Episode 161: Entrepreneur's Personal Planning Series Wrap-Up.

This episode, your hosts, Jim Gebhardt and Matthew Grishman really get their arms around the entrepreneur's journey as they wrap up the series for entrepreneur's personal planning. This is perfect for that time when the business gets sold or there's an exit and the next steps become mandatory as to what to do. They'll dive into the intersection of personal and financial planning for entrepreneurs teeing up the next steps post exit as well as the next series of episodes. They recap the recent series by by discussing the importance of time management and resistance in daily routines. The episode reflects on the core aspects of personal planning, including health, relationships, values, and experiences. Jim and Matthew emphasize the need for a holistic approach that integrates financial, personal, and business planning to achieve long-term success and fulfillment. They also summarize their four-part financial planning process: unpacking your story, defining your story, shaping your story, and ultimately living your 'why.' With a segment from Guy Raz's "How I Built This", Don Vultaggio from Arizona Iced Tea shares the concerns he has about next steps as he shares what he was told by the owners of Snapple when they sold their business. Poor personal preparation post business sale or exit, is not a healthy process. Practical advice and real-life examples make this episode a comprehensive guide for entrepreneurs looking to balance wealth and well-being as they enter into the next chapter of their lives.

Jim mentioned the book, "The Untethered Soul" by Michael Singer. You can find it on Amazon HERE. 

00:00 Introduction to The Whole Wealth Journey Podcast
00:46 Gratitude for Resistance
03:45 Health Coaching and Personal Progress
06:39 Recap of Personal Planning Episodes
08:20 The Importance of Personal Planning in Business Transitions
20:38 The Who, Not How Concept
25:06 The Power of the Who, Not How Mindset
26:06 Clarity, Confidence, and Capability
28:32 The Importance of Personal Planning Teams
33:38 Understanding Whole Wealth
34:17 The Seven Asset Classes
45:32 The Financial Planning Process
50:34 Conclusion and Next Steps

Learn more about The Whole Wealth Journey and get periodic updates or helpful content by getting on our email list HERE. Entrepreneurs, exit strategies and personal financial planning before the sale are topics you can count on every episode.  You can follow us on Instagram @thewholewealthjourney. 

Transcript

Matthew Grishman: [00:00:00] I feel like time, it's finite. We have to be super mindful with how we allocate because we don't get any more of it and we don't know how much of it we have and we don't. Exactly.

Hey, what's this whole Wealth Journey podcast thing all about? 

Jim Gebhardt: It's a podcast for entrepreneurs where we're trying to help them connect the meaning with their money. Who are you? Jim Gebhart. 

Matthew Grishman: Oh, I'm Matthew Grishman, and we're a couple of financial guys having a not so traditional financial conversation called The Whole Wealth Journey.

Here we go.

What is on the gratitude list today? Number one. Top of the heap. Top of the pile resistance. Gratitude for the resistance. Grateful for resistance. [00:01:00] Hmm. Let's unpack that, shall we? Well, you saw the text message I sent you this morning. I did. Did you see the All of them. Oh, right. I was just really struggling to get out the door this morning.

Even though it's something you've done a couple hundred thousand million times every day for a while. A while now. A couple, almost coming on two years. It just, it's always a challenge. It feels like it's just, it's. I, I want so badly to make exercise, like this easy thing that I look forward to, and I get up in the morning and I bounce outta bed and I just running out the door 'cause I can't wait to do it.

And it doesn't quite work out that way. Instead it's, uh, even though I know how great it makes me feel and how much I enjoy doing it once I do it, the act of getting into it is really 

Jim Gebhardt: hard. The only reason I'm smiling, even though nobody can see this in studio, see, you know, obviously in the show is we're in studio, but I'm smiling is I have John Williams [00:02:00] soundtrack to Star Wars playing in, in, in the background as you're talking about the resistance.

Oh, totally. So good. Here, 

Matthew Grishman: here's where the gratitude for resistance kicked in. Yeah. I'm curious. As you responded back to me and I was out there actually running and doing my exercise, it just, it kind of hit me 'cause it felt really good this morning, like. Really good. Better than it's felt. Even recently.

The resistance felt good. The exercise, uh, yeah, I know, right? Yeah. Smarty pants here, uhhuh. And then it kind of hit me, oh, this is supposed to suck at first for me, I, I don't know if this is supposed to suck for everybody who exercises, but at least for me, putting on my shoes and stepping outside is a hard thing to do.

And it's supposed to be hard because that's what allows me to really. Appreciate, enjoy, and celebrate the benefit I'm getting from doing this. It's like it's a win every day By doing it and getting through it, it's a win. And if I didn't have that [00:03:00] resistance. To start in the beginning, it really wouldn't mean as much, I don't think, it wouldn't be as big of a, of a victory each day of a mountain to climb.

Yeah. Yeah. And the daily, the daily mountain to climb. Right. And if everything happens for a reason and everything happens for me and not to me, then that resistance is there to serve me. And I, I think, I don't know, I, that was just something that hit me this morning that, that, that resistance shows up for the benefit of feeling a win and.

I'm grateful for that. I'm trying to rewire how I see the hard shit that happens in life. AKA, what we call resistance. 

Jim Gebhardt: Yeah. So there you, you go a little, 

Matthew Grishman: a little light gratitude to start the uh, yeah, exactly. The day and studio. A 

Jim Gebhardt: little, little fluffy, airy, you know, light as a muffin kind of thing.

Matthew Grishman: Absolutely. How about you? 

Jim Gebhardt: I'm in this program now where I have this health coach and today was the inaugural session of, I guess it's six or eight sessions, and his name's Matt. Of course, of course it is. You need another one of those in your [00:04:00] life. And he's a little bit more of a cardiac specialist, not in terms of like a doctor, but more in terms of like therapy and recovery.

And so it was just, it was, it was an interesting conversation. I don't think he, well, there was no warmup to the conversation. 

Matthew Grishman: No Swiss custom as we like to 

Jim Gebhardt: say. No. In terms of all he really had was some data points on me. There had been obviously no prior conversation, so we didn't know if. He was coming into a guy who just, you know, sat on the couch and ate donuts and, and Doritos all day.

Or if there was somebody actually on the other end of the phone that was, you know, actively eng engaged, engaged in their health and their wellness and all this good stuff. And in a really selfish kind of way, uh, of gratitude. I am damn proud of the progress I've made in the last three or four years. 

Matthew Grishman: Not a boy 

Jim Gebhardt: you 

Matthew Grishman: should 

Jim Gebhardt: be.

And it felt really good to be having this conversation with this total stranger. I mean, he's been brought to me as kind of a health coach and we're gonna [00:05:00] explore like what that means and how he can help. But it felt really quite good to. Unpack my story over the last three or four years and have him just essentially say, wow, you're, you're way ahead of most of the people that I coach and talk to.

I was like, okay, as I'm going through crazy traffic and all kinds of traffic resistance and all this, and I just finished reading this book that I've told you about, called The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. So much of this book is about just letting things happen and just letting it go and not, you know, it would've been so easy today to just get completely cranked up and jacked out with all of the resistance around the traffic and the.

Construction and oh my God. I mean, it would've been easy and I was late to the studio and just could've easily spiraled outta control, and I doubt my pulse got over about 65, not a boy. So yeah, grateful for a lot of cool things Today. Today is also my [00:06:00] great nephew, my goddaughter Kelsey, and her husband Matt, their little guy, Luca James.

It's his first birthday today. Nice. And so we're gonna do a little FaceTime later. I guess he's coming close to walking. And I'm very much looking forward to seeing him next week when we're in Chicago. 

Matthew Grishman: Nice. Thank you for sharing that, brother. And I'm, I'm grateful you got here, uh, despite all the resistance keeping you from getting here.

Yeah, it's all good. We would've had a very different episode in studio today if it were just, uh, ACE Lindsay and myself here. So glad you're here. Well, me too. We always have some good amnesia when we leave the studio, so I, I think Well, I do. You don't. I do. I do. I have a little bit. Oh, I have, you have more.

I have chronic, yeah. I think you do remember what we just went through the four episodes of personal planning. Yes. You, you remember that we did that work? Uh, yes, I do. Maybe, maybe not specifically what we talked about. I do. I 

Jim Gebhardt: I was having a little flash because at the gym this morning I was texting an old Schwab buddy of mine, I, sorry, other way around.

He [00:07:00] was texting me about he's now a m and a specialist and he was telling me about a deal. He was, he forwarded me a deal that he just did. With a a billion dollar shop down in Menlo Park, I think. And he's like, do you remember when we played golf with him at Pebble Beach? And I'm like, no, I have no, I have no recall of playing Pebble Beach with you or with him.

In all honesty, God, you know. Wow. And that's Pebble Beach and that's Pebble Beach. It's not a place you generally forget. Right. Right. And Kevin, Kevin prompted me with, well, do you at least remember talking to Rupert Murdoch in the bathroom, in the urinals with one another at Pebble Beach? And I was like, oh, yes, I, I do remember that now.

There you go. Oh, I do remember playing with you at Pella. I don't remember Peter, but I remember the whole, so you just needed a minute. I need a little, so if you can help just kind of just, okay, well, let me, 

Matthew Grishman: let me prompt it a little. Let me help a little bit. So [00:08:00] over the last four episodes, we've gone on this deep dive into what you and I feel are the most neglected.

But probably most important component to a business transition. Can you please say it properly? Component. Thank you. Sorry. Component. And it's, it's that whole idea behind personal planning. Yes. So today I thought it would make some sense to have a little bit of a transition episode where we recapped a little bit of what we talked about.

Just just in case anybody else in the tribe is wired. Like you and I are, as entrepreneurs, we tend to have pretty fast forgetters 'cause we're spending so much time. In those quad one activities where it's important, it's urgent, we gotta do it now. And because that occupies so much of our brain power, sometimes we.

Have a fast forgetter. So let's review a little bit about what we did, because I think that really sets up the progression into the next little miniseries that we're going to talk about, which is really the financial planning [00:09:00] component, right? If, if we just review the whole process, right? The whole wealth journey is really about this three legged stool.

That we talk about for helping a business owner prepare for what's next. And we, we start early, right? We start years. Before we start early, we do. We start early. Yes. We propose and suggest the bus. The 

Jim Gebhardt: business owners don't always start early 

Matthew Grishman: unless they meet us. Right? And then, and then we start early.

Yes. Not because we're necessarily planning for the exit tomorrow, but because we've also realized as business owners ourselves that exit planning is just smart business planning. Yes. Everything we're trying to do at Ebhart Group as it relates to growing our franchise. Right. We, you and I believe we have something very special here.

That we do something a little unique relative to the rest of our peers in the industry. You and I want to teach more people in the industry how to do it the way we're doing it more holistically than say we were raised early in the nineties on how to do this thing. [00:10:00] And so for us to be able to grow and do that and expand our footprint, we've decided within our firm to adopt some exit planning principles that are synonymous to the principles we need to just grow and be.

A bigger footprint. Yes. 

Jim Gebhardt: And then that is the, uh, the business consulting work that we've engaged, uh, a group to help us with. 

Matthew Grishman: Absolutely. And, you know, we'll, we'll talk about that a little bit. So today we're gonna do a little brief, uh, recap of episodes, 1 57 to 60, kind of covering the foundation, the barriers, the benefits, and, and the, the implementation and the process we use for.

The personal planning side of our practice, because we can't forget the, the whole thing that drives us into this part of the business is the fact that we've got this glaring statistic in our face. And even though you and I like to poke fun at the fact that most statistics are completely full of shit, or at least a little, right, this is, this is one to remember this, this is one [00:11:00] that if it's, if you're a 

Jim Gebhardt: business owner, if it's even close, 

Matthew Grishman: remember, remember the statistic, if it's even close, right?

75% of business owners according to the exit Planning Institute's 2023 Business Owner Readiness Survey, 75% of those business owners surveyed regretted the transaction one year after, and it had nothing to do with the money. What's so cool about this conversation we're having about personal planning is we're not the only ones having it.

I was listening to Guy RA's show how I built this. He had the founder of Arizona Ice Tea, Don Voltaggio in studio talking about this same exact thing. Listen to what Don had to say about what he learned from a competitor who's exited before him. 

Guy Raz: Why weren't you interested in sailing? I mean, apparently there was billions of dollars.

Mm-hmm. 

At stake Here. There's arguments to be made. Hey, 2005, we're on top of the world. Let's cash out. 

Don Vultaggio: I have two sons in a business. [00:12:00] And I have four grandchildren, and I hope that one day they, my sons take over and then they have their children take over from them. Maybe it's an old fashioned approach, but the, I, I don't, I, I think the worst thing in life is to be wealthy and not have anything to do.

You know, the guys from Snapple told me that the worst day of his life was the day after he sold out. 'cause I believe it. 'cause he said, now what? You know? How do we not, can we just, how do we not 

Jim Gebhardt: pay attention to that? Let's just pause on that for a second. Sure. And think about the fact that for many entrepreneurs, business owners, this is their life's work.

This is, this is what they have devoted their life to in the world of work. Maybe not family and outside of, but building a business, first of all. Then a successful business, and then a thriving business, and then a business that ultimately exits. And provides bags of money. The final act, right, the final act of the exit, to think of the [00:13:00] fact that three quarters of those transactions and the owners behind those transactions regret the transaction itself.

That we could end the show right there. Like if that doesn't drive you to take action, I don't think we can help you. Right. Right. I mean, it scares the shit outta me. Right. Well that, that many people regret it because of the fact that it is not the money, it's the lack of planning. Yeah, the personal planning.

Yep. Absolutely. 

Matthew Grishman: So that's why we went down the path of incorporating. So much of our whole wealth journey into the personal planning side of life, not just how do we structure the money, which we're gonna get into. That's the next series that's coming. The next little miniseries is what do we actually do with the money to support?

It's all Bitcoin, right? Well, you know, it could be, it's a simple solution. It could be. Well, we try to keep it simple. Ha ha. Right? Yeah. Thank you. That was, that was good. 

Jim Gebhardt: So what have, [00:14:00] what have we learned in this whole unpacking of the personal planning? 

Matthew Grishman: Probably the most important thing starts from the very top, that there's more to it than just getting the business balance sheet in order.

It seems to feel like that's a huge priority, that it's all about getting the business. Ready. But the reality is you've got these three legs to a stool that need to be in balance, where we're not only getting the business ready by maximizing the value and finding the who's that can help us do that, but we have to put an equal amount of time into the personal financial planning as well as this personal life planning, which you and I have seen over and over and over 30 years in our business.

As the most neglected leg of this stool. So it's why we spent the time that we spent, the four episodes that we went into going deep about it. And I think, you know, some of the insights from our journey, brother, is this isn't a nice to have. Personal planning isn't a. [00:15:00] Something that we just get to if we can it, it's something that needs to be scheduled.

It's something that needs to be prioritized. 

Jim Gebhardt: Well, again, let's go back to that statistic. I mean, I don't think anybody wakes up hoping to regret the transaction, and so there's gotta be some emphasis and focus on the personal planning because ultimately, you know, this, this shift that we talk about from.

Retirement to Life 3.0. And I was just having a conversation with clients yesterday who have been on a preparatory path to an exit. It's a, it's a regional accounting firm. We've been working with the partners of that firm for a very long time. Yep. And he is so excited about Life 3.0 because of all of the effort and energy that we have put into the planning for that.

So it's not just retirement in the classic sense. Of, I'm done earning, I'm done building. I'm done growing as a human, let alone a business, [00:16:00] and now I'm just gonna coast it out. And it's just all about comfort until kingdom come. For some people, 

Matthew Grishman: that's the case 

Jim Gebhardt: that Absolutely. 

Matthew Grishman: For the entrepreneurs that you and I tend to trip across, that's not.

Who they are. The difference between retirement and life 3.0 is about continuing to build and create, not slow down. It's just about discovering what's next. And one of the biggest challenges for our friend that you're talking about that you talked to yesterday and many of the friends that we continue to talk to is this unaware fear that we're helping them become aware of, of going from a who's who to a, who's he.

Right. I'm, I'm a who's who in my world. In my world. Yeah. And then all of a sudden I go to become a, who's he? Yeah. Again, if that doesn't motivate you to take some action Yeah. To figure out not just what you're going to do Yeah. But who you're going to become, who you are going to evolve into. Yeah. Then go listen to Smartless.

Jim Gebhardt: Why [00:17:00] you're wasting your time with us. Okay. I mean, I, I'm in one of those moods today. I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm dead serious about this stuff, as, as I know you are, of course, but it's like, if you're not going to pay attention to what we're lecturing on, then go listen to Smartless, go listen to something else. I mean, I, I'm just, I'm a little fed up with how this statistic isn't really changing in the industry.

And people are still not paying attention to personal planning. 

Matthew Grishman: Well, I think you and I can have and, and we've done a better job of having a little compassion as to why people aren't paying attention to personal planning. 'cause you're right, the statistic is there. It's been there for a long time. 2023 wasn't the first year.

Nope. That the Exit Planning Institute did this owner readiness survey. They did it. They did it for the first time 10 years earlier in 2013. Right when the fellas bought the institute, [00:18:00] right, the, the year before they bought it, they had this owner survey and that was part of the impetus to why they wanted to buy the exit planning institute was to have impact massive about this massive opportunity.

Right. And even with all their work and effort. The stat didn't move a needle. Why? Well, we uncovered that in episode 1 57. Right? Exactly. It's, it's the fear factor. It's the time management issue. It's all these blind spots and it's this old control freak is thing that we entrepreneurs have, which is I gotta figure out how to do everything or it won't get done the right way myself.

Uh, bingo. All three of us have to do it. Me, myself, and I. Exactly. Right. And if I don't do it, then it's not gonna get done. Right. So it, it's this, I wonder where I 

Jim Gebhardt: learned that from. 

Matthew Grishman: It's this how not who kind of thinking that has dominated entrepreneurialism forever. And you and I are trying to disrupt that.

We're trying to bring some awareness to this. Let's just get honest about our fear. It's okay. It's human right. It's okay to be afraid of. What's next? What's [00:19:00] next? And not knowing who I'm about to become. Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's okay to recognize that I can get stuck in these important urgent tasks that are always on fire, and I'm constantly on the go.

And if it's not me doing it, we have a, a friend and client who might be listening to this episode and he's gonna know who he is when he hears this. We have a friend and client who has a second home in a beautiful place on the beach, and he had some challenges with his home this, this week. Some structural challenges with the home.

There's contractors coming in to assess and repair, and he as the CEO. Of a, of a great organization. A lot of people who depend upon him felt that he had to get on the airplane and go lead the charge with what's going on with his house. And I so badly wanted to share with him that that's like something you could delegate.

Like there's a who out there right, that can do that for you. Right. So that you can stay put. [00:20:00] That's resistance showing up Sure. In his life. Sure. To take him off path from what he's supposed to be doing. Right. Every day. Right. Which is not. Managing the project Right. Of repair work in his house. Right.

Right. And, and I'm saying this because I love this person and it's a, a reality that he needs to see. It's a blind spot. Sure. That he has that and, and he's really good in, in some regard of the who's in his life within his business. But there are other aspects of his life where there could be more who's.

We would certainly suggest a few more who's, yeah. And, and this is not unique to him, right? No. This is, this is almost everybody we come in contact with. And so just becoming aware of what is it that stops us and keeps us from this personal planning. Because if we can't become aware of why we get stuck, then there's absolutely no way that we can get the anchor an inch off the bottom and get in motion.

But if we become aware and all we can see in this part. That it's about who, [00:21:00] not how, I don't have to have the answer to how I'm going to deal with fill in the blank crisis. That there's a who out there 

Jim Gebhardt: that that concept once you not just hear it, but once you start to recognize it and have some experience with it, in terms of outwardly going and looking for a who to help solve the problem.

Right? And then it, it starts to happen and you start to find these who's like, we, we, our house is by a creek. And a crick with, from where you're from. A crick, 

Matthew Grishman: that's what they call it, crew. Yeah. Right. 

Jim Gebhardt: But it's in California, it's a creek. Ah, okay. Right. What happens when you live near a creek is you get little rodents, critters, critters, creek critters.

Right. So we have a chronic issue with mice, with not big roof rats, but little rats, voles even. I don't, there's some kind of a little gopher that the, the pest control people have talked about and. What we're doing, this is a total blind spot for us, is we've been like, how, how, how, how, how, how, how, how, how are we gonna [00:22:00] fix this?

How are we gonna fix this? And Beth and I got into a conversation a couple weeks ago about, let's let, no, no, let's flip it. Who, well, sure there's rodent people and they do their thing, but that's not solving the problem. And then. We were introduced to Mary. Oh, okay. 

Matthew Grishman: You were a different way than I thought on that 

Jim Gebhardt: Mary, the cat lady.

Matthew Grishman: Okay. 

Jim Gebhardt: Who Her. It's not really a, I, I mean, it's a business. It's just, it's not really like a, a. For profit business is she works with and trains and sets you up with what, what I've now come to learn is called a working cat. Hmm. So this is an outdoor cat. This isn't, you know, a cute kitty cat that you know you cuddle with and snuggle with.

This thing is out patrolling. 

Matthew Grishman: Yeah. 

Jim Gebhardt: And taking care of your problem. A guard kitty. Yeah, 

Matthew Grishman: that's awesome. 

Jim Gebhardt: And so Mary's coming over in like a week. She's got one working cat right now, apparently. Ideally you want two. So the whole little diatribe [00:23:00] here is that once you start to breathe in the concept of who.

Not get so cranked about the how You can't unsee this, right? You can't. They show up. It just, well, the universe does it for you. The universe does it. And once you start kind of going down the who path, it's just, it's just amazing to me what, who's have shown up to solve problems that sometimes I didn't even know we had.

Matthew Grishman: So you're talking about Chronic Creek critters, and I'm guessing that's not the three Cs. That we talked about. It can be that. I was gonna say it, it felt like a different form of the three Cs, but yeah, that 

Jim Gebhardt: nice little, nice little catch there, but thank you. Yeah. But, 

Matthew Grishman: but ultimately that is the benefit of what happens from doing the planning.

Okay. We brought everybody through episode 1 57 and why we get stuck and we don't do this, but the reason for doing it is because we get the three C's from it and it's not. These critters, chronic, chronic critters from the [00:24:00] creek. It's clarity, confidence, and capability to get a clear vision of what life 3.0 looks like to.

Become clear on who you are beyond your business to develop confidence, then that is about you protecting your confidence at all costs and redefining like who you are going forward and feeling good about that. And now all of a sudden we have this capability, like I can do this. Right. I can do this. I'm not gonna show up to the 11th hour of this transaction and either bail because I'm unsure, which happens a lot.

There's a statistic out there we haven't even begun to discuss about how many actually get to right up to the finish line and then bail because they don't have the answer for what's next. Right? It's 

Jim Gebhardt: not the transaction that they're scared 

Matthew Grishman: about, it's the what's next. It's the what's next, and they will often attack something within the transaction.

A component to the transaction. Little [00:25:00] sabotage that goes, Ooh, yeah, I'm out. I can't, nope, I don't, I don't like that. Right. I don't like that lawyer's tie. I'm, I'm out. Right. Right. And it, and it becomes the reason, but to feel this sense of capability because of this who, not how mindset. It's just, it's a game changer.

It's this 53-year-old guy, me feeling comfortable in my own skin for the first time. It's that, it's that I, I envision when an entrepreneur gets to that place where they have the clarity about what's next, they have confidence in themselves to get there, and they feel the sense of capability because of the incredible team they've surrounded themselves with.

There's just this, it's it like it is fun to watch. It's just almost this like feeling of invincibility. That's what, that's what I see, but like neutral invincibility. It's not like I'm fired up and excited. It's just, it's like this calm mm-hmm. Peaceful. Mm-hmm. Nothing can fuck with me. Mm-hmm. Right. It just, I'm good.

And it's, it's nice at 53 years old to feel [00:26:00] that, even though I know my own exit is years and years and years down the road. I just feel this incredible sense of preparedness. 

Jim Gebhardt: Well, because you have a great sense of clarity on where you're going personally and professionally. You have a renewed sense of confidence in both of those categories, and as a result, you've developed all kinds of new capabilities.

Yes. Yeah. Yes. I mean, it's abundantly simple when you say it like that. And there's obviously, it's simple. A truckload of work that goes into it. 

Matthew Grishman: Yeah, yeah. It's simple, not easy. 

Jim Gebhardt: Right, right. That the clarity part for me is always the most fun to see, fun to witness with a client in conversation, because if we were to really slow this thing down and really unpack it with them, that's actually what they're seeking the whole time.

They don't know that these other two Cs are coming. Those are kind of the cherry on top, right, the bonus Cs. They have this very deep seated fear [00:27:00] of not knowing what's next, and that as they start to have even an ounce of clarity. They feel lighter, they feel better, they feel more hopeful, right? Because they have, it's like staring out into the darkness.

You can't see, you know, until you can see something, you're going along blindly. And I love the whole clarity conversations that we have with clients in the beginning when they're not even clients. And then as they become clients, and then even as it marches forward, because you and I know what's coming, we, we know act two and act three of the play.

But it's act one that I get the most excited about because it's so fun to see their relief when they get some clarity. Sure. 

Matthew Grishman: Well, I just, I know from just my own experience and our own experience, I feel a whole hell of a lot better and a lot more prepared now if something were to happen, like one of those five Ds that we talked about, right?

If 50% of all business owners are gonna experience one of the five Ds before the [00:28:00] exit death, divorce. Disability, disagreement, distress. If one of those five Ds were to happen again, I don't think lightning will strike twice, but it could. I feel so much more of a sense of preparedness than I did in September of 2023.

Yeah, when it happened the last time. Sure. Because of what we talked about in episode one 60 because of this very practical roadmap. That you and I have co-created through our own experience. What we are showing our business owners how to prepare is much in part due to our own experience through trials and tribulations.

We've banged our head against the wall enough. That to, 

Jim Gebhardt: to say, can we stop now? 

Matthew Grishman: Yeah. Can we stop now? And can we do it a different way? And can we work? Did we learn anything from it? And we learned from a bunch of who's, and now we get to take our own experience and the, the [00:29:00] people we've surrounded ourselves with create this incredible process.

And we've, we've done this before, right? I mean, let's think back to the very first time you and I ever sat down together and I was blown away at. The empathy and compassion you were showing me. I've never experienced that from another man before. And then I continued to watch how in our first few interactions with clients together, how trust was being created instantly.

And you and I got a little obsessed, maybe would be the right word, on trying to understand the process behind what was going on so that maybe you could teach me how to do that. I could learn how to do that. We could teach others how to do that. Yep. And you know, here we are doing that same thing again.

So when we look at the process, right, it, it starts first and foremost. If we really understand who not how building that personal planning team, we, I do remember this part of episode one 60 when we were counting up the number of people on my personal planning team. Yeah, it's like 64 now. Yeah, it's up to that, except it was nine.

You're close. [00:30:00] Okay. You're close. A derivative, it's 

Jim Gebhardt: a multiple, nine times derivative of 63. Nine times five is 54. I was close. 64, 

Matthew Grishman: right? Nine times six is 54, but that, that's okay. I'm, 

Jim Gebhardt: I'm having fun for all my fact-checkers on, on the show today. 

Matthew Grishman: Oh, are you? Yeah. I thought you were just exercising that beautiful left side of your brain today a little bit.

Nah, no. Okay. Alright, so we get the personal planning team and you know, it, it, it's gonna look a little different for everybody. Not everybody needs all the same who's, but generally speaking, this is a combination of some kind of life coach personal planning specialist. And, and it could come in the form of your wealth advisor if they've developed expertise in this space like you and I have.

There's generally some people on like a health optimization team. You've got different relationship counselors, therapists, people that can help you with your values, different experience designers, which you've come across some of the incredible experiences. You and the family have had, you and Beth have made Oh yeah, very.

Although you're very capable [00:31:00] of booking your own travel. No, thank you. You've decided that you want to craft an experience and this is what I want to experience, but I need somebody else to help me put it all together. 

Jim Gebhardt: And while this may sound to the tribe a little overwhelming that you've, you've, you know, you have to have a team of all of these people.

I think one of the keys, going back to our very first conversation is. Just meeting the client where they're at. 

Matthew Grishman: Yes. 

Jim Gebhardt: And having conversation and dialogue to understand because if, if we think of ourselves as blind spotters, we're going to be able be, given all of our experience, we're gonna be able to hear.

In our olden days, we would call the triage situation, right? Where, where, where's the patient bleeding out in terms of a gaping hole on their team where they need a who, you know, in the, in the classic conventional sense of business, maybe it's a CPA or maybe it's an estate attorney, like they're walking around and they're worth 8, 10, 12, 20 $5 million and they don't have an estate plan of any kind, [00:32:00] right?

We, I mean, I, it happens. I, I hate to chuckle on that, but the only reason I chuckle is. It's happened many times. 

Matthew Grishman: It happened to Joe Robbie, the owner of the Miami Dolphins, with a $1.2 billion estate tied up completely in a stadium, in a team, and no estate plan. 

Jim Gebhardt: Yeah. 

Matthew Grishman: Right. Yeah. So, so yes, it happens. 

Jim Gebhardt: Or we could go with, uh, a little James Delini.

We could have the, uh, a 

Matthew Grishman: thony 

Jim Gebhardt: soprano or a little soprano action. Right. No estate plan. No estate plan. Unbelievable. So, uh, the, the members of this personal team are really gonna, they're gonna nominate themselves in terms of who do you need? Right, right. For us, you and I have been so obsessed with our health the last few years that that's really been the primary focus is, is physical and mental wellness.

Yes. But don't, don't be overwhelmed. Listener of the tribe with you need all these people tomorrow. 

Matthew Grishman: Well, that was part of, right. Part of what keeps us stuck. Is the daunting overwhelm [00:33:00] of trying to tackle this massive elephant in front of us called personal planning. And we're, you know, can't say this enough, how do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time. Exactly. Yep. Right. So perhaps it's going back to episodes 1 57 through one 60 and figuring out where can I get this anchor off the bottom one inch. And, and we're gonna talk about this more in a few minutes. It is about starting somewhere, right? Today's just about kind of reviewing.

The whole thing, which can sound a little overwhelming, but we're gonna break this down into where do we actually get started. So we've got the who's, we've got the personal planning team in place now. The next part of the process is really getting crystal clear on what your whole wealth is really all about, how you define your whole wealth, which 

Jim Gebhardt: this is an eye-opener for 99% of the people we talk to.

Matthew Grishman: Absolutely. Because it makes a ton 

Jim Gebhardt: of sense once they hear it. Sure, 

Matthew Grishman: sure. But it's a new concept. When you think about what makes up your whole [00:34:00] wealth, money's a part of it. And there are different parts of money, whether it's real estate, business, cash in the bank, securities in a brokerage account, a retirement account.

Jim Gebhardt: Don't forget Bitcoin. 

Matthew Grishman: We have that all. And you and I look at that as kind one asset class within somebody's whole wealth. To us, there's really seven time health relationships, superpowers. Values, experiences and money. Seven different asset classes that in no particular order. Well, sorta. I know that first one.

Yeah, that first one. I feel like time. It's the only one of those seven that's finite. It's the only one of those seven that we have to be super mindful with how we allocate because we don't get any more of it. Now, and we don't know how much of it we have and we don't exactly. Right. And that, that was something we shared in the last episode, which is, you know, could you imagine [00:35:00] having a 401k that you are living on in retirement or some kind of, uh, securities account, some kind of investment account that you're using to fund your retirement?

And you have no idea how much money there is or when it might run out, and just one month it's just gonna stop. Coming in. Right It. So this is a very unique asset and we have to treat it very uniquely in how we allocate it. And this is something you and I like to spend a lot of time on with clients, helping them figure out how to allocate and 'cause it 

Jim Gebhardt: dictates the rest.

Oh, absolutely. And when we start to identify. Where the client is in their own journey relative to these seven different asset classes, it then really starts to allow a clarity conversation because yes, they can clearly almost self nominate is is it health they need to focus on? Is it repairing relationships?

That is. The priority now that you know the business is going well and there's an exit plan, you know, there's a plan for that and everything. But [00:36:00] now let's, okay, we gotta, we gotta go back and repair some relationships that maybe were expendable as a result of focusing on the business so much. I know, I know.

Very, very, very well in my own family with my mother and father owning a business. How that was my father looking to repair the relationship with my mother that was damaged as a result of all of his focus being a workaholic. Sure. And so we meet, we meet clients wherever they are with that. Yes. And B seven asset classes really start to help them have a little bit of clarity.

Not so much on the future, but what their focus needs to be on. Right now. 

Matthew Grishman: Well, it's the, it's the whole process, right? Like when your mom and dad were working through some of that, were there some financial implications to those decisions and how they repair those relationships with each other, right? Oh yeah, absolutely.

I mean, there's no way we can fully allocate someone's financial resources properly. If we don't [00:37:00] understand how the other assets in their lives need to be allocated to support what matters most to them. So when it comes to time, right? Our most finite resource when it comes to health, how we want to be stewards of our physical, mental, emotional wellbeing, our relationships, right?

Who are the people in our lives that suck the life out of us versus the ones that fill us up? When we think about our superpowers, right, our natural strengths and tendencies and gifts and talents and skills, and how much of those are we actually using versus not using? When we think about our own values, right, the things that drive us at a very core level, the experiences that we have had and wanna have, are we creating the kind of meaning in our life that we want through our ability to also be human doings?

And going through a process of uncovering all that, getting clear on that, so then we could sit down with [00:38:00] money and turn that into the tool that it's meant to be, to support those other 

Jim Gebhardt: six. Allocate, allocate that to support the other six. And as you're, as you're going through each of those six Yeah.

It's so fun because I have, I have different clients that are popping into my head and I'm, I'm not gonna get into all those stories right now, but it just, it's really fun to hear that list and then, oh, I think of this client for that and this, this client relative to health and this client relative to working on their relationships and this client about their superpowers of how they're gonna build a bigger future for themselves in that life 3.0 stage of life.

By harnessing those superpowers and still continuing to, to, to use them. Maybe that doesn't need to be an economic benefit anymore, but it's not like you're gonna let the superpower just, you know, sit in the closet and do nothing. 

Matthew Grishman: No, it's what drives you to do every day. And I, and I appreciate you bringing up being in your own head about some other people that you're thinking about, because I would imagine some of our listeners today are in their own heads thinking about.

Each one of these assets [00:39:00] themselves, but also potentially thinking as you and I often do about other people. That's the serial entrepreneur, is always more or less thinking about other people and often self-sacrifice and not thinking about ourselves because we're so consumed with other people. That's part of the impact driven entrepreneurial brain that you and I have, that I'm sure we've got some listeners today thinking about other people as we go through that list and who might benefit from listening to this show.

Right. Exactly. So you know, feel free to forward this episode right on your favorite platform as we're going through some of these. Boy, I was thinking about so and so, right? Just like you were Yeah. Right there. 

Jim Gebhardt: Well, and two clients that in the experiences category have both been stuck on trying to, to plan some travel.

Right. And one's a kind of a 60th birthday celebration with his wife. The other is a couple that's retired where. The wife has self-appointed herself as the travel person, but after two and a half or three years, she's been super stuck with ever getting in motion, and we introduced her [00:40:00] to Emily Kenny, who's an unbelievable travel specialist, and boom, they're both off to the races with it, so it's just, that's awesome.

It's just. It's really fun to just unpack that as you're going through it. 

Matthew Grishman: That's awesome. Well, the plan of how to go about personal planning really boils down to the who's in your life and really uncovering and getting really clear on how those seven different assets show up in your life. And we've got all sorts of tools that help us go through that process.

A bunch of assessments now. One of the things we wrapped up with in the last episode, and, and this is gonna be a little check-in with the tribe, right? A little self check-in, is we shared these insights over the course of four episodes and then challenged the crew here with, with a little bit of, of action items, some, some things to do.

Yep. You and I are big believers in the law of diminishing intent, and so we gave everybody a little bit of a 24 hour challenge where, you know, first and foremost when we look back to episode 1 57 and the different barriers. [00:41:00] That we have in front of us. Which of the four barriers are your biggest obstacle?

What's keeping you stuck? What's keeping you from sitting down and scheduling time to deal with some of these personal planning items? Did you do that? Did you think about that? If you didn't, let's think about that right now. We asked you to consider a time audit. We asked you to track. I was too 

Jim Gebhardt: busy to track my time.

Well, 

Matthew Grishman: you know, you'll get there. Maybe you can do that now. If the best time to track your time was last episode, then the next best time's today. 

Jim Gebhardt: Okay, 

Matthew Grishman: I'll So track three days. I'll try three. Three days and see how you allocate your time across the four different quadrants. And what I bet you're gonna find is I waste a lot of time, is that you spend most of your time in quadrant one and quadrant four.

Quadrant, one being that important. Urgent, I'm a business owner and I got stuff I gotta deal with right now. Three 

Jim Gebhardt: armed fired, now go all day long. All day now. Crisis. Crisis. Crisis. 

Matthew Grishman: And when you're not doing that, you're looking [00:42:00] at Instagram reels. 

Jim Gebhardt: Mm-hmm. 

Matthew Grishman: You're scrolling through LinkedIn. Doom scrolling, I think as my kids have taught me the not important, not urgent quadrant.

Jim Gebhardt: Right. Where'd that 22 minutes go? 

Matthew Grishman: Exactly, exactly. Because ultimately we want to get to a place where we can start scheduling the important not urgent stuff like personal planning, like getting your legal house in order, getting to that estate attorney, and finally, redoing your trust. Right? We asked you to consider a WHO identification assessment.

Who are your current team members? Yeah. How many who? Who to now, how many do you have in your life and, and who is missing? Ultimately, start journaling about your life 3.0 possibilities. Just start thinking about, 

Jim Gebhardt: just let the hand go, what it look like to the piece of paper and let it flow. 

Matthew Grishman: Yeah. 

Jim Gebhardt: Don't critique yourself.

Don't check your spelling. Just go, yes, just let 

Matthew Grishman: it rip. So we took you through a pretty [00:43:00] deep personal planning process. Then understanding that there's a lot to it. We've given you a few different action items on how to get started. I'm gonna give you one last action item before we start teeing up.

What's next? What the next few episodes are. Call Ghar Group. Holy cow. You're reading my mind. Okay, good. We have these things called telephones that we still pick up an answer what we believe in human connection. And we love the opportunity to speak to people. Now, we're also, you know, 21st century kind of podcasters where you could also reach us electronically.

There's a link inside of the show notes where you can reach out to us. You can go also to our website, gab hart whole wealth.com, and right on the homepage is a big orange-ish kind of button that says, connect with us and find your why. Or if you're kind of old fashioned like us and you wanna pick up the telephone, (877) 283-9150.

Let's get the anchor up one inch [00:44:00] to get in motion. Make sense? Makes sense to me. Alright, so we've done the personal planning work. Congratulations. Let's celebrate for a minute. 

Jim Gebhardt: Yeah. What's next? So, what's next is I, I can't celebrate this. What's next? What's, 

Matthew Grishman: I'm an entrepreneur, dammit. I know, but we gotta at least celebrate it for a second.

Like, like a baseball player who runs the bases with their home run, they celebrate it. Then it's off to the next batter. Right next batter. So we've touched home plate, we celebrate. 

Jim Gebhardt: Well, I'm, I'm very proud of what we've done with this series because it's going to foster conversation whether you know we're directly involved or not.

You and I 

Matthew Grishman: really, really enjoy the relationship side of our business and creating long-term relationships with our clients. The fact that nearly 80% of business owners change financial advisors upon the transaction. Is also a mind blowing statistic that we've never talked about 'cause we haven't really needed to yet.

Yeah. But the fact that most clients will leave their financial advisor when they go through the [00:45:00] transaction, simply because they're looking now for an advisor D can help them with this type of, what's next in my life. The problem is they're doing it after the transaction, let's. Avoid that proactive as an industry and let's maintain these great relationships that we have so we don't lose them, and we become that much more important part of our client's lives.

So once we're able to do that, then we're actually prepared to do what our industry tells us our real job is. 

Jim Gebhardt: Oh, that sounds like what might be next. 

Matthew Grishman: That is the financial planning part of the conversation. And for us, it boils down to most likely four more episodes on the show. Because it just so happens that our financial planning process is built around four key parts, and you can go right to our website, g hart whole wealth.com, where we kinda lay out right on the front page, what we do, right?

[00:46:00] Wealth with a Y. You click on the link to what we do, and it takes you through these four steps that we're also gonna take you through on the show. Yeah. And stage one. Is what they commonly refer to in our industry as the discovery stage. You and I like to call it unpack your story, right? Because there's so much to your relationship with money, your story around money, and although your business, your family, yeah, your passions, 

Jim Gebhardt: your all of that.

Matthew Grishman: Just 

Jim Gebhardt: unpack all of that 

Matthew Grishman: and although we really want to understand what it is you own. What I think really drives us most in this part of it is really understanding more the story and the relationship around finance, money and business. How did you get to where you were based on what you learned throughout the course of your life?

Because that's so foundational in the money decisions you've made. You're gonna make and we're going to help you make going forward. So really going deep. So much of the personal planning overlaps with this, unpacking your story, part of the process. [00:47:00] Then we're gonna. Break into the second part in the next episode where part two is all about defining your story.

This is where left brain meets right brain because defining your story. Is about helping you see some of the blind spots that you weren't aware of, some of the money decisions that you've made in your life and will potentially make. Why? 

Jim Gebhardt: Well, we set all that money stuff aside for a while. 

Matthew Grishman: Right. 

Jim Gebhardt: That, that's sometimes a little distressing to clients because they're so eager to just get cracking at the money part.

Sure, sure. But we have to set it aside so that we can do exactly what you're describing. 

Matthew Grishman: Yes. So a lot of the. Assessment tools that we use in the personal planning part that we talked about in episode 1 59, I believe. And one 60. Look at you. Look at at you, right? Well, you know, it's on the outline, so. Oh, we don't have to memorize too much.

We outline today. Have one today. We do. It's, it's very helpful. Thank you, Lindsay. Uh, we have these assessments that we bring back into the conversation. To really help give us a little more clarity [00:48:00] and defining some of the parts to the story that maybe we hadn't thought to define, because this is where it moves us into where you take over again.

And that's the third part where we'll talk about in episode three of this next series Now. Now we're gonna get into shaping your story. So we've unpacked your story, we've defined your story. Now we begin to shape your story going forward. 

Jim Gebhardt: That's where we get to get the, uh, the sketch pad out with the pencils and the colored pencils and the architects ruler and all this good stuff.

You and your art class. Yeah. You know, to start shaping what it's gonna look like. Right. In more of a dreamlike state. In an ideal state, what does it look like? And then the, the part two of that is where we go kind of stress test it all, and. See if the structure that we built can withstand life, withstand inflation with options.

With options, right? And, and show you how does this look relative to the trajectory that you're on. And as [00:49:00] we always commit to clients, we don't leave that room until we find a path forward. That's very comforting for clients because if they're not on the trajectory that they want their ideal life to be.

In 3.0, life, 3.0, then they're gonna start to see what do they need to do to do that, right? Whether it's the wealth gap, whether, you know, whatever, whatever the outcome is, it's in, it's, it's always positive. Because they're getting a greater sense of clarity of where they are and what do they need to do to kinda get on the track that they, that they ideally wanna be.

Matthew Grishman: Well, I, I appreciate something we've learned to share with clients and, you know, you shared this with me a long time ago, is that financial planning is simply a series of pullies and levers. That when we're shaping somebody's story and showing them different options and directions of where life could go financially, no matter what they wanna accomplish in life, we can help them get there with financial decisions as long as they're willing to [00:50:00] understand that life and financial planning is all about trade-offs.

It's all about pullies and levers, and so it's a matter of prioritizing. How we allocate and how we shape the outcome of the financial planning process based on what we learned going through the personal planning process. Absolutely. What are the priorities and let's stack rank them because not everything is ranked a number one.

Nope. Right. There's a number. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 for a reason. And so as long as we come into this understanding that there are trade-offs. We should be able to craft and shape a story that ultimately gets us to that fourth stage of financial planning where you get to live your why, where now you get to honor the second most important day of your life, right?

The most important day of our life is the day we're born. The next most important day of our life is the day we discover why and to be a [00:51:00] part of that journey from a personal. Financial and business planning aspect for fellow entrepreneurs is one hell of an honor. 

Jim Gebhardt: That is a privilege. Absolutely. 

Matthew Grishman: So we got four episodes coming up on the personal financial planning front, where we're going to unpack, define, shape your story to ultimately live Your Why.

Jim Gebhardt: I Can't Wait. Can we do that today? 

Matthew Grishman: I think we're gonna start it on the next episode of The Whole Wealth Journey. With that brother, 

Jim Gebhardt: that's a wrap.

Matthew Grishman: Thanks for joining us today on the Whole Wealth Journey. Are you ready to start planning for a future that's rich in wealth and wellbeing? Then click like and subscribe and make sure you don't miss a single episode of the Whole Wealth Journey. So if we've 

Jim Gebhardt: struck a nerve with you today, 

Matthew Grishman: where do people go?

You can find us@gebhartwholewealth.com. That's [00:52:00] G-E-B-H-A-R-D-T whole wealth.com. We'll see you next time. 

Jeff Holden: Jim Gebhart is a registered representative of Integrity Alliance, LLC Securities and Investment Advisory Services offered through Integrity Alliance. LLC, member SIPC. Gab Hart Group Incorporated is not affiliated with Integrity Wealth.

Jim Ghar and Matthew Grishman are investment advisor representatives of Gab Hart Group Incorporated a registered investment advisor. The opinions in this podcast are for informational purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or investment recommendations to determine which investment or financial advice may be appropriate for you.

Consult a financial advisor prior to investing. Any reference to market performance is based on historical information and there is no expressed or implied guarantee of future performance. Opinions expressed on [00:53:00] this program do not necessarily reflect those of Integrity Alliance LLC. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.

Gbb Hart Group Incorporated does not offer legal or tax advice. Listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.