Podcasts about for brad

Brad Thomas knows investments. And real estate. He believes there's only one rule in investing: protect your principal at all costs. For Brad, he's spent over 25 years as a developer, investment banker, and real estate analyst. He's built that career on trust. On staying smart and conservative. On researching, connecting, and doing what's best for the client. Brad enjoys writing about real estate and investing. He is an editor for the Forbes Real Estate Investor newsletter and writes weekly for Forbes.com and Seeking Alpha, where he maintains “real-time” research on many publicly-listed REIT securities. He is the co-author of The Intelligent REIT Investor, and has also been featured in Forbes Magazine, Kiplinger's, U.S. News & World Report, Money, NPR, Institutional Investor, GlobeStreet, and Fox Business. He was also ranked as the #1 contributing analyst on Seeking Alpha from 2014-2019. Thomas received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business/Economics from Presbyterian College. https://www.bradtom.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/rbradthomas/ The CRE SharkEye Show https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxzNN3qAmweajWQ08b1_JDhmCND3OU9Dk The 7 Day CRE Challenge https://lnkd.in/dg8ptDN The best 6 secrets of commercial real estate https://lnkd.in/dZkCUFR

: Episode 1847 – On this Saturday show, Brad Ginet joins Vinnie to talk Canada, Brad's journey, experimenting with NSNG®, losing pandemic weight, and more. Https://www.vinnietortorich.com/2021/05/experimenting-with-nsng-losing-pandemic-weight-episode-1847 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS EXPERIMENTING WITH NSNG® When Dan graduated high school, he was 6'5" and 170 lbs. He had trouble getting weight on. Then, in his 30s, he had some weight gain, lethargy, back pain, and more. When he began NSNG, he lost 35 lbs without much exercise. He had terrible headaches when he first quit sugar, but then realized his body ran so much worse with it. Once he stopped eating sugar, his sleep was better, his energy was better, and more. After he worked out, he wasn't so sore. So much of what Brad ate arose out of habit. He only ate starch because he felt like he was supposed to. Once he got rid of things like diet coke, he didn't crave it anymore. Now when he eats crap, he feels ill afterward. For Brad, he experimented with what did and did not work for him. Everyone's a bit different. Some people need exercise, some people can put on weight really quickly, some can get away with more life into living. LOSING PANDEMIC WEIGHT Brad put a lot of weight back on. In early May, he couldn't exercise much because of the pandemic –– Canada is slow to vaccinate. Now, he's making sure to get rid of that extra weight and eat healthily so he feels better. Luckily, Brad can work out in his basement. But it can be hard when you're stuck inside! Brad worked out a bit more and got back on track. FAT DOC 2 IS AVAILABLE ON iTUNES and AMAZON Please also share it with family and friends! Buy it and watch it now on iTunes to get it to the top of the charts. We need it to get big for people to see it. Here's the (BLUERAY, DVD, PRIME) (MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE YET ACROSS THE POND). And the And the https://amzn.to/3rxHuB9 [the_ad id="17480"] PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW the film AFTER YOU WATCH!   FAT DOC 1 IS ALSO OUT Go watch it now! We need people to buy and review for it to stay at the top of iTunes pages. Available for both rental and purchase. You can also buy hardcopy or watch online at Amazon. YOU CAN NOW STREAM FOR FREE ON AMAZON PRIME IF YOU HAVE IT! RESOURCES Https://www.vinnietortorich.com Https://www.purevitaminclub.com Https://www.purevitaminclub.co.uk Https://www.purecoffeeclub.com Https://www.nsngfoods.com Https://www.bit.ly/fatdocumentary  

Curious about cryptocurrencies? Is it investing or is it gambling? It’s a topic the community has a lot of questions on, so in this episode we create. framework for the conversation and explore the nuances. In the US, we generally want for nothing and true scarcity is something we haven’t recently experienced until this year and suddenly being presented with it creates some interesting psychological reactions. It’s good to position yourself to be ahead of the game and be prepared when you hear reports of activities that might affect the supply chain. You don’t want to be doing something at the exact same time as everybody else. See trends, think outside the box, and make your moves ahead of time. Colonial Pipeline paid to resolve their ransomware attack with a cryptocurrency, specifically, Bitcoin. Gas pumps on the east coast may be getting back to normal soon, but there’s an ongoing pump and dump issue with crypto. The stories of insanely high levels of return from crypto are all over the news and social media, creating a sense of missing out for those who aren’t in the game. So should crypto have a role in your plan for financial independence? For Brad, cryptocurrencies have always felt like pure speculation, which is the hope that you can buy it and then sell it later to someone else for more money. Although he is leery of all cryptocurrencies in general, he is interested in learning about the entire sphere of crypto because of all the innovation with decentralized finance and potential for smart contracts and NFTs. Although Brad believes there could be work-changing potential, he knows he’s not knowledgeable enough to know what it will look like or pick a particular company or cryptocurrency. Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to experience mass adoption and the most valuable on a per coin basis. Its value has increased ten times in the last year alone and yet it isn’t the crypto with the highest rate of return. At its core, Bitcoin is code. While only 21 million of the coins will ever exist, because it is code, it can be cloned or forked to add new features. There’s nothing magical about it that makes it worth $40,000 or $60,000 per coin. There are close to 10,000 different cryptocurrencies all with unique features and various values. Some have done well and some have done insane, but without the benefit of hindsight, you don’t know which are yours. It’s important to understand the different parameters that drive the value of a coin, what a pump is, and how they can run in parallel to affect the price. In contrast, investing is when you buy an asset of known value and it produces a return of some regular amount over a period of time. There are some who state Bitcoin is digital gold. When asked his thoughts on gold, Warren Buffet said that he had no idea where it would be in five years but he knows it won’t do anything between now and then except look at you while Coca-Cola and Wells Fargo will be making money. He would rather invest in something that can produce. Jonathan notes that while we are all on the same path directionally, we aren’t always going to agree. Though it’s true gold doesn’t produce anything, he sees it as an excellent store of value and has been more open to gambling on the Doge cryptocurrency. Gold has increased in value over the years, not because it produced anything but because the dollar has lost value to inflation while gold has held its value. The same argument could be made for crypto due to the limits on the number of coins. Unlike physical gold, crypto is a lot easier to store, liquidate, transfer, and transport. Cryptocurrencies have value because we say it has value. Although Brad believes the use cases are still small, he’s open to learning new information. In Episode 099 of the podcast, Michael Peterson discussed his non-profit in El Salvador. The use of Bitcoin there has cut down on friction and the fees for sending money from the US to El Salvador. Crypto is different from gold though because it is code and we don’t know what it will look like a few years from now. For instance, there are six different versions of Bitcoin. Bitcoin takes a lot of energy because of its mining concept for its transactions. All of the Bitcoin mining around the world takes up more energy than the country of Argentina. Other coins use no energy, so Elon Musk has said Tesla will look for cryptos that use less than 1% of the energy of Bitcoin. Crypto as a store of value use case has not been proven out yet. Gold, unlike cryptos, has a long history as a store of value and is less like to disappear from our memories like Blockbuster. DogeCoin started out as a joke and has grown to a total value of $54 million whose value can move up or down dramatically just based on a Tweet from Elon Musk. Last November, Jonathan put $150 into DogeCoin when it was $0.009 a coin. When he looked at it again recently, the price was in the neighborhood of $0.40 a coin. There are 130 billion DogeCoin and unlike Bitcoin, they can make more. since it uses less than the 1% of the energy Bitcoin does, Elon Mush began Tweeting about it and pumping the price of DogeCoin. Because he didn’t see a use case for it or think the value of DogeCoin would increase dramatically again, Jonathan sold it before it lost value to an Elon Musk Tweet. Brad thinks that Jonathan looked at it the right way because he viewed his DogeCoin purchase as gambling. Unlike owning shares of an actual company that can be used to calculate a company’s market cap, crypto is just code. DogeCoin can and does just make more. After selling his DogeCoin, Jonathan took $1,500 of the money to invest in another energy-efficient coin with similar features, running on a secure network, with a 10 billion coin lifetime limit. That coin skyrocketed and he sold it before it later came back down. Cryptocurrencies are susceptible to pump and dump. Jonathan felt a need to do this show not because he’s a genius with crypto, but because others are potentially losing massively, like whoever bought his coin. Anyone can create a cryptocurrency and begin selling a smaller portion of it on social media, building the hype around the coin and pumping up the price. The value increases dramatically, the creators and the early adopters begin to sell and deleveraging their position and let the coin die. As they dump their coin, those who bought to the top lose their shirts. Some of these pump and dump scenarios are scams from the creation, but sometimes good coins get pulled in and pumped by a group trying to control the market. Jonathan sold his coin when he found out 80% of the coin was held by just two addresses and the rug could be pulled out from under him at any time. Although he made money, his success is not replicable. There is a case to be made for gambling as entertainment. You just need to go in knowing that there is a high likelihood that you are walking out with nothing left. Brad believes in the decades to follow a couple of winners will emerge and their technology will change the world dramatically. You can prepare for it by educating yourself. Speculation can be a continuum. It can be high-risk with varying levels of confidence and potentially high levels of return. For cryptocurrencies, Jonathan likes those with a pre-mined amount, are energy-efficient, have liquidity and a lot of partnerships, have utility, play nice with banks and adhere to anti-laundering and anti-terrorism laws. He also believes that while these were created to exist outside of regulation, regulations are coming. When taking everything he’s learned about cryptocurrencies into consideration, Jonathan can decide on what cryptocurrencies to purchase that is more calculated than pure speculation. Resources Mentioned In Today’s Conversation ChooseFI Episode 099 Generous Giving on the Path to FI | Michael Peterson If You Want To Support ChooseFI: Earn $1,000 in cashback with ChooseFI’s 3-card credit card strategy.  Share FI by sending a friend ChooseFI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence.      

The Saints come back to earth with a thud on Friday night going down to the Cats, wayward kicking in front of goal the main factor they went down in the game. For Brad, he received a depressed cheekbone and saw himself booked in for surgery earlier in the week.

What You’ll Get Out Of Today’s Show Do you want to give your children the tools they need to guarantee their path to financial independence? If you give them the right skills, becoming a millionaire can be a mathematical certainty. Achieving the objective of becoming a millionaire isn’t nearly as important as the process of getting there. Success is in the journey. For many of us, we made a lot of mistakes before finding the right information and learning that there is a better way. When you understand the power of compounding, you know how plausible it is to become a millionaire, and what you need to put away each month to get there. Much of the journey comes down to mindset, empowerment, and believing that you can make changes to better your life. It starts with the little changes that make your life 1% better. It’s time to stretch the tactics we use and apply them to a different age bracket. We generally talk about investing timelines starting around the age of 20. But how early could you really get started and why would you want to get started at an earlier age? For Brad, the reason is dual-pronged. He thinks the concept of saving for retirement is misdirected and he would frame it differently. Retirement is so far in the future, it’s harder to get behind during your younger years. However, the concept of financial independence is something people are more willing to take action on. Financial independence means you can control your time and have the autonomy to make decisions and you can take advantage of retirement vehicles such as 401Ks and Roth IRAs to reach FI. Financial independence is a better framework for talking about and planning what it is you want to do with your life as well as giving yourself options. The Make Your Kid a Millionaire article emphasizes Roth IRAs. Bradd says there has never been a great explanation of how people can take advantage of a Roth IRA for children who have earned income. Most children don’t have jobs that allow them to contribute to a 401K, 403b, or 457. A source of earned income does allow them to make after-tax contributions to a Roth IRA where that money can grow tax-free forever. A 12-year-old will have 47 years of compound growth before making withdrawals. All of the growth, dividends, and capital gains distributions will be tax-free compared to an investment account where they would be taxed. The current limit for Roth IRAs is $6,000, but you may only put as much of that limit in as you have earned. A child earning $5,000 in a year would only be able to contribute $5,000, not the $6,000 limit. Although ChooseFI doesn’t generally suggest the Roth IRA as the first investment vehicle to use, the strategy is different for children. For adults, some financial independence strategies help to control your marginal tax rate using specific pre-tax retirement accounts. When adults are in a low marginal tax bracket, an argument can be made for locking in the low tax rate with Roth contributions. However, children with much lower incomes, already have low marginal tax rates. Since they can generally only choose from traditional or Roth IRAs, it’s likely in their best interest to pay the small amount of tax and then shelter that income from taxes for the rest of their lives. Although allowance and pay for chores around the house don’t count for earned income, there are some categories of work kids may do that do count but you’ll want to be careful documenting, such as newspaper routes, babysitting, mowing lawns at other people’s homes, acting, photography, acting, modeling, or working for a parental-owned business. Regular jobs at private or public companies that comply with your state’s child labor laws definitely count as earned income. In the article, an example used discusses a child who mows lawns and earns $4,000. His parents decide to contribute $3,000 to a Roth IRA. The contribution does not need to be made with the exact same money the child earns. Parents or grandparents could make the contribution as long as it does not exceed the earned income or IRA contribution limits. Matching programs are a great way to teach financial lessons. Similar to a company 401K match, parents or grandparents could incentivize a child to contribute to their Roth IRA by agreeing to match contributions dollar for dollar, or two dollars for every one. If a 9-year-old were to put $3,000 into a Roth IRA once, never contribute again, and not touch it until the traditional retirement age of 64, that child would have almost $124,000. With the power of compounding, a child needs to contribute just $1,500 each year of their lives to ensure a million dollars at a retirement age of 64. In contrast, someone waiting until the age of 31 to begin investing and maxes out their Roth IRA with $6,000 each year until age 64 will only have $764,000. The difference between the two net worths is the result of the powers of compounding and time. The Rule of 72 is a way to predict how many years will take your money to double based on an interest rate. You take the number 72 and divide it by your interest rate. 72 divided by an interest rate of 7% results in money doubling roughly every 10 years. Compounding on a big number adds up quickly. A child could theoretically put in a large amount for just a few years, never contribute again, and end up with a higher net worth than with the $1,500 each example. The article contains different scenarios to help foster the conversations parents can have with their children about the impact time can have. Break through the initial resistance to get started and set up a system to reinforce good financial habits so that your child can build their own trust fund. It’s hard to put a price tag on the psychology of teaching your kids about investing early. They will have a better foundation and desire to learn and get even better. It’s good to teach them the time value of money while they aren’t relying on it to pay for their survival needs. Resources Mentioned In Today’s Conversation ChooseFI’s article Make Your Kid a Millionaire: Roth IRA for KidsSuze Orman’s $199 9 Steps to Financial Independence Online Course ChooseFI’s FREE Financial Independence 101 Course ChooseFI Episode 318 All the Hacks | Chris Hutchins Raising Your Money-Savvy Family for Next Generation Financial Independence by Carol Pittner and Doug Nordman If You Want To Support ChooseFI: Earn $1,000 in cashback with ChooseFI’s 3-card credit card strategy.  Share FI by sending a friend ChooseFI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence.      

Brad Connors, President, has been advising individuals, corporations, and institutional investors since 1994. Brad has built his practice, iWealth, in Waseca & Bloomington Minnesota. Brad affiliated with Investment Centers of America, Inc. in 1998 and was consistently in the top 5% of his peers, including 2010 ICA Representative of the Year.  In 2014, Brad was honored with the distinguished Community Service Award at ICA’s Regional Conference.  The award was presented to Brad based on his support and commitment to his local community through a variety of initiatives including charitable giving, youth outreach, community education and involvement.  He has been on the forefront of helping other advisors grow their practice and teaching them what they should be working toward to have a profitable and enjoyable business.    Brad authored his first book, Fish Don’t Clap: Planning For A Purposeful Retirement in 2014.  His reasoning behind writing the book, was to “give away the information for everyone to have more purpose going into retirement.”     His book, which has attained many 5 Star reviews on Amazon, shines a light on the 20 plus years of experience Brad has working with clients to define what they genuinely want their retirement to look like.  For Brad, creating a fulfilling retirement for his clients is about more than figures – it involves taking a family’s whole life into account, from values to goals and everything in between.

Amanda Crew (HBO's Silicon Valley) and Brad have been friends a long time, but recently bonded over each of them finding movements they are truly passionate about. For Brad, it's reframing toxic masculinity, and for her, it's re-educating people around eating disorders. She's been vocal about it in her work with Project Heal, but in this conversation, we get to the genesis of her journey through anorexia. Amanda also gets frank about her own experiences with sexual trauma, providing advice about how romantic partners of victims can maneuver sex in a way that honors body autonomy and past events. Thanks for listening and if you want to find out more about Project Heal, which is an organization working to break down systemic, healthcare, and financial barriers to eating disorder treatment - go to theProjectHeal.org. Also - if you or someone you love is a victim of sexual violence seeking resources or support, you can find that and more at RAINN.org where they are in partnership with more than 1,000 local sexual assault service providers across the country. Hosted, Produced, and Edited by Brad Gage Subscribe to Real Feels on YouTube for more videos about how we form a new, more empathetic masculinity.

Diania Merriam is the Chief Economeist behind the EconoMe conference, a two-day event at the University of Cincinnati whose roots are in the FIRE movement. In 2019, Diania was preparing for the launch of EconoMe in the spring of 2020. She could not have anticipated the risk of a global pandemic impacting her conference, but it was successfully held on March 7, 2020, just before the event location’s shut down. The 2020 event hosted 250 attendees and nine expert speakers. After putting 20 months of work into the conference, Diania was gratified to hear that 90% of participants loved the event and would recommend it to a friend. Getting together as a community is something that has been missed in the financial independence community over the last year. While some may label the movement as a cult, that is s misconception. Like many others in the financial independence community, Diania felt the need to share content to make it accessible and help those receptive to the message get their financial houses in order, much like Mr. Money Mustache did for her. She finds that many people have preconceived notions and assumptions, thinking that it won’t work for their personal situations, but Diania believes putting more content out there will help others it’s a mindset and there are no hard and fast rules. Although some may believe you have to be a white 3o-something male with a tech career to be in the FIRE movement, Brad points out that is far from the reality ChooseFI sees in its Facebook and local groups. Brad says that 90% of the responses to his weekly email are from women. Financial literacy is for everyone and FIRE is merely an aggressive and enthusiastic brand of it. Though there seems to be an assumption that those in the FIRE movement earn high incomes while eating rice and beans, Diania says in truth, it is rather agnostic when it comes to income. It might be easier for those with high incomes, but those with lower incomes can also improve their finances. The way to improve your finances is to increase income, decrease spending, and invest the gap. What is most important is the gap. The loudest voices in the space tend to talk about frugality because it’s the easiest thing you can do when first starting out, however, ideally, you should be doing both. Jonathan gets angry at the assumption that there’s little to nothing you can do to increase your income. You aren’t stuck at your current salary level. A lot of personal finance content revolves around sacrifice and struggle, but there is a sense of optimism in the FIRE community. You have control over reducing your expenses and increasing your income. Coming across FIRE content helped Diania realize how much privilege she had and enabled her to be honest about how wasteful her spending really was. For Brad, the heart of financial independence is optimism and an internal locus of control. You can affect change on your life with tiny actions that compound, resulting in success. For awhile, Diania wanted to be the female Mr. Money Mustache. It took her a while to realize she needed to be herself and figure out her own flavor of FI that was based on her own goals. Diania’s original plan looked a lot like other bloggers, where she would reach a net worth of 25 times her annual expenses and then retire at 40-years-old. However, life presented other options and she began to ask what she wanted out of life and what she wanted to create. Now she feels like slowing down instead of just racing to meet her FI number. Jonathan likes to think about life in terms of five and ten-year timelines. Ten years ago, did you have any idea you’d be where you are today? Brad notes that just being on the path to FI gives you the space to explore what you want your life to look like and what you want to focus on. The nuts and bolts of money is pretty easy to figure out. Figuring out how you want to spend the next 60 years of life is harder. Like Diania, because Jonathan was on the path to FI, he was to explore interest-led learning, turn it into an income stream, and eventually leave his career as a pharmacist. One of the lessons Diania has learned is that your money is only as valuable as your clarity on how you are going to use it. When her work situation started to degrade and become toxic, she realized she was already at Coast FI and had enough FU money where she could take some educated risks and look at self-employment. Being at Cost FI meant that Diania had already saved up enough money that would grow enough to support her in retirement. In the meantime, she only needed to cover her annual expenses without adding to retirement. Her life right now looks a lot like how she would want it to look if she was at FI and retired. Retirement has a branding problem. Another misconception about FI is that if you are retired, you aren’t working. Regardless of your age, if you are retired, you shouldn’t be sitting around doing nothing. EconoMe was born out of Diania asking herself what she would do if she no longer had to work for money. She wanted to create a party about money. Why wait for retirement? Is there a way to change your life around and do it now? Greed is another misconception associated with the FI community, but Diania believes FI puts you in a position to be really generous. She has experienced the generosity of those in the community who have been generous with their time to help her with her conference dream. When you have figured out money for yourself, there’s nothing left to do but help other people. For example, 20% of the EconoMe conference attendees were over 50 or had already achieved FI, but there were there to share knowledge and cheer others on. Diania thinks the benefit of having money is to be able to share it in some capacity through what you create and the gifts that you give. Brad agrees with the generosity of the community. FI allows you to rethink how you relate to people and gives you an abundance mindset. A quote Dinia loves is, “If you look at your inner circle and you aren’t inspired, you don’t have an inner circle. You have a cage“. She is incredibly inspired by all the people she has met in the community. The three most important resources that have a huge effect on your life are time, money, and energy. The people you surround yourself with have a huge effect on your energy. Is FI a fad that everyone will move on from in exchange for the next big thing? Diania doesn’t think so. Like time and energy, money is a resource and we’ll always be fascinated in optimizing our resources. FIRE is an identification with something to build habits and meet goals. There has been an identity and support system created around it. Rather than thinking of FI as a fad, Brad thinks we are normalizing the conversation and there are more and more people to talk to about it without feeling like a weirdo. The EconoMe conference will be held this year on November 13-14 at the University of Cincinnati. Some of the speakers and activities have already been announced and can be found on the website. There will also be more breakout sessions to facilitate learning from each other. Tickets are on sale now. However, if large groups are not allowed to gather by November, EconoMe will not pivot to virtual. Instead, they have backup dates of March 19-20, 2022. The decision and notification will be made by September 1, 2021. Earlybird tickets are available until April 10th. 200 tickets are available at $149, and then the price jumps to $199. Diania Merriam Website:  EconoMe Conference Podcast: Optimal Finance Daily Resources Mentioned In Today’s Conversation ChooseFI Episode 150 Accountability | Diania Merriam EconoMe Conference Get started on your own path to financial independence at ChooseFI.com/start. If You Want To Support ChooseFI: Earn $1,000 in cashback with ChooseFI’s 3-card credit card strategy.  Share FI by sending a friend ChooseFI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence.      

After four years of working on the ChooseFI podcast, Brad and Jonathan want to share their lessons learned, the list of things they might do differently, and highlight a few episodes to re-listen to. Brad is back in the studio after missing out on Episode 290 with Paul Merriman. He's doing fine and appreciates everyone's concern. With Paul Merriman's Ultimate Buy and Hold Portfolio strategy, the thesis is that diversity is great, but own equal amounts of all asset classes versus a cap-weighted index fund to capture the growth potential of small companies. Unfortunately, for the last 12 years, the majority of growth has come from large companies. Brad says Paul's book reads like a FI manual with a high-level overview of small steps that could be million-dollar decisions. The decisions are not little. As discussed in Brad's The FI Weekly email this week, the Rule of 72 states how long it will take you money to double at a given rate of return. 72 divided by the rate of return is how many years before the money doubles. For example, 72 divided by 8% equals 9 years to double your money. The impact of that last double can be worth millions, that's why getting started early is critical. If your new and haven't already, today is the day to start. Jonathan agrees Paul's book is a great FI primer and was surprised by how much he enjoyed reading it. He says it would make a great gift. ChooseFI often talks about the aggregation of marginal gains. It can be quantified as each half a percent improvement means we can make an extra million dollars. Come up with 10 and that's an extra $10 million over your investing lifetime. If you can't do all 10, pick three or four and implement early, aggressively, and consistently. If they could turn back time and look at how their own understanding has grown and developed over the last four years, what would the conversation look like from both micro and macro views? Starting with investing, in the beginning, the most powerful concept inspired by JL Collins was to avoid the fees, a sentiment echoed by Paul Merriman as well. Diversity and time in the market are also key. You will lose approximately 40% of your total net worth when invested with a financial advisor at 1% in a mutual fund with a 1% expense ratio. The dramatic loss happens when your gross 8% market return is reduced to just 6% after fees. In Episode 052 with Todd Tresidder, he highlighted that there are three asset classes you could invest in, paper, like the stock market, entrepreneurship, such as starting your own business, or real estate. Inside of paper assets like the stock market, Todd says complexity can be valuable, but others like Big Ern and Rick Ferry say most people will do far betting sticking with something simple they understand. It's important to talk about the things that will increase the likelihood of success then discuss nuance. While Brad craves simplicity, Jonathan enjoys learning more. There's no one right answer, only what works for you. Jonathan always conflated individual stock purchases with day trading, but episodes with Brian Feroldi helped him realize they are not the same. For Brad, individual stocks always seemed like gambling. While he doesn't advocate having a huge percentage of your net worth in individual stocks, it's no longer the 0% he would have advocated for years ago. The software available through M1 Finance allows Jonathan to implement the complexity associated with some of these strategies and maintain them simply. As for investing in entrepreneurship, it has become something Jonathan loves doing. It's an investment he has total control over, as discussed in episodes with Alan Donegan after he pointed out entrepreneurship was left off the Pillars of FI list. After a disastrous real estate failure in his 20s, Brad learned real estate investing can be a significant part of his portfolio if you are investing and not merely speculating. He now owns two single-family rental properties which have been successful so far. When you decide to start adding complexity, the price that's paid is usually time. Jonathan believes we are all stuck in a system, but the FI community is working to break out of the system in the best possible way to bring control back over their lives. Following the path to FI by saving money gives you options, power, and agency. In every aspect of life, look at the rules of the game, survey the field, and make the best decision that's going to work for you. Skills are more valuable than degrees. Upcoming in a future episode is Anita, who recently graduated from the Talent Stacker program. Coming from the hospitality industry, she had a four-year degree that left her with massive debt. After two to three months of training in a new industry for just a couple thousand dollars, she's now making multiples of what she was before. The best way to learn something is to do it. If we can build a system around that, we can eliminate the need to wait four to eight years and go into debt. That's what Jonathan and Bradley Rice did with their course. An 18-year-old who skips college, takes the course, and comes out making 60-80 thousand dollars a year can be Coast FI at age 25. with Coast FI where you have enough saved and invested and will never need to save another dollar again and have a net worth more than other at traditional retirement age. M1 Finance's Plus feature normally costs $125/year, but right now you can get the first year for free. With M1 Plus you get a 1% yield on online checking and they will reduce your M1 borrow rate. Jonathan doesn't have a HELOC because a margin loan from his M1 investments is so powerful. M1 introduced a new feature called a smart transfer. ChooseFI's CEO, Ed, has been testing it out. The current borrowing rate is 1.5% less for someone with M1 Plus. Because Ed is retired, he hasn't been able to refinance his home at the historic low rates. Instead, he did hi sown refi with M1 Borrow. Although Ed came to M1 to hack his mortgage, he decided to stay for the checking yield. Then he found the smart transfer tool. Similar to Zapier, smart transfer allows you to create rules to manage your finances. With simple rules-based drag and drop programming, you can always have enough in your M1 Spend account to earn the most yield, pay all your bills, and be optimally invested in the market. Resources Mentioned In Today's Conversation We're Talking Millions!: 12 Simple Ways to Supercharge Your Retirement by Paul Merriman ChooseFI Episode 284 JL Collins ChooseFI Episode 052 FIRE State of the Union with Todd Tresidder ChooseFI Episode 075 The Unfair Advantages of the Individual Investor with Brian Feroldi ChooseFI Episode 200 Stock Fundamentals with Brian Feroldi ChooseFI Episode 021 The Pillars of FI ChooseFI Episode 117 Making the Case for Part-Time with Bradley Rice ChooseFI Episode 239 The Gatekeepers are Gone Get Jonathan and Bradley's free five-day email course at ChooseFI.com/salesforce M1 Finance Review If You Want To Support ChooseFI: Earn $1,000 in cashback with ChooseFI's 3-card credit card strategy.  Share FI by sending a friend ChooseFI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence.      

Today, I'm joined by Brad Lomenick, author of The Catalyst Leader and H3 Leadership. He sees his role as equipping, inspiring, and releasing the next generation of young Christian leaders through events, resources, consulting, content, and connecting a community of like-minded Catalysts all over the world. Brad didn't have a brand book for Catalyst and never saw himself as an author, and many people were encouraging him to write a book. "I felt like people were saying that I should jump into that pool, and I still don't consider myself a writer." He felt a brand book was essential to capture the essence and stories of his brand. "We didn't have something that would outlast us." For Brad, his book will be his remnant that will be around forever. "Books are a lasting legacy because a book is going to be around for a long time." "Anyone who does conferences you know that the ongoing connection and conversation will have points to learn and intersect." He thinks of his book as a connecting resource between what people take away from a conference they've participated in and what they can learn while reading his content. His second book, H3, is his life book. "It's my personal story, it's much more of my personal mantra, and it's my life brand book." He believes this book feels more personal, and therefore, more people are affected by reading this book. Listen in to find out how Brad wrote his life message into his book, why he encourages people to write the business book first, and how Brad promoted his personal book. Learn how Brad promotes his book on podcasts, how you can think innovatively to approach outlets for promotion, and why you need to make it easy for others to promote and sell your book. Show Notes [03:20] Why Brad doesn’t consider himself a writer with two books to his name. [03:57] What a brand book does for your company. [05:50] The brand building movement with his book. [09:25] How H3 fit into Brad’s journey and story. [11:05] The order of writing his books from business to personal. [14:49] Marketing tactics Brad used to market his book. [23:22] Why Brad changed his marketing strategy with his second book. [27:38] Tips for reaching out to people that you don’t know to promote your book. [29:22] The more assets you have, the more you can trade with cross-promotion. [30:02] How he received so many reviews for his book. [32:47] When you should start writing a book. Links and Resources Visit Self Publishing School Online SPS Free Training Course Brad Lomenick on the web H3 Leadership Podcast Grab Ben’s books on Amazon

When it comes to investing strategies, one of the most influential books available claims that if you keep it simple, you'll actually do better. Here to talk about the philosophy behind his investment strategy is one ofChooseFI's most requested guests, JL Collins, author of The Simple Path to Wealth, and popular blog series, The Stock Series. The influence of JL Collins cannot be overstated. The content he produced changed the trajectory of Brad's life and made him feel comfortable investing. In 2011, JL's daughter was in college but was turned off of all things financial after he pushed too hard. Because he wanted her to know how to invest and handle money, he decided that he needed to write it down for when she was ready. It was suggested that he archive the advice in a blog and share with friends and family. Much to his surprise, strangers began to find it and he quickly had an international audience. The book came out of the growth of his blog. Always having the ambition to write a book, The Simple Path to Wealth became a more organized and concise compilation of his blog articles. Four years later, 2020 has been its best selling year and the success has greatly exceeded expectations. Readers have responded positively to the authenticity of his writing, which he believes is because he was writing for his daughter. Now that she is a young adult, she's been receptive to the information and is now on board with the strategy presented. For Brad, investing always seemed like something that required thousands of hours of understanding and special insight until he began reading The Stock Series on JL's website. It gave him hope that he had a chance at long-term success for wealth that would last for many decades. JL acknowledges the method in the book is the last and best method he came to after going through other iterations involving picking stocks and actively managed funds. The other methods work, but they are harder and a lot less powerful than a low-cost index fund. JL says this method isn't just for beginners, it's the best way to invest for everybody. The most powerful way to invest is the simplest and the easiest. He realized that not everyone wants to think about investing the way he like thinking about it. Most people know it's important, but have more important things they want to do with their lives. His approach allows them to set it and forget it. The investing world is complex by design because the more difficult it is to understand, the more Wall Street can charge in fees. Jack Bogle, the founder of Vanguard, was the first one to invent index funds and talk about index fund investing. Because outperforming the market as a whole is extraordinarily difficult, only 20% of fund managers in any one year can do it. After 30 years, the percentage of fund managers that can do it is less than 1%. Even Warren Buffet wrote in his 2013 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter that he would advise the trustee of his estate to invest 10% in government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund. A mutual fund, or similarly, an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), takes money from a lot of investors and lumps it together to invest it in something. The S&P 500 index invests in the 500 largest US companies that make up the S&P index, while an actively managed mutual fund may focus on a different parameter, such as energy or technology. An actively managed fund attempts to pick stocks that over time will outperform the index which is an expensive route and reflected in what the investor pays for the fund, called the expense ratio. Every fund has an expense ratio, but what matters is how high it is. Because index funds don't have those expensive fund managers, the fees are very low. JL's most recommended Vanguard fund, VTSAX, has a 0.04% expense ratio. Actively managed funds average 1%. The impact 1% has compounded over time is dramatic. On a $1M portfolio, you may be withdrawing 4%, or $40,000, each year, while 1%, or $10,000, goes into the pockets of those managing your portfolio. That's money not going to you or working for you by growing over time. In an article Brad wrote several years ago, he looked at the impact fees had on an investment portfolio. With a 1% expense ratio and/or a 1% fee for assets under management, the fees over a 40-year period cost millions of dollars. Owning index funds means you own all of the companies within that index, both the winners and the losers. VTSAX is Vanguard's total stock market index fund which invests in virtually every publicly-traded US company. There is very little difference between VTSAX and the S&P 500 index fund since VTSAX is capweighted, meaning it owns more of the largest companies. Only 15-20% are small or mid-cap companies. JL loves index funds because they are self-cleansing, meaning that you benefit from the winners while the losers drift away. The worst you can lose is 100% on a company, but you can gain 200% or even 1000% with the winners. Tesla is a great example of the upside. An S&P 500 index or total stock market index fund is essentially the same regardless of which brokerage firm it is purchased from. JL prefers Vanguard because it is structured where its interests are identical with the investors. The investors own the Vanguard funds which helps to continually drive down costs. The impact of changing from a fund with a 0.04% fee to 0.02% or even 0% isn't tremendous. JL prefers to stick with a company like Vanguard that favors the investor over the owner. Another thing Vanguard is trying to do is make investing more accessible. They have lowered the minimum investment for VTSAX from $10,000 to $3,000. Those without an initial $3,000 to invest can opt for VTI, the Exchange Traded Fund version of VTSAX. VTI is primarily a trading vehicle that any amount of money may be invested in. Like a stock, buy and sell orders are executed immediately, while index funds prices are set at the close of the business day. Traditionally, investors have needed to purchase whole shares of ETFs. Companies like M1 Finance have made it possible to buy fractional shares. It would be wonderful if we could time the market, but it's more important to have time in the market. The best way to lose money is to try and dance in and out of the market. Trying to time the market does not work. When the market began to drop during the beginning of the COVID pandemic, JL held strong in his conviction that no one knew what the market was going to do. The important thing to do is to stay the course. You have to expect market drops during your investing lifetime. JL says no one should follow his advice unless they are absolutely clear that they will not sell when the market drops. Selling is not an option. Market drops are temporary. After Black Monday in October 1987, JL, despite knowing better, lost his resolve and sold near the very bottom of the market. He didn't buy back in until the market had completely recovered. Now, market fluctuations don't bother him. Roughly 20 companies make up 30% of your holdings in an S&P 500 index fund. Any company or sector that rises to the top means you'll own more of it. When those companies fade away, the individual who owned them in an index fund will fare better than an investor who owned them as a single stock. The most powerful companies today will not be the most powerful companies decades from now. Of the original companies making up the DOW, not a single one remains in the DOW. With an index fund, you never have to worry about what's fading out or what's rising. You will always be there. Resources Mentioned In Today's Conversation ChooseFI Episode 019 The Stock Series Part 1 with JL Collins If You Want To Support ChooseFI: Earn $1,000 in cashback with ChooseFI's 3-card credit card strategy.  Share FI by sending a friend ChooseFI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence.  

One of ChooseFI's most popular guests is back! Dominick Quartuccio returns to talk about after the shock of 2020, how to bounce back and what it looks like to design your life for next year. Brad's relationship with Dominick goes back to when they were in college together. After reconnecting several years ago, Dominick has become a source of inspiration and a mentor to Brad. In previous episodes, conversations with Dominick have centered around the idea of drift. It's the state of existence where we think we're making intentional decisions with our lives, but in reality, it is habits, patterns, unconscious beliefs, expectations, societal pressures, etc. that are really driving decisions. It's only when an outside force, normally a quite dramatic one, forces itself upon us that we wake up from that state of drift. For the first time in human history, the entire world is going through an experience together. It's caused everyone some sort of pain, whether it was losing a loved one, a financial loss, or anxiety. Most of us have gone through periods of suffering in the past that when we look back on them, those were the moments that made us into the person we are today, and given the choice, we wouldn't change them today. Instead of wishing to speed up 2020 and get it over with, Dominick encourages us to pause and look at the past year to see where you've been and highlight the standout moments. The purpose of this exercise is so that we can envision a 2021 that has the potential to be the most meaningful, fulfilling, and prosperous year of our lives. In his role as a leaser, Dominick has seen behind the curtain of people's personal lives and noticed a distinct difference between those who have an inner foundation of work leading up to the pandemic and those who have never done the work. Fortifying your inner foundation allows you to be strong and thrive if there are tougher times in the year ahead. There are two parts to the exercise of designing the next year of your life: looking back at the year you just had and looking forward to creating the year that you want. Dominick places inner work underneath the umbrella of personal development. Where personal development could be an external skill to better yourself, such as reading a book to learn a new skill that can be applied in the real world, inner work is oriented inward, like examining what lights you up. When the conditions of the outside world change, when you've done the inner work, you don't feel shaken and you are standing on something stable. We've experienced more emotional turmoil in the last year than any other, making it worthy of introspection. In the last year, what were some of the standout moments, both the highs and the lows, beginnings and endings, new and lost relationships or jobs, and the trials and tribulations? Start with going back and looking at your calendar. Looking at it will trigger memories of travel or meetings. Next, go through the photos you've taken. There may be some real standout moments you've forgotten recorded on your phone. Finally, review your journal or scroll through any notes you've taken to see what you were thinking, seeing, and what your attitude was. After looking back, begin looking for themes. Was it bringing your life back into balance, loss, finding love? This year Jonathan and his wife got on the same page of their work-life relationship and she's embraced the idea of building her talent stack which has helped them have a common direction in their marriage. COVID has allowed Jonathan to watch his kids as they grow and evolve into different people every week. He has also lost 20-30 pounds, winning a bet he made with himself on Healthy Wage. He embraced the idea of community and is doing weekly calls with his father and JD Roth. He watched the income for his business take a nosedive and then recover from working to build new lines of revenue. He also built two new businesses using skills acquired in the last four years. He says it was his best year ever. Dominick posed the question to Jonathan about how he would've handled the same downturn to his business if it had occurred three years ago. Jonathan said he's a completely different person now and doesn't know how he would have interacted with who he was three years ago. This year has proven he has grit, determination, and gets stronger during times of trouble. For Brad, he and his family did CrossFit together five days a week for months. His theme is togetherness and it wasn't limited to his immediate family. The mastermind group he belongs to with Dominick was part of it. He's also been able to see his parents more this year and had the time to spend talking with his daughter who was experiencing anxiety and trying to work her way through it. Brad thinks what was important about this year was being able to see the hard work of parenting come to fruition. Dominick mentions that during a normal year, these moments speed by. The pandemic has forced us to slow down and meet these moments. But when things start to speed back up again, are we going to fall back into these old habits, or are we going to pause and be there for these moments? Our brains are hardwired to keep us safe, but many times the anxiety and creation of negative hypotheticals are not serving us. Realizing them helped both Brad and his daughter. The pandemic has shined a light on mental health. What did you learn about your own mental health this year? Additional questions to ponder are these. What milestones of FI did you experience this year? What relationship emerged as the most important this year? What did you discover about your physical well-being? One last question to consider is what is something you would like to leave behind in this year? An emotion, a belief system, a recurring complaint? Jonathan would like to leave behind the hours he spends that aren't helping to move him forward or bring him joy, like watching Netflix and scrolling through social media, but the thinks being productive 16 hours a day isn't the goal. Moderation may be his goal for 2021. Next, what are some things you want to carry forward with you into the next year? A sense of inner peace, togetherness, clarity? Give yourself space to think about it. What is an area of your life that is ready for the next big level up? Start by writing down many of the areas ready for a level up. after coming up with a list of 5-15, look for the one that really jumps out at you. Use this terrible year to springboard into the best year of your life. Courage is Dominick‘s theme for the next year as he works to figure out how to get out there and help more men live their fullest potential. This goal for next year does not need to world-changing, just meaningful, and something that inspires you to see what you are capable of. Brad knows that being present is an area he could work on and he could put separation in place to make that easier and make his life better. Napoleon Hill states in his work that the number one step in creating any meaningful change is to build a burning desire. What's the one decision that you could make that would allow you to be focused 365 days a year on that burning desire? Dominick will be holding a The Great Man Within 90 minute interactive webinar on Dec 16th for designing the next year of your life and in January, a free 30 day men's mental health challenge. To register for either, visit The Great Man Within. Resources Mentioned In Today's Conversation ChooseFI Episode 185 Adapting to the New Normal Register for The Simple Startup Winter Challenge and get 15% with the code Podcast Check out ChooseFI's review of the Chase Freedom Flex Open high-yield savings account with CIT Bank Get started on your path to financial independence at ChooseFI.com/start If You Want To Support ChooseFI: Earn $1,000 in cashback with ChooseFI's 3-card credit card strategy.  Share FI by sending a friend ChooseFI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence.    

Following US Election Day results, it's important to remember the alligators and kittens, a concept to approach overall mental wellbeing. The negative influences in life are alligators and all of the things that make life better are kittens. Focus on getting rid of the alligators. It's a human bias to focus on the negative. How do you focus time and attention on the things that make life better? For Brad, he cut watching the news out of his life which has helped him to achieve a better mental framework for life. The business model of the new is to keep you watching through the next commercial break. They cause anxiety. You can stay informed without being a part of that model. Control what you can control and you will be in a better financial position four years from now regardless of the election outcome. There is so much outside of our control right now and worrying about it isn't productive. Despite the number of people who are confident they know what will happen to the stock market as a result of the election, the fact is that we just don't know. Market uncertainty is one of the reasons to have a plan for your money regardless of what is going on and automate it. Not only is it difficult to try and time the market, but you need to get it right twice, both when you buy and when you sell. The FI community is about long-term thinking. It's not about quarterly earnings or even five-year trends, but performance over multiple decades and the decisions that will help get you to the wealthiest point over that time period. With that long-term thinking in mind and in a time of calm, it's a great time to write down your investor policy statement. Having a plan for your investments, written down in an investor policy statement helps you to avoid being reactionary or make rash decisions. In February, the Dow hit a high of 29,500. By March 20th, it had dropped 20-30% and many predicted it would go even lower. Defying the dire predictions, the Dow recovered 30-40% of its gains within a few months. The problem with making market predictions is that there are far too many variables for you to account for and again, you have to get it right twice. Even the professions are wrong 50% of the time. What chance do you have of making your investment decisions around emotion enough to stay solvent or long-term or outperform the market over the long-term? Essentially no chance. The highest likelihood of long-term financial success is to control the expenses on your investments. Low-cost index funds are going to be your best bet. Following your investor policy statement and injecting new money when you can benefits you with dollar-cost averaging. Time in the market is much more powerful than timing the market. ChooseFI listeners are creating space and making progress in their lives. Patty commuted to paying off debt within five years and just made her last payment, including more than $40,000 in credit card debt. Joe replied to Brad's email, The FI Weekly, Joe shared that he and his wife transferred his 403(b) from a high-fee broker to Vanguard and also started on their journey to earning travel rewards by opening a Chase Sapphire Preferred card. November 8th is the LAST CALL to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card with its highest-ever bonus of 80,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 in the first three months. For more info, go to ChooseFI.com/CSP. Teachers are primarily the ones using 403(b)s, most of which are laden with really high fees and very few options. ChooseFI plans to have an episode in the coming months with Dan Otter discussing doing better with your 403(b). Crystal sent in a message saying that she had no idea about fees and was investing with Edward Jones. Her investments hadn't done much over the last five years and now she's educating herself, but the fees appear to be hidden. Since the market has done so well over that last five years, the reasons why Crystal hasn't made money are because she wasn't invested in a strategy that allowed her to keep up with the market or she was getting crushed by the fees. Brad says finding the expenses for his old company's 401k options was relatively easy. Included in the table of investment options, one of the columns listed expenses. Other titles may be expense ratio or expense percentage. The numbers may range from 1.50 to 0.03. Without a nicely organized table, you may need to look up the expense ratio by looking up the ticker symbol. A low-cost index fund investment strategy is simple and not complex enough to require help from a professional. In contrast, a complex investment plan is probably costing you a lot of money. With an actively-managed fund, a person, or team of people, are making decisions on what to buy and when to sell. Through the fees, you end up paying them for their time. And then the data shows that they aren't even keeping up with the market. The difference between expense ratios of 0.1% and 1.0% is tens of thousands to millions of dollars over time after compounding. Brad ran through a scenario originally published to RichmondSavers.com reviewing the impact fees have on an investment portfolio over a 40-year timeframe. The result was that a high expense ratio and advisor fees cut the potential net worth in half. Even target-date funds may not get the returns you expect because they are too conservative for you. It's good to think about what you are invested in and how much it is costing you. ChooseFI's new website is now live! Check it out at ChooseFI.com or ChooseFI.com/start. There are still some issues to be fixed, but if you are having trouble finding anything let us know and send us your feedback to feedback@choosefi.com. The feedback on The Simple Startup classes has been overwhelmingly positive. Kids aged 10-18 have been getting off the video games and acquiring new skillsets to future-proof their lives. Rob Phelan has figured out how to offer the course year-round and the next session starting January 18th is open for enrollment. Registration will be open until January 8th or until it sells out. Previous sessions have always sold out. Register at ChooseFI/startup for The Simple Startup between now and November 15th and save $10. Use promo code “podcast” and save another 15%. Share what you are doing and how your life has changed by replying to Brad's email newsletter, The FI Weekly, and have the chance to win one of the books from ChooseFI Publishing. Sign up at ChooseFI.com/start. Christian Choosefi'd his view of the pandemic. He's focused on the positive things, like spending more time with his family, time to exercise, eating healthier, and saving $4,500 this year. Resources Mentioned In Today's Conversation The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins ChooseFI Episode 019 JL Collins The Stock Series Part 1 ChooseFI Episode 220 HelpFix My 403(b) Vanguard Funds and the Impact on Your Investment article published on Richmondsavers.com Start building a better portfolio today at Fundrise and get your first 90 days of advisory fees waived Cut your unlimited wireless plan with Mint Mobile Register for The Simple Startup Winter Challenge and get 15% using code podcast Get started on your path to financial independence at ChooseFI.com/start If You Want To Support ChooseFI: Earn $1,000 in cashback with ChooseFI's 3-card credit card strategy.  Share FI by sending a friend ChooseFI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence.

Dan briefs us on the dueling presidential town halls before he and Brad explain the tenets of Constitutional Originalism, a legal philosophy Amy Coney Barrett claims to hold. They compare it to a separate, but related issue--biblical literalism. In both cases, conservative actors claim to hold the "original" meaning of the text in order to combat social and cultural progress. But, as Dan and Brad explain, a century of philosophy and hermeneutics has shown both to be untenable. From there they discuss the voter suppression efforts the GOP has waged in TX, CA, and GA. They wrap up by analyzing the shocking comments from pastor John MacArturthur, who claimed recently that God made Earth a disposable planet for humans to use and then discard. For Brad, this signals a creeping turn to authoritarianism and scorched-earth (literally in this case) politics. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/message

High school chemistry is good for a lot of things: the periodic table, beakers, and science experiments! For Brad it was great for one more thing—watching movies like Young Frankenstein! The 1974 Mel Brooks parody is renowned for being one of the best comedies ever, so says the American Film Institute. Starring Gene Wilder, Young Frankenstein follows Dr. Frederick Frankenstein as he steps into the footsteps of his famous grandfather on a quest to find the path to eternal life. Brad and Katie take a look back at the film to find out if Young Frankenstein is still as funny as it was in high school. Will they laugh through the film like a roll in ze hay or chase it out of town like Frankenstein's monster? Find out in this week's episode of Well...I Liked It! Twitter: https://twitter.com/WellILikedIt Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wellilikedit/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/well-i-liked-it/support

October is a month for costumes, Halloween candy, and a time to rewatch your favorite scary movies. Starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy and some kids, Hocus Pocus is a cult-classic known to get the the ultimate reaction out of 90's kids. "Best Halloween movie ever!" They say. But is it? This week, Brad and Katie watch the Halloween class to determine if it belongs among the greats. For Katie, it's a rewatch. For Brad, it's brand new. So will the movie be a trick? Or a treat? Find out in this week's episode of Well...I Liked It! Twitter: https://twitter.com/WellILikedIt Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wellilikedit/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/well-i-liked-it/support

Going back to the basics of ChooseFI being a crowdsourced show, Brad and Jonathan address what's going on in the FI community with a wild card Friday episode. Why revisit content that's already been discussed? After several years of introducing new ideas, the ChooseFI audience may be in a different place financially and ready for a refresher on some of the more advanced concepts presented earlier in the show's history. And newer listeners may not have combed through the archives and missed out on topics relevant to their situation. This episode back to basics provides an orientation of what ChooseFI hopes to deliver. Goals for the podcast are to introduce a new idea or story during the Monday episode. But not every strategy or tactic works for everyone. Friday's Roundup episode looks at that idea from different perspectives, incorporates audience feedback, and seeks to answer additional questions. The FI Weekly is the email Brad sends out every Tuesday where he provides subscribers with ideas to ponder, inspire, and motivate people on their own journey and shares what actions he is taking to make his life a little bit better. Opt in to receive Brad's email, The FI Weekly, at ChooseFI.com/start. Financial independence means different things to different people. For Jonathan, it means he has options allowing him to choose what he does during the best years of his life. For Brad, it means freedom, giving him the ability to live life on his terms, spending time with his family. Pursuing financial independence doesn't mean living a life of deprivation. It's about choice. No one should tell you how to spend your time, your freedom, or what to spend your money on. You have the freedom to spend money on an expensive car if you choose, as long as you understand the impact of that decision. It's not even about being at financial independence or not. Simply being on the path to FI gives you options. Whether you're in a toxic situation at work or want to pursue a passion project, just working toward FI gives you options those on the standard path cannot afford to take. Sharing stories from the community and discussing the decisions they have made broadens and brings to light the scope of options available to the variety of personal challenges you may have. The pursuit of financial independence is not necessarily about hitting that FI number. It's a life optimization strategy. If you are working in a low-wage job and don't see the path, you can be trained in a new industry and be making $60-80K within six months. Check out the Talent Stacker podcast. Shane recently posted in the ChooseFI Facebook Group, “I'm a recent college graduate, 23 years old. What advice would you give yourself when you were my age regarding investments, retirement/401K, and student loans? I want to invest, but I also have about $30,000 worth of student debt, but I'm only making around $41,000 a year.” Brad notes that a lot of people like Shane are looking for tips or special advice that will get them to financial success, but that there's nothing complex about it. It comes down to savings rate and time. Increasing savings rate is easier when you reduce your structural expenses. If your life doesn't cost much, you can increase your savings. When first starting out, Brad and Laura weren't making high salaries, but they set themselves up for success by moving to a city with a lower cost of living, purchased a home with a reasonable mortgage, and have driven the same car since 2003. These choices allowed them to have a 50% savings rate and meant if Laura decided to stop working once they had kids, they would be fine. Brad and Laura became wealthy because they didn't care about looking wealthy. With some quick math, Jonathan calculates for Shane to have a 50% savings rate, his monthly expenses will need to be $1,700 a month. With a mortgage and expensive car payment, that may be difficult. He might do well trying something like house hacking. Shane could purchase 4 bedroom house, rent out rooms to friends and cut his housing expenses down to $300 a month. 40% of most people's expenses go to housing and transportation. Optimizing in just those two high-cost areas can make a huge difference in your savings rate. Anchoring yourself to a food budget of $2 per person per meal per day in another way to reduce a major expense category. Laura sits down once a week to plan out several meals for the week, making enough to have as leftovers on a second night. The meals she cooks average that $2 per person per meal goal which helps them save over $1,000 on eating out and picking up convenience foods at the grocery store. A rough target for housing expenses is 25% of your take home pay. For investing, Brad recommends Shane begin with low-cost index fund investing and JL Collins' book The Simple Path to Wealth. RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY'S CONVERSATION Build your plan NewRetirement Sign up to get The FI Weekly delivered to your inbox every Tuesday! Switch to Mint Mobile Order you copy of Raising Your Money-Savvy Family for Next Generation Financial Independence by Carol Pittner and Doug Nordman ChooseFI Episode 232 Raising Your Money-Savvy Family for Next Generation Finical Independence Build new skills and create your own opportunity with the Talent Stacker podcast ChooseFI Episode 016 House Hacking with Coach Carson ChooseFI Episode 148R Expense Ratios and House Hacking ChooseFI Episode 022 The Ultimate Guide to the True Cost of Car Ownership Download ChooseFI's $2 per person per meal cookbook ChooseFI Episode 023 Career Hacking with ESI Money ChooseFI Episode 211 How to Negotiate Your Salary Without Burning Bridges with The Financial Mechanic ChooseFI Episode 147 Negotiate Your Salary with Tori Dunlap ChooseFI Episode 019 The Stock Series Part 1 with JL Collins JLCollinsnh.com Get started on your own path to financial independence at ChooseFI.com/start IF YOU WANT TO SUPPORT CHOOSEFI:   Share FI by sending a friend ChooseFI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence.  

Does it feel like no matter how hard you work, you just keep running around in circles? Are you ignoring all the signs that your agency's crying out for help? When you get to a point where it seems like your agency is out of your control, often, the best solution is a simple change of perspective. In today's episode, we'll cover: 3 signs your agency needs more attention. 2 steps get a stalled agency back on track. Do you have your priorities all wrong? Today I sat down for an engaging chat with Brad Martineau, repeat podcast guest and owner of Sixth Division, a digital marketing agency. Like so many of us, Brad saw success early on but quickly stalled out. He's here to talk about why he found himself in this position and how he scaled back to scale up. 3 Signs Your Agency Needs More Attention As agency owners, we have a tendency to set our sights high. We go into the business with a lofty goal in mind and won't stop until we get there. When this happens, it's easy to gloss over (or even purposely ignore) signs you're in trouble. Brad says to ask yourself these 3 questions to find out when your agency needs your attention: Is your team excited? One of the first signs something is wrong is team morale. Brad says there's a difference between a disappointed employed and a disgruntled employee. If your team's unhappy or constantly overworked, it's time to slow down. Are your clients pumped? Your clients should be excited about your work and see the value your agency delivers. If your client response is lackluster or worse, you're losing clients, do something now. Is revenue shrinking? A sure-fire sign you need to make a change is less money coming in. If you're not as profitable as you once were, you're either spending too much or you're losing clients. 2 Steps to Get a Stalled Agency Back on Track Brad says he spent 1.5 years ignoring all the signs something was wrong. If you're not careful, success will tell you you can do no wrong. But ignoring the problem can cause a lot of unnecessary pain and anxiety, as Brad will attest. So what can you do to get your agency back on track? Acknowledge the problem. This one's hard. As humans, we'd rather ignore a problem than confront it. Pay attention to the signs and get good at recognizing problems from the beginning. The longer you wait, the harder it is to fix. Set aside your ego. Brad says this meant coming to terms with the fact he might not be a $3 million agency. Put aside your preconceptions of how it should be and focus on the fix. For Brad, when he finally faced the issue head-on he was able to cut over $100,000 from his monthly budget. Do You Have Your Priorities All Wrong? How do you create goals for your agency? For most of us, it's easy to set monetary or other tangible goals. And for the longest time, I was just like everyone else. My goals were always revenue, projects, time, in that order. There's this bad mindset we get in where we tell ourselves, if I just make this amount of money, my family will be happy, and then I'll have everything I want. But in the end, that goal just keeps getting bigger and bigger and you never catch up. If you really want to grow, you have to flip the switch. Brad says we need to get away from focusing on monetary profit and prioritize time and emotional profit. When you do this, you'll find you're happier and more fulfilled. And bonus, when you slow down, you free up your headspace to be more creative, which ironically may help increase profits after all. Don't get too consumed with that bottom line that you forget to enjoy the ride. When you slow down and focus on what's important, then you'll truly be able to enjoy your success. Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency? Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you’re a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team. For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Brad Eager is a straight-forward unassuming guy who can walk into a room of 150 rambunctious distracted teenagers and within minutes – the room goes quiet, all eyes are on Brad - they’re listening. He’s got their attention. He also got my attention. Clearly, Brad knows something about leadership, and I wanted to bring him on because this episode has the chance to change your life. We’ve all heard about being intentional and working with the end in mind. Brad’s super clear on both. He’s here to lead and coach people relationally. For Brad, relational leadership means meeting one another where they are, not where we want them to be. It’s seeing the humanity in each person - without being distracted or harbouring hidden agendas. With no purpose other than being with one another to share meaningful work and meaningful lives. Brad points out that one has to earn the right to be heard, especially with teens. That this takes time and can feel hugely inconvenient too. And yet at its core, it’s simple – humans yearn to be truly seen and valued. And let’s face it, our adult world isn’t much different. We’re all just more sophisticated actors. We live in a noisy world. People are either jostling for status and position, or trying to change the world. What if you began leading relationally? I guarantee that you'll make an impact and leave a legacy. FOLLOW Brad Eager - brad.eager@themeetinghouse.com - brad.eager@gapyearcoaching.com FOLLOW Build Up One Another - Apple iTune https://apple.co/2LYPLub - Spotify https://spoti.fi/2BVZyw2 - INSTAGRAM https://bit.ly/2Pm4BxP

In this episode of Stories of Hope in Hard Times, Tamara K. Anderson interviews Brad J. Neufeld. Tamara and Brad discuss the holiday season, and how we can overcoming the sadness and holiday blues which sometime accompany this time of year.14 Tips to Face the Holiday Blues with CheerBrad J. Neufeld (who was previously interviewed on Stories of Hope about his personal story) is back to discuss how we can overcome depression that often accompanies this time of year and find joy and happiness. Brad’s Experience With Holiday SadnessBrad says that there are many people who experience loneliness during the Christmas holiday season. Brad himself knows firsthand what it’s like to be alone for the holidays. He has been supporting himself since he was 13 years old. Though he saw his family temporarily in 1980, six months later his parents moved from Utah to California. He was 16 years old at the time, living in Utah by himself. Brad had agreed with his parents to talk on the phone regularly but it was still a very lonely time.“When you are used to everyone being around, opening presents together, and experiencing the happiness of the holidays, watching the parades and the football by yourself just isn’t the same,” he says. Though he made it through the first year, the following year was even more difficult. The hardest was the year he was 18 but still alone for the holidays.Brad jokes that he almost considered himself a Grinch, but that changed slowly when he met his wife. Brad says his wife loves all holidays and celebrates each one, but that Christmas is a big one. She has always insisted on having a fresh tree each year. and that’s something they have done for 33 years now.What Christmas is Really AboutBrad recalls that the most impactful holiday season for him was about 15 years ago. That year had been a financially challenging one for Brad and his family, and they weren’t going to be able to get their children anything for Christmas. Brad felt himself shift back into the mentality that Christmas was no good for him and he truly did not want his kids to experience what he had felt growing up. But the members of Brad’s community sensed that Brad’s family needed some help that year. On Christmas morning, their family woke up to bags of gifts from “anonymous.” Brad says that instance truly touched his heart and humbled him. He realized that is what Christmas is about, thinking of others.Brad says he knows that depression rates and other emotions run high during this time of year. He also experienced the feeling of wanting others to stay away, and even had suicidal thoughts at times. He says it’s often we talk about just surviving Christmas, rather than enjoying it.Holiday Blues Tips Learned the Hard WayTip #1–Focus on the PositiveFor Brad, it’s important to focus on the happy emotions that come out of the holidays, rather than just the commercial aspects, even though that can be hard to do sometimes. His experience with loving neighbors reminded him that even though it can feel like no one cares, “God is always is always looking over us. Neighbors do care. People care.”Brad explains he used to look for and find the negative about the holidays, but ever since this loving experience with his neighbors, he had a shift in his thinking. Quoting Dr. Wayne Dyer’ book title, “You’ll See It When You Believe It.” Brad says when he started to believe Christmas had positive elements he started to see and enjoy them.Tip #2–Give and Celebrate Without ExpectationBrad explains there are many ways you can include those who may struggle during the holidays. He looks at things from the giver’s and the taker’s perspective. From a giver’s perspective, Brad says it’s important to remember that there is no right or wrong way to celebrate Christmas.While everyone may put up their lights and Santa statues right after Thanksgiving, you don’t have to. Brad personally hates putting up the Christmas lights and would prefer to leave them up all year. So instead of judging the neighbor that doesn’t have their lights up, remember you don’t know the full story. They may just celebrate differently than you.Tip #3–Find the CommonalityLooking for the commonality can help to bridge the gap and help others feel more welcome and comfortable–no matter how they celebrate the holiday season. The biggest commonality is giving. Brad says you could also just ask if there’s anything you could help with for the holidays. They may not want your help, but it never hurts to ask.Tip #4–Receive GratefullyBrad also says from the taker’s perspective that you have to remember that people may not give what you expect. Maybe they are giving all that they can. He says to look at it as the act of giving rather than the actual thing given. The taker’s responsibility is to accept what is given with a thank you, even if it’s just a smile or a, “Merry Christmas!”Also, don’t compare what gift you are giving (and how much it costs) with the gift you receive from that person.Tip #5 –Ask: What Are Your Expectations?For those wanting to help others:Brad says that depressed individuals may have expectations that they don’t express. He says that a great thing is to ask what those who are depressed are expecting for the holidays. (Don’t wait to ask until two days before Christmas either.) It is best to have a strategy in place well in advance, before the expectations and the emotions set in.First, ask them what you can do to help the holiday season be the best it can be. If they don’t know, ask them to think about it and then follow up with them. Be sure to follow up! Then do all you can to help them set up for a successful holiday season.For those who struggle:Brad explains for those who are depressed, “You can’t keep dropping big hints and hoping someone gets it.” You need to express your hopes and expectations clearly. Write down those things that would help make the holidays the best for you and share your ideas with those you are closest to.He says you’ve got to take action in order to overcome. A big first step forward is recognizing which of your needs aren’t being met and figuring out a way to have those needs met. Brad says you’ll be surprised by how many people will want to help. You may think you know what others will say, but you don’t. Brad says that’s the biggest thing he learned was that 90 percent of people are good and want to help. When he started telling people what it was that he needed, he was met with an outpouring of love and support.Tip #6–Don’t Be AloneWhat about someone who says they would rather just be left alone? Brad says that you have to choose to ignore that request. A request to be alone is actually saying, “I want you, I want attention without having to ask for it.”Brad views depression as not only a chemical imbalance, but an addiction to attention. Maybe someone is depressed thinking that a phone call from someone would help them feel better. And maybe they do get to talk to that person. But the next day they don’t get that phone call and they are down. The person giving the attention doesn’t know that’s the expectation though. So it would be helpful to find out what that person’s needs are and encourage them to be open with you so that you can better help them.Tip #7–The Need for ChangeOften with depression or holiday blues, people wanting to help you give all sorts of advice like, “Hey, if you’d just get up in the morning and go to the gym or you’d go for a brisk walk in the morning, you’ll feel better.” That often feels like daggers hitting when you struggle with depression and it is hard it is to even think.But here is something Brad has also learned, “Unless you start taking small actions, nothing’s ever gonna change.” Brad continues to explain, “I do know that one of the biggest things to change your status and where you’re at is to take different actions and what you’ve been doing up to that point. If you look at it as what I’ve been doing up to this point has led me to here.” Then you need to, “Do something different. You need to try new things. Go to that family party.” Brad goes on to specifically explain that if you need protections at the family party, maybe you just go and sit out in the car. Even a small change like that can work.Maybe you don’t feel like being around a big crowd, at least go sit out on the porch. Have a close friend or family member explain, “Jim’s here. It took him a lot to get here, so, please let him be. He’s here.”That’s what it took for Brad to heal, taking baby steps. People don’t have to do more than they can. Brad cautions that sometimes if you do something different you worry about fear of failure or that you will feel even worse afterwards. Here is where Brad gives the secret, “Go into it with an attitude of, Hey, I want to go learn something today. I’ll go to the party. Don’t, don’t beat yourself up and say, I didn’t stay the whole family party. No. Look at the positive. I got up out of my bed, I went, I stayed there for half an hour, and I learned this. If you just get in the habit of that, it’s amazing how quickly you can, you can start healing.” Celebrate the change and success of making a change and learning from it.Tip # 8–Make PlansBrad goes on to explain that when you make changes, it is important to have back up plans in place. If you get overwhelmed easily, plan to go sit in the car or in a quiet corner of the house if you start feeling anxious. Maybe you need a distraction like an iPad, a book, or a deck of cards. These are things you can control. So, put these plans into place.Brad gave a personal example of this. He explained that at first it was difficult for him at his wife’s family parties. He felt like the party was more for the family, not the in-laws. So, Brad talked to his wife and made a plan. He asked her to some sit by him while they were eating, and that helped make the even more enjoyable for him.Tip #9–Prepare for New SituationsNew situations can be extremely difficult to navigate. Brad says the best way to approach new situations is to prepare ahead of time. This goes hand in hand with making plans and preparing for possible situations. He says it’s best to ask yourself what or who might bring you stress in the upcoming weeks.If you know what things may bring you stress, you can have a pre-planned response for questions that may arise. Maybe you are like Brad and don’t like to put lights up. If it will stress you to be asked about it, have a response prepared that will stop that conversation. Brad says a response like, “We are just trying to simplify this year and spend less time and money,” may work well. Again, finding the commonality can help to bridge the gap.Tip #10–Prepare for Empty NestingAnother new situation that many face each holiday season is becoming an empty nester. Brad says many people feel like raising their children brought their life value, and when their children are gone that they no longer have any value. He says although being an empty nester is difficult for many, it’s an important part of development.Brad recalls that when four of his six children moved out of their family home within the year, it was a traumatic experience for his wife. He and his wife had to prepare differently for the holidays by keeping communication lines open with children and other family members. Figure out different plans so you can still see each other. Brad’s family now gets together and goes out to eat. He loves watching his kids talk and laugh about stories from when they were growing up. He jokes that while the restaurant is expensive, it’s either that or therapy. And he chooses the restaurant.Another idea for empty nesters is to sit down and ask what you are going to do with the extra time you have. Feel the joy of knowing that you did a great job with your kids, then find somewhere else to lend your time that will bring that sense of purpose back into your life. Finally, Brad says staying flexible and getting together when you can is the best approach.Tip #11–Remembering Loved Ones Who Have Passed AwayOne new situation you might face during the holidays is after a loved one has passed away. Brad says he coaches people through this situation often, and even experienced similar emotions himself when his father in law was extremely ill one holiday season.Brad says that something he finds that really helps those he coaches is to prepare a list of things that you love and remember about the person. You can even focus on one attribute or positive thing that person did each day of the holiday season, much like a countdown to Christmas. He says that people who have done this say that it truly helps them feel like their loved one is with them again, even if they aren’t physically there. For Brad, it all comes back to focusing on the positive.Tip #12–Ideas When Your Family Doesn’t Get AlongIf your family doesn’t get along, Brad says don’t force it. He encourages mom, dad or a sibling to plant the seed of mending that gap, but know that good things come with time. This time of year is good for healing those relationships, just like you see in the movies. Brad also says it is good to revisit the relationship every three to six months and just ask how the other is doing.Pray for those you want to help or heal a relationship with, and remember that the best gift is time, love, and connection.Tip #13–Respect Others BeliefsBrad also wanted to remind us that it is important not to attack or criticize others beliefs or ways of celebrating (or not celebrating) during the holidays. He cautions, “Be careful about that because when you attack somebody else’s beliefs. That automatically causes contention and most of the time they’ll hold onto that. Some people have the skills to let things like that go, but most people don’t. And if you’re after to have a peaceful and fun loving, holiday season, don’t attack them for their beliefs. Just, accept it and then move on.Also, if you have somebody that tends to be a little contentious, praying for them is a good thing.Tip #14–PrayPrayer can always help in any situation. Sometimes you can pray to figure out how to get through your personal situation. Other times you can, “Just pray for who you can help,” Brad explains. He continues by encouraging us to ask who in our neighborhood or family unit needs help holiday season. God knows. Then Brad encourages to follow the promptings received.ConclusionRemember that Jesus Christ is the reason for the season. And, and in your busyness, don’t forget the whole reason. And if you, if you feel you need to simplify, think about it, pray about it, and figure out what is right for you. If you’re struggling with a specific situation, involve God in that and involve your family members. It is so important to communicate and listen. Don’t let the busyness of the holiday season deprive you of relationships with the people you care the most about.Although Brad now looks forward to and enjoys the holidays, he also has a different kind of answer for those who ask if he is “ready for Christmas?” Brad says, “There is no ready. You just do it and enjoy what you can from it.”Contact BradBrad admonishes, “If you’re suffering from depression, please seek professional help.” Try medications prescribed by doctors.Brad doesn’t want anyone to go through the holidays without asking for help. If you or a loved one needs help this holiday season, Brad’s phone number is (435) 830-6945, or you can email him at info@bradjneufeld.com. 

Show Topic: Discussion about current problems in two dev's projects. For Brad its UI issues, for M dot Strange its over-engineering and life before proper source control. Show Notes: Brad's game https://memberthealamo.com/ M dot's game https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVY56MNPkos GitKraken Glo Boards https://www.gitkraken.com/glo Source Tree https://www.sourcetreeapp.com/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gamedevgrit/message

What’s In This Episode: Have you had a great experience with a brand that leaves you feeling good? For Jill, it was a follow-up email after leaving a review for blinds. For Brad, it was tea that traveled all the way from England with a personal note and a recommendation. "Empathetic customer service can go a long way." - Brad Jill and Brad talk to the Pitch Whisperer John Livesay, a speaker who's in high demand, but he's not sure how to scale, especially because he can't be everywhere at once. They recommend that the consulting aspect of his business be delegated, and to raise his prices for speaking gigs. "You're saving you time; you're not saving me time." - Jill When it comes to showing the human aspect of your business, how can you do it? Personalization takes time and effort. In today's hurried world, some of that personal touch gets lost (don't get Jill started on calendar links and Brad recently talked about automated pitches on the Offline podcast). Are we automating things that shouldn't be automated? How do you make your business more welcoming? Guest: John Livesay, aka The Pitch Whisperer, is a sales keynote speaker and shares the lessons learned from his award-winning sales career at Conde Nast. In his keynote “Better Selling Through Storytelling,” he shows companies’ sales teams how to become irresistible so they are magnetic to their ideal clients. Visit his website here.

Newcastle-based broker Brad East believes that experience is worth far more than qualifications. For Brad, however, it is a combination of both - along with perseverance and hard work - that has helped him succeed, he says. In this episode of Elite Broker, host Annie Kane is joined by the finalist for the Rising Star award at the upcoming Better Business Awards NSW, as he reveals how he has built his business from the ground up and how the process of setting up that business differed from his expectations. You will also find out: - The common mistake that brokers make when chasing referrals - Why Brad enjoys working with first home buyers - His need-to-know advice on picking a mentor that is right for you And plenty more!

What are performance jeans? Are they just really soft jeans or is there more to it? Can you really rock climb, hike, practice yoga, and go on a date with performance jeans like Boulder Denim? On this episode, you’ll hear from Boulder Denim’s founders Bradley Spence and Taz Barrett. In our conversation, the guys explain how their second launch is different from their first campaign, what they’ve learned along the way, why they decided to take their product on the road, their plans for the future, and much more! Don’t miss this great opportunity to learn from the innovative minds behind Boulder Denim! Utilizing Kickstarter Live. Have you used Kickstarter Live? Have you seen any compelling uses of it in the crowdfunding community? If you are unfamiliar with Kickstarter Live, it’s a tool for streaming livevideo from your Kickstarter project page. When Brad and Taz launched the second version of their performance jeans, Boulder Denim 2.0, they went all out and hosted the launch at a retail store with free beer while streaming the event on Kickstarter Live. What can you learn from Brad and Taz’s approach? Hear more about their story on this fascinating episode! Why it’s important to listen to your backers. Did you know that some of the best ideas for crowdfunded products come from taking the time to listen to your backers? It’s true! Time and time again, great inventors and entrepreneurs have improved their products by embracing the input of their users! For Brad and Taz, this practice of leaning into the feedback of their backers led to expanding and improving their performance jeans for a wider audience. After launching another Kickstarter Live session and taking the time to hear from their backers,  the guys decided that the time was right to introduce their women’s jogger. Don’t underestimate the value of listening to your community! Learn more from Brad and Taz’s perspective by listening to this informative episode! What are performance jeans? While traditional jeans are certainly casual and durable, the last thing people think of jeans for is working out or performing any activity that requires flexibility and movement. Here to challenge that thinking, Brad and Taz have developed the performance jean, Boulder Denim. Ethically sourced in their home country of Canada, Brad and Taz have worked hard to bring a product that is useful, comfortable, fashionable, and fun! Not only is their product casual and effective, their approach is too! Taking a look around their website and listening to their story, you really get the sense that the guys care about bringing high-quality performance jeans to the marketplace. Hear more about this innovative product by listening to this episode, you don’t want to miss it! Taking a product to the masses. It seems that more and more crowdfunded products are getting the rock band treatment and hitting the road for tours around the country. Is that really an effective way to bring attention and publicity to your product or is it a waste of time and resources? While they were in the middle of their first Kickstarter campaign, Brad and Taz joked about how much they’d need to raise to justify a tour of the US promoting Boulder Denim. What started as a pipedream, Brad and Taz were soon able to turn into a reality! With the help of their supplier turned partner, they secured enough funding to take Boulder Denim on a 14-month tour of the US demonstrating the appeal of their product along the way. Want to take your product on the road? Get more details about their journey by listening to this engaging episode! Key Takeaways [1:05] Brad and Taz join the podcast to talk about their product, Boulder Denim. [3:45] The difference between the first Kickstarter campaign and the second run. [7:00] Launching at a retailer and utilizing Kickstarter Live. [8:30] How have the guys cultivated a robust connection with their community? [9:20] Lessons learned from a successful crowdf...

Find us on Twitter @magicdesigncast, @bradleyrose, and @madolaf Email us! beaconcreation@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beaconofcreation/ Theme song is Hey, Happy Birthday to You by Dee Culp Full version available at: (https://soundcloud.com/daleculp/letterbox-edition-hey-happy) For more notes and designs from this week's episodes see www.madolaf.com For Brad's Princess Lucrezia list, check his blog here: https://millingfor53.blogspot.com/2018/02/another-commander-3rd.html

Brad Feld, early stage investor and entrepreneur, co-founded Foundry group, Techstars, Mobius Venture Capital, and Intensity Ventures. Today on the Wonder podcast, Brad discusses how to execute your business better, how to properly raise money, and why radical self-inquiry is critical if you truly want to be successful. Tune-in to learn how Brad’s businesses are supporting women in IT, why hiring a “culture fit” is actually a bad idea, and how he is breaking the stigma around mental health issues.   Time Stamped Show Notes:   00:52 – In his book “Startup Opportunities” he discusses the difference between a startup and a small business; what’s the difference? 01:07 – The definition of entrepreneurship in government and the discussion of “mainstream business” and “startups” 01:50 – 2 categories: local business and startups (high-growth entrepreneurial businesses with an aspiration to grow very large and aren’t geographically bound) 03:04 – “Know When to Quit Your Day Job” 03:15 – Sean, his coauthor, had a book that talked about 100 or so characteristics of successful companies 03:30 – There are lots of good books on entrepreneurship, but the challenge with those is that people don’t know if the actual idea is any good 04:10 – “Startup Opportunities” is a book that says the execution is what’s important and gives advice on what to think about to increase your chances of starting a good business 04:36 – Brad’s biggest takeaway from the book is the notion that your idea needs to be 10x better than the existing ideas; not just incrementally better 04:50 – Local businesses are different, as they are geographically-based and don’t have to be 10x better 05:08 – It gets you out of incrementalist thinking 05:20 – How can people execute better? 05:26 – Founders can surround themselves with people who have been successful; build a mentor network of people who will put energy into what you are doing 05:45 – Mentorship doesn’t have to be hierarchal; mentors can be successful peers, too 06:06 – Its difficult to be a solo founder; most successful businesses have multiple founders or people that were there and instrumental at the beginning 06:56 – Don’t do it all yourself; get others to help you execute better 07:14 – Radical self-inquiry: Constantly try to learn more about yourself as you develop your practical skills 08:19 – Brad’s experience with radical self-inquiry 08:24 – Brad was president of a company for 7 years; he didn’t like the job and reflected on it after they sold the business and he had a staff role with the company that acquired them 08:56 – He was an angel investor and an active VC; it made him realize that he didn’t like being a CEO and that he couldn’t do both effectively 09:38 – Another example of radical self-inquiry was the decision to move based upon where they wanted to live instead of moving based on work 10:50 – Boston was never home; they wanted to choose a place, not be forced into a place 11:30 – Techstars has accelerator programs and activity all over the world and Foundry Group is based out of Boulder; it all came out of his own sense of self and importance 12:00 – What are the realities of capital raising that entrepreneurs need to understand and accept to be successful at it? 12:10 – Do or do not, there is no “try” 12:27 – Envision that you’ll be successful, but accept that you may not be successful 12:40 – Understand what you’re raising, why, and from whom; define your own next level 13:50 – Focus on investors that are appropriate based on your amount and your “why” 14:23 – View your fundraising as a key milestone; use the money to build something useful and don’t put too much weight on just the fact that you raised the money 14:56 – Brad’s latest investment: Looking Glass Factory 15:10 – They make a 3D holographic image display that you can interact with spatially; HoloPlayer One and SuperPepper (experimental) are a couple of their products 16:11 – Computer-human interaction creates an immersion collaboration experience 17:12 – Why do women entrepreneurs only get 2-3% of the funding, and how can that change? 17:18 – Brad’s been a part of the National Center for Women Information Technology for a long time where the discussion has been prevalent 17:29 – The alliance tried to get more women and girls in IT; there weren’t visible heroes for women in IT to look up to 18:10 – They found women that worked in IT and had successful businesses to interview and showcase 18:22 – Misogyny and bias (conscious and unconscious) create a power dynamic between men and women that inhibits the growth of women 19:00 – Men tend to select men; the venture business tends to be an apprenticeship business 19:38 – Brad hopes that we are in a societal shift that eliminates the frame of reference around power to have a gender link 19:53 – He read Susan Brownmiller’s Book “Against our Will” to understand the objectification of women in war and sports; he feels like we are going through a shift 20:40 – He’s hoping the Trump presidency has caused a tipping point, but it is still a long-term process 21:34 – Does the Foundry Group or Techstars have an effort to improve the odds for women needing investors? 21:36 – Techstars has a number of female managing directors, an aggressive diversity and inclusion initiative, and is working towards changing the behavior around all sorts of things so there isn’t gender conflict 22:38 – The Techstars Foundation’s mission is to improve diversity in entrepreneurship; this goes beyond gender to include people that are incarcerated 23:38 – Foundry as a firm didn’t have the goal to grow, the partners that are there have been there since the beginning and the pool of female VC’s is small 24:44 – With Foundry they focus on other things like advocacy activities and support of female GPs 25:10 – They constantly look for opportunities to invest in women; women in their portfolio has grown over the years 26:03 – They are taking action to participate and behave in a way that is consistent and supportive 25:25 – He is learning and wants to increase his understanding of the issues 27:30 – Brad’s thoughts on business-led apprenticeships 27:50 – The notion of apprenticeships is powerful; you want people to learn and grow despite whether you’d actually hire them 28:03 – The phrase “culture fit:” Hiring for “culture fit” is wrong, you should hire for “culture add” 28:20 – Find people that subscribe to your cultural norms but extend it with new thoughts, ideas, and perspectives; cultural fits decreases diversity characteristics 29:08 – Ask what you can invest in that will add to your experience and perspective instead of simply reinforce it; this can be at any level in your business that you see fit 29:52 – Example: Return Path company that he invested in 30:05 – The CTO’s wife had been out of the workforce for 10-15 years and when she tried to return, it was very difficult due to the “resume gap” 30:40 – Things in the workforce had changed so much as well (skills, technology, etc) 31:00 – Return Ships program: An internship program where they get back into the workforce, get paid, have a role, and hopefully get hired after the program 31:30 – Path Forward nonprofit does “Return Ships” and is doing well 32:00 – Change your culture by bringing in a different kind of person; they can add a new dimension to your organization and change the way it functions 32:24 – Brad’s view on the importance of community and the role of the entrepreneur in their community 33:46 – In EO from early 90s to late 90s, community wasn’t a category 34:00 – Entrepreneurs often feel too maxed out to invest time in their community 34:20 – Some entrepreneurs don’t have a frame of reference to understand what would give them joy in this context: His book coming out that discusses this is called “Give First” 34:55 – When you give first you don’t know what you are going to get back; get a bunch of people to give first so they can get back a significant amount 35:27 – Most successful communities of people have the giving characteristic; entrepreneurs can more clearly define the benefit to themselves 36:04 – Example: An entrepreneurial friend said he didn’t have time to give first and his biggest problem in business was that he couldn’t find any iOS developers 36:35 – He suggested a monthly iOS development meet-up where he could serve pizza, drinks, and beer to his iOS guy and his friends and connections 37:03 – After a year, he was doing well, was giving back to the community, the meet-up was successful and had grown, and his company was known as the one doing “cool iOS stuff” 27:30 – He didn’t know this would happen on day one, but it definitely benefited the business and community 37:46 – Most entrepreneurs spend 20-40% wasting their time; figure out how to spend 10% of your time doing something in the community 38:50 – The contribution to your community shouldn’t take away from you, it should feed your soul and give you joy 39:35 – Are there ways that people give that isn’t “correct”? 39:55 – On a personal level, Brad believes in Adam’s take in his book “Give and Take”: The people in life that are givers are happier and more successful 40:20 – If you are giving out of obligation rather than through radical self-inquiry, it won’t work for you or your success 41:25 – External reasons and justifications are not good or sustainable reasons; success in the absence of joy is pointless 42:31 – What is Brad’s view on depression? 42:37 – He talks openly about it because he believes it should be destigmatized 42:44 – Most entrepreneurs that he’s worked with have depression, anxiety, or simply low mental health 43:10 – The challenges of human society are nontrivial; he has clinical obsessive compulsive disorder and was very ashamed of it when he was diagnosed 43:45 – The shame is unhealthy and a societal norm that has been created; people have trouble accepting it and realizing that they can be successful and still manage these issues 44:25 – For Brad, he destigmatizes it by being open about it and discussing it with other entrepreneurs and their teenagers 45:18 – He helps entrepreneur parents understand their children 45:40 – This goes back to diversity; he can’t speak for women or people of color, but he can speak about his own diversities like his OCD and Jewish background 46:30 – He tries to learn, teach, and get rid of stigma and bias how he can 47:31 – Brad has had one suicidal ideation that he wrote about in his book “Startup Life” 47:40 – He and his wife made a rule that he would always tell her if he had suicidal thoughts 48:00 – The one time he had that thought, he told her and felt supported and safe 48:25 – His great-grandfather committed suicide during the Great Depression; he was an entrepreneur 49:00 – Processing this information helped him understand his own psychology, identify with it, and soften the relationship with it 49:58 – Speaking openly about mental health is important during the journey; EO groups have helped create the space for support in that realm 52:15 – He started the Boston and Colorado EO chapters; he was also very active in YEO   Key Points: Surround yourself with people who have been successful; work directly with others to help you execute better, and always participate in “radical self-inquiry.” When trying to raise capital, understand what you’re raising, why, and from whom; you must define your own next level. Contribute to your community in a way that feeds your soul and gives you joy.   Resources Mentioned: Entrepreneur's Organization – The EO Network Susan Brownmiller’s book - “Against our Will” Adam Grant’s book – “Give and Take” Brad’s book – “Startup Life”

Brad Loomis first stepped on the competitive bodybuilding stage in 2003. Earning his Pro status in 2008, he then began competing in raw Powerlifting in 2010 achieving a measure of success. Brad considers his greatest talent to be coaching; “I have an innate ability to translate the subject and communicate that to the client or athlete.” For Brad being a Team 3DMJ coach is a “dream job”. ~ Time stamps: 1:58 How Brad balances being a dad, powerlifter, coach & his part time work 14:05 First steps for making sure you get the most out of your client/coach 20:30 The benefit of video for coaches/clients 28:50 How taking Flexible Dieting the wrong way can ruin progress & strategies to prevent this 35:50 The steps required to guestimate your nutrition 39:20 Different approaches taken when coaching competitive athletes to stage 49:50 Brad's tips to future & current coaches ~ Links: 3DMJ Website - http://3dmusclejourney.com Brad's Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/HealthyBodies Brad's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/3dmjcoach ~ COACHING: www.revivestronger.com/online-person-training/ WEBSITE: www.revivestronger.com SNAPCHAT: www.snapchat.com/add/revivestronger FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/revivestephenhall TWITTER: www.twitter.com/revivestronger INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/revivestronger MYFITNESSPAL: www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/snhall1990