88: How to Gut Check and Make Better Business Decisions with Your Intuition
Behind Their Success: Episode 88
Paden: [00:00:00] You can only be really good at a couple things in your life to be like a truly
master in some area. Is there a way you think about, should I continue in this area? Or is there a
decision making process of you go through of, should I continue down this path or should I
switch to something different? And what is that decision making process?
Because, you know, it's easy for us entrepreneurs to feel bored. I. But often I think some of the
entrepreneurs that haven't had as much success is that's actually their crutch. They get bored
too quickly and jump to something different. Hello, everybody. Welcome to Behind Their
Success Podcast. I'm Peyton Squires, the host, and today we have on Larry Iso.
Larry is a seasoned expert with over 40 years of experience as a lawyer, consultant, and
marketing coach. Larry has authored more than 30 books and video courses helping self-
employed professionals grow their service businesses through practical and authentic strategy.
His facilitative approach empowers clients to find their own path to success, making him a true
champion.
[00:01:00] A experiential learning and personal growth. Couldn't get that word out. Larry. Good
morning. Welcome on. Good morning. Good morning. Good to chat with you. Yeah, absolutely
Larry. So, uh, we've got a little bit of your bio there. Kind of tell us about yourself.
Larry: Well, I was born at an early age. Uh, it's been an interesting journey.
Um, I, um. I have the, I have the fortune or misfortune to have made a ton of, of default
decisions, meaning I didn't really know what I wanted to do, and any decision was better than no
decision. So at some point in time I'm thinking, what's this all about? You know, why am I here?
What's, what's life all about?
And then gradually. For whatever reason, I started to narrow my focus and started to figure out
what I, I enjoyed doing and what I was, was good at, and what my gifts seemed to be and what,
uh, other people seemed to like. So it's been a, uh, been a long process. A number of years ago,
I, I used to be a lawyer and a friend of mine described.
Becoming a lawyer as sharpening a [00:02:00] pencil, you kind of take off everything. That's not
the point. You get rid of everything. That's not the point. Kind of like Michelangelo and David.
You get rid of everything. That's not David. And so I think that's why I'm at now is, is I've finally
gotten rid of everything.
That wasn't who I am and I'm doing what I love doing so, which is, it's, it's kind of fun.
Paden: Yeah. That's a really interesting concept there. And one of, you know, one I've heard
before of like, you know, when people are trying to figure out what they want or who they are or
what they want to do, it's often that's like this.
What, how do you do that? Right? Like how do you Yeah. You know, towards who you are. It's,
it's a whole lot easier for you to figure out what you don't like, right? Like who you're not. Oh,
yeah. And it's a lot easier to eliminate things in your life. You're like, well, I hate that. And then
eventually, kind of like you say, you know what you said there is like by default you kind of even
don't in a life.
Larry: I can now understand how that happens because right from when we're little kids, we're
told, do this, don't do that. You should do this, you should do the other thing. You shouldn't do
that. So we get kind of the should and shouldn't [00:03:00] mindset. It's hard to make our own
decisions because we're so used to people, other people telling us what we should and
shouldn't be doing.
And now, you know, now with the internet, I mean, you know, a little bit of knowledge is a
dangerous thing. And so there's people that have a little bit of knowledge about something that
are telling us what we should be doing. I think it's a maturity things that we finally get to the point
to say, you know, I don't care what you're telling me I should be doing.
This is what I wanna do. This is what I'm good at. So it, it's a long, it's a, it's a lifelong process.
Paden: You know, that's funny when you talk about people, you know, on the internet telling
other people what they shouldn't be doing as a, a guy that works in the tax and wealth space
and, and whatever the, the, uh, just don't take tax advice from just random people online.
That's, that's my PS Oh yeah. As a guy that's worked at it in over like a decade plus, and then I
get, then I'll see someone give this like. Insanely confident answer. Oh,
Larry: yeah.
Paden: Or like, there's no way you know that. Totally,
Larry: totally. It could be. Well, no, I know when [00:04:00] the inter, when the internet first came
out, um, I had a, a brother-in-law who was very tri, well intentioned, well-intentioned as hell, and,
and he had discovered a site where he could do wills for people.
So he is, who had at that time, hadn't graduated from university, is telling me that he is going to
set up a service rating wills for people. And I said, oh, really? And I said, have you ever seen a
will? Oh, no, but I can get the instructions online. And I'm saying, don't do it. Please don't do it.
Paden: Yeah, it's, uh, I, yeah.
Anyway, there's a lot of, a lot of terrible tax advice. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yes. So, Larry,
you've been involved in several different types of industries. Can you kind of just run us down
like your journey a little bit and then how you've, you know, arrived and where you're at today?
Sure,
Larry: sure. When I was in, in finally your high school, a guidance teacher called me in and, uh,
asked me what I was gonna do next year, and I said, I don't know.
And he said, have you ever thought about accounting? And I said, no. 'cause I don't know what
accountants do. And [00:05:00] so he said, well, you're really good in math, so you'll be a great
accountant. And I thought, well, okay, fine. It turned out he had a, had a, an accounting firm
needed a student. Perfect. There you Perfect.
There you go. Last it lasted. Uh, I remember. I remember being in the middle of nowhere doing
a farm audit, auditing a firm. This was when the Cuban missile Crisis was going on and I'm
thinking the world is gonna be blown to hell. And here I am, you know, doing this stupid audit.
Duh. Anyway, it didn't last very long.
Uh, went to university thinking maybe I'll be a priest. That might be kind of fine. 'cause that was
really the only thing I knew. Uh, my parents, my family, working class family nobody'd be in
university, so I didn't have any relatives to talk to. Lasted in pre theology for like half a day. Didn't
like the folks there.
End of, end of under undergraduate, the new dean of the college, and I was on college council.
He says, sir Larry, what are you doing next year? And I said, I don't know. And he says, you ever
thought of law of school? And I said, what your lawyers do? [00:06:00] And on and on and on
and on. Um, I was practicing law in a small town.
I had a disagreement with my supervisor over how clients should be served. Wound up running
my own law practice. And uh, as I'm setting it up, I'm thinking, wait a minute, I don't. I, I, I'm in a
situation now. I have to create the checks. I can't wait for them to come to me. I, I'm running a
business now. I got a lot, a lot of stuff I gotta learn.
So fortunately it was a small community and, and, uh, networking was good to get business and
practice was successful. Ran out a growing room in a small town, wanted to do something new,
something more growing room. My, my wife was getting bored. My. Little kid. My children I
thought needed better education than what was available in a small town.
So we moved to City and I started doing consulting. I was really good with planning, strategic
planning, that kind of thing. So I got involved with that. Went to a workshop to learn how to
market, uh, consulting services. And, and the conductor, the facilitator said, if, if you [00:07:00]
really, really wanna do well in consulting, you really should write a book.
And I thought, Hey, that's kind of interesting. I like that idea. So he, he basically did a quick
overview in writing a book. So I wrote my first book, which was How to Succeed in Your Home
Business. And this was, I was a consultant at the time and at that time I. A lot of big
organizations were flattening.
There were a lot of really talented people being cut loose. They had great skills, but they didn't
know what to do with them. So I wrote a book, how to Succeed in Your Home Business, which
did really well. And so it was a case of, of not really knowing what I wanted to do, that default
decisions along the way, but it, again, it narrowed the, narrowed the focus.
And when my, my first book came out. It was nirvana. It was, it was like, wow, where has this
been for my entire life? It was like seeing my name on a sign for my law office. It was just such
an exciting kind of a thing. So since then, I, I haven't really, haven't really stopped. As I say, it
just started out with a broad [00:08:00] how to, how to succeed in your home business.
And it's evolved through professional services now into to personal growth and development.
And I think what's happening is my interests are following my journey, getting narrower and
narrower and narrower, more focused. And I'm, I'm at the happy stage now that, that I'm doing
what I considered my legacy project.
And what I'm doing is trying to pull together lessons from my life that other people can learn
from without going through what I went through. And I didn't have problem. Well, yeah, there
were some problems, but basically I, I'm enjoying. Identifying my, my lessons and sharing them
with others. So that's how I got from, I don't know, to what I'm doing now, which is so much fun.
Paden: Yeah. And that's, most people don't share that story, right? Is you, you kind of seem,
kind of seem like a guy that you know, I. You go into an industry, do a thing, kind of master that
to some degree, and well, you kind of get bored and, and zero in on the next thing, right? Yes.
And, and I can [00:09:00] relate sitting still or staying into one thing is, yeah, it gets boring after a
while, but
Larry: oh yeah, I've been blessed or cursed with such a range of gifts and there's so many
things I can do that the cost of doing A is not doing B.
Yeah, when I was practicing law, I was curling and, and I dunno whether, you know, curling in, in
Missouri or not, but it's, it's on ice. I've never done it. But
Paden: it is a cool Olympic, it's, it's fun.
Larry: It, it's fun. And I was, I was not bad at it. And, and I, I got better and better and people
kept saying, well, Larry, if, if you concentrate on curling, you'd be a really good curler.
I'm saying gold medal. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm thinking, yeah, but that means I couldn't ski, I
couldn't do those other things I like doing. And along the way, I've been fairly decent at a lot of
things, but not outstanding at anything. And that's worked for me. You know, I'm really enjoying
what I'm doing. Am I outstanding?
I don't know. It feels good and I think I'm making a difference, and that's the important thing.
Paden: Yeah. It's, it's going deep into things like that is where you can really find the rewards for
yourself as well. [00:10:00] Right. You know, when the work itself becomes the fulfilling part,
that's when things get really exciting and you can go deep.
Can you speak to that a little bit?
Larry: Yeah. A couple of couple of things. I've always had a, a spiritual kind of. Sense to me,
um, spiritual, a sense of a connection with a, with a greater power, something greater than
myself, very connected to nature. And at one time, well, there was a reference to, to becoming a
priest.
And, and one of the reasons I left law was to take a master's in spirituality because I was really
fascinated with a concept. But now I'm finding that I can incorporate some of the, some of these.
Spiritual thinking if, if you will, with some of my writing, some of the empowerment, some of the
decision making, some of the, the, these personal development because to me the, the spirit is
body, mind, and spirit.
It's, it's our connection with what's outside of us. It's not necessarily religion, not necessarily the,
the institutional religion, but just the connection with what's outside. And so it's really, really
exciting. To [00:11:00] me to dive deeper into the subject of spirituality and see how closely
related it is to enlightenment, to empowerment, to fulfillment, all those kinds of esoteric terms
that mm-hmm.
Back in the day when I was busily, hustling business, I didn't have time to think about. And so it's
kind of fun to do that now and again, when I say the legacy project, I've got, you know, got the
books together and, and the courses together and it's, it's, at the same time, it's fun to continue
to learn more.
To dive deeper into an area, into an area that I find really fascinating. It's, you know, our, our
purpose and our passion. Why are we here? What do we do? And all those kinds of things.
Paden: Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. So you've written over 30 books.
Larry: What
Paden: drives you to do that? Seems like you constantly have this level of curiosity, this pushing
you.
Where do you think that comes from?
Larry: That's an interesting question. I was writing a column for the local newspaper, and the
editor wanted me to interview a writer, and I interviewed a freelance writer, and this was before I
really consider myself a writer. It was after my first book was out, but [00:12:00] before I'd really
gotten into it.
And I, I talked to this person and I asked much the same question. I said, why do you write? And
she said, I cannot not write. Mm-hmm. And at the time I thought, now isn't that interesting? Now
I could say the same thing. I cannot not write and I'm not. To me, writing is not putting words on
paper or putting words on the screen.
It's organizing ideas. It's, it's pulling the ideas together. So it, it's making sense out of something
that doesn't make sense. Mm-hmm. So if I'm writing something, for example, I, I'll start out with
a mind map. I'll just, you know, do a mind map with, with lines and drawings and everything all
over. I got two or three of 'em around here now.
So I'll do the mind map. I'll number them in terms of order of flow, order of process, uh, then I
just start translating the mind map into a narrative in, into written form.
Paden: Hmm.
Larry: I think now it's probably a case of helping me understand things. By writing, I can
understand things better rather than just letting these ideas scramble all over the place.
Writing is a [00:13:00] process of pulling them together, and the added bonus is if I've thought of
something, I'm probably not the per first person on this earth to have thought of it. And I'm
thinking, okay, so if I had this idea, why don't I share? Why don't I put out and see what
happens? And sometimes good stuff happens.
Sometimes it's ignored, but it doesn't matter. If I can understand a concept better, it means I can
use it somewhere.
Paden: Yeah, I a hundred percent right. I, I think that writing process forces you to take all these
ideas and organize them. Right? Organize 'em. Oh,
Larry: yeah. Oh, for sure.
Paden: And, and in many ways, you know, and, and I think science has kind of proven this, like,
you know, teaching stuff right?
By writing and then you and process kind of teaching. Oh, for teaching material that's. That in
itself, the teacher learns way more than than
Larry: absolutely. Process, and you've probably experienced this from doing podcasts. I learned
so much from these podcasts. I mean, people like you ask me questions I hadn't thought of.
I. And then I think about them. I think, wow, that's really good. I can, I can do this or I can do
that, or that's a, I really like that item. I'm gonna play with it. And likewise, I'm hoping that I'm
feeding you and the audience ideas that they [00:14:00] can play with to, you know, for pleasure
or productivity, whatever.
So it's an exchange of ideas. It's keeping the, keeping the energy flowing back and forth.
Paden: I wanted to circle back to kind of comment you made earlier of talking about, you know,
you, you said you. You, you're kind of naturally good in a lot of different areas or whatnot, but,
and I think, I think where the crisis kind of comes in or can come in for, for somebody is when
you realize like how much effort it takes to get to be really good at one thing, right?
Like the amount of effort that that Oh yeah. Actually takes, and then you quickly realize is like
you can only be really good at a couple things in your life to be like a truly master in some area.
Is there a way you think about, should I continue in this area? Or is there a decision making
process of you go through of, should I continue down this path or should I switch to something
different?
And what is that decision making process? Because, you know, it's easy for us entrepreneurs to
feel bored. I. That, that's almost a natural state. But often I think some of the entrepreneurs that
haven't had [00:15:00] as much success is, that's actually their crutch is they don't, they get
bored too quickly. Yeah, right.
And jump to something different. Can you speak to that a little bit of what like maybe your
decision process is or, or what advice you may have too? Well,
Larry: it goes back to the, the spirituality thing. Um. I am, I'm very intuitive. I'm a highly sensitive
person, which is neurodivergency, so I'm, I'm very intuitive and I've learned to listen to my
intuition and if something feels right or something feels wrong, I, I, I tend to listen to that.
And, and I've also, um, picked up a thing called muscle testing that I can test. Just a silly little
exercise just to see whether it's wishful thinking or intuition. Now, this is as a result of studying
these kinds of things, doing extra work in it, doing online courses and all that kind of thing. But I
rely very much on my intuition to give me guidance, and it's just a case of is it is in my [00:16:00]
highest interest to this or in my highest interest, do that, and whatever gives me the strongest
sensation I go with.
Otherwise, I tend to overthink things. I make major issues out of non-issues and really important
things I don't even see. So relying on my intuition forces the brain to slow down and take a
holiday and let my body and my connection with. The universe as it were, give me some
guidance. And it, not only does that seem to make better decisions, but it, it's also more
comfortable, like when I make a decision based on intuition, I don't second guess myself.
And again, this is years of experience. I didn't just pick this up. It's a learned process and, and
that's, you know, that, as I say, that's part of the spirituality thing, part of the holistic approach.
Like we are body, mind, and spirit. We know what our brain's telling us. We know what our, our
spirit's telling us sometimes, but we know, don't always know what our body's telling us.
Paden: When you say that, like, you know, you listen to intuition, like any advice for the listeners
of like, practically strategically, how do you, how do you do that?
Larry: [00:17:00] I think one of the important things is, is to create some space, not physical, but
emotional and intellectual space. Meditation. Quiet. Can you go and think about it?
And I, I thought best when I was out with my dog. Just out in nature with, with my dog, free of all
sorts of things. I've always had that connection with nature. When I was a little kid, the family
would go to a beach and the first thing I did was to grab a handful of sand and I had a handful of
sand until we left.
And I remember my mother pulling my fingers apart to dump this handful of sand. So I've always
had a connection with nature, but it's just slowing things down. Yeah. Yeah. And, and I, I think
that that's the, that's the number one thing is, is learn to learn to slow down, learn to turn the
brain off.
Meditation, you know, connecting with nature, anything like that, that, that does it. I found that,
that once I allow myself to slow down, I'm almost overloaded. With positive things. It's called the
law of attraction, but it's a hokey kind of an expression. So we try not to use it. I believe in it, but
I [00:18:00] try not to use it too often and it, so it's a case of, of creating some space and just
letting, letting be, letting go.
Paden: And a hundred percent my experience, Larry as well, and something I've gotten
continuously better at and even, you know, even more so better in the last year or so, is doing
that slow down space right for me. A lot of it is I have a sauna at home that that's kind of one
that allows me to Oh, yeah. You know, put in ear buds and just kind of like spacey sauna music
and kind of just shut off my Oh yeah.
Right. Like, and that's, that's just one place I go where I can like shut off my head. And then it's
amazing the stuff that bubbles the top of like, you know, an idea or a problem, you know, a
solution to something. And, you know, and I go into there with no intentions whatsoever, but like.
You get my experience is the stuff just comes to you.
Larry: Oh, oh, yeah. And I think what happens is, is that that when we're focusing on a problem,
and I'm just playing with an idea here, but when we're focusing with a, on a problem, we are so
focused [00:19:00] on it that everything relates to the problem. So we make the problem bigger
and everything that it's around is part of the problem.
Whereas if, if we can just learn to clear our minds and let ideas come from wherever. And let
them take their own course. Good things happen. I've learned that, and, and this is weird. Woo
woo. Uh, this is kinda weird. I've learned that if I have a really crazy dream at night, like totally
disconnected, just what, what the hell is going on there?
The next morning? There's a breakthrough. There's some kind of a breakthrough in some kind
of an issue that take me a few years to realize that when I started really tracking my behavior.
But man, some of the dreams I, I, I mean, I. I just can't believe that, and I don't live a life like
that. I'm a pretty boring guy in my life and, and I have these crazy dreams and I wake up going,
holy crap, what is that all about?
And then almost instantly there's a resolution of a niggling issue. Yeah. I think, whoa. So maybe
it [00:20:00] was like breaking the egg to do the omelet. I don't know. But it's just, again, it's
being aware of ourself and, and allowing things to happen. I think too many of us try to force
things and life takes time.
Paden: Yeah. Especially probably the people that are listening to this type of podcast, I mean,
they tend to lean, lean towards action. That, that, you know, that you're, you're high achieving
entrepreneurs. Oh, yeah,
Larry: yeah, yeah. You know, they,
Paden: they tend to lean towards action and anxiety and hard driving and, and all those things.
And this, this stuff that Larry's talking about right here makes probably most of you guys just
wanna cringe and like, how Yeah. Go,
Larry: well, this guy's crazy. I don't wanna be there.
Paden: Right? But like, you know it, it's so hard, like. It's amazing. Oh, it is.
Larry: It is. It is. Yeah. You know,
Paden: I go and sit in a group, you know, in my group of entrepreneur friends that we get
together, you know, every once in a while, and I sat there and I sit there and observe them all
right.
I'm just sitting there quietly in the corner and I'm watching every one of them. Like their knees
are just bouncing up, down. Yeah, yeah. Because they cannot sit still. Um, [00:21:00] and that is
just how hardwired they are. But that just shows you, you know, the, the world is so full of
distractions. Oh yeah. And things pulling you in every direction.
It is an unbelievable superpower to just set still and think about a problem and wait for the
solution to come to you.
Larry: And it, it's so easy. It is so easy to get, get sucked into the energy around us. I mean, it's,
there is just, everything is energy, you know. Einstein had to write, everything is energy. And
when everything is it, when you know when hell is breaking loose all over the place, it's hard to
sit and twiddle your thumbs.
You have to do something. And so it's really hard to do that. And one benefit of the pandemic is,
is that we as a society learn that we don't have to be busy 24 7. We can function. Yeah. Yeah. It,
it takes time to learn that it's hard, but we can, we can do it and, and, and it's just, there's so
much going on that it's, it's, and especially now with, with all the changes that are happening so
fast, you get up in the morning and read the news [00:22:00] and think, wow, it's a different
world today than it was yesterday.
It's just, just changing so fast.
Paden: Yeah. Yeah. If you follow any like tech or medical updates, any
Larry: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And one of comes out
Paden: my AI app every single week. Just bonkers.
Larry: It's, it's interesting. I just, I'm just finishing a, a 28 day breakthrough course, just 'cause I
like doing that kind of thing. And this one is, is astrology based, which is, is really fascinating.
But one of the things they suggested is to not have your phone in your bedroom. And I thought,
okay, that's kind of okay, so we'll try that. And so I, I tried it, so I, I thought, wow, I sleep better. I
have an easier morning. Is it in my head or, or is it because of the, the phone's not there? I don't
know. I don't care.
I like it. I like it. So I don't, when I wake, wake up in the morning, I've no idea what's happened
outside in the world. And I, you know, maybe half an hour or an hour later I look at my phone.
But it gives me an easier start to the day.
Paden: Everything you've said on this podcast and really, and, and [00:23:00] things we talk
about.
You hear all the time is it's just becoming more aware, right? It's Oh, totally. Especially self-
aware and you know, the more self-aware you are, the better you're gonna be able to navigate
the world. Most people like, I mean, I, I swear like as I've done so much of this work and
become a more and more self-aware, like the patterns you spot in other people that they have
no idea that they're doing not, not that I'm not just pattern all the time.
I'm sure I am, but like. People are so not self-aware of just the habits and patterns and the stuff
they just do on repeat all day long. Oh
Larry: yeah.
Paden: Automatic pilot. Just automatic pilot.
Larry: Yeah. Yeah, and I think, I think that goes back to somewhere along the line, really, really
internalizing the external shoulds and oughts.
Paden: Yeah.
Larry: Yeah, somewhere during our growing up, we, we missed the, missed the Jack Canfield,
you know, success principle number one, take 100% responsibility for your wellbeing. Well, you
know, that's all you, that's all we really need to know. [00:24:00] But a lot of people just don't
never get around to it. Why do you think that ends?
You got that answer for me,
Paden: because that's for a long time.
Larry: Can can I get back to you on that?
Paden: I mean, it's something like. A 2% of the population, like, well listen to a podcast like this
and actually do anything.
Larry: I think, I think the practical reason is that if something goes wrong, it's nice to have
somebody else to blame.
Yeah. You know, this wouldn't have happened if they hadn't done that, and we can always
control our reactions, but still, we were, we're more than happy to blame somebody else for
something.
Paden: I, I, I can see that. Right. I mean, it's like we can't. We always gotta have a reason to
save us or cover us. Right. Like our, our ego won't allow us to be.
Yeah, yeah. No, it was, it was me. I, I didn't do the work. I didn't do the thing I did, you know, it's
always something external that's in the way.
Larry: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I had a, I had a nephew who, who, when anything went wrong, his first
expression was, I didn't do it. I didn't do it. I didn't do it. And he died. [00:25:00] He died a few
months ago.
Uh, sad story there, but he died a few months ago and when he, when he heard he died, I'm
thinking, I wonder what he said. I didn't do it. I didn't do it.
Paden: Yeah. And that's, uh, it's, it's just kind of interesting and it's such the smallest difference,
right?
Larry: It probably, you probably find it in your practice. When I was practicing law, I found it.
Clients want us to make decisions for them.
Paden: Mm-hmm.
Larry: And I would make it a point saying, you know, I, I, I'm not gonna tell you what to do. I'm
gonna give you some options. It's, it's not my issue, it's your issue. But I'm gonna give you some
solutions. Well, if you were in this situation, what would you do? I'm not in your situation.
I'm not that stupid. I wouldn't put myself in this exactly. As advisors, we get used to being asked
what to do and people who don't consider themselves having the smarts or whatever, don't have
confidence. I don't know, but it's, I think it comes down to, it's just easier to point fingers than to
take responsibility.
Paden: Are you looking for a new tax experience, looking for an advisor that actually brings you
high level [00:26:00] ideas and proactively plan so you aren't overpaying your taxes? Or how
about one that even just responds and communicates in a timely fashion? If any of that
resonates with you, you probably just have a tax preparer and not a tax planner, and it is
through the tax planning process where all the value is found and when tax planning's done
right, it has a positive return on investment.
I am Peyton Squires. I'm a CPA and owner of Squires Tax Planning. We work alongside
entrepreneurs and high income earners, helping them pay the least amount of income taxes,
both legally and ethically. We have saved our clients hundreds of thousands of dollars through
specific strategies. And we guarantee we can find multiple tax strategies that your current tax
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If that interests you, head over to squire's tax planning.com. There you can take our free
assessment to see how likely it is that you are overpaying on your income taxes. From there,
you can also book a free tax discovery call with our team. To [00:27:00] see what it would look
like to have us working for you.
So looking back, Larry, what do you think is the skillset or like what specific skill do you possess
or develop that allows you to be successful?
Larry: I think open mind. Um, an open mind allows me to try things that otherwise I, I might
think I couldn't do.
Paden: Yeah. And it's, it's just a natural state of curiosity.
Larry: Oh yeah. Yeah. And, and some people don't have it. So mine would be, I guess, natural
curiosity and willing to try stuff.
Paden: Yeah. Well, to pick up stuff and play with it and see if it's for you. Oh,
Larry: yeah. Yeah. And if it doesn't work well, it's one less thing I have to worry about.
Paden: Right. And that's where it's, well, and it's, it's almost like you were making decisions,
right?
Like, you know, earlier we talked about your eliminating things for your life. Oh yeah.
Larry: Oh yeah. Yeah. You
Paden: know, most people will see something like that. It'll spark an ideas like, oh, I want to
write a book. Yeah. Uh, you know, maybe they should just start it, see if they like it, [00:28:00] or,
yeah. And quit or do it or whatever.
Yeah. Oh yeah. But most people will spend the next five years just considering it. Right. You
know, they'll, they'll, they'll passively think about it, you know, every few weeks for, for years
upon years and drive themselves crazy. 'cause they'll never actually pick up, pick it up and do it.
Larry: Maybe they're afraid of their book not being popular or whatever, whatever, whatever.
I read a book, uh, not too long ago called Comfortable to Be Disliked or something like that. We
work so hard to be liked, especially when we're marketing our services. We work so hard to be
liked that we do things that aren't really. And our best interests aren't really our authentic selves.
And it may be that people don't do things because they're afraid that don't write a book because
they're afraid of one.
Go get good reviews. And I know when I do a book, I'm thinking, is it really good? Is it really
good?
Paden: Yeah. Once again, it's the ego in the way, right? Me. Ego in the way, look. I've heard this
said, you know, this way a bunch of times, it's like people aren't afraid to fail. People are
[00:29:00] afraid of other people seeing them fail.
That's it. That's it. It's a much more accurate statement.
Larry: Oh yeah. Yeah. And the thing is the other people probably don't care. Yeah. No one's
watching you. You're not that
Paden: like in the best way possible. Yeah. Yeah, you're not
Larry: that important. Yeah. Oh yeah. The overall scheme of things. Yeah. And it's the ego and,
and the expectations and, and you know, again, it goes back to if you don't get, a's you're, you're
not a, not a good student.
All those kinds of things. I did, I got a few a's, not a lot of a's I was gentlemanly c's, but you
know,
Paden: I made it. That is, a lot of it is, you know, we take on the expectations and, and whatever
of our culture and our, you know, yeah. Around us. And we're unhappy because we realize we're
just going after stuff that we don't even care about.
Yeah. And never willing to pick up or do anything that, uh, might actually light us up and get us
excited. So, Larry, looking back, beginning of your career, um, you know, you've been around for
four too long time to go. What, like little, you know, if you could go back to the beginning of your
career and give that [00:30:00] man, you know, one piece of advice, what would it be?
Larry: Mm, just do it. Just do it. Quit your bitch and then do it
Paden: any, uh, any more, uh, context as to why, why that that's your advice?
Larry: Yeah. As a kid, I did a lot of things that, that I know was expected of me. I. That I, I, I think
I probably would've been happier if I had done other things. I came from a hockey playing family
and, and, uh, hockey was the be all.
I'm a Canadian, so I came from hockey playing fa family. So that was the be all. And I escaped
and yeah, I could do that kind of stuff, but I wasn't good. I really wasn't very good and I took a lot
of abuse from family 'cause I wasn't very good hockey family. And I should have said, go to hell.
I'm not a hockey player.
You, I'm something else. But again, you don't do that. You don't do that as a kid. If you want, if
you wanna continue to live in the house, you don't do that. Yeah. So it would, it would be a case
of, of, of, oh no, maybe I needed that. Maybe I needed the, maybe I needed the softening of the
ego before I went on. I don't know.
Yeah. [00:31:00] Um, but I know that there were lots of things I, I, I could have done that I didn't
because of fear of one reason or another. And, and I'm, I'm sure that was a default part of the
defaults all the way along. I didn't know what I could do and I was afraid of trying anything and
whatever I did, I wanted to keep a low profile, so nobody really noticed me.
Paden: Yeah. Yeah. I think, um, you know, Larry, I think I can relate to that. You know, I think
that was the early part of my career too, or I'd say the early part of, once I became an
entrepreneur, starting my own business, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Part of it was I didn't know what I
was capable of or have an idea. But the other part of it was like, oh, well if I just stay over here
in my little corner, like I can't mess up anything too Bingo.
Yeah. But you know what I mean, like nobody, oh yeah. Pay any attention to me and I can just
do my thing. Right.
Larry: Yeah. Yeah. And it wasn't, you know, we talked earlier about my, my first book. It wasn't
until the book came out and it, it was, so, I, I, I thought it was great and, and a lot of other
people. I liked it and I thought, wow, this, this is [00:32:00] what it's all about.
So it took me a long time to get there, but I guess I had to be where I was in order to be where I
wanted to be. Yeah. Yeah.
Paden: That's the thing. You can't. Right. The the do dots all connect backwards.
Larry: Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, at the time it looked crazy, but I was say, oh yeah, I can see how
it all fits together. It, it kind of makes sense.
Paden: Yeah. That's great stuff Larry. So Larry, what's the best way listeners can get, get ahold
of you, learn more about you, get to more about your consulting services and, and, and really
just all your different books?
Larry: Um, a couple of places. Um, my website, larry east o.com and, uh, to avoid. Information
overload.
I've set it up as kind of a decision making process that if you wanna do this check here, you
wanna do this, go here, you wanna do something else. And by way of thank you for the, for the
people who've listened to us for the past period of time, there's, there's. Two thank you gifts
there. One is, they're both books.
One of them is, uh, 26 Ways for Service Professionals to Get More New Business. And that's,
um, A to Z. Just, it's an instant download. Just click on the link and you'll get it. And the other is a
book [00:33:00] called New Beginnings, new Opportunities. That's kind of what we've been
talking about, isn't it? And that, that's a book that I, I, I first wrote during the pandemic.
I figured that there'd be some opportunities coming from coming from it. So I wrote that. I
expanded it last year to include all sorts of other different things incorporating I. Transformation.
That's another freebie that's on the front page of my website or LinkedIn is good. I'm, I'm
upgrading my LinkedIn, my LinkedIn profile I'm gonna be doing starting June 1st.
All sorts of new things there. So LinkedIn is a good profile every, it seems to me that everybody
wanted to talk to. It's on LinkedIn so there's no point in messing around on other, other social
media. Hey, I get
Paden: it. I'm kinda all over social media, but yeah, uh, uh, LinkedIn, I'm up in my game on
LinkedIn.
Well, good deal. Larry. Is there, uh, it's been great convo.
Larry: Is there anything you wanna leave the listeners before we go? No, it, it's been fun talking
to you. I've learned all sorts of things, so if I've learned, I hope the listeners have as well.
Paden: Very good. Larry, I appreciate you. You've done a lot of [00:34:00] things and you know,
you're, you're kind of, it seems like you're in the point of your career, not that you're anywhere
near the end of your career, but um, in the point of your career where you really get a lot of
satisfaction of getting Oh
Larry: yeah.
Oh, oh, yeah.
Paden: Keep doing that. Keep leaning into that. Okay, so sounds awesome.
Larry: And, and thank you. Thank you. This is, this is fun.
Paden: Well, listeners, we'll catch you next time. Thank you so much for listening to the
podcast. If you found it valuable, please rate, review, and share it. That is the best way to help
us build this and reach more people as we're trying to accomplish our goal of help creating more
health, wealthy and wise entrepreneurs.
You can follow us on social media by searching for me Peyton Squires. Or going to peyton
squires.com on the website and social media. We're always sharing tips of personal growth and
there we can actually interact. I'm looking forward to it. Thanks guys.
