EP142: Building a Life of JOY

Interview with Larry Sprung / Founder and Wealth Advisor at Mitlin Financial

HOSTED BY PAUL SULLIVAN

Sure, building a business takes work—but so does being present for your family. Larry Sprung, dad and founder of Mitlin Financial, has spent the last 20 years doing both. He designed his life and company around his values, setting boundaries, finding flexibility, and making time for joy Listen for practical tips, real talk, and a reminder that work-life balance isn’t a myth - it just takes intention.

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Transcript

00;00;00;07 - 00;00;23;06
Larry Sprung
You know, many of the families we work with today are also very family oriented. They're family first, and they like that. They're working with a firm that has the same mission, vision and values similarly to them. And how they operate with their family. The reason why I eased into it was not because of anybody else. Other than myself, because I, I didn't think I would be able to do it.

00;00;23;06 - 00;00;33;10
Larry Sprung
And, I, you know, to to my pleasure. I was able to do it.

00;00;33;12 - 00;01;00;23
Paul Sullivan
Welcome to the Company of Dads podcast. I'm your host, Paul Sullivan. We're focused on lead dads, working moms, and how small changes at home or work can have a big impact on their lives. Each episode promises to deliver actionable advice on some area of concern at home or at work. Short. Direct. Again. Actionable. Five questions. Five answers. Today, our guest is Larry Sprung an entrepreneur who has made balancing his company and his family a priority.

00;01;00;26 - 00;01;22;23
Paul Sullivan
There's no easy task. Running a company to its greatest success is an all in occupation, as is being a father at the highest level. Both have remarkable rewards, unexpected interruptions, and the opportunity for amazing highs and head shaking. Those layers of financial planning at Midland Financial and the father of two hockey loving boys. He lives in central Long Island.

00;01;22;25 - 00;01;24;13
Paul Sullivan
Welcome, Larry, to the company.

00;01;24;16 - 00;01;25;26
Larry Sprung
Thanks for having me, Paul.

00;01;25;28 - 00;01;29;26
Paul Sullivan
Thank you for joining us. Okay. Five questions, five answers. Are you ready?

00;01;29;28 - 00;01;31;09
Larry Sprung
I'm ready. Let's do it.

00;01;31;15 - 00;01;43;18
Paul Sullivan
Question one. How did you swing? Being an entrepreneur, running, successful financial planning firm and being a dad. And, you know, the correct answer is not. Look at Elon Musk and do the opposite.

00;01;43;21 - 00;02;11;11
Larry Sprung
Yeah, yeah, I, I wish I could say it was easy. It's not. But, you know, nothing, you know, rarely great is ever accomplished in an easy fashion. So, I took it on, but, really it was understanding and knowing what my core values were as a father, as a person, as an entrepreneur, and making sure that I was filtering all of my decisions through those core values.

00;02;11;11 - 00;02;32;04
Larry Sprung
So, I'll give you a direct example. When, when, I launched my firm originally, right now we're in Hot Park, but originally my office was in Melville, which was quite a distance from where I lived. And as my kids were, starting to go embark on school, I knew that it was going to be very difficult for me to hop out of the office, go see them, and then come back if needed.

00;02;32;11 - 00;02;50;21
Larry Sprung
So I circled a ten mile radius around my house and said, I will find an office within that ten miles. And and I did that. And, we've been here for, you know, about 17 years now in the same location where I can get to my house and or their school I was able to get to in about ten minutes.

00;02;50;21 - 00;03;18;01
Larry Sprung
So, you know, it's decisions like that. When my, youngest was born, I started taking off Fridays, in the summer. I started off taking off Fridays in June. Then I expanded to July and then August. So really having that framework about what's most important and sharing that with the stakeholders of the firm, meaning the people who, work with me, as well as the families that we serve and letting them know what our plan was.

00;03;18;03 - 00;03;22;12
Larry Sprung
I filtered all my decisions in that manner to, to make them both work.

00;03;22;17 - 00;03;35;11
Paul Sullivan
You know, that's I love that, both examples with the second one, the taking those Fridays off and doing it incrementally, you know, try and ask, you know, what message you think that sent not just to your kids, but to the people who are working with you at your firm.

00;03;35;14 - 00;03;55;25
Larry Sprung
So I think it actually sent a message not only to the people that I work with, but also the, the families that we serve, the, you know, the end clients. They understood that family was important and that when they had events or things going on in their lives, that I was going to be understanding if they needed that time off.

00;03;55;27 - 00;04;20;03
Larry Sprung
To that same degree with the families we work with. I think it's acted as a, an attractor, because, you know, many of the families we work with today are also very family oriented. They're family first, and they like that. They're working with a firm that has the same mission, vision and values similarly to them, and how they operate with their family.

00;04;20;09 - 00;04;31;01
Larry Sprung
The reason why I eased into it was not because of anybody else other than myself, because I, I didn't think I would be able to do it. And, I, I, you know, to to my pleasure. I was able to do it.

00;04;31;04 - 00;04;49;08
Paul Sullivan
At such a great point because sometimes we're our greatest hindrance. It's like you had to give yourself permission to take those days off. Probably. Similarly, you had to give yourself permission to move your office. I mean, you need know as your financial advisor, behavioral finance. You know, we we anchor on certain things. You had an office originally and then to solve that problem you moved it.

00;04;49;08 - 00;04;58;10
Paul Sullivan
And obviously we're talking 17 years after the move. So, you know, finish the thought. It clearly it had no adverse impact on your ability to advise people.

00;04;58;13 - 00;05;19;09
Larry Sprung
No adverse impact. I would argue that it actually had a benefit. And that was I was probably spending, you know, many hours less in the car to and from the office. So I had more time to concentrate on, you know, paying attention to the folks that work here, as well as the families we serve and investing that time in a better way.

00;05;19;12 - 00;05;38;22
Paul Sullivan
Love it. You know, question two, and this is often a question. It's kind of a yes, but that, you know, I get a lot of answer this, you know, lots of talk about flexibility today. But, you know, what does it mean when you're an entrepreneur and a father and you have two priority ask at the same time, something from, a top client and one of your children.

00;05;38;22 - 00;05;43;10
Paul Sullivan
How do you square, you know, to high priority ask at the same time.

00;05;43;12 - 00;06;05;10
Larry Sprung
So for me, it was very easy. It was telling the family that I had, you know, the family that we serve, clients that we I had another obligation. You know, we still have people that call up today, even though I haven't taken off Fridays in the summer and quite some time, there are people that still call in today and, they talk to one of my other teammates and they're like, oh, Larry's in the office.

00;06;05;10 - 00;06;38;08
Larry Sprung
He. I thought, he takes off Fridays in the summer. You know, they still think I'm off. So the answer at question is, you know, the the kids in the family always came first. You know, unless it was an emergency situation where I could step out, take the call and try to satisfy both if I could. But at the end of the day, I also, on the other side of things, had very frank conversations with my kids in terms of them understanding that whatever we were doing, wherever we were, was as a result of, you know, this business that we've created.

00;06;38;08 - 00;06;58;29
Larry Sprung
And sometimes, you know, things need to be addressed and can't wait till the next day. And if they do, then I just need their cooperation so that we can continue having these experiences together. So, I try to filter it through the family first, and they always come first. But in those emergency situations, I think you have to be flexible.

00;06;59;04 - 00;07;16;05
Larry Sprung
But I also think it's just as important to have the kids understanding why you're doing what you're doing and not just say, hey, I got to go take a work call and leave it there. I think they have to understand why that work call's important, to you and to, to them ultimately as well.

00;07;16;07 - 00;07;43;07
Paul Sullivan
You know, it's something my wife and I have done is she runs her own asset management firm. It's something we've done as long as we've had kids. Are oldest is 15. And I couldn't agree with you more because you're breaking down that fourth wall. You're explaining to them like I am. You know, I'll often explain to my kids in real time, I am taking this call because of X, Y and Z, or mom has to go take that call now, and this is why she's doing it, but she'll be back and they completely get it as opposed to, you know, just getting up from the table, walking away and and then reappearing as if

00;07;43;07 - 00;08;04;02
Paul Sullivan
nothing, nothing happened. It's fair does and I also I, I like what you said about how, you know, if a client, you know, would have intervened, you will have something else going on unless it's an absolute emergency. Because I often tell people, like, if you were on a call with another client and a client called you, you wouldn't get off the phone with that first client.

00;08;04;07 - 00;08;19;15
Paul Sullivan
And hey, whoa. So hey, Jim. Very sorry. Bob's I got to go with. Jim would feel awful. He would fire you and Bob. You know, Bob's life would not be impacted if you call him back in 20 minutes. I think it's the same thing. You know, with our kids, when you think of them as, okay, you are my client right now.

00;08;19;15 - 00;08;24;10
Paul Sullivan
I'm talking to you, I will this will wrap up in five minutes and then I'll call the other guy back.

00;08;24;12 - 00;08;45;23
Larry Sprung
I agree, and now I have a team in place, which I didn't have necessarily when the kids were younger. So if somebody needs that, you know, conversation right away, my team tries to handle it themselves. So maybe I don't even have to get involved, you know, at all. So, that tends to be a plus at the, the stage of where our business is today.

00;08;45;25 - 00;09;07;28
Paul Sullivan
Yeah. You know, question three, and this is, you know, as much a question for you as an entrepreneur as is you as a father and, and a husband, you know, so many entrepreneurs, feel, believe that they need to do all the things themselves that only they can do whatever needs to be done. And, and, you know, there's some confirmation biases.

00;09;08;05 - 00;09;31;02
Paul Sullivan
They've had success to get to that point. They have trouble, you know, delegating. But you know, to do both things at a high level. Being an entrepreneur, being a dad, being a spouse, you have to delegate. How did that come about for you? How did how did you become so good at, you know, communicating openly and creating this team so that you could delegate those responsibilities, empower those people, and then build not just the firm, but but the life that you're aiming for.

00;09;31;05 - 00;09;58;10
Larry Sprung
Yeah. So I mean, on the personal side, you know, because I think you have to delegate on both sides, right? Because if you're somebody who doesn't necessarily enjoy, let's say, taking care of the lawn, but, it needs to get done at some point. You have to delegate that away. So I will say this, you know, Paul, I, I was much more inclined, and it was a lot easier for me to do that on the personal side and delegate that quote unquote stuff away.

00;09;58;13 - 00;10;23;24
Larry Sprung
On the business side, it was a little bit more challenging initially to really start letting go and having other people take that on. But over time, I've gotten much better with it. I'm trying to delegate more and more, and I think you just have to come to the realization that nobody, for the most part, is going to do it exactly like you would, and you think that that's a bad thing.

00;10;24;01 - 00;10;53;12
Larry Sprung
At the end of the day, it might be a good thing, because I think there are other people that have different ideas, different ways of getting things done that may be more inclined or you know, relatable to to the end person who needs to get it done. So I think that's hugely beneficial. And then I think the other thing is, you know, as far as it being exactly as long as it's 80% done, you know, right, then that's usually good enough for me.

00;10;53;12 - 00;11;10;22
Larry Sprung
And then what we try to do is if they are if there is a shortfall of that 20%, we try to work with that person to try to refine it a little bit more. Maybe it's just that they don't know how to do it. Maybe they're just not fully understanding the task. So we try to educate them. And I think it's a process.

00;11;10;22 - 00;11;36;11
Larry Sprung
And you know, many entrepreneurs, when they start out they're good at something, right. And then they they start doing that something. And then, you know, if they're successful enough, they find out not only are they doing that something, but they're doing all of these other things that they really never signed up for. And those are the things that you really have to start delegating away to get back to, you know, what your unique ability is and where you really enjoy and thrive.

00;11;36;13 - 00;11;54;04
Larry Sprung
So it's easier said than done, but it can be done. But you have to enter it with the mindset that done is better than perfect. If somebody else can do 80% as good as you, let them run with it. And that will just allow the business to grow that much better and that much faster.

00;11;54;06 - 00;12;06;06
Paul Sullivan
Was there a moment that you remember when it became easier for you to embrace that philosophy? Was it sort of a tipping point moment where you think, okay, because you're obviously I mean, I don't know, but if you did 20 years ago, you went, you know, I.

00;12;06;07 - 00;12;29;19
Larry Sprung
Don't know that it's 100% simple now either. You know, there there are things I try to go through an exercise every like 6 to 12 months, a thing that we call delegate and elevate, where we basically look at all the tasks we're doing as a team. I have everybody kind of run through their tasks over a week or two, and then we look at them and say, hey, you know, are you is this in your wheelhouse, your unique ability?

00;12;29;19 - 00;12;47;29
Larry Sprung
And if it is, we keep it there. And if not, we try to delegate it away either to another team member that it is in their unique ability, or, somebody else. So, you know, it's still difficult, some of those tasks to, to do that. It's a consistent and constant work in progress, but it's definitely easier.

00;12;47;29 - 00;13;10;00
Larry Sprung
I don't know that there was this complete epiphany because, you know, to some degree, it was something that was being told to me for a very long time. And then I finally came to a point where, you know, I looked at myself, I looked at the business and said, if I don't do this, then I am not going to get where I need to be, nor is the business going to get where we want it to be.

00;13;10;00 - 00;13;13;14
Larry Sprung
So it kind of forced us in that direction.

00;13;13;17 - 00;13;38;24
Paul Sullivan
Another question for, you know, life like financial modeling, financial planning doesn't always go as planned. I know you've had, some challenges in your own family with with the loss of your your brother in law. How, as a parent, have you helped your children? You know, two boys so young, you know, 1821 how do you help them to understand that, you know, life is is going to throw them curveballs?

00;13;38;24 - 00;13;45;15
Paul Sullivan
Said that it requires resilience, but, you know, there's only so much that you can you can plan and control.

00;13;45;18 - 00;14;04;29
Larry Sprung
So I think there are two things that have really impacted that for our family. One is, you know, always being open and honest with what's going on with the family and not sheltering them from information or things that may be going on. Right. Even you bring up my brother in law. We lost him when my oldest was 18 months old.

00;14;04;29 - 00;14;25;18
Larry Sprung
So, he, you know, has very few, if any, memories. And my, my youngest never even met him. But at the same time, we were always forthright with them, you know, age appropriate in an age appropriate manner in terms of letting them know that Uncle Keith died of a, a disease of his brain. That's really where it started.

00;14;25;18 - 00;14;48;29
Larry Sprung
And we're we're open and honest about that. And as they got older, we had more detailed conversations and they started understanding that. So I think from a standpoint of not sheltering the kids, not kind of creating this participation trophy environment where just for showing up, you get a trophy and understanding that things don't always go up, they go down as well.

00;14;49;02 - 00;15;08;23
Larry Sprung
And helping them be resilient when those when those instances come to knock them down, talk them through it and help them become resilient through that process. So I, I think that's one way. And then the second way is, as you mentioned in the intro, both of them played competitive hockey, from a very early age, from the age of 5 or 6.

00;15;08;26 - 00;15;41;21
Larry Sprung
So I think sports really is a great educator in a lot of ways. You know, in terms of, you know, how to work in a team environment, how to work with other people, how to work with other personalities, how to deal with highs and lows, you know, in terms of winning and losing. And I think there are so many great lessons learned from sports, that I believe every child, no matter what, should be involved in some kind of team sport, team environment, something team related, so they can get that experience.

00;15;41;21 - 00;16;05;20
Larry Sprung
So I think if you're open and honest as a family, get them involved in you know, outside activities where they can also learn and grow and feel, you know, those highs and lows and understand and build that resiliency are two great ways to, you know, help them face the world that they're going to see, when they finally move on, on their own completely.

00;16;05;22 - 00;16;20;08
Paul Sullivan
That's fantastic question five. Fifth and final question. You talk a lot about Joy J o y'all and capital letters. What does that mean to you and how can the rest of us learn from it?

00;16;20;10 - 00;16;39;13
Larry Sprung
Yeah, I you know, for me, that's that's my way is to create more joy from life, right? We talk to families all the time and a lot, a lot of times they're wondering how much money they need for retirement or how much money they need to send their their kids to college and what we try to do is we're like, well, we'll get to that.

00;16;39;13 - 00;17;00;16
Larry Sprung
That's stuff that every advisor will talk to you about. But let's start out with, you know what? And where do you derive joy from, you know, what is this money going to be used, you know, why do you want to have your child's education fund it? What what is going to bring you joy for doing that? And and we derive everything out of there.

00;17;00;16 - 00;17;19;04
Larry Sprung
So, you know, when I'm thinking about things that I need to do or where I need to be, you know, if I have two competing forces, if you will, that want to that one my time, I look at it well, is this going to give me joy or is this going to give me joy? If one's a no, then I'm probably not going to do that.

00;17;19;06 - 00;17;45;08
Larry Sprung
Because at the end of the day, that's what life's all about. So I get joy by helping the families we serve work towards and reaching their goals. I help, you know, I get joy from working with our stakeholders, the folks that serve those families and helping them work towards and reach their goals. And then as a family, you know, I derive a lot of joy from traveling, spending time with my wife, who is also in the business.

00;17;45;08 - 00;18;03;29
Larry Sprung
So we spend a lot of time together, you know, through the business and outside, and then just spending time with my kids who are not, in the house and haven't been for about three years now. But, you know, like this week I'm headed down to Maryland on Friday to watch my youngest play Friday and Saturday night.

00;18;03;29 - 00;18;24;12
Larry Sprung
And that'll bring me a lot of joy doing that. So that's really where, you know, we derive you know, and we strive to hit on all cylinders is to drive that joy factor not only for us, but for the stakeholders here and the families we serve. And it just creates, a much better environment for, for everyone.

00;18;24;15 - 00;18;32;26
Paul Sullivan
Larry Sprung, thank you so much for being my guest today and the company that podcast. It was a joy to talk to you today.

00;18;32;28 - 00;18;33;08
Larry Sprung
Thank you.

00;18;33;08 - 00;18;53;07
Paul Sullivan
Paul, thank you for listening to another episode of the Company Dads podcast. Really appreciate you tuning in week after week. Want to use this moment here to thank the people who make it possible? Number one of course held are mirror who is our podcast editor. We also have Skip Terry home to many of you know from lead Diaries.

00;18;53;07 - 00;19;16;13
Paul Sullivan
He's taken over our social media. Terry Brennan is helping us with our audience development. And Emily Servant is there, each and every day helping with the web development and can't do any of this without, an amazing board, of advisors. So I just want to say thank you to all of you who help. And I want to say thank you to everyone who listened.

00;19;16;13 - 00;19;19;26
Paul Sullivan
And, hopefully you'll tune in again next week. Thanks so much.