104: These Mindset Shifts Turn Struggling Entrepreneurs into Business Owners
Behind Their Success: Episode 104
Eric Brotman: for business owners, like anything else, you have to work.
On the business, not just in the business. And that means you have to take off your worker bee
hat and put on your, your owner hat, your shareholder hat, whether you own a hundred percent
of the company or something less than a hundred percent, and you have to spend time working
on the business itself.
Paden Squires: Hello everybody. Welcome to Behind Their Success Podcast. I'm Paden
Squires, the host, and today we have on Eric Brotman. Eric is a certified financial planner, CEO
of BFG Financial Advisors, an author and a sought after speaker and host of the podcast. Don't
Retire, graduate. With over 25 years in the industry, Eric has helped countless entrepreneurs
and families achieve financial freedom, build legacies, and transform their mindset around
wealth. If you want some real world lessons on success leadership, stay tuned. There's gonna
be a lot of cool stuff shared here. Eric, good morning. Welcome on. Behind Their [00:01:00]
Success.
Eric Brotman: Paden. Glad to be here. Thank you.
Paden Squires: Absolutely Eric, so give us, you know, high level, who's Eric, where'd he come
from, and, what are you doing today?
Eric Brotman: Well, my story starts like most financial advisor stories. I went to college not
knowing what I wanted to do. I had done some internships. I was thinking law. Um, I became an
English major, um, English and psychology. I studied and, uh, that led me to, uh, a job in the
legal department for a brokerage firm. I fell in love with the finance business and out of love with
the legal business without having to do three years of law school and go into debt.
So that wound up being a huge win. and after, after a year, literally a year in corporate America,
I said, holy cow, this is not for me. I am I. I am not, I'm not a good employee. I am in fact totally
unmanageable and I'm going to do this my way, and it's either going to work or not. It's sink or
swim time.
So I started a financial practice back in late 1994, and in [00:02:00] 99 had a chance to come
together and start a firm with a, a more senior. Gentleman who is a, a dear friend and mentor.
Uh, and four years later, in 2003, I launched b what is now BFG Financial Advisors. It was
Brockman Financial Group. We took my name off the door and everyone had a lot of glee
involved in that, but it was the right thing.
'cause the business isn't me. It's, it's a lot more than than me. So, so we did that, but it's now
been 22 years and we're, we have a national presence. I mean, we're in 37 states and have, uh,
10 financial advisors and we're managing close to a billion dollars. So it's. Been, uh, an
unbelievable journey from extraordinarily humble beginnings as a, as a startup.
Paden Squires: Yeah. me and you're in very, very similar spaces, right? So I'm, I'm a CPA and
a CFP, so I, you know, I kind of, I I'm in the same area as you. But
you know, the interesting thing is the comment you made there of like, I'm, I'm a terrible
employee. I don't know how many times I've said that exact line on the show about myself, uh,
you know, beginning, you know, I, I had some corporate experience coming out, of, College and
[00:03:00] grad school and whatnot. And yeah, I hated it. Uh, was not
for me.
Eric Brotman: you know, I, I don't, I didn't like being told that's the way we do it or that's the way
it's always been done, or sort of stay in your lane. You, you know, I, I get some of those things.
But I was barely making a living. I had seniority in my department of five after eight months. The
turnover was so rampant 'cause people were so unhappy.
And it just was, it was an awful job. However, it led me down a really important path that I didn't
know I had. So, I'm, I'm grateful, frankly, for the, for the abuse that I took for that year. But I, but I
never wanna do it again, and I never want to treat people that way. So we have a culture here
that's extraordinarily different decisions by committee.
We take a, a lot of feedback from a lot of people. We let, we let folks be involved in lots of
different aspects of the company. Um, we have, uh, we have a lot of employee leadership and
now a lot of employee ownership. So it's been a, it's been a journey to find people who maybe
have the entrepreneurial [00:04:00] itch and the desire to grow and be part of something
important and bigger than themselves, but maybe without having to do it by themselves and
figure out how to bootstrap and borrow money and all the things that it takes sometimes to get
started.
So it's been a nice, a nice mix, I think.
Paden Squires: Yeah. Yeah. so you know, you started in 94, you know, kind of on your own,
and you've kind of grown in it today. can you tell me, like, what, what's your focus today? You
know, I, I assume it's, leadership leading the team, But can you kind of just describe that to us
and maybe like your philosophy a little bit on that.
Eric Brotman: Well, absolutely, and, and actually my philosophy is to, to surround myself with
amazing people who are smarter than I am and who love doing things that I don't love doing.
And then give 'em the tools they need and get the heck outta their way. Uh, which, which I've
done. Um, I also am stepping down as CEO, I'm passing the torch January 1st to 26th.
And we'll be a growth officer for the firm. I'm no longer client facing. Now my job is to do m and a
and to add senior level advisors to the firm and to find [00:05:00] organizations who are in need
of succession plans, where we can buy out, uh, an advisors, either an advisor's clientele or even
their staff and their teams.
So we're, we're looking into growth that's inorganic. Because the organic growth is already
happening, sort of like at full clip. So I, it's the first time I've had a new job in almost three
decades, so I'm a little freaked out by it. I'm not gonna lie. It's, it's, it's a little strange and it's a
little strange to, to sort of hand the reins to someone, even though she's someone I trust
implicitly and who I think is gonna do a better job than I did.
Um, certainly the, the tools that it took to get from zero to say a billion are different than the tools
it will take to get from one to three or five. It's a different business. It's a different thing. And so I
think it needs a different, uh, person at the helm. And so, you know, I saw I have no desire to, to
retire and my podcast and book notwithstanding to tell people never to retire 'cause it's bad for
them.
But I have no desire to not be working. It is, it's awful. I, [00:06:00] I want nothing to do with it.
However, I do want to graduate to sort of my 2.0 and reinvent myself a little bit. You know, the
timing's perfect. I'm, I'm three years from empty nesting. Trying to figure out what I wanna be
when I grow up, uh, feel like I have a lot of energy in the tank and can do a lot of good for a lot
of folks.
And now I'm trying to do more one to many rather than one-to-one. And hiring great people who
can do one-to-one at a a level that, you know, frankly is, it transcends anything I'm able to do
now.
Paden Squires: Yeah, a hundred percent. Right. And you, and you're building, you know, you're
building that team around you, you're building leverage around you. and like you kind of made
the comment earlier, it's, it's, you're, you're filling in all the gaps and, where you're at in your
season of life.
You know, I'm probably. You know, you're, you're probably 20 ish, you may be 25 years older
than me, but like, that's the path I'm going on. Right? Same, same exact path to get to that point
to where, um, you know, I'm not even the CEO or, or really any poor part of operations, but
really just.
I'm like [00:07:00] the lead evangelist, the marketing guy, like, you know, and
I, and I'm just, my head is constantly in the clouds and growth.
Right. and, I have an amazing team that are building up and, and leading and growing and, and
you know, someday I'm gonna take that same step you are tuning right now.
and while you're, you're probably 20 ish years ahead of me, I, I understand the, switching of the
role and, and putting somebody in as a CEO and, and that's my ultimate goal as well, right?
Is to
get to where I am the leader, the kind of lead evangelist. My head's always up in the growth,
right?
And, and, and get that team behind me that, that is operating and
running
the business because I know that's, honestly, that's where my genius is and where I'm like best
served at, and, having this rest of the team is certainly gonna fill in the holes that I don't, either
I'm not good at or I don't like to do it all right.
Eric Brotman: It's funny, the education system in this country for many years, and I am older
than you, but I'm not willing to tell you how much, uh, the, the, the education system in this
country for many, many years taught us to work on our weaknesses. [00:08:00] So all through
the eighties and nineties and seventies, eighties and nineties, it was, oh, you're terrific at math,
but you're, you're not great at grammar.
Let's do more writing. And today, I think we've shifted in education to playing to our strengths
and saying, you know, you're really good at math. Let's let that become. Your thing. And it could
be anything. It could be music, it could be art, it could be psychology, but playing to our
strengths. And I think if we do that at work and we let people do the things that not only that
they're good at and suited for, you talked about your, your genius.
Everyone's got their genius. And so if we can play to that, but also play to something that I think
is even more important, which is the the joy factor. Things people like to do. Just 'cause you're
good at something doesn't mean you like doing it. Um, so if you can find something that find
people who are good at something and love doing it, particularly if it's something you're either
not good at or don't love doing, and you've got a really, really smooth machine there because
you're, you're playing to people's [00:09:00] strengths instead of saying, look, everybody here
has to keep working on this, this weakness until we get it right.
Maybe they're not going to get it right, or maybe they'll get it right, but they'll resent the
experience. You know, we all hated that one class in school, whatever it was. Some people
more than one, but I'm not, not pointing fingers, but we all hated that one class at school that we
weren't good at. And instead of being forced to do that all day, let's do the things that we're great
at not to ignore a well-rounded, you know, human.
But yeah, I, I think some of us were born to do certain things. Just love doing certain things. You
know, I, I think if, if, if we learned anything from Michael Jordan trying to play baseball, it's that
no matter how great an athlete you are, you might might have one lane that's better than the
other.
Paden Squires: I like that Michael Jordan analogy you said there, and I think, I think is, you
know, my, my perception of that is. Being really, really top notch at, say, playing basketball,
right? Like
that takes almost everything like you, it's very, I would almost say arrogant to think that I can
[00:10:00] be a, top performer in this area and then pick up another area on the side and think
that I can compete at the highest levels, compete with the people that, you know, playing
baseball is their entire life. Right. And, and there's nobody playing in Major League baseball that
just kind of wants to play baseball, right?
There's nobody playing in the NBA
Eric Brotman: I, I would hope
Paden Squires: of wanna play in the NBA, right? Like,
it, it takes you know, unreal amounts of commitment and, and work that,
like, if you just want to dabble into something, don't have a high expectations of where you're
gonna actually compete.
Eric Brotman: Hobbies are great, but if, if you want to be a superstar in your career, whatever
field you're in, I think you do need to specialize on some level. You do need to do something that
gets you excited to get outta bed every morning. Whether you're 25 or 65 at the time, doesn't
matter. You should do something that gets you excited to get outta bed every morning.
That you're good at where you can make a difference and feel good about. So at the end of your
day, you're not drained, your tank is [00:11:00] full and you're ready for what's next. Instead of
saying, oh, I can't wait till Friday. You know, if you're one of those people who gets the Sunday
dreds, you're in the wrong job.
Paden Squires: Yeah, Yeah,
yeah. No, a hundred percent. how do you de define success for yourself? and maybe how has
that changed, you know, on your journey, you know, from, from the nineties to, to where it is
today?
Eric Brotman: It is changed dramatically because originally success was not failing. Success
was the absence of failure. When I first started, the biggest fear, the biggest thing that drove me
was that this isn't gonna work. And, and not that I was. Thinking that it wouldn't work, I believed
it would work. I, I, I had a, a plan that I thought was solid.
However, in the back of your head, it's, can I really do this? And I think as a startup, you spend
the first three to five years trying to figure out, I, is this gonna work or am I gonna be looking for,
for a job? Uh, and, and so it does, so success meant being sustainable and being viable, um,
initially then you get to a level that is really all [00:12:00] about meteoric growth.
I think the, the measure of success then is extremely quantitative. Can I grow to this level, this
number of assets under management, this number of clients, this amount of revenue, whatever
you're, you define it to be, there's a very quantitative phase, you know, now it's okay, I'm
surviving, but can I thrive and can I thrive with a a, a money target, for example.
I'm now at the stage of my career where success has a heck of a lot more to do with our other
people around me thriving and succeeding. Am I finding joy in my work? It's much more
qualitative. You know, I'm at a point where, you know, I'm blessed to be working because I love
it. Not because I have to, because 'cause I went nine years at one point without a week off.
'cause I was in the office seven days a week. 'cause I did the things that people don't wanna do
and that people don't see. You know, they say it takes, it takes,
Paden Squires: but everybody,
Eric Brotman: takes 30 years. Yeah. It takes 30 years to be an overnight success. Right. It,
Paden Squires: yeah, it.
Eric Brotman: the people working here. Some of them weren't born when I was in the
[00:13:00] office with the IT team at three in the morning 'cause stuff wasn't gonna work at
seven.
You know, they didn't see it. And I'm not begrudging them that, but at, at the end of the day, the,
the lumps you take early on. get easily forgotten by those, or disregarded by those who don't
see it. They just see you at a certain level. And it took time to get there. Jeff Bezos was working,
I believe, in his mother's garage or, whatever, and I think he's doing okay now.
Um, so, so my measure of success now, Paden is much more qualitative. It's, am I enjoying
what I'm doing? Am I impacting lives, both the lives of the people who work with me and the
lives of the people we represent? And if I can say yes to those two things. You know, the
revenue will come at this point. It's about the joy and I think there's, there's a quadrant there.
You know, I, I, I refer to it as my joy revenue matrix, where you, you wanna do the things that are
high joy, that also make you more successful financially, whatever job you're in, and you want to
try and delegate the things that maybe make you successful but not happy. You wanna
[00:14:00] spend time doing the things that make you happy, even if they don't move the needle,
because that's part of who you are.
And then the rest of it, you want to eliminate, automate, delegate something, anything to not
spend your time doing that as much as you can.
Paden Squires: Yeah. I like the explanation you have there of, kind of the journey and, I've, you
know, doing a hundred plus of these episodes, it's, it's a similar journey that, you know, a lot of
people describe. Right. It's, it's, you know, the first five years, I'd say all the time on here, the
first five years gonna suck.
I mean, like, just,
they're gonna suck. and that, that's just, that's just like the entry fee. Okay? So like, you're
gonna have to pay that and then it becomes, okay, yeah man, maybe I have something here,
right? Like, and, and,
and now maybe if I can raise my game and raise my mindset and, and, and set these big goals,
okay, maybe I can go after all these big things.
And, and you know, I, I would say I, you know, the phase I'm in to a degree, right?
and then, you know, yeah. Once you have some level of success, you know, monetarily, like
you're [00:15:00] in great shape. you've kind of done all the right things for you and then like,
okay, the monetary goals even become less motivating right.
At
that point. and, and and then it's okay. How can we have impact on others and, and my team
and giving my team opportunities to grow and my clients and, and spreading just good stuff.
Right.
Um, it, it becomes, like you said, much more about that, after you've accomplished all your, you
know, whatever monetary goals you have for yourself.
Eric Brotman: watching other people succeed is now a definite measure of success. I can
enjoy their success, both employees and clients. I can enjoy their success vicariously.
Paden Squires: Mm-hmm.
Eric Brotman: Feel like I've played some small role. I will say that when you talk about the first
five years that they're gonna suck, they do suck in a lot of ways.
I remember when we set up payroll and we had one full-time and one part-time person and me,
uh, and they had direct deposit and I didn't, 'cause half the times I couldn't cash my own check
and I had next to no salary and those checks would sit in the drawer hoping that they could go
to the bank someday.
[00:16:00] Uh, right now they're not. And you, you really go six months to a year with, with no no
income and, and you've borrowed money to do it. I mean, I borrowed from everywhere and
banks wouldn't talk to me. You know, the, I, the ironic thing is a bank loves to lend money to
people who don't need it, but they don't wanna lend money to people who do need it.
And that's the great conundrum and it's entirely true. And when you're a startup, they're like, see
us in two years. The same banks that said thanks, but no thanks. We won't help. You are now
literally in line, outside the front
Paden Squires: Knocking down their door trying to give you money. Yeah.
Eric Brotman: we've always wanted to work with you. Get out. No, you didn't.
And the, and the The first one that did, um, is largely still with us now because they, they took a
flyer on us early enough on that. They were like, okay, well let's do this. And we've worked with
lots of different banks and financial institutions now, but when you start, I borrowed from my life
insurance.
I borrowed from my credit cards, I borrowed from my home, I borrowed from my mom. There's
nothing, nothing worse than owing your mom [00:17:00] money. And I paid her first. I didn't care
what the interest rates were. I had to have a good line of credit with the Bank of Mom 'cause I
wanted Thanksgiving to continue and I'm not a good cook.
So that, that was the first one I paid back. If the banks don't get their money, so be it. But mom's
getting paid back 'cause that was nice. So it, it is, it is a journey I I for the right person, for the
right people. It's one of the most rewarding things you can do for the wrong person. It's really
torture.
I mean, you really have to think about, for those folks who are in your audience, who are
thinking about taking the entrepreneurial leap. Um, the beauty is that millennials who I love to
beat on because millennials, I, you might be a millennial, they're
Paden Squires: I'm a really, I'm like a, technically I am one, but I'm like the oldest one,
you, know? so.
I really, myself, more Gen X,
Eric Brotman: No, no, you're, you are definitely a millennial. No one considers themselves Gen
X. You know, if you're Gen X, if you're Gen X, you played with toys that could kill you.
Paden Squires: You know, I
ran around pretty, uh, unwatched most,
Eric Brotman: yes, there were no helmets for anything, [00:18:00] but, but I like to beat on
millennials 'cause they're easy targets, and I'm putting you in that group for this moment.
But what millennials figured out that I think is really smart is they, they built the concept of a side
hustle. And so a lot of folks who have that entrepreneurial itch now have the ability to start
something sort of, whether it's their nights and weekends or it's their, it's their free. They can
begin something and get that ball rolling without sort of giving up the day job.
Back in the day, that was not a possibility. You had to quit and because nothing was, nothing
was digital, nothing was online, right?
Paden Squires: Yeah. Yeah.
Eric Brotman: If you're out pressing flesh, you have to do it. When that's happening, you have
to go to that lunch meeting or you have to go to that Chamber of Commerce meeting or
whatever it is, and you can't do that while you're punching the clock someplace.
Well, now there's so many different ways to get plugged in, and so for, for folks who wanna do
the entrepreneurial jump, you maybe don't have to do it. In quite the, the, you know, I, we were
trapeze artists without a net. There's a net now, at least [00:19:00] for some, if you are gainfully
employed and it's not absolute torture, and you can continue to do that while you're building
whatever business you want to be in.
I, I, I think it's, it's a little easier. I'm not gonna say it's simple. It's not, it's still hard work, but you
don't have to starve necessarily for your first six months or a year as you get something off the
ground.
Paden Squires: Yeah. talking about the listeners that, you know, maybe they listen to this type
of content all the time, right? And, and they, they have this itch in the background and, it's just
kind of always gnawing at 'em.
Or they're, you know, they're always considering it. And, you know,
speaking to them, it's, like, it may not be, you know, it's like as much as, you know, I don't know
my show or I try to glorify entrepreneurship to, to some degree because I, I do love it, but it's not
for everybody. And, that's okay.
Like there's nothing wrong with that. but like you need to accept that. You need to look at, okay, I
wanna build this business, five years of suck, or whatever that's gonna take. you look at the cost
and if you decide [00:20:00] it's not for you, that's fine. but this
like in-between of
like, maybe I wanna do it, maybe I don't want to do it.
Like you're just torturing yourself. You need to accept the
path and understand what work is required. You know,
go in with your eyes wide open
or just accept you're never gonna have it, and that's fine too.
Eric Brotman: Well
Paden Squires: is terrible.
Eric Brotman: there are lots of ways to have professional success. and for some people that
means working for themselves. And, and some people sort of can ha can build their own
practice or their own, status within an organization where they're not also the ones who are
sweeping up at night, you know?
Paden Squires: and we need those people.
Eric Brotman: Well, yes, entirely. I I will say that, that one of the things that I look at when we
start talking to firms about their succession plans and we start talking to financial advisors, most
of them don't have any plan at all. They're either gonna die at their desk or walk away or take
less than the business is worth.
And that's because a lot of their G twos, second generation advisors [00:21:00] are not gonna
have the appetite for the risk or the ability to finance. A purchase. So, you know, Paden, I started
selling shares of this company when I was 38. People thought I was absolutely nuts, you know,
like the farmer selling the, watermelon before it's ripe on the vine and getting less because it's
fewer pounds.
But what I wound up was knowing that that watermelon was being sold. Even if, even if it wasn't
fully grown yet and that was okay. And so I started selling shares at 38. Um, I've continued to do
this gradually. It is still part of my financial journey and my financial plan. It's allowed for tax
planning.
It's allowed for. Um, for, for me to, to time the way that other people join this, this group, we now
have eight shareholders, that seemed impossible. Firms look at that and go, how did you do it?
Um, and I said, well, first of all, you just commit to doing it. And second of all, I've been doing it
for 15 years.
Like, it didn't happen overnight. It wasn't like I became employee owned, let's do an esop. It
[00:22:00] was how do we, how do we figure out who are those folks? And, and equity's never
given, it's always sold. So if you, if you want to own shares of a company like this, typically
you're not earning them. You're buying them and you're buying them and then helping them be
more successful.
And if you're willing to take that risk, there's a lot less risk in buying 2% or 4% or 8% of a
company than there is saying, I'm gonna own a hundred percent and let's just do it. And so there
are lots of ways to be entrepreneurial, even if you don't want the risk of saying, holy cow, the
three people I just hired, their families are.
Fully reliant on me to do what I do. Like it's a, there's, there's some real pressure and some real
risk involved financial risk, but also reputational risk. and the risk that you're gonna let people
down. And if there's one thing I know about successful business people is that they never, never
wanna let somebody down.
And sometimes it happens anyway, but you, you do your best not to. I had employees willing to
take the leap. In fact, when I left my former firm in oh [00:23:00] three to start, I had one person
who I was allowed to take with me by contract, and I, I offered her the gig and I said, will you
come? And we we're, she's no longer working here.
We're dear friends to this day, but we called it our Jerry McGuire moment. Like, grab the fish and
we will have dental. Right? Like it was, it was, she literally went from a stable organization to a
startup overnight.
Paden Squires: Well, she took a chance on you.
Eric Brotman: She did, and I took a chance on her, and we had a great run for a long time, and
she's very successful and happy.
And, and I'm doing fine. And, and we're dear friends, because I think there's a, there's, there's
phases in chapters of life. You know, deciding to do something is not a lifetime, uh, sentence,
you know, it, it's a big commitment. But anything you build, you can sell, you can unwind, you
can transfer, you can, there's lots of ways.
Once you own it, it's an asset. It's on your balance sheet. So it, you know, when you're an
employee, it's all income statement and I'm talking to a CPA, so I'm in deep trouble if I go too
deep here. But you know, it, it's all [00:24:00] about what comes in and what goes out when you
own the company. It's not just what goes in and, and what comes in and what goes out, but it's
also what the what, the what, the what's it worth?
You know, the difference between renting an apartment and buying a home is that there can be
equity in a home. It doesn't mean it's always a good thing to buy a home. Not everyone should
buy a home. Just like not everyone should start a company. I mean, there are reasons to do it
and reasons not to.
Paden Squires: a hundred percent, you know, don't have anything to add to that. That was
great.
Eric Brotman: Wow. That's good 'cause 'cause I am not a, I am not A-C-P-A-I am in, I wouldn't
do my own tax return if I had to. In fact,
Paden Squires: I actually filed mine like three
days ago. Finally.
Eric Brotman: no, I would, I would sooner do my own root canal just for the record, and that
wouldn't go well either.
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like to have us working for you.
Paden Squires: So, you know, um, you know, obviously you, you know, in the financial wealth
building space and, and and whatnot. I work with almost exclusively entrepreneurs and my, you
know, my [00:26:00] practices and
whatnot. But what's one principle of like wealth building? that's kind of like specific maybe to
entrepreneurs or business owners that, that you wished they understood better.
Eric Brotman: Well, it, it's funny because I was formulating an answer and then you said for
business owners. And so the answer does change a little bit
Paden Squires: a little bit. Yeah.
Eric Brotman: finances and your, and your business finances, while they certainly impact each
other, they are different. I would say for business owners, like anything else, you have to work.
On the business, not just in the business. And that means you have to take off your worker bee
hat and put on your, your owner hat, your shareholder hat, whether you own a hundred percent
of the company or something less than a hundred percent, and you have to spend time working
on the business itself.
Are we profitable? Are we successful? What direction do we need to go in? What's our branding
and marketing need to look like? What are, what's our, what's our five-year pro forma look like?
Um, and that is not the same as what do I do? Well, I'm a, I'm a dentist and I see patients all
day. Well, great, but you also [00:27:00] own a practice, which means, you have to know that
yes, we have the right equipment and the right leases, and the right financials, and the right.
Banking relationship and we're, we've got the right employment contracts and all the things you
have to work on the business, not just in it. So for business owners, a business is an asset that
you must manage. You know, people think it's a set it and forget it, or it's a, you know, I've got it
started now I can just file that, file the the LLC document in my drawer and not look at it for 12
years.
I would say that's not the way to do this. I would say you should absolutely, at least annually,
look at all of the things that any company would look at for directors, for officers, for
shareholders. Look at the legal documents, look at the vendor agreements, look at the, the hr,
the employee manuals, all the things that that happen as you start to grow at least once a year,
have a true inventory and get offsite.
'cause you can't do it when you're in the trenches. Get offsite and spend meaningful time,
whether it's, whether it's just you and a [00:28:00] consultant or coach, or whether it's you and
your executive team, if you've grown there, or whether it's you and two or three key people who
may not be executives by definition, but they're leaders in the organization.
But you have to work on it, not just in it. That to me is, is step one. If you don't do that, you're not
managing it. It's like having a beautiful lawn. You never, you never cut. I mean, at some point it
won't be beautiful if you don't trim it. Right.
Paden Squires: Yeah. And I think that is such a hard thing for a lot of entrepreneurs to do, and,
the reason is honestly, the stereotypical personality of an entrepreneur, right? Like they're,
they're
generally these high driving, you know, high confident people that make decisions and, and
move things along, and that's why they started this business. But generally, that type of
personality comes along with some weaker detail, right?
Eric Brotman: hire a coach, hire a consultant, hire a dedicated management individual who can
do that, who's great at that, who loves to do the blocking and tackling, and doesn't have to call
the play, you know? Again, you're playing to your strengths. Most, you're right.
Most [00:29:00] entrepreneurs would rather be making the widgets all day than figuring out how
the widget factory is gonna run. But you have to, or somebody has to. And if, if you are not that
person, if, if you have a big enough team that you can delegate that to somebody you trust,
great. But if you don't, you can outsource that.
That's where someone like yourself who has much more experience in working with these kinds
of folks can say, Hey, let's talk about the ways that, that this organization can grow, that this
business can, can flourish such that it takes care of you, your family, your loved ones, your
philanthropy, and all those things for decades, not just so you get through quarter three.
Paden Squires: Yeah. I mean, there, yeah, I, I see it every day. I see it every day in my
practice. I see it every, you know, of new clients I'm talking to and, and whatnot. Whereas, we
get on a call, me and my team, you know, as we're going through the process of, you know,
onboarding a new client and whatever, and we start asking questions, and
those questions will have people like deer in headlights.
They're like,
oh my gosh, I've never thought about any of this stuff before.
And, It's just intentionality, [00:30:00] focus around it, right? And it, it's, it's leaning into those
things that you are afraid of or know you're not good at. and finding help and support in those
areas because like, you know, most entrepreneurs will go years and years.
Like it's, and they'll just completely ignore it because they know they're not good at it. They know
it's not good. So they're like, Hey, let's just hide this over here in the corner. Um, and, it's not
gonna get better.
And, and like I said. It,
it's nothing. Oh, Yeah.
a hundred percent. That pile of mail you don't wanna look at because you know there's
something in
Eric Brotman: haven't looked at your will in 15 years. It's probably not good.
Paden Squires: Yeah,
Eric Brotman: It doesn't have to be. Or if you stopped opening your 401k statement 'cause you
don't like seeing the balance go up and down. Well, you still need to be aware or have
somebody aware.
Paden Squires: yeah. Yeah.
Eric Brotman: business owner is very, very similar to the family.
The financial planning and business planning are inextricably linked, and for a business owner,
they have to manage it as a business, but they also have to manage it from a financial context
because it is probably their [00:31:00] biggest asset. If you don't own a business, your house is
likely your biggest asset.
Maybe your retirement plan, but usually your house if you own a business and it's having any
modicum of success. Then that is your largest asset. And it needs to be treated with the respect
it deserves. 'cause it is the most important asset in your world. And you have to protect it. the
right liability, the right, you know, liability, coverage, the right employee situation, the right, all of
the things, the accounting, the legal, the financial.
It has to be tied up. And you don't have to do it by yourself. No one goes into business 'cause
they want to do all of that. You've gotta have a team, just like a family should have a team of
advisors, financial, tax, and legal. So should a business.
Paden Squires: A hundred percent. Yep. So turning, turning back to you again, Eric. So you,
you, have your podcast, you've written
Eric Brotman: Yeah. Yeah.
Paden Squires: me, you know, what kind of impact has that had on, you know, your business
and personal growth and, and maybe tell me a little bit of the why behind those.
Eric Brotman: Well, the [00:32:00] Y had a lot to do with wanting to reach as many people as
possible and help them, even if they weren't good prospective clients For a firm like ours. You
know, not everyone needs a financial advisor, but everyone needs some financial advice. And
so while there are plenty of families or individuals who would benefit from working with a firm
like ours, not all of them should either.
It's either it's more expensive than something they ought to do, which I'm extremely sensitive to.
I mean, it's like the Hippocratic Oath for a physician is first do no harm. There, there comes a
point where it makes sense there. There might be a point in between where it makes more
sense to have a financial coach or a financial consultant, or even to use AI or some kind of
resource to help stay on track.
There are things that you can do at least early on that are much less expensive, but I wanted to
create a resource that the masses could get their hands on. That would be a path to financial
independence. So the book has a workbook with it, and the workbook is literally building your
own financial plan.
So if you were to go through the exercises, and I don't believe in homework, I [00:33:00] like
extra credit. So every chapter has its extra credit assignment. If you do the extra credit as
assignments, you'll have a financial plan. Um, and you can then use that foundationally. Then
ultimately as you get, um, you know, either more sophisticated in your planning or more
successful financially, then you can start to outsource some of those roles.
But when you first get started, you kind of have to do it by yourself, and your HR department
cannot help you. They can't, they're not legally allowed to help you. All they can say is, these are
the 26 forms I need back by Friday. Um, they can't tell you how to do it. And so having the right
resources matter, so I, I wanted to be able to have, we have solutions for the, the $25 million
crowd and the, the business owners and executives who are, who are very wealthy people, we
have resources for the folks who are.
One to 10 million or, or, and, and who wants some private wealth and want some, uh, some
handholding, some concierge level assistance, but don't necessarily need a family office. We
have a financial planning program that's designed [00:34:00] for folks with less than a million
dollars. That is a financial planning for all, where it can be subscription based or it can be very
affordable.
Then we also realized there were people who were either struggling with debt or were paycheck
to paycheck, and were not in a position to do this. And I wanted to put something out. So you
asked how it impacted the business. It made me as a professional feel like I now could reach
everyone. There was now a resource from just getting started, and we put a lot of free resources
out.
You know, we have free eBooks and um, and free online personal financial literacy courses and
things that are literally free to anybody who wants them, because we want to be able to help a
wide swath of humanity, whether you're a Rockefeller or whether you're a startup. And so that's
why I did it. I would say that the, the branding of Don't, you Don't Retire Graduate.
I've been doing the show for six years. Um, it's my third book. It's my last book unless there's a
romance novel in me. 'cause that's a lot of work. Um, so, so there's, there's, [00:35:00] um,
we've reached a lot of people and I know we've put out a lot of content that people can get that's
free. That makes me feel good.
Does the podcast grow the business from a, from a dollars and cents standpoint? Not really,
because it's reaching people who, in most cases, are looking for that free advice or that, or that
kick in the pants to, to start getting something going. That's not how people make financial
decisions. People make financial decisions when they get to a certain stage where they know
they need help and they ask a friend, or they ask their CPA or they ask their lawyer or they ask
their next door neighbor, who do you use for this?
And that's how those relationships start. It's extremely rare that someone would listen to a
podcast and go, I'm hiring those guys. Um, not that it, not that it doesn't happen, but,
I didn't do the podcast and the book. To create new business for the firm, we're doing great. I did
it to create access to financial literacy for as many people as possible.
and for people to realize that they can do some of this themselves, and that when they're ready
to outsource it, [00:36:00] whether it's to us or somebody else, get the help you need and know
how to do it. There's a chapter dedicated to how to interview a financial advisor to figure out
whether he or she's right for you.
'cause they're all, we're all different. Somebody who chooses you will be different than
somebody who chooses us. And somebody who chooses one of us will be different than
somebody who chooses the, the person down the street or in the next town or in the next state.
And so I, I just think there's someone for everyone.
There is such a shortage of financial advisors in the US and a really big shortage of good ones
that there's so much abundance in this, in this world. So many people need our help. The more
people we can reach, the better off everyone's gonna be. And if, if that sounds utilitarian and,
naive, maybe it is, but I, I feel like we can change lives without having them write us a check.
Paden Squires: Yeah. Yeah. Love that Eric. Yeah, love, love that explanation. And, and many of
the same reasons. I, you know, I, I do what I do as well, you know, on the podcasting. It's not, in
fact, it costs me money, right? Like I have to
produce these [00:37:00] shows, I have to do all these things and, and, and whatnot. And, And,
and,
it. It's, it's, Yes.
there's some aspect of marketing funnel or even lead genera or lead nurturing or, or
whatever.
Yes. And all that stuff's true. but it, it really is one, I really like to do it. I enjoy meeting, you know,
people like you and having these conversations and I
learn a ton and it's great networking. I get great resources for my clients But it's really, it's really
doing it with no expectation.
And that's kind of how I jumped in. It was just, Hey, I need to do this. I know, you know, smart
people I know in business are building an audience. They're, they're giving away all kinds of
great content or whatever, and I'm like, you know what? I'm just going to copy that and do that
and see where it goes.
Right.
Eric Brotman: well, and,
and be, and be authentic. You be, you don't try and be somebody else because you, you're you,
you're the only you, right? So if your messaging is authentic and it's empathetic and it's heartfelt
and it's, it's, you, people are going to gravitate to you or not based on.
Paden Squires: Yeah. If they like it or not.
Eric Brotman: and that's okay.
And [00:38:00] that then there's somebody for everyone. But the fact that you have, uh, been
able to build an audience and yes, it, it is expensive and time consuming. If you consider the
hourly rate that you have when you actually are working with clients and you tack that onto the
cost of
Paden Squires: the cost. Oh my gosh.
Eric Brotman: it, it is expensive.
But worth it. Um, and I, I think some of that is, is brand awareness. Some of it's credibility. Some
of it's, it's great that when someone goes to your website or ours, they can check out some of
our content and see if, if our values are aligned, if our messaging is aligned. but beyond that, it
really is not about, creating new clients so much as, as making a difference for those folks who
maybe aren't ready yet, but when they are ready.
You want 'em to think of you, you wanna be top of mind, and we're not a household name, and
you're not a household name. And we're not on billboards and we're not advertising during the
Super Bowl. Uh, and so the, the, the big companies will always own us in that area. Where they
can't own us is in the one-on-one communication and the accessibility of the decision makers.
you know, [00:39:00] if you're working with a financial advisor and you can't call the the CEO or
the chief investment Officer or any of those people, then you're with a pretty big company and all
you have is their representative. But if you're working with someone who's an entrepreneur,
who, particularly if you're working with business owners, he gets you because he's done, you've
done the same thing.
There, there's, there's an immediate connection because you've done the exact same thing.
You've worn that hat. You've felt that, uh, that, that fear, you've taken that risk and you've
enjoyed some success, and you can help others with that experience. And I think that's really
important.
Paden Squires: Yeah. Yeah. That's great. last question here for you, Eric.
So me and you, me and you are both. Uh, champions of Financial Literacy, right?
Eric Brotman: Yes, sir.
Paden Squires: if you could just give out a couple basic principles, and I, and I know this, this
may sound for kindergartners, but it, it, the stuff I see every day and, and, and deal with, it's
what are the, the few basic principles that people need to understand and kind of implement in
their [00:40:00] lives to have some financial success.
Eric Brotman: I'm gonna give you three. I could give you 20 as you well know, but I'm gonna
give you three that I think are fundamentally important. And if people can do these three things,
then they're gonna be in good shape. the first one is to take inventory. Know where you are. You
can't possibly chart a path someplace if you don't know where you are.
That's navigation 1 0 1. It's like the mall kiosk. You're the sticker. Where am I going? and be real
honest with yourself. With your significant other, with your spouse or partner with your advisors,
if there is one. it's like going to a doctor and not telling them what hurts, but asking for a
prescription.
Be be really honest so that inventory is where you start. Be really clear, this is where I am, good
or bad. And some of it'll be great and some of it'll be lousy and that's life, but know where you
are. So that's number one. Number two is to pay yourself first. Every single month, instead of
bringing in whatever revenue or income you have, paying the bills and hoping something's left
over, make sure you automate the savings or investment or debt [00:41:00] reduction from the
first dollar.
Because if you can live on 80% or 85% or 90% or some number, that's less than a hundred
percent of what you make, then you have a shot at building wealth. If you're spending more than
you make and you're not the federal government and don't have a printing press, you have no
hope. Uh, so that second is to pay yourself first.
And third is don't wait. It doesn't matter what shape you're in financially, it will not be better
tomorrow than it is today. Unless you take proactive steps. So, I would say those are, those are
the three things. Take inventory and be honest with yourself. Make yourself the highest priority
bill every month, and don't wait.
Nothing good is gonna happen by procrastination, inertia, a powerful force, but your, your head
in the sand is not a good plan.
Paden Squires: A hundred percent. Yeah.
Eric, I wanna appreciate you for coming on the show. Uh, this has been a great conversation
and listeners will 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 [00:42:00] as we're
trying to accomplish our goal of help creating more healthy, wealthy, and wise entrepreneurs.
You can follow us on social media by searching for me Paden Squires.
Or going to padensquires.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.
