Impact Moments

No Entrepreneur Goes Undefeated — T.J. Gliha (EP. 6)

• Ninety Studios • Episode 6

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T.J. Gliha and his partners acquired a wealth management firm that served professional golfers and grew it from $250 million in assets under management to over $1.4 billion in four years, going from 4 employees to 26. But the moment that changed everything for Journey Wealth was not a number. It was a client sitting across from T.J., freshly off his third private equity exit, with more money than he would ever need, who was miserable. His health was failing, his relationships were broken, and T.J. realized that managing a balance sheet was not enough. That conversation led Journey Wealth to build an entire wellness offering alongside their financial services: executive life coaching, precision healthcare, family counseling, nutrition, and fitness. In this episode, T.J. talks about the comedy of trying to self-implement EOS, why being too nice to your partners will hold the business back, and how he learned to fire clients who were not the right fit. He also shares why he believes employees are the number one asset, not the clients.

Key topics:

  • The client conversation that turned a financial firm into a wellness company
  • Self-implementing EOS as a comedy show, and what changed when they got serious
  • Being too nice to each other: why uncomfortable conversations are the unlock
  • Firing a client who was a friend, and why it made the relationship stronger
  • "No entrepreneur goes undefeated": building resilience into the culture

About T.J. Gliha:
T.J. is the president and CEO of Journey Wealth, an independent RIA and full-service wealth planning firm in Cleveland, Ohio.
Website: journey-wealth.com
903 Collective: 903collective.com

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SPEAKER_03

Welcome to Impact Moments Powered by 90. Today we're sitting down with TJ Glia. He's the president and CEO of Journey Wealth, a full service wealth planning firm based in Cleveland. And they grew the business, him and the partners that acquired it from around 250 million in assets under management to over 1.4 billion with a team of 26 people. But this episode isn't about those impressive numbers. It's about a moment that changed everything for TJ in the way that he thought about they were doing business. A client was sitting across from him miserable, even though he was extremely successful, more money than he'd need, his health was suffering, his family and relationships were broken. And TJ realized that he needed to do so much more than just manage a balance sheet. So that realization led to a lot of hard conversations and a big pivot that led them to build out an entire wellness offering alongside their financial services. So life coaching, health, precision health care, family counseling, all of it. And so we get into that, those hard conversations with partners, um, the comedy of trying to self-implement EOS at first, uh, why TJ believes his employees are his number one asset. So lots of great stuff in there. Let's get into it. Hey, welcome to Impact Moments Powered by 90. Thank you for being here. I am Christine Watts.

SPEAKER_04

I'm Chris Snyder.

SPEAKER_03

And we're digging into those aha moments, light bulbs, things that happen that really impact uh our businesses and as leaders. So thank you for joining us, TJ.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so I'm gonna have you introduce yourself and your business, and then we'll get into it.

SPEAKER_05

Absolutely. Um TJ Glia, president and CEO of Journey Wealth. Journey Wealth, uh, we're an independent RA, uh full service wealth planning firm located here in Cleveland, Ohio.

SPEAKER_03

And you're a client of Chris's as well.

SPEAKER_05

That's correct, yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So when did you guys meet?

SPEAKER_04

Oh gosh, way before that. Oh, really? It goes back to the entrepreneurs organization in Cleveland, EO, Cleveland.

SPEAKER_05

TJ, you were the rep for So I uh I used to work for a a previous firm called Sequoia Financial, and they sponsored EO. And when I joined uh Sequoia, they said we'd love for you to be our ambassador to EO. And so uh it was a wonderful opportunity for me to meet 165 local entrepreneurs, right? Yeah, it's great. Yeah, and I I I jumped on the opportunity because I wanted I almost pretended I was a member. So I would go to all the events and you were the best at it ever.

SPEAKER_04

Like everyone says that, by the way, to this day.

SPEAKER_03

Like what made him the best?

SPEAKER_04

Well, because he actually showed up, you participated, you engaged like at a different level. Because most of the sponsors are like they stand in the back of the room like waiting for someone to come to them. TJ was not that guy. He was like, I'm in, I'm figuring it out. Let me go understand like what you're doing, how can I help you?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. It was well, I I mean, it it's rooted in personal development. So if somebody if there was an opportunity for me to learn or grow or ask questions or or you know, poke around, like I'm all in. So it was it was a ton of fun.

SPEAKER_03

So what was your pathway into journey wealth?

SPEAKER_05

So um midway through my tenure at my old firm, I just felt this entrepreneurial itch. Um, you know, I always use the line of I wanted to sign the front of my paycheck and not the back. So it wasn't a structural issue, it was more of a personal issue. Um, and so um an opportunity presented itself at the end of 2020 where uh an existing advisor was looking for succession. Um, and it was a wonderful platform. Um, they provided services to uh it was a multifamily office that provided services to professional golfers. So everything from paying their bills to bookkeeping to assets under man, you know, to managing their assets to getting net jet hours to you name it, they hate their landscaper, we help them get a new landscaper. Um and so that platform, and these aren't your local range pros. I mean, these are, you know, just this year we had two guys on the writer cup team.

SPEAKER_02

Wow.

SPEAKER_05

So this was a really good, um, long-standing business. And this gentleman was looking for succession. And I formed a group of partners and we we um acquired that that part of the business, and we use that as the framework to build what is now today journey wealth.

SPEAKER_04

So I TJ, I don't we've never talked about this, but I remember this moment in time, and and there's like all those moments in time that you might remember not. During the pandemic, we didn't have that many. Like, I'm going to the orthodontist. I like I have like the Invisalign braces coming on, right? I'm pulling up to the off to the office, and you call me, you're like, hey, I want to buy this business. And you and I have this conversation. I sit in the parking lot for 30 minutes. I show up late to my orthodontist appointment, and we're just talking about it. I'm like giving you all the reasons why you shouldn't buy it. I'm like, hey, here's why, here's how it's happening. And at the end of the year, like, I'm gonna buy it. I'm like, sounds amazing.

SPEAKER_05

You should do it. Sounds great. Do you remember that? No, I I mean I remember talking to you about it, but I don't uh, you know, but I'm I I'm glad that I remember saying, so there's certain clients that you meet along the way or friends that you meet along the way that they encourage you. And in Chris being one of them, that was like, and I remember when I finally said we're doing it, he's like, All right, it's about damn time.

SPEAKER_04

Like it you know, you well, for you personally, it was about damn time. I was like, I was trying to sort through the business that you were buying to bolt on the new business that you saw in the future, which was like it is one of those moments like I can buy this business and then I'm gonna bolt on this business, which now the business you bought, this other business has surpassed by a third, two-thirds.

SPEAKER_05

So we've yeah, we've grown. When we acquired the golf business, it it meant 100% of our business, right? And so that roughly 200, 250 million of assets under management. Um, and just I mean, right now we're right around 1.4 billion. Um, so we did that in four years. Um, and we had four employees, now we have twenty six. So it's been quite a ride over the past four and a half years, and you know, just really exciting and and been a ton of fun.

SPEAKER_03

So you're like, don't buy the business. You say I'm doing it, and then you coach it.

SPEAKER_04

I didn't say don't buy it. Here's all the reasons you wouldn't buy it. No, he did a guest talk about it.

SPEAKER_03

But then you co-trade after that.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, yeah. Okay. Come on, Christine. I have a t-shirt that says let's talk about it, TJ. Yeah. Because we have to talk about it before you do it. Yeah. But he did it. So and and by the way, for those playing at home, 1.4 billion under management is like top two percent.

SPEAKER_05

So there's 17,000 RA firms in the country. Uh about uh a little over 500 have over a billion dollars of assets. We were able to do it in in a short period of time. And it that was never our goal. Our goal was to just deliver value to our clients and have a ton of fun doing it. You know, I I just wanted to build a firm that I wanted to be a client of. I mean, that's ultimately what we set forth to do. We all get one crack at it, you know, and we only get one crack at it. So it's like I might as well take a swing and build a firm that that I want to be a client of.

SPEAKER_03

So we brought you here today, impact moments. What was that moment, story, aha, that happened that really impacted you or your business?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, I mean, it's a it's a great question. Um, and as I just mentioned, I I wanted to build a firm that I wanted to be a client of. Um, and early on in our tenure, uh I had a client relationship. He came in and he had just finished his third private equity transaction. He had, you know, just amassed enough money that he'll never have to worry about money again. And and instead of celebrating this, you know, you know, pinnacle moment in his life, we spent time talking about, you know, um, he he's unhealthy in his relationships, his wife's depressed, his daughters don't talk to him, he's 70 pounds, 80 pounds overweight. And and at that moment, I, as soon as we finished up with the client, and I said, I went to our my partners, I said, we need to do more for our clients. We need to deliver more for our clients, but we need to think about additional services that we can do to surround our clients, to help them live their best life, to maximize what is our most valuable asset being time. Um, I mean, it doesn't matter how much money you have on uh or or how big your balance sheet is, if if if you're not really enjoying the time and and you're not maximizing the relationships. Um at that time, you know, we were instrumental, that was instrumental in helping us build the infrastructure, but it is today journey, where not in addition to, you know, managing assets and financial planning, which is at the core of what we do, we also have a wellness service offering. We went and hired an executive life coach on staff. We have strategic partnerships with precision healthcare and family counseling and addiction counseling, um, nutritionists, physical trainers. Um, so we we just want to help deliver value outside of just your normal, hey, the S P 500 went up 6%, right? Because, you know, that's the commoditized piece of the business. We really are, we want, we are very purpose-driven. Um, you know, we we really believe in the four pillars of wellness, and that's spiritual, emotional, physical, and of course, financial. So um, that aha moment, you know, sitting across the the table from that client really helped us build what is now today journey. Um, and as we built journey, and we kind of touched on it a little bit earlier, we knew that I always laugh with our partners is that when we first started, we were too nice to each other. We were too nice. We were too, no one was ready to have uncomfortable conversations. We kind of well, everybody was wearing multiple hats. And so um we have a lot of clients that have implemented and used EOS and have had a lot of success using it, and we knew that we we needed to do that. And when we implemented EOS and we got the, and with Chris's help, when we got the the right people in the right seats, when we got good at having uncomfortable conversations, when we got good at building out our core values and our business plans and driving everything back to our core values, it it really, it really has helped be us become more efficient and and help deliver the value that we we want to deliver to our clients.

SPEAKER_04

Well, I think we actually had to land on there for a moment, though, because you guys had to do the work. Like we we create the space for the work, but you had to do the work. And in that moment time, when you have four partners, equity owners, something like five, maybe something like that. That's not what EOS does. Like we don't do that. Like we create the space for it, but you actually had to go lean into it and go, okay, so what are we gonna do about this?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, what was the thing that really made you guys change mindset of like stop being nice and start being real? What about EOS made that possible?

SPEAKER_05

We kept falling off our bike. So you know, you know what I mean? You kept stepping in. Quarter after quarter, right? Like, here we are again. Skin in our knee. And it's like, geez, oh man, like what do we do? All right, and we finally said, let's commit to this. We're gonna, we're gonna commit to it, we're gonna follow the process, we're gonna humble ourselves, which is the biggest thing. Like, I'm not good at this, right? And humbling ourselves to admit that and saying, you let's get the right work to the right people. If we do, if we do that, we get the right work to the right people, we're gonna be able to deliver for our clients. And so um, it led with uncomfortable conversations, a lot of humility. And I'll and Chris has heard me say this before is I do not need to be a pioneer. We can be a settler. If there's a better way, I'm all in. If there's a way that they can, that we can, you know, expedite the process, be better and more efficient, I want to do it.

SPEAKER_03

So, what was that time frame like when you started EOS? Like when did you really start seeing some of that positive change happen?

SPEAKER_05

Well, I'm I'm gonna take step. So we tried to do it ourselves, which was just we should have had a video camera because Chris knows our team. It was a it was a comedy show of you know, we I love my partners. Each one of them is uniquely different and has different perspectives, which is which makes it special.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_05

Um, but I agree special. But when you get special, there was just a lot of like we'd sit there for three hours and be like, I have no idea what we just thought.

SPEAKER_03

Like trying to follow the agenda, but no one's really leading it, that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, and it just like we'd have tech calls, and I'm gonna meet Pete by the way. If you meet Pete, you'll understand. Yeah, Pete's the best. He's uh he's the lap dog. I mean, he he is the best. He's the best. But it's so when we tried to implement our own, we knew that we needed help. And then when we began the process and we truly like were were bought in, and we did have one partner who was really skeptical in the beginning. Yeah, and it was awesome to see this partner overcome the the skepticism and buy in because it really, when everyone galvanized, it really we really took off.

SPEAKER_03

What made them skeptical?

SPEAKER_05

She's finance compliance.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, like Christine, you and I have talked about this. Like I've done the 90-minute meeting so many times. And like I sit down, like, oh, you're either in finance or marketing. You didn't know what you're doing. And that's all I need to know. That's all I need to know. Like, as soon as I saw her, I'm like, all right, Lauren, let's do it.

SPEAKER_03

So what was the breakthrough for her?

SPEAKER_05

Well, I think it's just understanding that if we follow the process, you stick with it all of a sudden you're like, this is the results. Yeah. And when when you get to sit across from your partners and you commit to each other, uh, either the one thing commitment or or over the next 90 days, I'm gonna commit to this and I'm gonna follow through on it. And you see the results and you see that you're freeing up time, you're freeing up capacity, your team's growing, the clients are being better served. The it speaks for itself.

SPEAKER_03

The momentum build.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. I would say it was probably three quarters in before like she actually saw it. I might be wrong, but maybe it's two quarters, I don't know. But she actually was like, because we get to the the whole like end of the meeting, the quarterlies, we're like, rate the meeting, TJ. He's like, I'm a 10. And she was like, a 10. I'm like, oh, oh my God, TJ.

SPEAKER_05

She said that. She said, I was like, oh my God. Like she's the best. And you need that. You need incredible. You need that on your team. You need somebody that's gonna challenge if if everybody said yes all the time or everybody said no all the time, don't take it. You can't. And and so, and that's what's special about our firm is you know, the most important thing in is we uh I don't we won't do anything unless it it it it better serves the client. Yeah, I don't if it's a system or a process or a tool or a or a or an investment uh process, you know, product or whatever it is, it has to be in the best interest of the client, or we will not do it. Like it's a it's the Jeff Bezos, we leave a chair in the in the in the in the in the meeting room open to represent the client.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Well, you started your story with the conversation with that client and seeing that they needed more and then going to the team and saying, what more can we do? Did you feel like that was met with resistance, or was there a lot of change that had to happen to make sure you created that more holistic practice?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, it's a that's a great question. And and to be honest, uh finance people by nature are risk averse, right? It's your job. So when you say, hey, I really want to go and we I want to start talking about their feelings, or we want to start talking about nutrition, or or we're gonna introduce them to a family counselor, a lot of people are uncomfortable having that conversation, especially in the finance world. You know, if it's about, you know, how do we minimize tax or or we're gonna rebalance your portfolio, people are so the touchy-feely side of what I what we wanted to bring to the table, it was met with skepticism. I don't know if this is gonna work. I don't know. And and and I look at our clients, the average age of our client is 54 years old. The average employee we have is 40, 42. And to put it in perspective, our industry, the average client in the industry is in their late 60s, early 70s, and the advisors are are you know in their late 50s, early 60s. So we skew much younger. And when we look at our our our clients, they want more. They want more than just just the the managing your portfolio. They want, and they in in in especially 70% of our client base are are uh outside of the golf practice, but 70% of our golf of our client base are entrepreneurs. And business owners don't have time and the they want tools and things that they can maximize not only the time, but how can they get better? Personal development.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And so, especially the younger entrepreneurs, so it married really well with our what our clients were looking for, how we could deliver value. Um, and it's not a hundred percent, right? Like we got some work to do. Um, but um there isn't anything we want to be the one-stop shop for our clients. If I sit across from a couple and they tell me that we want to retire at 65 years old, we want to take our grandkids on a hike in the Grand Canyon, and and you're they're 55 and they just told me they're a hundred, clearly a hundred pounds overweight. They just told me they haven't talked to their daughters in in in two years. I'm giving them a timeout and saying, that's a wonderful goal that we can build into the plan, but we got a lot of work to do to get there. Right. And none of it has financial.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_05

None of it's financial. That's the easy part. You know, like we need to get healthy. We need to get healthy in our our relationships, we need to get healthy physically. And of course, I won't, you know, you say it more diplomatically than that, but that's the truth.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, well, it reminds me of what you talk about where you sit your clients down like, what does everybody think this is worth? What do we need it to be worth? And having that real conversation of what do we expect and what are our goals and then what are realities.

SPEAKER_04

Right. And in that moment's like a business conversation. So it's like, all right, the business is worth like two million dollars and you want $10 million. But then TJ goes, all right, between two and ten, what are you gonna do about it personally, family, financially? Like, what are you gonna do? Right. And that's why like I think we've worked well really well together. It's because like keep breaking going, I don't know, that's not my that's not what I do. I do frameworks and business. You guys go solve that.

SPEAKER_03

Right.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Right. So when you were implementing all of these like new services, you didn't really like internally have any like team pushback or rejection or anything with that. You kind of like went full steam ahead into like this full ideal world.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, let's do it. Yeah. I mean, let's do it. And in in and if you go into it knowing that you're gonna, you're like no entrepreneur goes undefeated. None. But if you continue to work towards something that you know, A, there's a there's an appetite for in the marketplace, and B, you're actually delivering value. Even if we lose money on this in the short term, like I know we're delivering value to the clients. I know we are. And so we just gotta, we gotta continue to refine it and get better. And it's, you know, and it's working.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I'm curious about the moment too. You were went from self-implementing to getting an implementer. Was there a moment where you said, like, oh, like we need to do this right now? Or did did it kind of just like organically happen over time?

SPEAKER_05

No, I mean, I there's one thing that I remember is where I was one of my partners, I I love them dearly. He kept including me on these technology calls. And one of we're vetting providers and and we're vetting, you know, um, and uh I was being I would sit on the hour of this call and I have a short attention span. And after the call, he's like, Well, what'd you think? And I'm like, I don't know. I lost, I wasn't paying attention. Like be honest. Like I I I at the end of the call, I would say, whoever you think is the you know the budget, you know what we're looking to accomplish. I trust you more than I trust myself to make this decision. Like, so let's do it. Like if you think this is the right go, I'm all in.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And so when we started having open dialogue, that and it's like, all right, good, like I I'm I have the autonomy to make these decisions, right? I I have the freedom in and and I have the trust of my partners to make these decisions, and we have an aligned vision, like like that that was kind of the aha moment. Like, all right, good, you run in your lane, I'll run in my lane, and you know, we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll meet it. And if there's an issue, we'll talk about it. But yeah, um, so that was that I I was overt in saying, please don't include me on those anymore.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Is there a moment for you that sticks out as like an impact moment, like working with Journey well from any of the quarterlies you've done?

SPEAKER_04

I I would say core values, like when we started the core values, like they they came off really strong. And then we had to have the conversation about activation. Do you remember this? It's like, how well are they activated? Like, all right, team, tell me about them. Because you guys were like out of the gates, strong, like the leadership team knew the core values. And then like quarter after quarter, like we had probably two quarters in a row where it was not well activated. Like, like, well, maybe they they understand, they don't understand. What could we do different and better?

SPEAKER_01

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05

And that's how but that's the b that's the fun part about this. Like I drive home a lot and and I'm, you know, like there's times where you feel like you're Jerry McGuire swinging free falling, and there's other times you're white knuckle on the steering wheel. Yeah. But we get to do this, right? And if there's ways that we get to improve and get better and in the activation of the core values so that our team members knew what our core values were, that we're hiring on them, we're we're firing them on them, we're selecting clients on them, and we're actually like these are that embody our it it it didn't happen overnight, and nothing good happens overnight, you know? Like nothing good happens overnight. I agree. Yeah, yeah. So that you know, like it's been fun to, you know, and and you know, you when you every quarter we show up again, TJ, we're gonna do it again.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And it's great.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, and uh, and I don't know, you we I know we just met, but like authenticity is really important to us in being ourselves, right? And just and and living in the world of abundance is a critical value of our firm. And and like those are rooted in everything we do. And and I love I mean, I love it. And our our employees know it and our clients know it. And so, um, yeah, that that that's it's that's been that's been a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_03

What do you think is the best thing that you've done as you've scaled the business people-wise, to help reinforce that like really healthy, positive culture aligned around your core values?

SPEAKER_05

I'll give you an example. So we uh Uh I mean we celebrate, you know, like in and I think oftentimes we um everybody laments the losses or if somebody does something wrong, but we're like we celebrate the wins. You know, if somebody we have a new employee and they win a new client or they accomplish something, like we'll call we'll shout it out. Like, hey, special shout out. Our wellness initiative, right? We want, we want to challenge our employees and our clients to live their best life. Um, and and I set forth what's called a Masogi, which is an you know, Japanese tradition of it came from the book Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter. So this past year, my annual challenge was I I um with a client, another client, he helped me do it. We hiked the Highland Bowl and we skied down. And so I shared that with the team. And one of our team members said, you know, I really thought about doing a triathlon. And he's if you met the guy, like you'd be like, you did it, no. But he's buddy, no. Uh sorry. He trained, he's and we celebrated it. Like he said, you know, and we put it on a board right outside so everybody can see and track it, and we supported him. And before the rate, like it's just a community of like inclusion and supporting, and and so we celebrate the wins. In in a in a month, we're we're having a huge party to celebrate our five-year anniversary, crossing a billion dollars. Um, it's too easy to forget about those things and keep, you know, trying to switch to the next goal and the next thing. Yeah, I don't want to get stuck in the gap.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

You know, I don't I don't. I want to celebrate the wins. I wanna, it's it is a testament to how hard our team has worked and and how how much we appreciate our clients. So you have to celebrate it.

SPEAKER_03

I've been asking everyone this. You've obviously had a lot of success. You grew your business very well. I want to know a struggle. What do you feel like is your biggest fuck up? You're I wanna go back, I wish that didn't happen. Is there anything that comes to mind?

SPEAKER_05

Uh I mean, so I think anything, I I actually like in like if you screw up, you you you learn something from it, right? So um the one thing I'm gonna tell you I struggle with in in in is time. Like I we focus so much on I want our clients to live our best life, that's our most valuable asset. But I I personally need to do a better job of saying no because I enjoy saying yes so much. So um by doing that, I I know that sometimes it it it can hurt client relationships or it can hurt my family. So if you're talking about if there's one thing I can go back or continue to need to prove on is that like the time management side of it is I am overcommitted in in certain things that I really enjoy and and believe in. Um you know, as it relates to right clients, you know, we've had a couple client relationships that we've had to let go of because they weren't, they weren't, they were tasking the team, they weren't what we were doing, or they weren't in the best interest, and we probably hung on to them too long, which is is something that we need to to be better at as a firm. Our employees are our number one asset. Like our employees to me are uh as important, if not more important, than our clients, and we owe it to them to to to have the right clients and to provide the right opportunities and to in reasonable expectations, right?

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_05

Um, so you know, early on when you start a business, you're like, hey, do you have a pulse? Oh, good, I'll take you as a client. How much money can you? Okay, okay. I can pay that money. So now as we've grown and we've segmented our business and we've gotten the right teams in the right in the right spots, I think being more deliberate in the client relationships that we take on is has helped. Um, so I I think that's one thing that we've gotten way better at is getting the right work to the right people, having the right teams. And I think it's the the biggest, you know, um, you know, screw up is also early on in the business is not admitting when you don't like I can't do this, right? Like in in turning it over to a partner and be like, dude, I can't do this. You have to do this, or or humbly admit admitting to when you're in over your skis. And I think I think a lot of entrepreneurs have a hard time doing that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I think they have a hard time saying, I I I need help. You know, like I can't, I I I, you know, this isn't working.

SPEAKER_03

Are there certain things that you like lean on to help with like the delegation or time management or anything like that?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, I'm deliberate and routine. Like my routine is I wake up at 5 a.m. every day, I pray, I read, I I I get you know, locked and loaded for the day. I go work out, I can't come in. And I'm sure some of my my partners and employees don't, you know, like it's it's 7 50 and I'm like dialed in, like this is what we need to do today. Like um, and that's been really helpful in in there's days where you have to focus on process. There's days if you have to focus on on projects, people, you know, procedures. So outlining those days, being systematic in the framework is is been helpful in in that. Um, and again, if there's something that's that I am I'm in belief that you should only spend your time doing the things only you can do. And if I'm in things that like I don't do the the modeling and the planning and the software because I will screw it up. I I I don't do it. You know, like I can do it, but the team would be like, could you get out of there? Like, you know, you're you're slowing me down. You you inputted the wrong key. So I I really believe that if if everybody can, you know, gets in a role in a position that they feel most strategic and that they feel that oh it's the work that only they can do, you're gonna maximize success.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and I know you talk about delegate and elevate a lot and people like really writing down and thinking about here's what I should give up, because like even if I'm good at it, somebody else can be too. And I like if I don't like doing it and I'm good at it, I really shouldn't be working on that.

SPEAKER_04

And it's every quarter. Like, I think TJ's his his his whole discipline's great because like every quarter we look at that and we go, here's my seat, here's where I sit, what can I delegate?

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_04

And if I can, I do, and if I can, I can't, but I acknowledge I can't until the point that I can. When I can, I delegate it because you should, right?

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_04

And that's how you uh and that's how you escalate your whole role.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. And it's we've been deliberate recently at hiring ahead. We've been really good about hiring ahead of the growth. And now I feel we have an a fantastic team and we have capacity. And it's it's like taken a weight off of all of our shoulders. Now you have people who can do the work and it's working. And now my next 12 months for the business is just run the play.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Run the play. We have the team, we have the project, we have the like let's go. Let's just run the play.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_05

Until something else happens and then we'll figure it out.

SPEAKER_04

I I would like to like say uh on your behalf to the user and the anyone who's listening, your operations department, which is Anthony, like he ran the play hard for like multiple quarters before you guys could. Is that fair? That's fair. That's fair, right? Like he was like 60, 80 hours. I'm like, he was doing it all. And now you guys are in that place where you can. So, but I I just want to say that because people think that it, you know, wow, why don't what that's not us yet? It's like, not yet. But it's coming. You have to have an Anthony, you have to have somebody who's going to go do that work to get to that place where you can escalate and do the right work next.

SPEAKER_05

That's right. Yeah, I mean, a hundred percent. And and I mean, it is it's a it's a grind. I mean, like and and it's becoming less and less of a grind. It's becoming more fun, more strategic. It's always fun. I mean, you it's it's it's always fun, but it's la it's less of a grind, you know, it's in in in certain things.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I like following uh Sarah Blakely, and she's a big like, if I'm not having fun, like something's not working. Yeah. Um, so I feel like I very much resonate with that.

SPEAKER_05

I don't know if I'd have fun wearing her product. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

She's a good follow though. Lots of like hilarious stories about the things that she did, rearranging things, and Neiman Marcus like get in the door. So it's she's got a good startup.

SPEAKER_05

She does and and that's the other part of this, is there's a lot of humor in in like I I just have fun and like like I I enjoy, like you have to have fun while you're doing it. And this is about as dressed up as we get.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And um it's not about pomp and circumstance, it's about delivering value to the clients. It's about having fun, working with people you want to work with. And it's also about saying, I don't, I don't know the answer to this, or I need help. Um, and and you know, if if as long as we can humble ourselves, uh say I I need help, and and you know, I I don't know, the rest will the rest will take care of itself.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I'm curious to go back to, I feel like it's a very relatable experience to have to fire a client or get to the place where like you realize it and like wow, big decision. How long did it take you to make that? And like, what was that process like? Talk us through it.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, the first time this was a friend and which made it harder, but all the services and what they were looking for, we just weren't the best. We we couldn't provide what he was looking for. Um, and so it finally came to a point when you receive emails or phone calls from that particular person and it just makes you anxious and you don't want to pick it up.

SPEAKER_03

That's like avoiding replying.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, like, oh, I can't do it. Not again. So um, and wonderful person, I we just knew it wasn't the right fit. And so we made a conscious decision to to, you know, part ways. And I think the relationship's stronger now than it when, and I feel like they were feeling the same way too, right? And it's just having those uncomfortable conversations. And we've gotten really good at if your job is to eat a frog, it's best to do it in the morning. If your job is to eat two, eat the bigger one first. So have be okay with having uncomfortable conversations and call it out from the beginning because you know, most of the time it's that they may be feeling the same thing. And, you know, we've made it abundantly clear to our employees that we choose you, right? So if there's, you know, if there's a client who's a jerk or not doing well, which thankfully we don't have any right now, um, but we choose you and and and it's okay. Sometimes clients we live in the world of abundance. There's a better firm that's that that may be a better fit for them. So, but I could tell you if it's putting stress on your team, if it's putting, you know, stress, if you if you're anxious to take a phone call or or you know, we all have relationships where they're awesome clients and sometimes things are just clunky and you're like, oh no, you know, like that just happens, right? It's just like the Murphy's Law, like the most detailed client, all of a sudden something gets screwed up, and you know, but it makes you better, right? It makes you better. And I think, you know, in our in our firm, we have kind of debrief meetings. So after we meet with a client, we meet and say, okay, what could we have done better? Could we have communicated better? I know, and I'll lead it by saying, dude, I talked way too much about this, or or I didn't, I forgot to cover this, or their main concern was that, and we kind of brushed it over. So let's make sure. And we have, you know, Ray Dalio and from the the principles laid love radical truth. Now, I don't know if radical truth is, you know, I don't know if we'd go to hundred everybody wants to hear the truth until you tell them the truth, and then they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so not so much. Yeah. So I think constructive feedback and how we can get better, I think those are things that we've taken from our meetings. And then I think it's implemented in how we can service our clients better, but ultimately as we vet clients. Yeah. You know, like do we really think, do we really want this? If someone's hammering us about fees and they're hammering us about this or that, like, not sure we want this client in long term.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I I mean I love radical candor for that reason too, because it's like, yeah, radical truth, that's all great, but the delivery matters a lot. And so, like that kind of nuanced. Do I look good in this dress?

SPEAKER_05

No, you look really fat. Yeah, no, you know, not helpful.

SPEAKER_03

Well, that's my last yeah. My last question for you is what are you watching, listening to? So books, podcasts, articles, like what's inspiring you right now?

SPEAKER_05

I love, and I've I've talked about this in the past, I love the Founders podcast. And David Center uh reads autobiographies and biographies about famous, by about famous um entrepreneurs. Cool. From Rockefeller to Elon Musk to Steve Jobs to, you know, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, James Dyson, um, Sam Zamury. Uh the list goes on and on. Um, and in that you you just learn their entrepreneurial story, you learn all the, you know, Bill Walton, you learn or or uh Sam Walton, I mean you you learn all the tricks of the trade, and you uh unequivocally, every one of them failed.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Every one of them, you know, so oftentimes we get so hard on ourselves as business owners, like, oh, it has to be perfect. It doesn't. Like, you're like, you're gonna fail, right? And you just have to realize that even the great ones before you fail, but how did they get better? And so I've I love listening to those podcasts. I love reading, you know. I I I really do. I I I I read every night. I'm like a little, you know, kid. I suck my thumb and read my book before I go to bed. So but from everything from biographies of entrepreneurs to to um, you know, I love like Comfort Crisis is a perfect example, or from Strength to Strength by Arthur Book Brooks, you know, Die With Zero is another book that I really have enjoyed. I love Morgan Housel books like Psychology of Money. I'm actually really excited about reading his his new book that just came out. So just little things I I will tell for all the listeners, um, for new employees, we always um the go-giver is a fantastic book for those starting out in their careers. Is you know, we we often forget that in order to reach our full potential or or full success full successes, we have to give more than we take.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Right. And so um, I love giving the go-giver book and I reread it. I love listening to Jamie Diamond's Harvard commencement speech from 2009, and he talks about um it's a fan. I listen to it once a year, and it's just um I loved Citadel. Uh the CEO of Citadel, just gave Ken Griffin, just gave a he gave a talk to Yale, uh, Yale students. He doesn't really, you don't see a whole lot of interviews on him, but he gave uh a wonderful hour and six-minute thing you can find on YouTube. So yeah, just is if again, I'm not a pioneer. If I can settle and take stuff from other people, I'm I'm I'm also that's great.

SPEAKER_03

And so you require all of your employees to read the go-giver, too.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, so they have a kind of a book club. And every every every month there, you know, there's a different book that the uh the the team reads and they talk and they discuss and are they happy about it?

SPEAKER_03

Do they like it?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, I mean, and a lot I mean, some of the books are more educational and and you know, what like Nick Murray books on how to you know be a better advisor and other ones are personal development, you know, like in in the comfort crisis is a big thing. Like I want you to challenge yourself, you know, like um so yeah, that's that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, thank you for that. Lots of interesting resources that we can link out to. I'm curious. So for people that want to reach out to you, what's the best way to do that?

SPEAKER_05

Our website, journey journey-wealth.com, is a is is a wonderful resource. My email's there, my my phone number's there. Yes, I'm giving out my phone number for those of you that want to call or text. Uh I'm available. Um, happy to chat to whomever. Um so our website's a wonderful resource. The 903 Collective is uh is our wellness division, our wellness arm. So for those of you interested in life coaching or or precision healthcare or or or you know, want to learn more about that space, um, there's the 903collective.com.

SPEAKER_03

Great. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it. We'll link out to all of those things uh in the notes.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, thank you for having me. This is time. I'm sorry, I could be long-winded, I could talk forever. So thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_03

No, we love it. Yeah. So thanks everyone for listening to Impact Moments Card by 90. We'll see you next time. What an awesome conversation with TJ. I loved his perspective and how he really listened to his clients to understand what they need and how that led him to actually make real tangible changes in his business and how he opened up those new areas that he can serve as his clients. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any of our upcoming conversations. We'd also love it if you leave us a rating. It really helps our leaders and entrepreneurs find the show. And if TJ's story resonated with you, whether it's the wellness side, the EOS journey, or just figuring out how to get the right people in the right seats, head over to 90.il, see how the platform can help you build the kind of business you actually want to run. We'll link out to Journey Wealth, the 903 Collective in the show notes, along with some of the books and resources TJ mentioned, uh, the Founders podcast, the Go Giver, Comfort Crisis, and a few others if you want to check those out. Thanks so much for listening to Impact Moments Powered by 90, and we'll see you next time.