From Paper Routes to Entrepreneurship and How to Handle Your Money with Tom Kosnik - 127

[00:00:00] , Mom and Dad, can you borrow me some money for a new bike? They said, no, you've got

[00:00:06] to paper out. So you need to save your money from the paper out when you get enough money

[00:00:12] then you can go buy your own bike. And of course I thought that was the I thought that

[00:00:18] was a cruel and unusual punishment when I was a kid. But when I think about it now, guys that

[00:00:24] lesson, 11-12 year old, it's carried me through my whole life.

[00:00:30] Welcome to Money Talk with Skyler Fleming where money matters become conversation starters.

[00:00:34] Let's get talking. Welcome to today's episode of Money Talk with Skyler Fleming. In today's

[00:00:39] episode we're talking with Tom Cosnik. I know Tom through my day job as a marketing

[00:00:43] manager. We've known each other for a few years and we always have little money talks

[00:00:46] here and there. We talk about what we're doing with our money and so on. So as I started

[00:00:50] to reach out to more everyday people and not financial experts, Tom was one that came

[00:00:55] to my mind as someone that I should have on my podcast. Today's episode is a great conversation

[00:00:59] with someone who started their own business and runs their own business. Tom has a lot

[00:01:03] of knowledge and experience with managing his money and talking to people about money

[00:01:07] in all sorts of different business situations. So make sure you're ready to take away some

[00:01:11] great tips from today's episode because there's a lot that Tom has to share in this interview.

[00:01:16] We discussed how money was exemplified for him as a kid and not just talked about and

[00:01:20] how that can be useful for children. How can you feel confident in your life with your

[00:01:23] money and how do you manage your money when also trying to start and run a business?

[00:01:27] Tom also shared not one but two great tips that he wishes he would have known sooner

[00:01:31] and number two is going to be really hopeful for a lot of people out there. So make sure

[00:01:35] you stick around to the end of the interview. The money talking points for today's

[00:01:38] episode are who can you talk to that handles money professionally about what they do

[00:01:42] with their money and two. How has money management shown to you as a kid with the money

[00:01:47] talking points in mind? Let's get right into today's episode.

[00:01:50] Hello everybody, welcome to today's interview on Money Talk with Scanner Fleming. I'm

[00:02:03] joined today by Tom Cosmic and I'm really excited for this interview because Tom and

[00:02:07] I have known each other for a few years at this point and we've always had little discussions

[00:02:11] here and there about money but we're going to sit down and throw down the gauntlet today

[00:02:14] on financial discussions. Tom, would you go ahead and introduce yourself for everyone?

[00:02:19] Yeah, first off, Scott, thank you so much for inviting me to be on the podcast. Tom Cosmic,

[00:02:24] I'm out of Chicago. I am the founder of an organizational development consulting company

[00:02:30] called Vices Group and Vices is a Latin word that means vision. So we help entrepreneurs

[00:02:37] reach their dreams by seeing the world differently. And yes, you and I have talked on and off

[00:02:43] about investing and money. And so happy to be here and share some thoughts.

[00:02:49] Yeah, this will be fun. This is definitely one of my get-to-hear from the more everyday

[00:02:53] people, not the financial professionals per se but people who have financial experience

[00:02:58] because that's all of us. So awesome, let's go ahead and jump right into it. How was

[00:03:02] money discussed or handled in your home or around you as a kid when you were growing up?

[00:03:08] Yeah, I would say it wasn't discussed much but it was more modeled. And what I mean by that

[00:03:18] is that my folks, they budgeted my dad invested in stocks and by the way, it just wasn't my dad,

[00:03:27] like all my uncles invested in stock and talked about their investments.

[00:03:34] And my mom and dad had a budget. I was one of 10 and so you have a group like that,

[00:03:43] you have to budget. So the other thing, a quick story, I was 11 years old when I got my first job.

[00:03:55] I was a paper boy. Got a paper route on Cunningham Street and I had to walk my paper route.

[00:04:03] It was about, it was actually one mile to the paper station and then from the paper station,

[00:04:12] it was half a mile to the street, the Cunningham Street that my route was on and then I would

[00:04:20] walk my route. Oh, if the weather was a little questionable, I'd say to my mom, oh, can you drive me

[00:04:26] to the paper station and they were like, no, no, you've got to, that's your job. You got to walk

[00:04:34] and well, hey, mom and dad, can you borrow me some money for a new bike? And they said, no,

[00:04:43] you've got a paper route. So you need to save your money from the paper route when you get enough

[00:04:49] money, then you can go buy your own bike. And of course I thought that was cruel and unusual

[00:04:57] punishment when I was a kid. But when I think about it now, guys, that lesson, 11, 12-year-old,

[00:05:05] it's carried me through my whole life. When it comes to houses and cars.

[00:05:10] You got to save up for what you want. Vacations, all that stuff. It's not, it's not, oh,

[00:05:18] oh, we want to go to Europe for a month. Well, let's go take out a $20,000 loan to go do that.

[00:05:24] So that's how money, like I say, we didn't sit around a kitchen table and talk about money,

[00:05:30] but it was really more modeled than anything else. And then of course, the story I just

[00:05:36] told about the example of self-ideal money. How do you think, would you think that talking about it

[00:05:43] is better than modeling it? Or do you think that modeling it is what ultimately helped you? Do

[00:05:47] you think it would have stuck if you just sat there and talked about it? Hey, you know, this is so

[00:05:51] interesting in my previous life. I was a pastoral associate. And first my first career I worked for

[00:06:00] the church. And I read and for several years ran youth programs for the church. And I remember

[00:06:10] somebody, some wise soul said to me, you know, your kids will not remember what you prayed for,

[00:06:21] what they will remember is that you took time to pray. And so when you think about, yes, at some point

[00:06:28] when kids can understand certain things about money, it makes sense to talk to them about it.

[00:06:37] But that's like 16-year-old, 18-year-old. And even that, 16-year-old, 21-year-old, 22-year-old,

[00:06:45] even that you talk about money and money investment at different levels at different stages.

[00:06:52] And so, but yes, important to talk about it and important to my kids when I was raising my kids.

[00:07:01] I mean we talked, you know, I started very simple. They had babysitting jobs and things like that.

[00:07:09] Okay guys, you got $100 here. Like 20% of this is you could spend, that you can put it in your wallet

[00:07:16] and spend, and you know 40% of this, you're going to put into some kind of a long term investment.

[00:07:22] Another 20%, you're going to put it in a savings account so that you can pull it out quick if you need it.

[00:07:28] And they were like the baby-saving jobs and kayaking jobs and like the three big, right,

[00:07:38] the three big camps. But just even as little ones growing up, I mean we talked to them.

[00:07:43] I would tell my wife and my talk to our kids about that.

[00:07:47] Awesome, and I like the approach of model it for kids instead of just talking to them about it because

[00:07:53] it probably won't stick. Make sure you're showing them specific examples. That's where cash can still be

[00:07:59] useful is when you're teaching kids how to handle physical paper instead of just numbers on a screen.

[00:08:04] It's so funny, opposites attract. So my wife was like 180 degrees opposite of me.

[00:08:09] Like she's, I have to tie her down to a chair to get her to budget with me.

[00:08:17] And of course my, we have two kids and my oldest special needs so that's a whole

[00:08:23] mother, another one. But the other two, oh my gosh they're just so frugal.

[00:08:29] Of course my wife says thank god they got your money management cheat.

[00:08:34] There you go. Well how did you, how did you find that gene? How did you learn about money?

[00:08:38] Like as you're growing up sure yes you were modeled some save for what you want and then buy it with

[00:08:43] the cash you have. How do you continue to earn and grow? Sure. I saw a couple of things one.

[00:08:51] So I got into business or I started my organization development consulting firm. And then of course

[00:08:58] you're talking with people at own businesses. And so if you own a business

[00:09:03] you have to understand finances. And so and then my consulting practice moved into looking

[00:09:11] at financial statements and balance sheets and just like anything I start I start reaching out

[00:09:17] to people, I take classes on on, oh hey okay so what is so, how does a balance sheet work?

[00:09:24] And why is a balance sheet so important? And you know what has retained earnings and

[00:09:28] what are these the different loans. And so obviously if you run a business you need to know that.

[00:09:35] So it's as Skyler as you know I'm a ferocious reader. I'm always either suggesting or given

[00:09:43] you guys things to read as we're talking but so hey look I'm eating lunch. You know I'll pull

[00:09:52] up a talk from Warren Buffett or I'll pull up a talk from somebody. There's maybe a

[00:09:59] financial investor that's gotten some press. I'll listen to YouTube videos or interviews, read

[00:10:11] books, talk to other professionals frankly I've learned a lot from talking to other professionals.

[00:10:19] Business owners yes but I'd say more like CFOs that hey tell me about your investment strategies.

[00:10:28] How you know you said something the other day and I just want to understand how's that part of

[00:10:32] your investment strategy? So you got to seek you got to seek it out and talk to folks. And

[00:10:42] and when you ask people hey can you teach me or can hey help me explain or can you explain

[00:10:50] this to me? Of course, people love to talk about their financial wisdom. They're happy to share

[00:10:55] with you whatever they know. Yeah so there's a lot of great resources out there. There's a lot

[00:11:02] of things that you can watch read everything like that. You really I think in that last question

[00:11:07] highlighted talking to other people a lot. You feel like that helps you be confident with money

[00:11:12] in your life or how do you how do you feel confident when it comes to your finances? Yeah talking

[00:11:16] to talking to other people but yes today today I feel very confident and so I think that we're

[00:11:26] here at I'll tell you another quick story. And again this was more so seek out advice.

[00:11:34] I always seek out advice. Regardless of if you think you're a genius or not and I'm no

[00:11:39] genius but unless it comes to frying eggs, my daughter says she spoiled she can't fry an egg

[00:11:51] again so I said well just the 10,000 hours of fried eggs but anyway the you know seeking out

[00:11:59] advice. So here when my wife and I we were living in Louisville, Kentucky and we moved back up to

[00:12:04] just Chicago Land Area and this was in this was the this was the pre prime mortgage and we bought a

[00:12:11] condo two blocks from Ridley Field. I mean it was to us at that point it was like oh my gosh you

[00:12:17] know I think back now it's it's still a lot of money but to us and where we were with the kids

[00:12:24] in the little kids and we're moving into this moving into this condo. And the realtors you know I

[00:12:30] said to the to the realtor is a guy that sold us the who's helping us to buy it. I said hey I

[00:12:35] want a 30 year fixed. I want a 30 year fixed mortgage. Oh no Tom you don't want a 30 year fixed

[00:12:42] you want a 15 year with an arm. You're not going to live here and you know just buy this and

[00:12:49] and then I want a 30 year fixed loan. Oh Tom you don't love please nobody gets so there

[00:12:58] nobody gets a 30 year fixed loan anymore that's you do this this is how we do this. This is

[00:13:04] this and and and you pay interest only and of course I'm thinking as soon as I heard you pay

[00:13:10] interest only for five years and I'm like what. Yeah that's that's that's that's like you're

[00:13:17] don't think they need to the bank.

[00:13:19] Yes, like that anybody could do.

[00:13:22] And I mean, this guy tried to convince me

[00:13:26] to get this 15 year with some kind of this arm

[00:13:32] and investment and interest on that craziness.

[00:13:37] Give me a 30-year fixed loan.

[00:13:39] Hey, Skyler, guess what happens?

[00:13:41] The subprime mortgage hits the great recession.

[00:13:45] I never missed a payment.

[00:13:48] No, I never missed a payment.

[00:13:49] I've never missed a mortgage payment.

[00:13:53] I can't remember if I've ever been late on a mortgage payment.

[00:13:56] That's another thing that my folks taught me.

[00:13:59] Like interest is, don't pay interest.

[00:14:05] Just, I mean, OK, you buy a car, you buy a house,

[00:14:07] you're going to pay interest.

[00:14:09] But look, what's the rule of thumb?

[00:14:13] You make two extra house payments a year

[00:14:16] and you're going to cut your interest in half.

[00:14:18] Yeah, it's crazy when you start a little bit of extra

[00:14:21] with a long way with houses.

[00:14:22] Oh, so hey, look, Skyler, so I learned,

[00:14:25] did I pay my mortgage?

[00:14:29] But then I pay another $1,200 or $2 grand

[00:14:32] or whatever it is towards principal.

[00:14:34] And I'm just reducing the interest on that.

[00:14:38] So small ideas like that.

[00:14:41] But hey, the point is that story that I was telling

[00:14:44] is that I was confident enough in myself

[00:14:48] to tell this broker.

[00:14:49] I mean, this guy was pounding on me hard

[00:14:51] to get this kind of no.

[00:14:54] So at one point, I reached out to my dad.

[00:14:57] I said, Dad, this guy's trying to end up and then my dad said,

[00:14:59] don't do it.

[00:15:01] Don't do it.

[00:15:02] You're thinking right.

[00:15:06] I didn't know you otherwise.

[00:15:07] I would ask you for a bite.

[00:15:09] Yeah, I might not have been born yet.

[00:15:11] I don't know yet.

[00:15:12] I don't know where I was.

[00:15:14] But that's great.

[00:15:16] I like that story.

[00:15:17] Yeah, you build confidence by building a network,

[00:15:22] by reading, by experience, and look,

[00:15:26] trusting your intuition.

[00:15:28] This smells funny.

[00:15:30] This doesn't seem right.

[00:15:33] Not getting pressured into some kind

[00:15:36] of a financial decision.

[00:15:39] Whether that's a time share, whether that's

[00:15:46] a gym membership, sign on a dotted line,

[00:15:50] and I'm going to be paying the gym membership five years

[00:15:53] after I'm dead.

[00:15:55] Read the fine print.

[00:15:57] So anyway, you build confidence with a lot of those.

[00:16:03] Yeah, a lot of them.

[00:16:04] I like what you said about if you're feeling pressure,

[00:16:06] maybe that's a chance to take a step back

[00:16:08] and realize that something might not be quite right.

[00:16:10] Like why are they?

[00:16:11] He might have wanted you to take that 15 year

[00:16:13] because he had a bigger commission on it or something like that

[00:16:16] because the bank was going to make a ton of money

[00:16:17] on that interest.

[00:16:19] And that's something you want to avoid.

[00:16:20] It's just pay his little interest in your life as possible

[00:16:22] and you'll probably do OK.

[00:16:24] That's a good thing to take away from here.

[00:16:26] But let's move into your business.

[00:16:28] You mentioned you started your business a while ago.

[00:16:31] How do personal finances come into play

[00:16:34] when you're starting that business?

[00:16:36] You said you're talking to CFOs,

[00:16:37] you're talking to business owners, so you had to learn that.

[00:16:40] Boy, so yeah, so in terms of business,

[00:16:44] in terms of business, you just have

[00:16:49] to leverage the game up in terms of your financial management

[00:16:52] and financial understanding.

[00:16:53] So I like, again, so for me personally,

[00:16:56] I know these folks where they're not

[00:16:58] going to pay an account in a couple thousand dollars a year

[00:17:01] to do their taxes or manage their books on a quarterly basis.

[00:17:05] So I've always had an account from my business

[00:17:10] and an account into that I could go to with questions

[00:17:13] and ask questions and things like that.

[00:17:16] But look, you start a business.

[00:17:20] It's the first couple of years at Skini.

[00:17:25] It's, yeah.

[00:17:27] I think about the newer Packard guys starting HP

[00:17:31] in their garage share all those great stories like that.

[00:17:35] But the number one reason Skylar and Y Businesses fail

[00:17:41] is that they're under-capitalized.

[00:17:43] So with business, you want to start a business.

[00:17:49] The kind of the rule of thumb is,

[00:17:50] hey, like you think you're going to need a half a million dollars,

[00:17:53] you're really going to need a million dollars

[00:17:55] and you think you're going to break even in a year.

[00:17:57] You'll be breaking even in two years.

[00:18:01] You double those two things.

[00:18:03] But really where the financial management comes in

[00:18:06] is that you just don't know even your best cash flow estimates

[00:18:14] on business and starting a business,

[00:18:18] you just don't know things come up

[00:18:21] that you have to invest in or that you have to do.

[00:18:23] And then you really, for my experience

[00:18:28] and I think the experience of a lot of entrepreneurs

[00:18:31] is that like you, you skinny it down for the first few pairs.

[00:18:36] I mean, there were times where,

[00:18:39] you know, my, I said to my wife, I came home.

[00:18:42] I said, honey, like for the next six months

[00:18:45] we're not going to be bringing a paycheck home.

[00:18:47] It's, you know, the employees are going to get paid

[00:18:50] but like if we want to keep this business

[00:18:53] what we either go into a terrible downturn

[00:18:56] or something's happening right now.

[00:18:58] So but I said, hey, like I'm doing a cash flow on this.

[00:19:01] And so yeah, with the business it's,

[00:19:08] yeah, it's important to understand all those dynamics

[00:19:12] and cash flow and how much money you need.

[00:19:15] And then your own personal.

[00:19:20] And that's another mistake that I see businesses make

[00:19:25] or business owners make is that they,

[00:19:30] you know, they buy a boat and they put it through the business.

[00:19:32] They buy a second home and they put it through the business.

[00:19:35] They put their kids on the payroll

[00:19:37] and they put the kids are not working in the business.

[00:19:39] And you know, there's whatever,

[00:19:43] you know, there's different rules of,

[00:19:47] there's different advice on all that stuff.

[00:19:50] But I've, me personally, I've always kept it very clean.

[00:19:54] I've always kept business clean from the personal.

[00:19:58] And I sleep well at night and makes it easier for you.

[00:20:03] That's, I'm gonna pay taxes in the end, right?

[00:20:05] I'm gonna pay taxes.

[00:20:06] Well, I heard taxes the other day called the like success charge.

[00:20:10] Like if you're paying taxes it means you're making money.

[00:20:12] So don't be, don't be afraid of taxes

[00:20:14] but also learn how to minimize them and stuff

[00:20:17] but I liked your, my big takeaway from what you just said

[00:20:19] there is don't realize your estimates will be wrong

[00:20:21] and I think be okay with that

[00:20:22] because you're gonna have,

[00:20:24] you're gonna need more time than you thought.

[00:20:26] You're gonna need more money than you thought

[00:20:27] is what I just took away from what you said.

[00:20:29] And I think that's okay.

[00:20:30] And once you realize that,

[00:20:31] I think you'll be in a better position

[00:20:33] as you're going.

[00:20:34] You plan for it.

[00:20:36] Yeah, yeah.

[00:20:37] Awesome.

[00:20:38] Yeah, good stuff.

[00:20:39] Yeah, how do you, so you're starting your business, right?

[00:20:41] Or maybe you're in those areas where it's little tight

[00:20:44] and everyone's at safe retirement like these long term goals.

[00:20:47] How do you balance that?

[00:20:49] Like do you just cut off long term savings

[00:20:51] and focus on the business or how do you do that?

[00:20:53] Yeah, that's a great question.

[00:20:56] First few years investing and all that other stuff.

[00:20:59] Yeah, I mean like the 401K is in maxing

[00:21:03] the low hanging fruit max that's the powder.

[00:21:06] And then, I mean if you can,

[00:21:09] if you can, yeah,

[00:21:12] eke out 10% and put it in a mutual fund and just be,

[00:21:16] and here's the, you know,

[00:21:18] the discipline is,

[00:21:21] the skylar discipline is freedom.

[00:21:25] Yeah. People think that,

[00:21:26] oh my gosh, I can't use this money.

[00:21:28] Oh my gosh, I should take 10% of discipline is freedom.

[00:21:32] So if you,

[00:21:33] if you're just disciplined about taking 10%

[00:21:36] of whatever you're making 5%,

[00:21:39] three, whatever pick a number, pick a percentage,

[00:21:41] do you cashful and put that into a mutual fund every month.

[00:21:46] I, you know, this month I make 10 grand.

[00:21:49] Next month I, you know, make 110 grand.

[00:21:51] You know, you take that percentage

[00:21:53] and you put it into a mutual fund

[00:21:54] and just be disciplined about that.

[00:21:57] Hey, that's part of my budget.

[00:21:58] You know, I'm not gonna touch it.

[00:22:00] It becomes part of your long term investment.

[00:22:04] And hey, okay, so you hit recessions.

[00:22:07] Sometimes you have to back off from that

[00:22:10] for a number of months because you're like really,

[00:22:13] I mean we got it.

[00:22:14] Ooh, they were years.

[00:22:18] They were years where you know,

[00:22:19] I lost half my revenue.

[00:22:21] I mean it was a huge hit.

[00:22:23] And when you experience,

[00:22:25] and every business is gonna experience recessions

[00:22:28] but when you experience those recessions

[00:22:30] then you put a recession plan in place.

[00:22:34] So what does that mean?

[00:22:35] Well hey, look we gotta cut this off, cut the person away.

[00:22:39] We gotta cut this out, cut that out, cut this out.

[00:22:41] Yep, no, we're not gonna buy a new car next year.

[00:22:43] We're gonna wait two years down the road.

[00:22:48] And then you look at, well maybe I can't invest

[00:22:51] in the mutual fund for the next year

[00:22:54] but then you put a date on a calendar.

[00:22:56] Yeah, we're doing so.

[00:22:58] I'm gonna start doing this again.

[00:23:01] So yeah, it's very challenging to be...

[00:23:06] It's very challenging to be...

[00:23:11] It's very challenging with separation.

[00:23:15] But between your personal and the business checking account

[00:23:19] and your personal checking account

[00:23:20] and yeah, it's not advisable from my perspective

[00:23:26] to be thinking that that's all.

[00:23:28] Oh well, I got $50,000 in my business checking account.

[00:23:32] I can go take 10 grand out and do this.

[00:23:35] You know it's...

[00:23:37] You gotta keep it separated, yeah.

[00:23:38] I've heard that a lot and I think it's super important.

[00:23:42] You gotta keep that separation around suddenly

[00:23:44] your personal life is funding your business

[00:23:45] and then both ends are broke

[00:23:47] or your business is funding your personal life

[00:23:49] and then there's just a mess with taxes

[00:23:50] and whatnot and things like that.

[00:23:52] Yeah, that's exactly not planning for taxes.

[00:23:55] I'm planning for those things

[00:23:56] that you just don't know about that.

[00:23:58] You that...

[00:23:59] Oh gosh, and I never thought that about disability insurance.

[00:24:03] Holy crap, I'm paying extra disability.

[00:24:06] Oh, I don't have a consultant.

[00:24:07] So I have you know insurance.

[00:24:09] It's just like...

[00:24:11] Like wow, you know insurance is expensive.

[00:24:15] So you just have to plan for that stuff.

[00:24:18] Awesome.

[00:24:19] So I'm hearing planning, talking to professionals,

[00:24:21] talking to other people, asking questions

[00:24:23] is all important.

[00:24:24] And I think this question probably has been answered

[00:24:26] throughout the interview,

[00:24:27] but do you feel it's important to talk about money

[00:24:30] or not and why?

[00:24:32] Oh yeah, you know it's...

[00:24:34] It absolutely, it's important to talk about money.

[00:24:39] Educating, talking about it,

[00:24:41] educating, challenging people's assumptions about money,

[00:24:45] assumptions about business,

[00:24:47] assumptions about generational wealth,

[00:24:49] assumptions about poverty and getting out of poverty

[00:24:53] or moving from lower middle class to middle middle class

[00:24:57] families can do that, but they got to see things differently.

[00:25:02] And unless we talk about this stuff

[00:25:07] and talk about these concepts and educate people

[00:25:11] about these concepts.

[00:25:13] I had lunch yesterday with a good friend of mine

[00:25:16] who works...

[00:25:19] works puts on these financial classes for kids

[00:25:23] in South Chicago,

[00:25:26] teaching them about the rudimentaries of money

[00:25:30] and investing and whatnot.

[00:25:32] What a great thing to do.

[00:25:35] Yeah, young people started early.

[00:25:37] That sounds fantastic.

[00:25:38] I look at you said make sure we're talking about it

[00:25:41] so we're all getting...

[00:25:43] We're educated, we're challenging and teaching each other.

[00:25:45] Let's jump to our last question here towards the end.

[00:25:48] Throughout your whole life,

[00:25:50] I'm sure you've learned a lot of good things about money,

[00:25:52] learn some bad things.

[00:25:53] I wish you would have known sooner when it comes to money.

[00:25:55] Yeah, sure.

[00:25:56] Like with money way back when I thought about starting a business

[00:26:02] or starting a practice,

[00:26:05] Skylar that was so...

[00:26:08] That was not the next hill.

[00:26:11] That was like the mountain.

[00:26:14] That's like the 10 hills to the mountain.

[00:26:18] One thing is that it's a lot less challenging

[00:26:24] to start a business and to grow a business.

[00:26:27] I mean, it's challenging.

[00:26:29] You learn a lot along the way.

[00:26:31] But just getting started and do you need...

[00:26:34] There's a gazillion stories out there

[00:26:37] they started the business with $25,000.

[00:26:40] There's franchises out there that will pay you

[00:26:44] to take one of their franchises and run it.

[00:26:48] So there's...

[00:26:50] That's one thing I wish I...

[00:26:53] That mountain is not that far out there

[00:26:57] but it's actually a lot closer

[00:26:59] and it's just my thinking about that mountain.

[00:27:02] So that was one thing.

[00:27:04] And then the other thing is just,

[00:27:06] you know, gosh these career options.

[00:27:08] You know, we...

[00:27:10] Again, we were...

[00:27:11] I was at a family function a couple of weeks ago

[00:27:13] and my brother-in-law said,

[00:27:15] yeah, you know, my brother was a teacher

[00:27:17] and his wife was a teacher

[00:27:19] and they both retired at the age of 50.

[00:27:22] They're getting 80% of their income

[00:27:26] and getting social security

[00:27:28] like they're traveling around the world

[00:27:30] and living a great life.

[00:27:32] And then I know a lot of people

[00:27:35] that maybe went into the military

[00:27:38] and then they did the...

[00:27:40] What is it that after you come out of the military,

[00:27:43] you go once a month for a weekend

[00:27:46] with the guard or something like that?

[00:27:48] I have no such thing.

[00:27:49] Yeah, so I've got friends that...

[00:27:52] Skyler, I mean really,

[00:27:54] really accomplished successful people

[00:27:58] and again, it doesn't happen overnight

[00:28:01] but they have a pension

[00:28:04] or they have something coming from

[00:28:06] because they were military service

[00:28:08] and their duty

[00:28:11] and then that got them into college

[00:28:13] they got college, you know, not on and on and on.

[00:28:16] So I wish I knew more of the career options

[00:28:22] that I could have taken.

[00:28:25] Awesome.

[00:28:26] And yeah, just...

[00:28:32] Yeah.

[00:28:33] No, that's fantastic.

[00:28:34] I like that.

[00:28:35] Make sure it's easier to get started

[00:28:36] because what I took from that

[00:28:38] and then there's a ton of options out there.

[00:28:40] Oh my gosh, so many great options.

[00:28:42] Awesome.

[00:28:43] Fantastic, Tom.

[00:28:44] Thanks for coming on.

[00:28:45] This has been great.

[00:28:46] It's been a wealth of knowledge

[00:28:47] you've imparted upon all of us.

[00:28:48] So thank you.

[00:28:49] Real quick, would you mention your business again?

[00:28:51] Maybe where people can find it

[00:28:53] and then we'll go ahead and wrap up here.

[00:28:55] Yeah, right.

[00:28:56] A VICIS group.

[00:28:57] That's V like Victor,

[00:28:59] I-S-U-S group.com.

[00:29:02] And then I'm linked in.

[00:29:04] I'm all over LinkedIn with things that we post

[00:29:08] and videos and things like that

[00:29:10] about the organizational development consulting

[00:29:12] growth strategy for privately held businesses.

[00:29:16] Awesome. Fantastic, Tom.

[00:29:18] Thank you so much for joining us.

[00:29:19] This has been a fun conversation.

[00:29:20] You're welcome.

[00:29:21] You're welcome.

[00:29:31] Thank you so much to Tom for coming on today's episode.

[00:29:33] Let's talk about how this will impact you just a little bit.

[00:29:35] How do you show how to handle money if you have kids?

[00:29:38] This is something that I don't really have a lot of experience with,

[00:29:40] so I'm really leaning on you as the listener

[00:29:42] to send me your information.

[00:29:43] What do you know?

[00:29:44] How do you handle money?

[00:29:45] And how do you show how to handle money if you have kids?

[00:29:48] Is it all about cash?

[00:29:49] Do you even use a digital bank account

[00:29:51] or anything like that?

[00:29:52] Is cash the way to go when it comes to teaching kids how to handle money?

[00:29:55] Another thing that I think could be impactful

[00:29:57] is talk to people who handle money professionally.

[00:29:59] If you're in a corporate environment,

[00:30:00] there's very likely an accounting department

[00:30:02] or a CFO that maybe you have access to

[00:30:04] that you could bounce some ideas off.

[00:30:06] Like Tom said, these people that handle it professionally

[00:30:08] love to share their wisdom

[00:30:09] and talk about the great strategies and tips that they know.

[00:30:12] And guess what?

[00:30:13] You don't have to use all of the information

[00:30:15] that you're bombarded with, which is a good thing.

[00:30:17] You can take it and summarize what is good

[00:30:19] and bounce ideas off of multiple people.

[00:30:21] And that's something I really recommend because you're going to want to get

[00:30:24] a broad wealth of knowledge for multiple people

[00:30:26] have money talks with people

[00:30:27] and this is a great opportunity to say,

[00:30:29] Hey, I just learned this tip from someone else in my life

[00:30:32] and I was wondering what you thought about it.

[00:30:34] Do you think this is a good way to invest?

[00:30:36] What do you think about it?

[00:30:37] And then you have money talks around those topics.

[00:30:39] Another thing that I think can be really impactful for a lot of people

[00:30:41] is understanding that pressure is a red flag

[00:30:44] for any financial decision.

[00:30:46] Tom shared the story where he was being pressured

[00:30:48] by a mortgage broker or a lender or something like that

[00:30:51] to get a 15-year mortgage with an arm

[00:30:53] because he wasn't really going to live there for that long.

[00:30:55] But he stuck to his guns and got the 30-year mortgage

[00:30:58] and it worked out really well for him.

[00:31:00] And it's certainly okay to go with people's advice,

[00:31:03] but if you feel pressure, that's a huge red flag

[00:31:05] for financial decisions.

[00:31:06] If someone's really pushing you against what you request,

[00:31:09] consider why they're doing that.

[00:31:11] They may be doing it for a higher commission.

[00:31:12] They may be doing it in your best interest

[00:31:14] and you just need to get to the bottom of it.

[00:31:16] But that can be a great reason

[00:31:17] to talk to other people about their financial decisions

[00:31:20] and get their opinion on it because then you can say,

[00:31:23] Hey, no, I've talked to a lot of people.

[00:31:24] I really still want to stick with what I decided before.

[00:31:27] But thank you for your input and feedback.

[00:31:29] I really did appreciate it,

[00:31:30] but let's continue down the road of the 30-year mortgage

[00:31:33] or whatever you wanted to consider.

[00:31:35] Another thing that I took away is that discipline is freedom.

[00:31:38] I really liked that statement because it truly is.

[00:31:41] If you're able to say, yeah, I'm sticking to my guns

[00:31:43] and I'm disciplined, I have my plan

[00:31:45] which is an important piece to have

[00:31:47] to make sure you go back and listen to the episode

[00:31:49] about the importance of a written plan.

[00:31:51] But having that plan allows you to stay disciplined to it.

[00:31:53] It allows you to stay on track with what you want to do.

[00:31:55] It helps you avoid that pressure that so many people

[00:31:58] are trying to put on you in order to get to your wallet.

[00:32:00] But let's talk about the money-talking points next.

[00:32:12] The first money-talking point is,

[00:32:13] who can you talk to that handles money professionally

[00:32:15] about what they do with their money personally?

[00:32:17] And this is one that I think could be really helpful

[00:32:19] because someone who handles their money professionally.

[00:32:21] I mean, I hope they have it in line in their personal life.

[00:32:24] But it could be a good way to say, hey, how do you handle your money?

[00:32:27] You kind of studied money for a living.

[00:32:29] You handle money for a living.

[00:32:31] What are you doing in your personal finances

[00:32:32] that you think really helps you out?

[00:32:34] Maybe they're going to say, well, I'm an Excel whist.

[00:32:36] So I keep a really great budget.

[00:32:38] I keep an extensive spreadsheet with all sorts of reports

[00:32:41] and that just goes right over your head.

[00:32:43] Then maybe don't take and apply that piece of advice.

[00:32:46] Talk to somebody else. That's what's so valuable

[00:32:47] about these money-talking points.

[00:32:49] Is you can talk to so many different people about them

[00:32:51] and get all sorts of different pieces of advice.

[00:32:53] The second money-talking point is, how was money management

[00:32:56] shown to you as a kid?

[00:32:57] One of the stories I always like to share

[00:32:59] and you've probably heard it before if you've listened

[00:33:01] to this podcast for a while is one of the things that for me

[00:33:03] that was shown to me is that my parents never really

[00:33:06] put a full tank of gas in the car.

[00:33:08] It was always a $20 bill or whatever cash they could find

[00:33:10] in the car.

[00:33:11] Here, take this inside and put it on our gas pump.

[00:33:14] And that's how I was shown money management

[00:33:17] because it stuck in me very, very much

[00:33:19] that I always want to make sure I have enough money

[00:33:21] to fill up my car or make sure that I am able to get around

[00:33:24] to where I need to go.

[00:33:26] And that's something that stuck with me as a kid.

[00:33:28] So I encourage you to think back, think back a long time ago

[00:33:31] or not so long if you're still young,

[00:33:33] but think back to some way that money was shown to you

[00:33:35] as a kid and think about how that applies to you now.

[00:33:38] Maybe you always heard people fighting about money.

[00:33:41] So that makes you very timid and passive about money

[00:33:44] because you don't want to cause a ruckus.

[00:33:46] Think about it.

[00:33:47] Think about how money management was shown to you as a kid

[00:33:49] and then talk about it with somebody else

[00:33:51] because that's going to be really fun

[00:33:52] and eye-opening conversation.

[00:33:54] But let's turn to the Money Talk Mastery segment next.

[00:33:57] Welcome to Money Talk Mastery.

[00:34:08] Let's talk a little bit about starting your own business.

[00:34:10] I want to refer back to what Tom said

[00:34:12] that the mountain isn't that far away.

[00:34:14] Yes, there's hills and things that you do need to get over

[00:34:16] and stuff that you do need to realize about starting your own business.

[00:34:19] But I liked what Tom said that the mountain isn't that far away.

[00:34:22] He did say that you'll need more than you estimate,

[00:34:24] which is something that I've heard a lot.

[00:34:26] And I wanted to kind of talk about a book called ReWork.

[00:34:29] It was one that I just finished.

[00:34:30] I wanted to talk about it a little bit here on the podcast.

[00:34:33] Couple of key takeaways that I took from it is start small.

[00:34:36] If you're thoughtful about what you want to do

[00:34:38] and just go ahead and get started,

[00:34:40] it's going to take less than you think.

[00:34:42] If you start small and just get going,

[00:34:44] you're going to be able to build on your successes

[00:34:46] and you're not going to worry so much about getting this holistic

[00:34:49] gigantic business plan around every little thing that you want to do.

[00:34:52] To make sure you start small, just get going.

[00:34:55] Also, consider how being invisible is a great thing.

[00:34:59] It's something that I've had to maybe wrestle with a little bit on this podcast

[00:35:02] is I don't have this massive 1 million downloads per episode podcast,

[00:35:07] but that's a good thing.

[00:35:08] It allows me to try new things like these different segments in the show.

[00:35:11] It allows me to try new things on social media on my website.

[00:35:13] Without impacting this massive audience.

[00:35:15] That can be the same thing for you in your new business that you're trying to start.

[00:35:19] Embrace being invisible and embrace being obscure

[00:35:22] because once you get to the point where you have an audience

[00:35:24] and you have people around you looking at you,

[00:35:26] it could be really intimidating to make any changes or try anything new

[00:35:29] because you don't want to stir the pot.

[00:35:31] But don't worry about a business plan so much.

[00:35:33] Now what I'm not saying is that you don't need to plan.

[00:35:35] You absolutely need to plan.

[00:35:37] But you don't need this massive 80-page plan just to get started.

[00:35:41] Another thing that I liked from the book ReWork is solve your own problem

[00:35:44] because it's likely that others have it as well.

[00:35:47] If there's something you're struggling with,

[00:35:49] figure out the fix to it and then sell it to other people.

[00:35:51] And that's how you can get your business started simply and easy

[00:35:54] because when something is passionate to you

[00:35:56] because it's a problem you have in your life,

[00:35:58] you're going to make it really easy for you to say,

[00:36:00] hey, will you buy my service?

[00:36:01] Because I know it can help because it helped me in my own life.

[00:36:04] Again, another thing though about Estimate.

[00:36:06] The book ReWork also shared that your estimates are likely off by probably double.

[00:36:10] Which is something that Tom echoed in today's interview.

[00:36:13] So if you're looking to start a business,

[00:36:15] you're going to need more money than you think

[00:36:16] and you're going to need more time than you think.

[00:36:18] But also just get going.

[00:36:20] It's the easiest way to get started

[00:36:21] and you're not going to actually figure out how much you need

[00:36:23] unless you're actually doing something.

[00:36:25] One last takeaway that I want to mention from the book

[00:36:27] is that tiny decisions means tiny mistakes.

[00:36:30] Make small little bitty decisions about how you're going to get going

[00:36:32] and how you're going to get started.

[00:36:34] That way if something screws up, it's only a tiny decision.

[00:36:36] You make another tiny decision to go the other way

[00:36:38] and these tiny little baby steps one by one

[00:36:40] is how you're going to get your business started

[00:36:42] and then that mountain that isn't that far away

[00:36:44] is going to get a whole lot closer, a whole lot quicker.

[00:36:46] So honestly just get started

[00:36:48] and to mention the Rebel entrepreneur

[00:36:50] which is a podcast that I like listening to.

[00:36:52] He really talks a lot about by just start selling.

[00:36:55] Start selling your product as is

[00:36:56] and then figure out what the product is going to be

[00:36:58] which I think is such an interesting idea to sell first

[00:37:01] because then you know if there's actually interest

[00:37:03] in the product you're developing.

[00:37:05] So a couple things we can take away from here.

[00:37:07] The mountain isn't that far away.

[00:37:09] Start small, embrace invisibility.

[00:37:11] Don't worry so much about an extensive business plan.

[00:37:14] It'll have your own problem.

[00:37:15] Realize your estimates are off and make tiny decisions

[00:37:18] and just get going.

[00:37:19] But that's going to wrap it up for the Money Talk Mastery

[00:37:21] for today's episode

[00:37:23] and I want to talk a little bit about what others are saying

[00:37:25] on social media next.

[00:37:27] What are others saying?

[00:37:29] Well, we had a recent short go pretty big on social media.

[00:37:31] It was one with Bob Wheeler

[00:37:41] where we talked about what should you do

[00:37:43] if you come into a large sum of money

[00:37:45] and Bob shared that you should really just leave it in your bank account.

[00:37:48] You don't need to really worry about it.

[00:37:50] Let it sit there for 30 days

[00:37:51] because everything's going to be just fine.

[00:37:53] But what did others have to say about it?

[00:37:54] We got a good handful of comments on this short

[00:37:56] and a couple of other things that people all thought to do

[00:37:58] is to zip your lip and tell no one.

[00:38:00] Someone else said my first, second, and third reaction would be tell

[00:38:03] absolutely no one.

[00:38:05] And I really appreciate this clip going big on social media.

[00:38:08] It was fun to see some engagement with the clip.

[00:38:10] It was fun to see some interaction in comments.

[00:38:12] What would you do?

[00:38:14] Send me an email or comment on social media on the real

[00:38:16] or the YouTube short wherever you might find it.

[00:38:18] I would love to have an episode where we talked about what others would do

[00:38:21] if they come into a large sum of money.

[00:38:23] So what would you do?

[00:38:24] Is that something that makes you think?

[00:38:26] I shared on the episode with Bob Wheeler that

[00:38:28] did your mind go straight to security?

[00:38:30] Do you need to lock down an abacement and hide yourself?

[00:38:32] Does it go straight to spending all of it?

[00:38:34] Does it go straight to telling absolutely nobody

[00:38:36] and quitting your job right away?

[00:38:38] What would you do if you came into a large sum of money?

[00:38:40] But let's wrap up today's episode next.

[00:38:51] Thank you for listening to today's episode of Money Talk with Scott

[00:38:53] or Fleming.

[00:38:54] In conclusion, make sure you're talking to others.

[00:38:56] It's really honestly the only way we're going to do better with money

[00:38:58] because unfortunately we're not taught super well how to handle money

[00:39:01] so we got to each each other by talking about it.

[00:39:04] And be confident in what you know.

[00:39:06] If you feel something's right and the way that you want to go with your money,

[00:39:08] stick to it.

[00:39:09] Understand that pressure is going to be what is going to try to get your money.

[00:39:13] It's going to be what tries to get you to change your decision.

[00:39:15] Talk to others, gain their wisdom, people love to share their own advice

[00:39:18] and that's a great way to say,

[00:39:20] here I'm going to collect everything that everybody that I know

[00:39:23] knows about budgeting and then I'm going to make an informed decision

[00:39:26] about what I want to do with my budget.

[00:39:28] Also, your business idea is going to be easier and harder than you realize

[00:39:31] which is really, I guess, not useful but understand that there's certain pieces

[00:39:35] that are going to be easier and certain things that are going to be harder

[00:39:38] but you don't know what will be easier and what will be harder until you just get started.

[00:39:42] So that's my ultimate recommendation if you have a business idea sitting in your head.

[00:39:45] Go try to sell it to somebody and just get started.

[00:39:49] So be sure to check out my website at skytherfilming.com and be sure to follow me on social media for updates as I'm going on as a guest

[00:39:55] on four upcoming podcasts and I'm excited to share what I've learned from talking about money over the past couple years

[00:40:01] with other audiences and try to welcome them here to our community.

[00:40:04] It's going to be a great time and if you enjoy hearing what I have to say here,

[00:40:07] you'll like what I have to say on other podcasts so be sure you're on my website and social media

[00:40:11] that you don't miss those other opportunities to listen to me as a guest on another episode.

[00:40:16] And be sure to share today's episode with a friend and have a money talk about something you took away from today's money talk.

[00:40:22] But thank you for listening to Money Talk with Skyler Fleming. I'm your host Skyler Fleming, have a great week.

[00:40:26] Thank you for listening to Money Talk with Skyler Fleming.

[00:40:29] This show is provided for informational and entertainment purposes and may not be specific to your unique situation.

[00:40:35] Please be sure to do additional research before making any financial decisions.