an in-person meetup. We don't do those as much as we used to before COVID, but that used to be a huge thing. Like I were on a real estate meetup in San Diego County or something like that. And it goes, that used to go really, really well for people to be able to raise capital. So yeah, you gotta have that platform. Network. I know, right, Networking lunch.   You should bring that back. There's something about because there's something about this, right? This is cool. Like, what a time to be alive where you and I can connect in the flesh. But I want to echo what you just said. Because I'm kind of speaking to myself as a reminder, Ruben, you got to get these meetups going again. We used to do a meetup in New York and Atlanta.   And just the relationships that happen in the room and you're being the super connector is so powerful. I wouldn't get cute and just, you know, this is great that you and I can connect while you're in San Diego and I'm here in Boston, but it's not, or it's and, I think we should, I think we should bring it back. Cause I could tell it may a super charismatic dude, great energy. you know, obviously you're authoritative figure and I feel like, I think, it will only service more.   never seen.   (Seth Bradley) (35:41.87) to have these in there's something about in person. So yeah, I'm just I'm preaching to the choir, but I'm also like, hey, accountability, I'm gonna check up on you. gotta do the same.   You gotta appreciate it. Tell me sure man. And it's great. Like when we meet on something like this and we have some interactions on social media and then we get on each other's podcast, you know, get to know each other. And then when you meet in person, you're like, this is awesome. You already feel like you know the person. So technology is a great and right. Another and yeah.   Yeah, don't sleep on that fit that in person. We need more of that if anything. And people are, you know what, people I think are actually searching for it with all this technology. So good reminder for the both of us and whoever who's listening. I want to touch on something that you said, Seth. You mentioned, because I like learning from those who either have failed or made mistakes because can expedite our learning process. So you said,   First deal typically, uh first one doesn't go well, uh, it's a bear but then you also mentioned that uh, you know Some some mastermind programs, right and there's a lot out there good and bad and some are better than others. Uh, some of them, you know I see I guess uh, maybe Don't um, I should say, um, maybe they fall a little short   of helping you get to your first link. What's missing? What's the missing link? We talk about money, trust and network, but like if I wanted to nail it the first time the right way without, and I wanted to learn from someone like you from, your mistakes or from someone else's mistakes or from, know, those masterminds that are just falling short, what is a, is, is it a foundational or at least insight or lesson learn or thing I should keep top of mind in addition to the money, trust and network that would maybe put me in a   (Seth Bradley) (37:40.024) position not to have the first one be so challenging.   Yeah, I mean, to be honest with you, I think it's going to be challenging no matter what. I mean, I think what I was going to say is actually grit, right? You have to have grit. So I think it kind of it's a counterbalance here where you have a mastermind or coaching program or a class or something like that that you're selling to somebody. And the only way somebody is going to buy it is if you say, hey, buy this or come join me in this group and   I'll make it easy for you to do what you want to do. Like that's the selling point. You have to say that it's going to be easy to get them to pay you to do it. But the problem is once they're in, you realize it's not easy. So, you know,   People sell the promise, not the process.   That's right. That's right. So, you know, I think maybe I don't know if there's any way around that. Like you certainly can't sell it is going to be hard and be like, Hey, well, if you buy my $20,000 program, you're probably not going to make it. So you can, if you want, you know, it's just not, it's not going to work. So I don't know if that's going to change, but I would say maybe once you get into that program, then you preach that, look, I can give you the systems, I can give you the processes. I can even teach you the compliance and I can hook you up with all my different, you know, my network and   Ruben Kanya (38:59.21) hook you up with my securities attorney and my CPA and my funnel builder and those sorts of things. But at the end of the day, really emphasize that it's going to be work. You have to not only implement the systems, but you're going to have to scrap. Just like building any business, capital raising is a hard business and you're going to have to do things that are going to make you uncomfortable. And if you don't go all in, you're not going to make it. That's all there is. It's just like any business.   or even a piece of a business. So me and my wife own a few gyms together and like sometimes we'll implement like you know, a promotion or something. Right. And if we half asset, it doesn't work. It just doesn't. It simply does not work. You have to have full buy-in. You have to believe in it yourself and you have to get your teammates and your employees to believe in it or they won't or they won't grow in the same direction as you. You've got to be all in just like with any business or it's not going to work.   love that. That's a good one. The belief system is certainly a big one. And I'm sure it comes off across, especially in this space of capital raising, you people want to know that, do you believe in what you're saying, right? Just as much as you believe in yourself. That's interesting. So   Tactically, was talking to this gentleman yesterday at the gym, speaking of the gym, a young guy, a hustler, you know, making some good money. And we were kind of talking about, you know, journey, you know, part of the journey is, you know, acquiring skill sets and honing your and sharpening the axe, for lack of a better word. And so I'm curious, you know,   And I'm going to stick to my pillager because that's a reference point for me. But if I'm thinking of, what is one skill? Not saying for this is the end all be all by any means, just curses. If I was to focus and truly get really, really good at one skill and, can she not just achieve mastery in it? Is it fostering relationships, remembering Seth's birthday, what he does? Is it being able to really get   (Seth Bradley) (41:17.998) great at communication and putting together a pitch deck, just to get a little bit more granular of like, what skillsets should I be thinking of, of honing, flexing that muscle and or which skill sets would actually give me an advantage in this space to really double down on? What would you say to that?   I'll just lean on what I personally did. And I think that that's public speaking. So it's a lot, it's something that people hate, right? Like most people hate it. There's a small percentage of people that love it. Not very many. Most people say it's their biggest fear. Certainly my biggest fear was public speaking. so I had to overcome that. I realized that in order to be the person that I wanted to be, I needed to overcome that fear. I needed to get good at what I was not good at. And that was certainly it. And I'll tell you what.   doing what we're doing now helped me. So I launched a podcast. It helps a lot. You get used to talking, you get used to conversating with people and you being the center of attention and focusing your thoughts and putting them into the words that you want to say. And it, it really helped. And I think that that goes from the top down. So even if you, you know, public speaking, you're thinking about, you know, being on stage and giving a presentation, that sort of thing.   Just gonna say.   Ruben Kanya (42:34.914) but it trickles down all the way to networking conversations, to having a phone call with an investor. Like it just improves your conversation skills and your communication skills that you have, whether you're on stage, whether you're on a podcast or whether you're on a phone call or a face-to-face meeting with an investor, it trickles all the way down.   I love this conversation so much and Seth, you have your own podcast as well. Why don't you plug it in for a second.   Sure, it's called the Passive Income Attorney podcast, but I will say that I'm rebranding to Raise the Bar Radio. Obviously a homage to raising capital and being an attorney.   Right. No, the reason I bring that is I couldn't, I just want to echo that, that, everything is, is, is a, is a building block, right? I think what's fascinating about having your own show, right? Seth is, you know, that when someone is talking, traditionally, or if you're not well trained, you're already thinking the next thing to say, not really hearing the person. This skillset right here, but we're doing, which I love so much, you know, forces you to be a better listener.   You know be able to collect information Digest it analyze it and then respond to it. I've always said I think having a show a podcast is one of the ultimate hacks because of the the the There's just so many multiple benefits associated with it. I'm curious. Do you see it that way too? Or is it just me?   Ruben Kanya (44:06.798) just 100 % man 100 % you heard me man like that it's a game changer I mean there's that's to me the number one thing but also you you just get to make connections too right like you get to have guests that you have to have a reason to have somebody on your show that maybe you wouldn't get to talk to for whatever reason or and you get to cross paths with people and you get to say you get to share this experience like we're always gonna have this experience I know when I meet up with people in real life   maybe five years later, like at a networking event, I'm like, my gosh, you remember we were I was on your podcast four years ago or whatever. And it's just like, you know, it's like we're high school buddies or something. you know,   You know, that's so funny you say that Seth, because I was at a conference and I've seen this dude and it had been so long. He's awesome. And I blanked on his name and I was like, but I like, hadn't seen me yet. So I just went to my episode, scrolled them like that's right. Cause I couldn't put it together. I'm like, why am I playing on it? And we hit it off. went to lunch together. Like it was just awesome. But it's to your point, it's, it's sharing an experience one.   It's learning how to communicate, learning how to listen, and then being able to... That's why I actually like being on this side more, because I get to ask you questions. It's having a master class. I'm learning so much right now, and then I get to share with my audience. It's like, Roman, that was just a great interview. like, dude, I self-interest. I selfishly was just as hyped. I'm so glad you got value out of it. So that's awesome, Seth. Let me ask you. So, know, biggest...   You talked about the capital raising, challenging, having grit, needing grit, having a network, having money, having relationships. On the other side of this is, ah, this isn't for me. Do you have a message for those folks who are saying, you know, if you're an advocating for it and obviously you have a service around it, you've done it yourself. Sure. It's not for everybody.   (Seth Bradley) (46:14.178) Right, but for someone out there who's not thinking this right like I think I was in a meetup There was a gentleman out like 300 something units like single-family homes. I think I think you did it the old-fashioned way old gentleman I'm like, yeah, I'm like damn. what is it? What message you have to like share as far as I? Like pulling on levers, right? That's why a lot of us get into real estate levers being anyone resources capital social capital, etc Can you?   Just give us your take on this lever and the power it has. And if someone's not thinking of this, the power it can have. I you mentioned 120 million in 2022. Like help us understand and grasp that for someone who's thinking still like, oh, I'm going to just refinance. I'm going to flip this home and I'm going to OPM. How important is that?   It's so important. Like I said, it's scale, right? It's scale and speed. And that applies to any business that you're trying to scale. It's speed. Like, can you get there on your own or maybe finding one partner at a time? A lot of times that's where you start. Like if you're fixing and flipping homes, you get to a max and you're like, I'm going to bring in, you know, Joe Shimo or my brother-in-law and they're going to fund this one deal. And you're doing one house at a time, or maybe you're doing two houses and you're doing three, but that takes time.   I mean, it just takes a lot of time to get there. So you're just going to be going like this. Maybe you're going to keep improving and then you're going to have one bad deal and it'll be chopped back down a little bit and they're to keep going. But with other people's money, you go like this, like that you get vertical and you can get, and you can just get economies of scale. can, again, just go with speed and that's what matters in business. Now, maybe that's not for everyone. I do get that. Like, I think if you would have asked me a few years ago, I would have said, this is the only way.   Like this is the only way you have to do it. I don't know if it's necessarily for everyone, but if you do want to get to that next level and you want to get there fast, like you want to achieve it soon, then other people's money is where it's at. Like you have to use it like gasoline on a fire.   (Seth Bradley) (48:21.678) Tell us about the, I recently heard Alex Formozzi say this, and I think he was talking about how people need to realize that a piece of a watermelon is always gonna be greater than a large grass, like grapes or something like that. I was like, oh, that's a very interesting analogy. Can you break down maybe just for us who are not familiar with the split?   when you're raising capital and you have other people's money in play and you know a lot of people talk about assets under management here and there millions here and there but help us understand like what's what's the what's the ratio you helped a lot of clients if someone's a GP on a hundred million dollar deal or a ten million dollar deal how much are they actually taking home right like how much do I make because you know you see a lot even on social like   I think that's very interesting for us because you know, we got into the space and we're super lean, but at the same time our margins are ridiculous and it's not about how many doors someone how much profit we make per each, you know, property with all these insurance companies who are paying us like five X what you would traditionally pay. So it's never been about a door contest for us, but that's very prevalent in the industry. Like, we got assets on a management, you know, 20 million here, 120 million. But how much would one.   for someone who's listening, or maybe you're not thinking, said pour gasoline on it, how much am I actually taking home, let's say on a $100 million raise, or on a 20 million, 10 million? What's the good ratio? Like what am I making? And then what's the upside of that? And why is it beneficial for me to really pay attention to this? Especially if I am for profit and money driven, and I understand the opportunity that might be at stake here.   For sure, man. And you're kind of opening up a can of worms, right? So we'll see where we take this. the general idea here is you're actually not allowed to raise capital without a license. So just like being a doctor or a dentist or an attorney, you have to have a license to be able to raise capital. And it's called a broker dealer or potentially an RIA, a registered investment advisor. So if you're not one of those people, if you don't have a license, you need to have an exemption from having   Ruben Kanya (50:41.814) that license. Now, if it's your, this is speaking in generalities, but if it's your own deal, if it's your own fund, if it's your own syndication, if you're the one buying the property, that's an exemption. You're exempted. You can raise capital for your own deal and that's okay. And that's kind of the co-GP concept that we talk about sometimes. I actually don't like to say co-GP because to me it's a fallacy. There's no such thing as a co-GP. You're either a GP and an active partner.   or you're not. And what's a co GP. So we call co GPS or the way that the industry tends to frame them as kind of these small capital raisers, right, these small capital raisers that come in and raise a little bit of capital, and they don't participate in the deal in any other way. So they don't provide any services, they don't do any of   I got got I got rich friends Right you call me you say Ruben. Can you code GP this? know you can probably bring us an extra 50 million to the table Co GP or you're saying is actually not kosher   It depends. So it all depends on how you structure that deal. So if you're bringing a large amount of capital and you're only bringing capital, what you're going to want to do is negotiate managerial or voting rights within that legal entity that you're partnering with. So maybe they're the operating partner and you're the capital partner. And that's okay. So long as you as the capital partner have some sort of like meaningful voting and managerial rights. So that's kind of what private equity does, right? They come in, they raise capital.   And that's all they do is provide capital. But guess what? In those legal documents, if something goes wrong, let's say with the property or whatever the asset is, they have takeover rights. They can come in and manage the property and take over the asset management if they want to. Those rights are baked into the legal documentation. And that's what makes it okay, because they are an active partner because they have those managerial and or voting rights. But when you come in as a, let's say a smaller partner, and all you're doing is bringing in capital,   Ruben Kanya (52:41.1) and you're not doing anything else. So you haven't negotiated any meaningful rights to make decisions or to manage. you don't actually manage the asset. You don't actually attend the meetings. You don't do anything except, here's my 500,000 bucks from my investors. And then you walk away. That's actually not legal. And a lot of people call that the Code GP model. But actually, you're either an active partner in the deal or you're not.   Would it change Seth if I, it sounds like what you're saying is I'm bringing 500K and then I'm just leaving. I'm just like, here you go. Here's, I'm just hooking you up. Would that change if I put my own money into the deal? Now I'm an LP or no, there's more complicated.   Now you're, yeah, now you're an LP because it's your money. So you're just an investor.   Right. you're saying I could, yeah. So you're saying the difference between the example you just gave is the fact that that person never had money in, they just brought money in. That's none of their own money. And then they didn't do anything. You're saying that's a red flag for lack of better words, if they don't have the proper, I guess, voting rights, manager rights, et cetera. Is that an accurate recap?   Yeah, I can use my own capital. I can put my own half a million dollars into somebody's deal and be a passive investor. And that's okay. I'm not raising capital. That's my capital. But if I said, okay, here's $250,000 from my mom and $50,000 from Rubin and another $100,000 from this person and that person. And I put it in a LLC or I just bring them into the deal. Then that is raising capital. You're raising capital from other people. And that's, that's the difference there.   (Seth Bradley) (54:14.254) Yeah, so it's almost like you could be stacking, you know, people are a bunch of people are recruiting for the fund, but those folks are not on there as investors. It's aggregated funds, essentially, which could create a problem, right? Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Very interesting. I never even thought of that case study. Yeah.   Yeah, I didn't even ask your question though, which was how much money can you make? Right? So typically, typically, and again, we're putting securities laws aside here. We're just talking about kind of industry norms, we'll call it. Maybe 30 % or so is put aside for the capital raising. So 30 % of the GP. let's say there's a syndication where you do a 70 30 split, 70 % goes to the investors, 30 % goes to the general partners. Well,   If you bring in, let's say, 100 % of the equity, you bring in all of it, then you'll probably be allocated about 30 % of the general partnership. So 30 % of the 30 % in that example. So you get 9 % of the deal.   What did you mean by 100 % of the equity amount following?   So if you had to raise, let's say you're closing on a $10 million property and you need to raise $4 million to close it, or let's say the down payment plus capital improvements, something like that, and you bring in the full $4 million, you brought in 100 % of the equity needed to close the deal.   Ruben Kanya (55:38.574) Yep. And then overall, so and then what has happened now? So what's going on now or what's happened over the last couple of years is that there have been some very well-known syndicators in the space get investigated by the SEC and people have said, all right, well, now we need to figure out a different way to raise capital, compliantly. Right. And the answer is actually always been out there, but it's had some difficulties and that's a fund to fund. So   people out there, they've heard of a fund to fund. This is more a more prominent way, a more compliant way to raise capital nowadays. But I'll tell you what, comparing it to the CoGP model, it's more complicated. It costs more money and it's just a lot more work for you as the capital aggregator or the fundraiser. So people have avoided it because they've just done the CoGP model because it's easier. But now that the CoGP model isn't as available, people are still doing it, but people are kind of shying away from it because of the   the investigations that went on. Fund to Fund has become a lot more prominent and you have companies like Tribe Best who I'm chief legal officer for, full disclosure. We put together a Fund to Fund product where we make it cheaper, easier, more compliant, and you can just do it very easily and within five business days because we do everything for you. So instead of you having to find a securities attorney and a CPA, open a business banking account, file your LLC,   Walk your investors through the signing ceremony and get them to wire your funds. We call that herding the cats. Do all these things and put your cap table together, do your distributions, all those things that you'd normally have to do. Tribe Best does. And we do it for a very low price in comparison to what I would charge you if you came to me as a law client.   Interesting so I like how you just covered the foundation there. Let's go back to the 10 million dollar example, right? Yeah, you put in equity is you said so this is me saying Equity to close is 4 million. And so I'm bringing in 4 million just so I'm clear is do I have and this is my assumption that a Lot of syndicators are also raising the capital for that 4 million. Is that not correct?   Ruben Kanya (57:55.032) Typically, yes.   Okay, so then you're saying, just want to make sure I understand all the different use cases. So I could be 4 million and then the Delta, I can either traditional lending and or have my investors cover the Delta, which would be the 6 million. Is that accurate?   Yeah, I mean you can find however you need to fill in that the debt the equity stack Well wouldn't be the equity stack the full capital stack. Yeah   Typical though, it more typical that if I'm the GP to $10 million asset that I'm actually going to raise, I don't know, $3.5 million and put 500K on my own money? Is that more typical than I'm...   I would say that is typical. Yep. That is more typical. would say prime example idea, $10 million property, get a $6 million, maybe a little bit more, $6, $7 million loan. And then you raise three or $4 million, whether that's from passive investors or whether that's your own capital that you put in, or maybe you bring in fund to fund investors.   (Seth Bradley) (59:02.478) Okay, so that's where I wanted to ask the question, fund to fund. Tell me how that's different than the, bring in 3.5, I bring in 500K to the table, I raised 3.5, now I have a $4 million down payment, we borrow $6 million on debt. Tell me how the fund to fund is different than that approach.   Sure. So that deal that you just described, we like to call that when we're talking it with respect to fund to funds, the target deal. So that's the target deal. Like that's the entity and the structure that's buying the asset. So they're buying this $10 million asset. We're actually at the fund to fund level, one level down from there. So we create our own legal structure, our own LLC, and you have your own manager, a fund manager who brings in their own passive investors and they put them in that fund to fund legal entity.   And then the fund of fund legal entity actually invests into the target deal. So they come into the target deal as basically a big passive investor. let's say they aggregate a half a million dollars where typically, you know, the average investor might be $50,000. So these are bigger investors. It's just one big investor to the lead sponsor or the target deal, but it's really, yeah, it's really another fund is what it is. So it's a fund of a fund or a fund of a syndication.   That is so interesting. so you're saying that is becoming more prevalent. You fund a fund. I mean, I would imagine that's where not to get so far off topic, but that's where a lot of big companies who are deploying their excess capital or investing in. I I guess it's in multiple portfolios, right? Investing, right? mean, there's commercial, there's insurance. I mean, there's so many different things you can invest your money into.   Yes.   (Seth Bradley) (01:00:46.656) Is that all fun to fun families essentially?   For sure. For sure. Yeah. You know, you can call it a fund. There's different kinds of fund to funds. Fund funds aren't new. They've just been deployed in a different way recently or more prominently or more often, which is this kind of this I'll call it. We like to call it an SPV fund to fund single purpose vehicle fund to fund. Now other people will call it that same thing and mean something different, but the way that we mean it is that we create this fund to fund entity.   And it's a single purpose vehicle, meaning it's created only to invest in one deal. So that $10 million multifamily deal, we create a fund of an SPV fund of fund only to invest in that one

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Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Charles Cofield. Thanks! The transcript from this episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass features an inspiring and high-energy interview with CPA and financial educator Carter Cofield, co-founder of Melanin Money. Here's a breakdown of the key highlights and takeaways:

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Charles Cofield. Thanks! The transcript from this episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass features an inspiring and high-energy interview with CPA and financial educator Carter Cofield, co-founder of Melanin Money. Here's a breakdown of the key highlights and takeaways:

Industrial Talk is talking to Brian Baker, President and CEO of Sentry Equipment about "Achieving manufacturing excellence with high employee satisfaction". Scott Mackenzie interviews Brian Baker, CEO of Sentry Equipment, highlighting the company's 100-year history and its role in power generation and water sampling. Baker discusses Sentry's evolution from supporting dairy boilers to power plants and other industries, emphasizing the importance of low-cost energy, a skilled workforce, advanced technology, and the U.S. being the largest market. He also explains Sentry's transition to employee ownership in 1986, which has motivated employees and improved customer service. Baker advocates for employee ownership as a fair and effective transition strategy for business owners. Action Items [ ] Connect with Brian Baker on LinkedIn or email him at Brian.Baker@SentryEquip.com to discuss employee ownership and transitioning businesses to employee ownership. [ ] Reach out to Brian to learn more about Sentry Equipment's manufacturing capabilities and how they can support your business. Outline Introduction and Purpose of Industrial Talk Podcast Speaker 1 introduces Scott Mackenzie and the Industrial Talk Podcast, emphasizing its focus on industry professionals and innovations. Scott MacKenzie thanks listeners for their support and highlights the excitement in various industries like manufacturing, oil and gas, and power generation. Scott MacKenzie introduces Brian Baker, CEO of Sentry Equipment, and expresses excitement about the conversation. Scott MacKenzie encourages listeners to amplify their voices and messages through Industrial Talk, offering to have conversations on various industry topics. Introduction of Brian Baker and Sentry Equipment Scott MacKenzie welcomes Brian Baker to the podcast and highlights Sentry Equipment's 100-year history of providing solutions and services. Brian Baker shares his background, mentioning his transition from being a CPA to a financial position at Sentry Equipment in 1995. Brian Baker discusses his role as President and CEO for the past 13 years and his enjoyment of the strategic aspects of managing the business. Scott MacKenzie and Brian Baker discuss the evolution of Sentry Equipment from supporting dairy boilers to power generation and other industries. Sentry Equipment's Role in Power Generation Brian Baker explains how Sentry Equipment's products and services help power stations maintain efficient operations by monitoring water chemistry. Scott MacKenzie relates his background in power generation and asks for a specific use case. Brian Baker describes how Sentry Equipment's equipment helps moderate heat, flow, and pressure in power plants, ensuring precise water chemistry monitoring. Brian Baker highlights the company's dual role as a manufacturer and a full-service provider, offering installation, training, and maintenance contracts. Sentry Equipment's History and Evolution Brian Baker shares the history of Sentry Equipment, starting with its founder Roy Henze and the company's initial focus on dairy boilers. Scott MacKenzie and Brian Baker discuss the company's evolution from supporting dairies to power plants as the electric grid became more reliable. Brian Baker talks about the company's diversification in the 2000s due to the Enron scandal and the subsequent decline in the power industry.

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