The Invested Fathers
The Invested Fathers
IF 91 - What I Thought I Knew Flipped on its Head: Valuable Lessons Learned in the First Five Years of Building a Business with Zach Sprunger
Zach Sprunger discusses his journey as a State Farm agency owner in Greer, South Carolina, since 2020. Early expectations and the mindset he had going into the business were not actual reality. He shares insights on reinvesting in his business, facing and overcoming obstacles, and the importance of leaning into support systems. Zach also delves into lessons learned from partnering with larger brands and the significance of community and accountability in personal and professional growth. Zach opens up on the value of confession, repentance, and having the right partner in life. Lastly, he provides his perspectives on future investment strategies outside of the business.
Zach Sprunger - LinkedIn
00:00 Introduction to Zach's Journey
00:14 Starting a State Farm Agency
02:00 Challenges and Lessons in Sales
03:37 The Importance of Partnerships
05:58 Reflecting on Business Growth
07:16 Navigating Business Uncertainties
10:23 Balancing Business and Family Life
16:24 The Role of Community and Faith
20:15 Struggles and Mistakes
21:32 Turning Point and Realization
22:49 Confession and Repentance
27:05 Family and Fatherhood
29:58 Investing in the Future
36:38 Conclusion and Contact Information
Follow Kenny Johnson on social media:
LinkedIn
Instagram
YouTube
Schedule a call with Kenny
There is no separation between work life and home life. What happens at work? You bring home.
Speaker 3:Exactly. What happens
Speaker 5:at home? You bring to work.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 5:And work is a part of our lives and home is a part of our work. Yes. And all of that.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 5:And you with you.
Speaker 3:You really can't win at one. you don't just take off the work hat and you definitely don't take off the dad hat. If I'm not winning, if
Speaker 5:I'm not winning at home, work is empty.
Speaker 3:Yes, exactly. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 5:what's the point? There, there's, there's a purpose that the whole, our, all of our lives are centered around. and work is a gift. Work is a part of that, but we work in order to. Provide not just to work right that whatever trophies or paycheck. I bring home is meaningless if there's no one to enjoy it with on earth or Have everyone to enjoy with on earth, but I don't work hard And I don't have the ability to provide that creates really rough home life like they have to coincide
Speaker 3:So that actually brings in a perfect introduction to, Zach, thanks for joining the Invested Fathers today.
Speaker 5:Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3:Tell us a little bit about what you're up to. I always like to start the show with, bring us into what you're up to business wise. and even to the point of what you're up to today.
Speaker 5:Yeah. So business wise, I've got a state farm agency in Greer, South Carolina. not really that creative of a name, just Zach Sprunger state farm. So, um, been doing that since 2020, always been in sales pretty much. My entire professional career. this is super exciting spot for me to be in with the agency because I get to coach sales with, with employees, team members that we have, while also still being in the mix, like very, being very hands on. So it's young. We just started year five about a month ago, two months ago I guess. so yeah, we're moving though. We're moving. It's been good.
Speaker 3:Five years is not a short time, but I know there's probably a long road to go in regards to what it could be or how you're growing it.
Speaker 7:it,
Speaker 5:I set this target out of Hey, for the first five years, I'm going to, I'm going to reinvest a lot back into it. So whether that's hiring a new, Team member, man, reinvesting for marketing infrastructure, right? Systems processes, reinvest, investing, and all of those things with the goal that, maybe we'll start getting to draw a little bit of that soon. that would be awesome. It's been a, it's been five years of reinvesting a lot. So I'm excited to get to year six.
Speaker 3:I think a lot of business owners out there can resonate with. That's feeling of, when is this going to pay off and the systems and processes and hiring, I, I know there's a lot of business people who have started their own thing listening. and maybe they're further along the year, maybe they're on the front end to the person who's more on the front end. what has been like one of the biggest lessons learned or, maybe biggest obstacle, something that's really moved the needle. that you didn't know before when you were just getting started.
Speaker 5:There's been a couple things in my career, not even just starting the business, but like in, in sales, when I started in sales, I thought, people that go into sales aren't good at anything else. So they get put in sales and that was just flipped on its head. So I, since then I've just realized like these expectations that I have for something or thought that I have on something and the way that I view it is not reality. And. A lot of things are getting flipped on their head. So it went through this process of me trying to figure out what do I want to do? And I knew I didn't want to just go to work every day, collect a paycheck and go home. And that's a fine thing to do. I knew I wanted to do something that involved a little bit of risk that involved creativity me creating processes, all that stuff. and then for a minute I felt if I go to state farm, that's just. Me hiding behind a corporate brand and I'm not gonna create my own business and I've learned that Partnering with a company like State Farm or if you're starting a business and you're creating a widget finding somebody that Creates a little bit of shade, but you can also learn and grow from is huge that I thought I'm just gonna go out and start my own Independent insurance agency and we're going to do whatever we want to do, however we want to market. And I've just quickly learned how valuable it is having the support of a company like State Farm. And then even the network that's created. so I would just say if you're on the front end, lean into as much support as you can. don't feel like this is my company and I have to do it. I'm not saying enter a, enter a. Harmful partnership. I don't you know, I'm not saying that I'm just saying find a group that you can maybe latch on to That is going to support and help maybe The net revenue goes down a little bit, but what you gain out of that is enormous.
Speaker 3:I Love what you're saying. I think one of the biggest benefits you would get from that is while you're still figuring it out the time element of figuring things out is quickly expedited And I don't know what age everyone feels like they should start their own business but the earlier years are I feel like the most important years to be not buried under 80 hours of work and just trying to figure out what this thing should be. So I talk a lot about syndications on the show and how does someone who doesn't maybe have this.
Speaker 8:track record
Speaker 3:how do you buy your first apartment complex?
Speaker:Yeah, I
Speaker 3:mean, that, that question right there,
Speaker 8:cash. So
Speaker 3:rather just take a huge risk because you have money and you hope, I figured you had to do everything,
Speaker 4:right.
Speaker 3:Or you partner and you find these guys that have done it a thousand times or, whatever, 15, 20 times. And you just get on their team, figure it out, learn along the way like you're saying. So I think that concept of partnerships. And learning and growing, and squashing that fear of what partnerships I'm giving up some of the proceeds. I think that's a very toxic mindset. So
Speaker 5:I think it limits you. Yeah. It really limits you. It only allows you to grow to your capacity. and they're like, I don't know, like the envelope system isn't going to get your first apartment complex, I'm saying like Dave Ramsey's system isn't getting you that. So there is a risk that has to be involved. And I know he's talking to a different demographic, right? But if that's the way I was ingrained and I'm not going to let myself open up to learn anything else, I'm limited. I'm very limited. And if I set myself to, if I put myself in a situation that I'm never going to be able to change my mind. That's just as toxic. yeah, so yeah, that's
Speaker 3:being open. and then just to kind of in a way wrap up the business side, not that we're going to leave it completely, but in the five years that you've been growing this thing, how do you feel the businesses today in regards to, The returns, not necessarily financially. like I, whatever you want to share there, but just in how you've developed and grown and seen this thing,
Speaker 8:this
Speaker 3:baby of yours, mature, have your expectations been met on where you were hoping to be? Pretty much
Speaker 5:exceeded to be honest. we had a goal. we just started year five and I had a goal that at the end of year five, but we would consider like the property and casualty book. I had a certain mark that I wanted to be at. but like we basically hit that mark that I wanted to be at the end of year four. We got a, we had a Massive jump in quarter one of your four. Oh, okay. That finished the year. I see where we wanted to be at the a year ahead of schedule. Okay. So now this year, in a way, I don't want to consider it like, oh, it's just gravy. But it is when you look at like the business plan that was set out for five years. Yeah. And part of that was it completely out of our control. We just came into this time where it was like milk and honey was State Farm. you ran a quote, and they were like, I want it. let's do it. And they're like, oh, okay. And we were just shooting fish in a barrel. Um, and you, then you look at like God's providence and the way that things just line out that you didn't even see coming. Like quarter one of 24, we had a big jump, things just skyrocketed. Then quarter two, it leveled out, June and July hit of last year. And it went like hard stop.
Speaker:Oh,
Speaker 5:hard stop. Like state farm was clamping down on new business that they wanted. And they were like, being very strict on renewal business. they weren't like canceling anybody in the middle of a policy, like what everybody's talking about in California. That's not true. they were saying, Hey, in 12 months, we're not going to renew the policy. So we were just getting a ton of those. And, the whole state was getting hit with just this fluctuation of premiums and rates and what's going on. And so it was weird, this like time of Panic, right? Where for the first time, for all four years, it was out of my control. But for the first time I felt like it was out of my control. I wasn't influencing things. And that six months of last year, right? The second six months of last year just fell into this kind of like tizzy panic, freak out of Oh, what are we going to do? Like we gotta make things happen. yada. And, the progress, Came to a screeching halt, but the overall like growth of the team came out really strong. Awesome. I got like we, we started this year. Things have opened up a little bit more and they battled through a really difficult time that was out of control. And now they've started this year and. we, back to back months, we've had the two best months we've ever had in four plus years of agency.
Speaker 3:Excellent.
Speaker 5:It's like the really tough time led to their growth. And, I, this hasn't, this doesn't answer the question, but I look back on it too, and it was weird where That was my time as a leader, that I had, I made some mistakes, probably showed too much panic. I think leaders, it's okay to show emotion. I think you, you do have to be vulnerable, put your heart out with where you're at, what they're doing, what the team is doing, how the business is growing. but I learned
Speaker 7:that
Speaker 5:my panic is going to be exponentially resembled in them.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 5:That seeing the team grow and myself, but seeing the team grow and develop has been. Awesome to now get to this year and watching them thrive.
Speaker 3:That, that is, that was part of the question. I really feel is where have you seen that growth and being vulnerable to even say, I feel like I made some mistakes actually on how I handled this and you're with your team who is. they're not robots, so they're going to see what you're doing. They're going to feel what you're doing. and I would hope that the resiliency that has been shown through the valley of the drought business, is making everyone stronger on the team and just making that more of a family, culture of Hey, we're in this together. yeah. yeah, it's been fun watching that happen. maybe we can switch then to the parent parenting personal side of life because. These investments that we're doing in the business definitely don't stop when we go home because if you're making a big move or there's a bad. Couple of months in the business, you're going to be affected and you can't just change yourself when you walk through the door and your kids are there. So tell us a little bit about, first off, how many, how many kids do you have? Do you have, you have kids, right?
Speaker 5:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We do. Two little girls, two little girls. We're done. Okay. We're done. The second one is absolutely. wild. she is on like level 10 full throttle, 24 hours out of the day. even when she's sleeping, she's just, she's crazy. So like number two, we were like, we're done. We've did it. we had two kids and obviously a wife. Yes. How long have you guys been married? 17, 2017 we got married.
Speaker 7:Um,
Speaker 5:Um, and that's been fun. I'll tell you the, the kids are one thing. But marrying the right woman.
Speaker 3:It's huge.
Speaker 5:Dude, I did not know how valuable that would be. She We're not, I'm not sitting here talking about the state farm agency resilience leadership. I'm gonna talk about any of that if it's not for her. There were so many times I worked at Jeff Darr's office starting out and there was just so many times I was like, what am I doing? Like I'm not even guaranteed to get an agency. I'm just going to quit and go work at Michelin, which is a great place to work, make a paycheck for the rest of my life and be done. And she was like, no, like we're staying in this, we're going to do this. She was the
Speaker 2:driver.
Speaker 5:She was the driver.
Speaker 3:That's a
Speaker 5:hundred percent. so marrying the right woman and then that makes it easier to come home and battle through some of this. You're like, no, we've got it. We've already been through craziness in the past. We're fine here. So you walk through the door. It's not perfect. I don't walk through the door and always love like the chaos. What, you know, especially when we got through. Yeah, it's crazy. It is crazy. When we went through the hurricane, September 27th through the rest of the year was just this very hectic time heavy time for me and walking through the door. It was sometimes I was like frustrated oh my gosh, you guys like nobody talk for 10 minutes. Just nobody talk. And then other times I'd walk through the door and it was just like this sigh of relief that like. But my kids are here like my family's here, right? And I think that I've got to give myself grace on both of those that if I walk through the door and I have a bad Reaction. I'm human. It's gonna happen as a leader. I'm human and it's gonna happen. So if I'm gonna lead my family With the same importance that I put on leading my business, then I've got to be vulnerable with my kids and my wife I've got to be able to sit my four year old down and say hey dad was wrong like when I Got upset at you because you asked the same question 12 times and I wasn't answering and then I snapped Like dad was wrong and like in the moment. It's no, I'm not wrong,
Speaker 4:right?
Speaker 5:Just, if I'm not answering, shut up. Just stop. Stop asking the question. I don't know why Bluey is blue. I don't know. That's how they made him. That's why she's a blue dog. and, I just gotta stop and be like, no, I need to take ownership of it and apologize. And I think Leaders, dads, husbands, whatever, if you're single and you're leading somewhere, leaders run to their mistakes. They don't excuse them, right? We're not, as a leader, I'm not passive towards the areas that I've made mistakes. And even if it's so small, or even if I was justified, I don't run from it. I own it. I run to it. I own it. and I don't shift the blame on circumstances. I don't shift the blame on, I'm going through a hurricane and I've got all these claims and these people are homeless. of course I'm going to be frightened. no. that's not Lila's fault.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 5:That's not Franny's fault.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 5:They need their dad to own it and apologize. Not be perfect. I'll be perfect. Like I'm gonna give myself grace, but I'm going to own it and lean in on it as quick as possible.
Speaker 3:Huge. The, the theme of forgiveness being, and it's, I think it's, especially with our kids. I feel like, I'm apologizing to a four year old, really? Like they don't know anything about what's going on, like you said. But, I think there's, I get so. So excited when they model our behavior. So if we are, this is what staunch and you don't understand making excuses, they're going to do that.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:If you're able to admit faults, calm down, be vulnerable. I've just seen that with my daughter, who is the. just crazy one at our home who was, almost four and, it's testing. Cause my son is the opposite where he's like just obedient and in every way it seems like it's just it's not perfect, but yeah, the easy first born. but he also has, some things that we're working on with self confidence and in a way being assertive when someone does something wrong and I just go with it. So it's all good. and this is a space where. I want to
Speaker 8:give
Speaker 3:give encouragement to my dads to say, Hey, you can be killing it in the office and just crushing, numbers and work, or things are really hard right now. However, you cannot just hang up the hat of Being the leader at home.
Speaker:So
Speaker 3:it's really cool to hear. Have you seen any other, parallels or aha moments of being a businessman, business owner. I love to hear that your wife supports you and has been like a just huge supporter along the way. But, things that you've seen and have worked on at home that have shown some fruits or, returns.
Speaker 5:I would say this is home. Yeah. And community, this is going to be pretty vulnerable, but going through last year, and in 2023,
Speaker 7:2023,
Speaker 5:right, so we're kind of dating this year, from right now. Two years ago, we had the best year ever. So qualified for this level of like agency award. That doesn't happen often in year three. So when we met that, we had a
Speaker 7:just bang
Speaker 5:out year, just massive year. And I quickly went from this prayerful, dependent, like, I need your, your, there's only a happen, Lord, if you let it happen and say, we went from praying for an agency and God met everything we prayed for, like literally every single thing we prayed for. He like. Blessed it and made it happen and then in a matter of three years, two years, basically, I had completely shifted and it was like, man, I got this, look at what we just qualified for,
Speaker 4:right?
Speaker 5:We're the best. I'm the best, right? My processes are the best, right? I'm doing all this in 2024 hit and I was. the ruler. And as a business owner, nobody, I reported to no one. And the way State Farm is set up, I'm not a franchise. I am my own business. If they're running a special, I don't have to run it. If they're running a promotion, I don't have to run it. I, Can do whatever I want, obviously within legal fines, you know, but like, that created this sense of maybe autonomy that just wasn't real that like I'm in charge and I'm in control. I'm in power and Just some really hard things came out end of last year that you know we as a family were working through the all this stuff was just like came to a head and came to a point and I realized just the value of you said working at home things that you've seen in parallel the value of Community as a business owner and the value of people that are gonna be honest with you and real with you especially as you're if you really are trying to be a business owner that is faithful, hardworking, honest, you're trying to do all those things, if you're not a believer, this probably doesn't resonate, but if you're a believer, that is a business owner, you've got to be put yourself under some sort of biblical. Authority somewhere somehow and I had removed all that. So I got very lonely, but was winning on the outside. I was winning those very, very lonely. I know community kind of took ourselves out of church when Franny was born. Things were just hectic and exhausting and she had some health issues and we were. Just tired, we don't have time to go to church, and so we didn't. And then I lost touch with biblical friends that were keeping me accountable with all that, and that having no authority, and me being in charge of all of it, found myself
Speaker 7:like
Speaker 5:Not wasting money per se on like gambling or anything like that, but just being dumb with money. Like I, the example that I give all the time is I bought a John Deere greens mower. So we moved and yeah. Sounds like a good mower. I have no idea how to use it. Like it's this like few thousand dollar mower. I have no idea how to make it. So I figured it out. And I like, well, let's just see how it goes. I mean, dude, I'm telling you, it is a professional machine. It's not for residential use. the thing nicked a piece of, like a little rock
Speaker 4:bent
Speaker 5:the blade. So it's just been sitting in my garage. I can't sell it. Cause it's got a bent blade and those are like 400 to replace just the blade. So I'm like, what are we doing? So anyway, I just, I. You started to become ruler of my own life, my own heart, all that stuff and led to just dumb decisions.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 5:Dumb decisions. Yeah. Kate, I wasn't leaning on Kate to help me make decisions. I wasn't leaning on community or friends to help me make decisions. And dude, yeah, I bought the mower. I made an absolutely terrible hire. Terrible hire. During that time. just mistake after mistake showed itself. And so I think a parallel that I've noticed is you have just And you've got to seek it. You've got to push yourself into biblical authority and into community aggressively, aggressively.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Zach, that's a great story. I'm sorry you went through that. However, it sounds like after being brought low, You've realized your faults of the community aspect and are on your way up. Can you even go a little deeper on, on that so like the mower, the bad hire, probably some disconnected home sounds Oh, a time.
Speaker 5:Yeah. You
Speaker 3:know,
Speaker 5:scrolling.
Speaker 3:Yeah. just, yeah. Like you're just in this like funk and just and I've been there, I don't know, I think maybe people maybe visit that and then maybe come back out or it seemed like you were in it for a while. What was it that was the turning point for you in that? And, it was a person or it's just dang, did God just give you a verse? what was that?
Speaker 5:Yeah. So it was not a, it was not a specific revelation that I had.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 5:Yeah. That, that did not happen. I was actually like caught in. Some sin. Yeah, and very tough discussion with my wife. Yeah That again you marry the right woman. Yeah, she was like, we're gonna like we're gonna fix us Yeah, we're gonna get back in church. We're not gonna be comfortable we're not gonna let ourselves like just sit back and accept that this is just how it is like we're gonna man and like She did nothing wrong, right? She was not the one wasting money, wasting time, not investing in our kids and our family. But yet she was the one that was right alongside me when she was like, we're gonna get back in church. Yeah, like I am with you to get this fixed to get, the community built back. So it kind of stinks that it's not like yeah, I was reading this first and then oh man, like, you know, it was like, no, I had to be really brought low,
Speaker 2:humbled,
Speaker 5:really humbled. and then, the other thing that came out of that was just this, I realized what real confession
Speaker 6:and
Speaker 5:repentance is. Yeah. There were a few moments from high school. in the college where I had confessed a few things, like, you know, they say, Hey, if you got problems, like come and confess. And so I went confessed it. And, each time was basically told, like, Hey, go work on that and then come back. and then in college when confessed. And they were like, well, you're, we're going to kick you out of school, but so like, go figure it out on your own and then come back. And I was like, man, what is this idea of like grace and forgiveness and why would I confess anything? Yeah. When there's zero
Speaker 7:like
Speaker 5:movement. And I know sin has consequences. Yes. So I'm not saying that. you've got to pay the, yeah, there, there was no, we want to help you out of it. Yeah. so then there's created this fear of rejection. Yes. For me. And this one, this time around, I just realized, saw, wow, this is it. there were pastors that were like, let's go get lunch. Yeah. guys that are my age that are in the church that were like, let's go get a coffee. Let's go play golf. We want to, I want to hear about this, man, this is awesome. so and so told me about this story and now you're back doing the like,
Speaker 2:yeah,
Speaker 5:let's go connect. And the consequence was still there.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 5:that didn't go away. Right. The consequence was still there. it's in my garage. As a 200 pound green smoke, right? Like I can't, it's almost now to the point where like, I don't want to sell it because I said, I'm like,
Speaker 7:Oh man,
Speaker 5:I'm not going to be an idiot. but like the consequences are still there, but there has been like a desire now to not only confess, but repent because now it's like, Whoa, Hey, what, what that is offering? Like I want that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 5:this is fulfillment.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 5:Even when the business has a tough time, this is fulfillment. And it was crazy. Like. All that happened, August, September, and then December, we had just this crazy like Pay period that just rolled through where my payroll is about 14, 14 grand, per pay period. And this one that came through the check that the agency made was like 14, five. I was like, ah, like, what are we going to do? Like we made payroll, but can't do anything else, you know? Um, and
Speaker 7:really
Speaker 5:really had it just a completely different perspective on that time. I think that I would have 12 months ago, I would've been like, well, I got to fire somebody like, Someone's gone. Yeah, because I have to
Speaker 7:I have to,
Speaker 5:Yeah. And I have to have enough money to buy whatever is going to make me comfortable or anything like that. dude, thank you. Yeah. I said, it was going to get a little vulnerable,
Speaker 3:man. I appreciate you sharing all that, but we're talking about what matters, and we can definitely get lost in numbers and the tactics and the, what was it like hiring this person and just like the numb business side of life. But when we see these things that God does for us. And
Speaker 8:and
Speaker 3:for our wives, I mean, sheesh, I can't say enough about how moved I was about your wife. And now he's like, she stuck with me,
Speaker:like
Speaker 3:choosing the right person. You said that earlier on, like choosing the right person is like the most important decision you can have because now you are no longer a, half a person, you're now a whole unit with your wife and you guys can face these things together, even when something hard comes sin or losses of money or whatever it is. And you can hit those instead of just crawling to the hole and just, and, and that's huge. And that's, that's, that's awesome. And your kids are still growing. They don't just, clock out and watch TV for a year. Like they're seeing everything.
Speaker 6:And,
Speaker 3:I hope that you do keep that more so that when your kids are old enough, you can say, Hey. let me tell you about this more, how dumb daddy was and how I want you to not make these mistakes and how God was great through this way and how your mom did all these things. So for sharing all that. Yeah, man. let me check the time actually, cause I want to make sure we're okay. we probably have one or two more questions. Yeah. one of the, so this will hopefully make things a little more lighthearted, uh,
Speaker 8:I'm emotional.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. One of the best things about being a dad right now. my kids, Moses, he's he's such a sponge and he loves playing with me. It's just something that like we go to the backyard right now and do volleyball. And my daughter has just started drawing me pictures. So I'm getting a picture every, you know, hour. I love that. she's just, I do this for you, daddy. And, we have a stack of them and they're great. So, um, what, I forget if you had given me your, your, um, daughter's ages, but what are you guys into right now? What's, what's just a great thing about being a dad.
Speaker 5:So, yeah, we're four and two. Okay. I'm about to be two. She'll be two in a couple months. Um,
Speaker 3:Those are hard years. So that's going to be a hard question.
Speaker 8:Yeah.
Speaker 5:They are, we're in the thick of it for sure. But, the four year old, she's starting to pick up on phrases, just like colloquialisms that exist. so like the most recent one just out of nowhere, she'll just be like, Hey, don't mind me. But, and and it just, it kills me. And she's very, she wants to reason.
Speaker 7:With you
Speaker 5:So Hey, we're not going to watch TV. Like we don't need to watch TV. And then she'll be like, but just wait a minute. What if, and she'll create this argument for why she needs to watch it. And like, I, I love that. I think it's hilarious. the, I would say the other thing is watching them start like connect and play together. They're actually. Like joking around playing like for, I mean, really up, up until like the last few months there, they were just so disconnected, you know, in age and ability and Franny started like really running and getting up and down the steps on her own two year old and they have a little playroom and every now and then, not always, but every now and then you'll just hear little glimpses of them. Playing and giggling and running, playing a story or whatever together, make believe. And that, that is awesome. it's sometimes it's difficult not to think man, I just can't wait till they're like 10 and 8 and they just get dressed and like they go to bed. But like holding on to right now, it is fun. It is fun. It's exhausting. And you get to the point where like Franny, like if you just yell. One more time. I'm going to lose it. I'm going to freak out. Stop. Like just stop. And then she obviously has no idea what's going on. So she just yells again. but it's fun. Chaotic. Yes. Very memorable right now.
Speaker 3:No, I challenge you to in those heated moments of just like screaming, there's a time to like, okay, discipline or, survive, but look for those moments, whether it's they're giggling together or, whatever. Telling stories doing this on colloquialisms to just be thankful because I feel like that grab those moments and just hold on to them because that is That's a special thing that only you as the dad can really appreciate and enjoy that 100 percent I just feel like it's a gift from God.
Speaker 5:I'm 100 percent
Speaker 3:good. I'm gonna I'm gonna actually give one more sort of business II question I probably should've done this out earlier, but it doesn't matter The shows invested fathers. I'm all about investing. wisely not just you know business wise but also in the home, but Financially we've had conversations about what are some things that you're looking at investing? Outside of the business, because right now it's been a lot of business, right? five years of just, Hey, we make something back in the business. And I would dare to say there's a lot of business owners who they do that their whole lives. it's just, Hey, we can buy, another piece of equipment or a bigger building or whatever it is. I feel like that is potentially a trap in. What if something goes wrong in the business or hey, every time I invest in the business, there's a little more energy suck that happens from me that I'd like to see maybe something else. give me some of just your mindset. There's no wrong answer here, but what are some thoughts you have on? maybe over the next few years, I don't even know when, but investing financially, is it, are you seeing Hey, next five years back in the business or some other things?
Speaker 5:Yeah, that's great. There's, it's very, I can see how easy it would be right now for me to get sucked into the thought. I'm going to be working in this agency and it's going to get to a point where it runs itself. So I'm going to be holding onto this until I'm 80. Yeah. There is now what, 50 years of. Unknown.
Speaker 4:Yeah,
Speaker 5:until I'm 80.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 5:And that is such a horrible investment strategy. When you think about it, will I continue to invest in it? 100 percent right? Like it's my livelihood, right? But getting outside of it. Absolutely. Where I where I kind of have to look as well. Um, a mentor of mine, insurance agency, and owns a couple of other businesses. And what's crazy is he doesn't take any thing out of those businesses. It's just Transcribed It's in there and it's growing. And when he turns 50, 60, whatever, he sells his shares and
Speaker 7:mean, so
Speaker 5:he's great. He is going to be golden in retirement. it was funny. He was forced to take a disbursement for tax reasons and his disbursement was about double. Of what I made this year and like a great year for love that. Yeah. And I'm like, all right, there's something like, like I'm, I can't compare, he's 20 years down the road, but I've got to be looking at something like that.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 5:So. You know, I love, I love the whole real estate syndicate piece. I'm, I don't think I would have the bandwidth right now to even buy like a, a flip and get in and flip it. I don't, I don't have the time and that's fine. That's okay for me.
Speaker 7:but
Speaker 5:I still like the results that's those things bring. Having the ability to get involved in something like that is big. I think another thing too is
Speaker 7:just
Speaker 5:disciplined monthly
Speaker 7:cash flow
Speaker 5:cashflow in order to have some liquidity when something comes around. So, you know, I, I love the whole, every dollar has a name. I love that idea, but at the same time, if every dollar has a name and every dollar goes somewhere that I don't have access to it 24, like at any time, then when an opportunity comes around, I can't touch it. And it's good. Every dollar has been invested somewhere. Whether it's just like a target retirement fund, it's, some sort of general market or specific stock or, you know, employer stock, whatever it is that you're starting to invest in and put things in those are great. But if all my money is in the market, and somebody comes around like, Hey, we're selling this, uh, insect control business mm-hmm And you know, I'm retiring, I, whatever. I've got this issue going on, I gotta sell it and I'm just wanna sell it to somebody that I know and tr I'm gonna sell it to you for like a third of the cost. Well, I mean, that's a great opportunity and if I'm all tied up somewhere, I can't go at it. So this year, kinda like I said at the beginning, this is the first year that I can. I'm taking my foot off the gas of spending in state farm. So I'm still spending, we're still growing, but I've had this, if we could say like business lifestyle creep that has reached its peak. Like I don't have any more room in the office for desks to fill. I don't really need to fill any room in the desk in the office. The team's skill is getting better. That's where we're investing in now. it's pointless for me to advertise for more leads because we've hit this.
Speaker 7:peak,
Speaker 5:So my goal now is to be save certain amount by the end of the year, have that nest egg built back for the business and then start looking at monthly. I want to basically dollar cost average just every month, put money in the market. going forward, this is our target retirement. So we want to retire with X amount at 60
Speaker 4:65
Speaker 5:if I still get to hold onto the agency. Fantastic. If I'm too sick or health issues, or I die at 70 Kate is great.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 5:we've just, we've got that laid out where we know every month we're going to put this much in. then the excess, that's where I think I want to get creative and I haven't been able to do that yet. I, I don't know what that looks like, but Um, I've tossed out ideas even of creating a space for people to make content for their business, renting that out, not passive, right? Still very active, rental properties are something that I would. Like to keep my pulse on, right? if keep a pulse on that, if something pops up, I want to be in those, and then I think I'm very good with creating processes and so if a business were to present itself, I think I'd be interested in looking at that. Yeah. And I think it ideally would be a business that is process deficient. So that my skills could go in, create those processes, watch that valuation tick up, and either sell or ride that one out as well. So I would say going on this year, at the end of this year, I'm excited to look at what is out there other than like a target retirement fund that you're putting money into.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah, dude. Thanks for sharing Zach. if our audience wanted to find more about Zach Sprunger State Farm, give us your like go to place to, to get you.
Speaker 5:Yeah. I mean, Zach Sprunger. com.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 5:It's going to be the website for the agency. or just email Zach at Zach Sprunger. com.
Speaker 8:That's it.
Speaker 3:Zach, thanks for sharing all the stuff at home, the business, been a great guest and I wish you the best, man.
Speaker 5:Appreciate it. You too, Kenny.
Speaker 3:Thank you.