Latest / Calm the Chaos with Rich Christiansen / Wealth Is Not Money: Rich in Time, Family & Peace | Justin Donald

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Wealth Is Not Money: Rich in Time, Family & Peace | Justin Donald · Calm the Chaos with Rich Christiansen

0:00
SPEAKER_01: Most people define wealth as money.
0:02
SPEAKER_01: But the reality is the most unwealthy people I know in the world are sometimes those with the most financial assets.
0:08
SPEAKER_01: So many people build these lives built around money, and then they discover they've accidentally built themselves a tower to help, a tower to absolute misery.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: We talk about this a lot.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: You build a life that you want to live, you build a portfolio that is in alignment with the values that you have.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm not optimizing for maximum return.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm optimizing for the highest quality of life today.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: I want cash flow, but I want time freedom to be able to spend it the way I want.
0:37
SPEAKER_01: Well, hello, welcome to another edition of Calm the Chaos, where we build frameworks.
0:42
SPEAKER_01: We talk about uh processes and things that we can do in our life to actually get clarity, to not only just live a bigger life but a more meaningful life.
0:51
SPEAKER_01: And I'm super excited today to have a dear friend.
0:54
SPEAKER_01: I've known Justin now for maybe three or four years, and we've had just some amazing discussions.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: And so uh Justin is the founder and runs uh an organization called the Lifestyle Investor.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: And uh maybe from my experience, Justin has the most well-rounded, congruent investment team that I've seen.
1:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I was surprised the first time when I saw Justin and his team actually doing breath work.
1:19
SPEAKER_01: Imagine that.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: Here we got investors doing breath work.
1:22
SPEAKER_01: So, Justin, I'm just really delighted to have you on Calm the Chaos today, and I really appreciate you giving us a little perspective on how we can live uh incongruence and alignment in our life from a wealth standpoint.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: Love it.
1:36
SPEAKER_00: Well, Rich, I'm just excited to be here.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, anytime we can get a chance to hang out, I'm I'm down.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Justin.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: So maybe just for one minute, give a little bit of overview of a lifestyle investor and why I might have brought you on here.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: Just a little bit of background before we jump in and I start asking you these very fun, uh, non-conventional questions.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, so I kind of coined the term based on, you know, that really it was like the life that I wanted to live.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: It was like the next chapter.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: How do I want things to look?
2:06
SPEAKER_00: And for me, it was I want to live intentionally life first, be intentional with relationships and with the things that fill me up and uh not feel like I ever have to work for money.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it was this idea where I could buy my time back.
2:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I have assets and and you know, capital that produces income.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: And my time doesn't need to.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, my business doesn't need to.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: And and so to have that passive income coming in every month, covering, you know, bills and beyond, it really creates a lot of freedom and space for me to show up how I want to show up, how I desire to, you know, kind of be in life with with the people that I want to spend time with the most and you know, and and and not really stress over bills or, you know, things that maybe in in a previous life or earlier in life I did stress over.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: Okay, thank you.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: That I mean, it's a very different perspective, and it definitely is not just going for bigger and better all the time.
2:59
SPEAKER_01: Um, uh, you've heard me and I frequently talk about wealth and what really wealth is.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: The most unwealthy people I know in the world are sometimes those with the most financial assets.
3:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh, wealth, the root of the word wealth, means we are well, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, physically, well and well-rounded and balanced.
3:21
SPEAKER_01: And so I guess the question, the big question that I have uh for you to start out, Justin, is is so many people build these lives built around money, and then they discover they've accidentally built themselves a tower to hell, a tower to absolute misery.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: And I'd I'd just love to hear your philosophy and what you do with your community to ensure that the investment strategies end up aligning with their family and their values and a desired life outcome rather than just maximizing returns like so many do.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we talk about this a lot.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: And in fact, we were actually talking about it earlier today, you know, on one of our lifestyle investor calls with our mastermind community.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: And and really the idea is you you build a life that you want to live, you build a portfolio that is in alignment with the values that you have.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, I was just sharing, I mean, literally like a half hour ago, about how um I'm not optimizing for ultimate return, for maximum return.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm optimizing for highest quality of life today.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: I want cash flow to be able to do the things that I want, but I want time freedom to be able to spend it the way I want.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: We love taking extended trips, you know, in the summer to Europe.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: We've been doing it for years, probably since 2016.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: And it's just so fun kind of getting off the grid and and getting time, connecting with with family on a deeper level.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I really think that there's this power of immersing ourselves, like having having extended quality time that can do wonders for relationships.
4:50
SPEAKER_00: And for me, that's that's really how it is.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: So I try and get people into, you know, the the mindset of, hey, let's be intentional with with life and what does that look like and how can we build the finances to support it?
5:01
SPEAKER_00: But we got to get clear on how we want life to be.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: Like, do we even love what we're doing for work?
5:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh, or are we just doing it to get by?
5:08
SPEAKER_00: Do we love the relationship we have with our spouse, or is it two ships passing in the night?
5:13
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think that we've got to get super clear on where we are today and where we want to be, and then just optimize for that.
5:19
SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Justin.
5:20
SPEAKER_01: That's super interesting concept.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: And I think particularly coming from uh uh one of the most successful uh uh wealth kind of groups that there is, I've recently been talking a lot about you know values and forming your ethos really clean and really congruent.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: And I'd just be curious to know how you manage when you get maybe some really hungry bucks that come in or some individuals that come in with a lot of bladder that end up not aligning with this overall philosophy that you're attempting to build, because you do have a community of investors, and I have to imagine at times there's some some disform or function that arrives out of that.
6:00
SPEAKER_01: So, what's value screening and how do you manage the misalignments?
6:04
SPEAKER_00: That is a great question, and I feel like in many, you know, I'm in I think 14 different masterminds.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: Sounds crazy, but it's just it's where I love spending capital.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: Like I like to invest in myself, my education, my peer group, and my my mentors.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: And so I have a very big budget for it.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: And uh to me, it's like my largest ROI.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: And I have found in a lot of these groups that there are a lot of people with different values or misaligned values from you know what I have, or maybe even what I thought the group, you know, kind of stated openly and publicly.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: And so we did things a little bit different.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: When I started the Lifestyle Investor Mastermind, it was more based out of a passion than it was anything else.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: So most people that are in the mastermind space or building groups, they're doing it because they need income.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: And so if someone needs money to survive or to live the lifestyle that they have, and someone else is willing to pay that amount of money, then my experience in most of these groups is they just let them in.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: With Lifestyle Investor, we've done it completely opposite.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: And it's that we have this high bar of what it takes to be kind of accepted into our community.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we've got a robust interview process, we've got a deep dive forum, we've got a member board that interviews people.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: And so there are a lot of different tiers and levels.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: And we just made the decision a long time ago.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: If someone's not a fit, they're not a fit.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: We wanted to keep our group tightly knit.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: We've been at 100 members on the dot for like seven years.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: We just opened up membership to 125, but I think that's where we're gonna cut it off.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: So maybe we're sitting around 112 or 113 members, and our whole one of the comments that we get, the feedback that we get is uh there are really no duds in the group.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: It's just awesome people that are our values aligned.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: And for me and for our community, what we look for are people that are are hungry to learn, people that are eager to share of their gifts and their resources, uh, people that are are very kind, and people that are super humble.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: And so most of the time you don't even know how successful people are, what the level is.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: But when someone embodies those four characteristics, they fit into our community really well.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: And Justin, I really appreciate and I'd like to call attention to the fact that you very quickly named those four ethos statements.
8:19
SPEAKER_01: And the reality is most individuals don't have that level of clarity in their business life, let alone their family life, let alone their personal life.
8:28
SPEAKER_01: And that's what ends up creating so much chaos.
8:30
SPEAKER_01: So be able to just very, very quickly say, oh no, these are the four things we stand for.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't need to be 14, it doesn't need to be 20.
8:38
SPEAKER_01: They just get even really clear on four has allowed uh you, and I know some of your group, and I know how tightly aligned it is.
8:45
SPEAKER_01: By having those four values, you can very quickly create a cohesive group of trust.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: So I just acknowledge that you've done that, and I think that's what maybe differentiates you uh in this area.
8:55
SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you.
8:56
SPEAKER_01: All right.
8:56
SPEAKER_01: Uh any other thoughts you'd like to make there or share with us because we do focus a lot on values and ethos and congruency and getting our life a little bit more in harmony.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: And sounds like you've been able to eliminate some of the chaos in your business life by doing something very simple that is getting people that don't align to automatically opt out.
9:16
SPEAKER_00: And I've had many different businesses over the years.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, you there's the internal team in those type of businesses, and then you know, with the business that I have now that's like the Passion Project turned really big business.
9:29
SPEAKER_00: I have an operator that runs the business.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: And we've got three different groups depending on where someone is in life, maybe the success that they have had, or uh if they're, you know, just starting on their journey, uh if they've had exits or not, or the income that they make, there's different places that they can land, but it's important to me to have someone that runs the the day-to-day operations.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: And then the goal has never been to scale to be the biggest group.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: I find that most of these groups, whatever the number is, they always want more people.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: And if you study the research on like the most connected groups, uh generally it's uh 75 to 175 people.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so that that you know, there's a sweet spot where everyone can get to know everyone else over a period of time.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: And if you go beyond it, not that it's bad, some groups that's that's their MO, right?
10:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh, so it's it's not necessarily a horrible thing, it's just not for us.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: We want to stay a small, tight-knit group.
10:26
SPEAKER_00: You know, the the whole thing is like uh for me personally, I want to do business with people I want to do life with.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: I I want to be in relationship with a certain type of person, and I've got a high bar for who that person is, but I want it to overlap and I want us to be able to do all kinds of things together.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: That's beautiful, Justin.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: And I think it really aligns with two things that I teach.
10:47
SPEAKER_01: The first is who's your blood brothers, who's your sisters, who would give you a kidney?
10:50
SPEAKER_01: That's a very small, tight group, and tragically it's too small for most.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: Then who is your trust network that you could call it one or two in the morning and they come and bail you out of jail without shaming you?
11:01
SPEAKER_01: That's also a small, tight group.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: And not talking about that, you're talking about a tribal group here that you can really rely on.
11:07
SPEAKER_01: And the reality is that you can't really get that beyond my number is 50 to 100.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, you end up diluting your life.
11:14
SPEAKER_01: And those are the people you enjoy being with that you have association with.
11:19
SPEAKER_01: And so many confuse that group then with the outside groups of community or even contacts.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: We shouldn't be putting fuel and rocket fuel into our contacts, our Facebook connections, because quite frankly, they don't give a rat's ass.
11:34
SPEAKER_01: Most people put all their energy in those outer shoals and don't put it on those inner circles.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: Those inner circles is where we have to put all the squeeze.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: And you've just pointing out, I've talked a lot about this prior, that that's what you're effectively doing, and that's what's making this community flourish.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: It's it's uh for me, it's a way of life, and I just, you know, I love people, I love relationships, and you know, I just I think life without it is a much more dull life.
12:01
SPEAKER_01: So, Justin, um, I want to talk about force versus flow.
12:05
SPEAKER_01: Talk quite a bit about, you know, many of us find ourselves, and most people in Western society find themselves in a very force-filled life, up, down, exhausted all the time.
12:16
SPEAKER_01: And I'd like to, you know, find out what points in your life that you've been in force, and then how you've moved more into a more balanced flow, just abundant, clean life, and what the triggers were that took you there and and how you got back into flow state.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a great question, Rich.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: And and by the way, to be in flow state is like one of the greatest places to be.
12:40
SPEAKER_00: Like, if you can do that over a long period of time, there's very few things that, in my opinion, are better.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: Like, I just I love that state, and it took me a while to figure out how I needed to do it.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: I think early in my career, I had mentors that really kind of they really pushed the idea that work ethic is the most important thing.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: It's the badge of honor.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing more important than work ethic.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: And I do think having a great work ethic is important.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: Um, I think it's probably even more important if you don't have refined skills or expertise in anything yet.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: What I would say is like as you define your expertise and as you continue to become better at at you know certain things, become an outlier in certain areas based on, you know, amount of time or or number of repetitions, I think the work ethic, the idea that that that gets you to where you want to go is is actually it falls off.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: So early days for me, work ethic helped me get ahead.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: But once I had skills, work ethic actually held me back from where I wanted to go because I was working too hard.
13:47
SPEAKER_00: I was relying on my work ethic and not my talent, not my intellect, not my refined skills, not my expertise.
13:54
SPEAKER_00: And so it actually, the thing that helped me become successful, and I'll use air quotes, you know, successful early days uh was the exact thing that kept me away from where I wanted to go.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: Like what, you know, to have a life that, you know, really life giving, where I was working based on my schedule, what filled me up, an amount of time that made sense.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: Like early days, I work six days a week, sometimes seven days a week, you know, my first business or two.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: And now, you know, I really work three days a week.
14:23
SPEAKER_00: I I like a Tuesday to Thursday schedule.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: I like having weekend, like extended weekends.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: If I'm into something that's really cool, I can, I can, you know, work on it on a Monday or Friday.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: But typically I like to give that to friends and family.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: And and I have pretty hard boundaries around like evenings and weekends so that I can put in those quality hours, you know, with with my my family.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: That is so important to me.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: But, you know, you'd ask me about like distinctions or, you know, kind of like, you know, points in time where it really showed up.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: And I just remember one time I'm working late.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh it was uh it was a Saturday night.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I could even say, you know, I mean, I worked late on Friday nights and Saturday nights in certain seasons, but I was sitting in the office and my friends were, you know, trying to see if I was gonna go out and meet up with them.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: And I I wasn't.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: I had things that I needed to do.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: And in this instance, it was a Friday night and I had to work super early uh on Saturday.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: And I just remember thinking, gosh, I'm okay right now in this season working these late hours.
15:23
SPEAKER_00: Like this is my own business, I'm building it.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, but when I have a family, I cannot be doing this.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: Like this is the exact opposite of the life that I want to lead.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: And so, I mean, there were a couple of moments like that.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: But then, you know, when I got serious about, you know, when I was and wasn't gonna work, and instead, like what my daughter, when I got married, and then when I had my daughter, it's like I was worried that we were gonna do less business.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: And I came to terms and had peace with the fact that we're gonna do less business because I'm done at five and I'm not working on the weekends.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: But the reality of what happened is we did more business.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: My income annually grew because I got smarter about how I spent my time and I got better at delegating and I got better at hiring and better at systems.
16:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that that's exactly what I was looking for.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: And I know that it feels kind of incruent that that actually working hard is going to make more success.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: And in the early stages, I think one of the challenges of early stage entrepreneurs is the perception, oh, I'm gonna be an entrepreneur and show up at 10 o'clock and checked out by three and golfing the rest of the time.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: And the reality is that's not reality.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: I I love the Warren Buffett quote.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: And in the early stages, we have to say yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: But then it reaches a point of yes, yes, yes, no until you do shift.
16:42
SPEAKER_01: And you do shift to the point where now you're very selective and careful on what really aligns and what you really do.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: And I would argue that has to be value-based.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: The Warren Buffett quote is is the level of my success is directly proportionate to the frequency at which I say no.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: And oftentimes we way clutter our lives with way too many yeses.
17:02
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's exactly what you articulated.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: And if you find yourself non-stop grinding it out, I just tell you, no success in the workplace will compensate for failure in the home.
17:14
SPEAKER_01: And all the joy in Justin's life, look at him when he talks about his family and relationships, that's not fake, that's genuine.
17:22
SPEAKER_01: And I know and see how he lives his life, and that's why I wanted him on this program.
17:27
SPEAKER_01: Is joy comes internally, but success is magnified when we actually slow down and have the courage to deliberately say no to the things that don't align.
17:37
SPEAKER_01: I hope you're enjoying this episode of Calm the Chaos.
17:40
SPEAKER_01: If you would like to receive more tools, frameworks, support, and resources, go to rich Christiansen.com and they're all there available for your free use.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: So good.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: Well, and you know, in all honesty, I I mean, I feel like I learned the lessons the hardest way because I was inflexible early in my career.
18:01
SPEAKER_00: And mentors do a lot for you, and having the right mentors uh point things out are gonna help shift things a lot.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I can tell you, early in my marriage, when I worked too much, I mean, that took a toll on the marriage.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: And I remember there was a season in my life where I showed up.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't even know if I've if I've shared this before, but I mean, I showed up at home.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: I I was basically saying yes to everything, Rich, to this dinner, to this group, to this event, to this speaking opportunity, whatever it was.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: And I remember I got home late one night.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: My wife typically was asleep, and she was sitting out on the porch, and uh, she was uh she was crying.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: And I was kind of thinking to myself, uh oh, this isn't good.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, I wonder what's gonna go on here.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: And uh she basically told me she felt like she was second fiddle, that everyone else is first.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: And I I tried to articulate that's not how I feel.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, but the whole idea was, well, you know, if you say yes to something else, you're actually saying no to us as a family.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: And my this is when my daughter was super young, and that just really resonates.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: And and that's another one of those defining moments where I was like, I gotta do this different and I've got to do it better uh than how I'm showing up.
19:13
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the the first kind of defining moment I gave you is when I was single and just trying to figure out life in the future.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: This second one, this was, I mean, it was like getting punched in the gut hearing that and seeing her feel that way and imagining that I'm making my wife feel like she is second best or that I'd rather do all these other things than hang out at home.
19:33
SPEAKER_01: Justin, thank you so much for sharing that.
19:35
SPEAKER_01: And I think as hard-driving entrepreneurs oftentimes will face that dilemma and uh go back to that concentric circles of relationship that uh most of you have heard me talk about.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: We cannot afford to give the best squeeze to people we don't even know.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: We've got to give the first squeeze to the best squeeze, and you uh most of you have heard me talk about 60 to 70 percent of all of our juice has to go onto that inside circle.
20:02
SPEAKER_01: And then we give the drivelly leftovers elsewhere rather than reverse that.
20:06
SPEAKER_01: And Justin, I think that that's exactly what you did, and courageously now it has shown up in a beautiful life.
20:12
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna make that statement again by Spencer W.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: Kimball that no success in the workplace can compensate for failure in the home.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: I met and work with a lot of individuals that have just burned it hot their whole life and get to the end with great regret.
20:25
SPEAKER_01: I beg you and invite you to follow Justin's example and not repeat uh the mistakes that so many make.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: All right, Justin, jumping to the next question, I'd love to talk about calming the chaos.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: That's actually the name of the podcast.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: And uh, you've built an incredible community.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: You really have built an amazing community, and you you've also done in a sector that is known for burning pretty intense and pretty hot and a lot of ego.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: So I would love to just know personally what personal practices or mechanisms do you put in your life?
20:56
SPEAKER_01: What rituals do you use to make sure that you can remain calm, keeping your send out yourself out of limbic brain and in frontal cortex?
21:06
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's such a a great question.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: And and I can tell you there are seasons in life where I've done better and and worse at times.
21:13
SPEAKER_00: I mean, right now I feel like I've conditioned some very good habits.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: I feel like whenever I am feeling angst or pressure or stress, I don't like to make knee-jerk reactions or decisions.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: So I like to walk around, I like to move, I like to get myself like uh in a better state of mind, um, taking deep breaths, like just getting outside, getting into sunlight.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: And then uh even having people that uh I consider like my personal board of directors that I can bounce ideas off of.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so I just I have a practice of that.
21:48
SPEAKER_00: I've got another practice of think time where I have two hours uh every single week dedicated.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: No, it's technology free where I can just think about what's going on in in a better state of mind in a Proactive state, not a reactive state.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: And those have just done wonders for me.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: So as I feel, you know, energy emotions building up, um, I recognize to be the best leader I can be, I cannot be making emotional decisions.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: And I really, you know, there's some decisions I can make and I can feel like my body's in a good place and I can make them right now on the spot.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: Other times I feel like that's not the case, and I need to be doing the things that really fill up my body, recharge me, getting the right amount of sleep, eating the right type of food, hitting the gym.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: You know, all these things have a huge cumulative effect on me, the way I show up, the way I make decisions, the way I lead, ultimately the way I feel internally.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: And so I can't speak enough to, you know, each of those kind of methodologies for being able to show up in a calm space and place uh most of the time.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Justin.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: That was a great answer.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: And I appreciate your personal reflections of how you go about it because everyone is different.
22:58
SPEAKER_01: I will make this statement.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: I've been uh on your program and with your mastermind several times, and I was delighted and shocked to hear that here you got a financial investing group that's doing breath work.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, how cool is that?
23:11
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: We most of the time woo-foo, but your group does breath work.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: Well, and and you know, one of the other things we talk about is like what are the practices other people have had a lot of success with, and um, don't knock anything until you try it.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: And I just think that we've got an openly curious group.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: I think some of like how I try to show up in the world, um, I think that I naturally am gonna find people like that that resonate with me.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: And so, I mean, I do think that one of my greatest superpowers is I just love to learn.
23:42
SPEAKER_00: I want to know all the things I don't know.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: I want to know more of the thing, you know.
23:46
SPEAKER_00: I just I want to get smarter and wiser and stuff that I just am not what I would consider like expert level in, which by the way, is the majority of everything, right?
23:56
SPEAKER_00: Like I there's there's a small little percentage of of you know knowledge that I have.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm I'm super niched in what I know.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: I'm very good at those small things and and you know, let's call it 1%.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: The other 99% of the world, I just I need to learn.
24:11
SPEAKER_00: I I don't know as much as you know, anyone that has any level of of expertise there, and I'd like to.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: I love the open uh learning mindset that you have.
24:20
SPEAKER_01: Um, one of the fundamental things that I teach over and over is this flow state.
24:25
SPEAKER_01: And I fundamentally I don't believe it.
24:27
SPEAKER_01: I know.
24:28
SPEAKER_01: The only way we can maintain flow is when we have value congruency.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: Value congruency in our personal life, in our family life that carries over, and then we all love to talk about our public life.
24:38
SPEAKER_01: We're talking about lifestyle investing, but the big one that most people miss is you can't be in flow if your money or your investments are out of sync or misaligned with your core ethos and values.
24:50
SPEAKER_01: So just and I, you look at a lot of investment, a lot of deal flow.
24:54
SPEAKER_01: I'd actually like you, if you would give an example of a time that you had an incredible lucrative opportunity, but it misaligned either with your personal ethos, your family values, or your company paradigm of how you invest and how you exited or had the courage, hopefully, and if not the courage, then what happened if you did say yes to that misaligned part of money?
25:18
SPEAKER_00: Well, Rich, I I actually feel like I've been on both sides.
25:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I actually think that uh I've become more informed because I've made some poor choices uh over the years.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, I I I've done investments, you know, the vast majority that we've done have done very well.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, but no investor gets out clean.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: Like every investor is going to have a loss at some point.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: Every investor is going to make a bonehead move at some point because that's how we get better.
25:47
SPEAKER_00: You you don't actually learn from the successes.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it it makes you think you're better than you are.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: You actually learn from the failures.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: You learn because it is so painful to lose money, you don't want it to happen again.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: So, like those are the lessons.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes, you know, from this isn't necessarily a values aligned or values not aligned uh scenario.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: But what I will tell you is it was it was an investment criteria misalignment where I saw big returns, I saw this profile that I could earn more than I was in other deals and that I would have this steady amount of cash flow, and it really was too good to be true.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I even had my my attorney tell me this is too good to be true, right?
26:31
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't even listen to him.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: And I decided to do this, and it became a Ponzi scheme and went belly up and total fraud, lost all my money, and it was a million bucks.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: And it was super painful.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: But I learned so many good lessons from that.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: In the moment, it was horrible.
26:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I mean, it it took me some time.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: I was like gun shy for a while.
26:53
SPEAKER_00: But when I stopped playing a victim and started playing the role of what did I learn from this situation?
27:00
SPEAKER_00: I wrote down like all kinds of things.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: I mean, actually, there's a section in my book called Murphy's Laws for the Lifestyle Investor.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: And it's like all the lessons that I learned from this debacle.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: And because of that situation, I've invested so much better.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: Now, I've also gotten clear on what my criteria is.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: So, from a value standpoint, there are certain things that I just will not invest in.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: Like I don't care if it makes money or not.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: I will say no.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there have been a number of uh give an example of that.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: Give just a couple of categories, if you would, of what you'd just say no to.
27:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, there are a number of companies over the years that, you know, because of my relationships and being in the industry a while, I've been investing for about 26 years.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: I have access to a lot of deals that other people don't have access to.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: But there are companies out there that may be, you know, for me, like anything that's in the the porn industry or or exploitation of women, or I mean, really like exploitation of anyone, and you know, like that to me is is a no.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't care how much money someone could make.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: That goes against uh so many values that that I have or we have as a family, you know, that there are very few even like alcohol investments.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Not that that I I want to be careful with this because I don't think alcohol in moderation can be as damaging as, you know, uh other things.
28:21
SPEAKER_00: But I also think that if someone doesn't have the ability to do things in moderation, uh that can be tricky.
28:27
SPEAKER_00: Now, it doesn't mean I haven't invested there.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there are certain niches where for me personally, um, I have, you know, invested in futures for wine or invested in, you know, uh whiskey, uh, you know, some whiskey barrels and that sort of thing, more as like a collectible, more as, you know, more of like um for for enthusiasts in that space.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: But often the brands or there are other segments in that space that I just don't feel like I need to or want to make money there.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there there's a laundry list of it, you know.
28:57
SPEAKER_00: If something is uh, you know, illegal, I don't want to support that.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: If something is on the fence or it's it's a gray area in the tax code, I don't like gray areas.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: I like very clear, like yes you can or no you can't.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm staying in the yes you can lane.
29:14
SPEAKER_00: So uh those would just be a few examples.
29:16
SPEAKER_01: Well, I appreciate you being delicate with it, but we don't need to be delicate about our values.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: The reality is we could just stand on them.
29:23
SPEAKER_01: And Justin said of values, and I appreciate you being sensitive there, but I really strongly believe is no, hold to your values, and your values don't have to be other individuals, but it's the only way to show sovereignty of our soul.
29:36
SPEAKER_01: And at what point we start acquiescing on who and what we are, we not only lose respect from others, more importantly, we lose respect from ourselves.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: And so I appreciate you acting, and you did you navigated that beautifully and appropriately, and it's okay for you to say give a hard pass to alcohol and someone that say no no and value congruent with that, and that's okay.
29:57
SPEAKER_01: It is a beautiful example that you do know, and you're using this as guardrail.
30:02
SPEAKER_01: So thanks for that, Justin.
30:03
SPEAKER_01: And thanks for letting me put you on the spot.
30:06
SPEAKER_01: I do have one final question for you, Justin, that maybe could just give a little practical advice to individuals that on paper they look really successful.
30:16
SPEAKER_01: They have the trappings of looking like a big, glorious, fancy life, but underneath they're feeling unfulfilled, uh, they're feeling scattered, they're feeling fragmented, overextended, maybe even disconnected.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: Uh, where would you tell them to start and any advice that you'd give of of how to moving back into a state of calm and flow in their life?
30:38
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think relationships are really the secret sauce.
30:41
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think your your trusted, you know, board of advisors, your closest friends, the people that know you the best, like I think that that really matters.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: I think being like having someone that you can be totally open, honest, vulnerable, tell all the scary things that you don't want the rest of the world to know.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: Like, I think we all need those people.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: I, you know, quite frankly, I think women are are fantastic at this as a general rule where they are so relationship oriented, so relationship focused, they are very open and honest and transparent about where they are and and what they're struggling with and what's going on.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I see it in my wife, I see it with my mom.
31:20
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I just think, and with many of my friends, like I just think they're so much better at it than most men.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's a superpower of theirs, right?
31:27
SPEAKER_00: Like, I think there's a there's the cheat code to that.
31:30
SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day, like you're what I'll say is like it doesn't matter how much money you have or how successful you are, or what it looks like online, you know, the numbers are, or how many followers you have.
31:41
SPEAKER_00: Like, what actually matters is how you treat people.
31:44
SPEAKER_00: And if you talk to anyone on their deathbed and do look at all the research on this, um, talk to anyone.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: There, there's no one on their deathbed that I've ever heard that say, I wish I would have made more money.
31:54
SPEAKER_00: Like, I wish I would have focused more on that.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: It's always relationship-based.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: I wish I didn't do that.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: I wish I spent more time with this person.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: I need to forgive this person, I need to patch up this relationship, or this person's, you know, my favorite person in the world.
32:07
SPEAKER_00: I need to get more time with them.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: And so I just think that that should be the focal point because that's where the greatest, you know, riches in in life are.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: And short little segue to that, you know, there's a quote that I love that says, uh, rich people have money and wealthy people have time.
32:25
SPEAKER_00: And so, like, I'll also throw that component into it.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: It's like, do you actually own your time?
32:30
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, or does your business own you?
32:33
SPEAKER_00: Do your investments own you?
32:35
SPEAKER_00: Do your material possessions own you?
32:38
SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of people struggle with that because they want to look successful on the outside to the people that actually don't even matter in their life and aren't even spending time with those that matter most that don't typically care about that sort of thing.
32:51
SPEAKER_01: Just a beautiful frame and actually a beautiful way to actually close this episode.
32:56
SPEAKER_01: I guess the one thing I would like to add is the most tricky and the most complicated is establishing a relationship with yourself and asking yourself truly in the quiet moments, can you love yourself?
33:07
SPEAKER_01: I didn't get that until I was in my mid-50s and had to overcome some pretty big adversity.
33:11
SPEAKER_01: That's the ultimate complicated and beautiful relationship, is it's a peace and harmony and congruent with ourselves.
33:19
SPEAKER_01: Having the courage to face our fears, fears with reality, to quote Parker Palmer, and embracing our uh embracing our brokenness is an integral part of our healing.
33:26
SPEAKER_01: So I invite you not only with the relationship, but let's also learn to love ourselves as spoo-foo as that sounds.
33:33
SPEAKER_01: It actually makes a real difference in success publicly, too.
33:36
SPEAKER_01: The difference is you just don't really care quite as much, and that gives a lot of power.
33:40
SPEAKER_01: So, Justin, um, individuals that are interested in following you, your podcast are learning more, how can they best do that?
33:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, everything's at lifestyleinvestor.com.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: So we've got courses, we've got master classes, we've got, you know, passive income products, you know, more like education, right?
33:57
SPEAKER_00: We don't do any investments per se.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't, you know, handle any of that.
34:01
SPEAKER_00: We generally aggregate and invest in other groups.
34:04
SPEAKER_00: And we kind of want to be the one-stop shop where no one makes any money on anyone else's money.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: I think that that's really important.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: So that there's as unbiased of information as possible.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: But I'd say, you know, for anyone that wants to go beyond the podcast or or uh, you know, beyond blogs or newsletters or all the stuff that we do, I mean, we've got a number of different communities, but I would say learn about it.
34:25
SPEAKER_00: Check out the mastermind tab.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: I'm happy to throw in a consultation call.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: Normally we do these$500 strategy sessions, but if you go to lifestyleinvestor.com forward slash consultation, we'll do a free call helping people figure out how to move from point A to point B or to point C that may be highly valuable for your community.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: And and uh and then we've got an open community that that doesn't cost any money with, you know, thousands of people that are just there to learn and figure things out, kind of like their first step.
34:53
SPEAKER_00: And for those that are more serious to kind of upgrade into the higher price point masterminds.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: But everyone's got to start somewhere, and what better place than with great people doing some awesome tax strategy and doing some great deals together?
35:06
SPEAKER_01: Well, Justin, thank you so much for joining me today and being an example uh that I am able to use as someone who's actually basing their business and their practicum, particularly in this wealth category on ethos and values and actually living in integrity with it.
35:21
SPEAKER_01: And I can say I've seen Justin do that multiple times over the years.
35:25
SPEAKER_01: And I and I extend that same invitation to you as is let's have the courage to actually look at this stuff because it really matters, particularly in this stage of the artificial intelligence.
35:34
SPEAKER_01: If we do not maintain sovereignty of our souls, we're gonna end up no different than someone on a crack cocaine pipe being waggled around like the login head of a dog.
35:44
SPEAKER_01: And so it's vitally important that we understand who we are, what we stand for, and we maintain integrity with, not only with ourselves, but then also how we express that outwardly.
35:54
SPEAKER_01: Just so grateful to join me on this version of Calm the Chaos and would invite you uh to go to the website and download any of the free tools or frameworks or resources there.
36:05
SPEAKER_01: It's time that we get things back into a balanced, moderate space where we're actually treating each other civilly and we're building and growing forward.
36:12
SPEAKER_01: And that's the reason that I do this.
36:14
SPEAKER_01: So thank you again for joining this uh episode.
36:17
SPEAKER_01: And Justin, I just wish you and your family a wonderful, joyful week and particularly your vacations that you have coming up.
36:23
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Rich.
36:24
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's been great being on the show.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: You're a true inspiration.
36:27
SPEAKER_00: I've learned a lot from you, and I think you model what you teach very well.
36:33
SPEAKER_00: And so I just want your audience to know from someone on the outside looking in, but who also has a relationship with you and can call you a friend, uh, I'm always really impressed with how you show up and how you care to help those um that you have influence with and surround yourself with awesome people.
36:49
SPEAKER_01: So thank you.
36:50
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, Justin, and we'll look forward to seeing you on our next episode.
36:54
SPEAKER_01: Have a great week, everyone.