A hearty welcome to Grandma’s Wealth Wisdom with your hospitable hosts, Brandon and Amanda Neely. This is the only podcast for strategies to grow your wealth simply and sustainably like grandma used to. Without further ado here are your hosts.
Brandon: Hey, I'm Brandon and welcome to Grandma's Wealth Wisdom, where we work with you to build wealth grandma would be proud of.
Amanda: And I'm Amanda. We have got a special guest with us today. His name is J.R. and he has a really cool thing that he does. He works with coaches and consultants and helps them get more clients using, and this is trademarked, Direct Response Podcasting™. That's his trademark. That's what his title, what he does -- Direct Response Podcasting™. He's been doing podcasting in general since 2008. [0:01:02.1]
Some of these numbers are astronomical in terms of The Podcast Factory, his business. The Podcast Factory has published over 44,000 minutes of audio content, over 2000 shows and over 2.6 million downloads and counting. Like they're coming out with shows all the time, including this one that will added to their shows and their downloads. You know, you just help them download by listening and the minutes that we talk today will add to their minutes, and through the years as J.R. has built up his business, he's become trusted as one of the top names in marketing to help those coaches and clients leverage the power of the spoken word, to reach more people, make an everlasting impact, and become more influential leaders in their community. And as you might have guessed, J.R. is our podcast producer and he has helped us do just that, and we're excited for him to be our first interviewee.
Brandon: That is a mouthful. We have him as a first interview because he's our podcast producer and that would be really fun. [0:02:06.2]
Amanda: So welcome, J.R.
J.R.: Tell the truth. You can tell the truth, come on. Tell the truth that grandma would be proud of. You're just using me as a guinea pig.
Amanda: That is an extra bonus, but we also want to help you tell your story, too.
J.R.: Alright. Looking forward to it. Hopefully, I can bring some value to Grandma's Wealth Wisdom today.
Amanda: Yeah. We're going to be asking you some questions about money and your story with money and hope that that will inspire our listeners. So, are you game?
J.R.: Yeah, let's do it.
Amanda: Okay.
Brandon: So, before I get into asking questions about him, I wanted to share, as we went through his process through finding you know what's our podcast name and all that other stuff, you call it, let's see if I remember correctly. You would know this, right off. Client matrix or something like that.
J.R.: The client cloner, the content vault…
Brandon: The client cloner, the content vault…
J.R.: Yeah.
Brandon: All that stuff. [0:03:01.1]
You helped us come up with Grandma's Wealth Wisdom as we were trying to figure it out. We were going with sustainability and Grandma's Wealth Wisdom was one that both you and Amanda and I kind of like came together and it was because of our coaching mentorship that we have with you that Grandma's Wealth Wisdom came about. So, that's why it's cool that you're a part of the first interview.
J.R.: Well, thank you. And I will gladly take credit for helping, but I didn't -- you guys named the show. I just pointed you in the right direction.
Amanda: I don't know if we could’ve done it without you, so. Thank you. Okay. Here's the first question, going way back. What was money like for you growing up?
J.R.: In short supply. Money was the reason we couldn’t do things, "We can't do that; we don’t have the money. Are you crazy?" And my dad, to this day right now, you can go ask him, "Hey, you got money for that?" He'll tell you, "I'm broke. I'm broke. I can't do that." So, my relationship with money was severely stunted in my early years and I had to make up for that as I got older. [0:04:05.3]
Brandon: How did you make up for it as you got older?
J.R.: Getting around better people, learning that money is a good thing. Money is the reason that we can have things and money shows -- it's like a scorecard for your contribution to the world. Here, let me show you something weird. I've always wanted to show this, but I never get to. We're on video.
Brandon: Is that money? Is that cash?
J.R.: Can you see that?
Amanda: Yeah.
J.R.: Right. So I carry, and this to make myself feel better, I usually carry about $1500 in my wallet, at least. I like to keep it to $2000, and sometimes when something's irritating me or I'm bothered or something, I just stick my hand in my pocket and I rub the money, and I'm like, "You know, most of America doesn’t even have this much money in their savings account, no less their pocket." So, my relationship with money is totally different now than it was when I grew up, and hopefully that's not too crass, but Grandma's Wealth Wisdom, right. [0:05:03.0]
Keep money in your pocket, cash.
Amanda: Yeah. That's a big thing. You know, the official statistic is that the average American doesn’t even have $400 in liquid cash available in case like the tires blow or there's some kind of thing they need $400 for. They'd have to put it on a credit card or go into debt to pay for that $400. So, kudos to you. I'm really looking forward to hearing from how you get from where you started to where you are now. Like, what -- you mentioned like you found some people that helped you change your mindset about money. Like, were those people you found when you were still a kid or were they as you were in adulthood? Like, how did that come about?
J.R.: No. I mean, I wish it was that easy or that long ago because I'd have a whole lot more. But it was just over time. It was first just learning that money was a possibility and when I got into real estate, I learned how easy I could make money happen by finding a deal. I knew anytime that I found a deal that money was right around the corner and so that was either funding for the deal or selling the deal. [0:06:05.5]
The first thing I developed was the ability to make money and make more money than I ever thought possible. That was the first thing, and so that blew some of my beliefs about money and time out of the water. But it wasn’t until way later, after I was married for a few years and in business for several years, and Cupcake, Rachel, helped me out with this a lot, but I really didn’t know how to save. I really didn’t know anything. Like, I would make money and it would all disappear and I wonder what the heck is going on, and I never had any money in my pocket. And this also serves as a reminder for that, but I think the biggest impact, like for me to have one big impact, other than my wife teaching me more about savings and giving me a good example, I would say that T Harv Eker and the envelope system that I learned in his book just kind of opened my eyes that I could put away 50% of my money, still have everything and still have some money for a rainy day was kind of interesting and so, from there it's just been a game of how much. How much can you make, how much can you put away, how much can you grow? [0:07:07.5]
Brandon: That's a really great way to think about it too, because not just making money, but saving and putting it in a place that is accessible. Still maybe doing stuff and then for you having even that money on hand if something happens, you're able to leverage or use it, or if you have that liquidity, take a real estate deal, for example. You're able to buy a property or something because you have some of that money saved in a place that is accessible to you.
Amanda: Yeah. For people that aren’t familiar, can you give a little summary of the envelope system and how like you've gamified this, you know, what you do with your money?
J.R.: Yeah. You know, I don’t use it anymore. I used it for a couple of years and I was very specific and intentional about it and I actually kept envelopes in a desk drawer with cash and I split up my money because I couldn’t do it any other way. [0:08:04.1]
But there was just envelopes for different things; like there was obviously a recreation envelope; there was a savings envelope; there was an education envelope; there was a bills envelope and you split everything up and you just pay for those pieces. So we'd keep a spreadsheet and be like alright, this is my fun fund, I'm drawing that down a little bit, or this is my education fund. I need something here. But nowadays, you know, back then it was like eye opening to just put away 10% but nowadays, the way I have it set up is that I actually -- if I'm not putting away 50% of my paycheck, I start like itching. I'm like oh, I'm not putting enough money away. I'm going to die. It just gets weird. And so, the fun to me is to watch the bank account go up, you know, and I'm just like, yeah, more money, great. This is great. I love this. And so, it was just a matter of doing the envelopes in the beginning and understanding that I could still have everything I wanted and have money. [0:09:02.0]
I think that was a big, big lesson, and nowadays, it's just watching the scorecard go up. Like, I'll compare with Rachel, "Look, I've got this much. What do you have?" And we just play around like that, "Oh, look, I got this much." She calls it mad money. She's got an envelope of mad money. I keep my mad money in my pocket. It's just being in that state of mind all the time for us is really what works now.
Amanda: Yeah. That sounds good. So, I can just hear the reaction of some people listening, like, whoa, you've got to be really motivated to save 50% of your income, and that motivation has to come from somewhere beyond just seeing that scorecard, you know, and the bank account go up. Like, what is it that really drives you to set aside that amount of money for, I don't know, and actually what are you saving for? Like, what's that money earmarked for?
J.R.: That's a good question. I don't know. House in Park City, perhaps? Awesome snowboard trips. Money set aside so I can have whatever I want, I mean, that's what it comes down to because our bills are paid. [0:10:01.2]
We know that. We can't live. We have the beautiful condo and before I started doing all this, I don’t think I could have afforded the condo and the big, you guys would be shocked at what we pay there, but it's just -- I want -- you know what it is, I guess at the end of the day is freedom is what it comes down to, and we're free right now. Like I don’t have to work. I have that f.u. money where I have fired all my clients and money stopped coming in, I'd still be okay for the next 6, 8, 10, 12 months while I figure it out. And so it's that freedom is part of it and then the other part, it was a competition because Rachel was always a better saver than me, and it was a security thing. So when she came and joined the company, she was at a corporate job making really good money and then she comes to work at The Podcast Factory for pittance compared to what she was making, and so I felt that it was super important. That's when I started upping to 50% was I needed her to know that no matter what, we have money getting put away, whether you know she's making all the corporate money she was making or she's making the little bit less that she's making now, and she's even putting away good money because we just, we have it figured out to where we know what we can spend and we know that we need to put away a certain amount, so. I guess it's freedom and choice and the ability to do what we want. [0:11:14.8]
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: That goes to me. I'm just curious. So, you're saying "Freedom," right? And I hear our audience saying, "Wait, freedom? And you're putting it in an envelope and you have budgets and you restrain yourself from you know certain limits or whatever." I just think that sometimes, as I work with clients, they are so adverse to the envelope system, budgeting, any of those kind of things and saving even. So just your idea of okay, savings brings freedom is totally countercultural than I don't know, a lot of Americans out there. Right? [0:12:01.3]
J.R.: Yeah. Yeah. And it's, I think, to me, discipline is freedom because when you're disciplined, you're free to make better choices because you have planned. You've thought ahead. You have some cushion. So this is not just in money. This is everything in life. The way I manage my time is discipline = freedom. If I want 4 days off or 5 weeks off, I can have them, because I can plan ahead and do that, but if you're just letting life happen and if you're just like the victim all the time, then sure, the envelope system is not going to work. You're not going to have $400 when you need it. I see it all the time right here in the apartments. These people live, and they're good, hardworking people and very, very salt of the earth, and yet, they don’t have 2 pennies to rub together. If they have to go get their car fixed, rent is late or cable is not paid, and that to me is scary as heck.
Amanda: I love that you have a competition with your wife and Brandon and I are a little competitive too, just in how we relate to each other. But if you're going to compete, compete about saving, you know, like so many couples are like who can outspend the other or you know, that's kind of how they like might get each other back when they're having a fight or whatever. [0:13:09.9]
But it sounds like if you guy are having a fight, you just save more and show her, "Look, I won."
J.R.: Good month, this month right, yeah? I saved 3g's this month. Take that.
Amanda: So I know you all have a son and you're you know thinking about his future as well probably as part of this but you know we say that you know true like financial security, and I like to, you know, we call it Grandma's Wealth Wisdom, but sometimes I want to be like Grandma's Financial Security Wisdom, because really like the wealth is there to provide the financial security. Like when you think about you know generations from now, your grandchildren, like what kinds of things do you want them to have learned from you that they're implementing in their own lives, you know, and furthering kind of that legacy that you’ve started, you know starting with the envelope system and has progressed from there? [0:14:01.4]
J.R.: I go back and forth on this. Sometimes I think that I want to pull like, who is, Bill Gates gave their kids 100 grand and that was it or something? I feel like that's what I should do. I think that's the right thing to do, for my family, because I used to think about generational wealth, but you got to have something set aside. You got to have something that gives your family a head start and that's why we're clients of yours. We started Hudson with you guys and that's because we want him to have something. We want him to have something in the future. We want him to learn about building, but the most important thing to me is the ability to make money and I think the best way to make money is to be a good problem solver. So, if they take nothing else from me, just solve problems and get paid. That's really it because even if you don’t save, at least you can keep solving problems and getting paid so you can get by, but I sure would like it to be more than that, and I'll do that by example, but that's kind of where I'm at right now.
Amanda: If you're able to give them the gift of learning how to make money, they'll be able to solve any financial problems that come their way. [0:15:04.3]
J.R.: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah, I love that.
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Brandon: I think that's with us as parents too, where I mean our son is a little over a year old and you know he has something set up, but he's not going to just get it from me. He's going to have to work for it, and I think the best person to learn work ethic and not just work ethic but how to be an entrepreneur on some levels, is going to be from us. [0:16:04.1]
You know, not just, you know, I think we'll be his best or earliest mentors. He'll find other mentors that can teach him other things along the way, but this is very foundational and we'll give him a leg up, but he's not going to get, he's not just going to be handed it to him. Yeah.
J.R.: That's our thing here too, Brandon, is that, and I didn’t think about that, but everything is earned. Like I don’t want this kid to think he just deserves things because he's a special little snowflake because he's not. Right? He's got to earn it, so whatever he wants, even for right now, like he wants, I can't believe I started him, I thought this was a cute gift. I got a Super Nintendo so he could play Mario Brothers, we could play that together and I thought that was great, and then he became addicted. I had to take it away from him. But he earns it now. He earns 30 minutes of video games each week by doing his morning routine. I mean, the kid's 4 going on 5 and he makes his bed every morning, brushes his teeth, puts his clothes away, reads, does a prayer. [0:17:02.5]
Like he's got this whole list of things. He's got to do 7 consecutive days of it to earn 30 minutes of video games, so that's what I want him to know is you got to earn things, boy.
Amanda: Yeah. I love that. So, let's go to your grandma. So if your grandma was here right now, what do you think she'd be most proud of of what you're doing with your money?
J.R.: Well, if you didn't say "money," I'd say my hair, but since …
Amanda: Yeah.
J.R.: … Since you said "money," that I have any is probably a good thing. I mean, I don’t think that my family, neither one of my grandmothers really had any means. They just got by, so the fact that we have -- you know what? I think even it's not the money. Forget about the money. It's what can the money do for you, and the life I live with my family would be what she was most proud of.
Amanda: Yeah. I love that. And then in what ways do you think of going forward that you like, any like shifts or things you'd want to be doing with your money that you think would make your Grandma even prouder? [0:18:01.9]
J.R.: I know I can make Grandma's Wealth Wisdom prouder by putting more money in my account, and I've already been thinking about the numbers. I'm like, "Hey, these numbers don't make sense. If I'm going to spend 30 grand on that and that." So you guys got me thinking. Thanks for the book, by the way. That's what got me thinking like the college fund and all that, but yeah, it's just, we're going to keep creating wealth because it's fun. It's a sport. But you just got to get around people like yourselves, other smart people. I hang out with financial planners all the time, at Strategic Coach, and just keep learning what other options are. Like, I talk to, I was talking about, this is nerd stuff, but I was talking to a financial advisor friend of mine about loaning money through an IRA and things like that, and he wasn’t sure about it, and he turns around, "Well, do you have insurance?" And I'm like, listen, the insurance part is covered. Yeah, we got that. Like, you know, so it's getting around people like you guys that teach, or at least expand our minds to different ways of thinking and seeing what fits, what works, and where we're at and where we're trying to go and put the pieces in that you need. [0:19:05.3]
So to me it's just constant learning, constant improving, constant tweaking and making sure that when I'm old and I can't work anymore, I either die or have a lot of money so that I'm taken care of.
Amanda: Yeah. We might want to talk about a self-directed IRA, is what you're looking into.
J.R.: I have one. I have one but he just didn’t know the answer to the specific question about…
Amanda: Oh, okay. So you'll find somebody else that has that answer. That's good.
J.R.: It's real estate investors that need to, in this particular instance, it's creative real estate investors that would have the answer because that's where I got the idea.
Brandon: Yeah, that's where something we shine in with using insurance and using this method can really help because with the Roth you have certain limitations and this can build cash value that you can then leverage, which is really cool, so that's probably what he was thinking about with insurance, maybe.
J.R.: Yeah. That’s exactly what he was thinking about, yeah. That was it. [0:20:03.8]
Use the cash, that's what he asked, is it whole life? Does it have a cash value? I'm like, yeah, I know I can take a loan against that. That's not the question I'm asking you.
Brandon: One thing I think about with whenever you're going back to your son of earning things, you tell them you got to earn things. In our credit crisis why I think we're in the position we are in with baby boomer generation is people don’t have to actually earn things. They just put it on a credit card and say well I want this car. I'm going to go use a card for it instead of earning the money first so then use it when they actually earned it, like you know, a vacation and so by teaching him to earn things as opposed to oh, here's the bank of mom and dad with the credit card that is infinite, is going to do a lot better things for him than you know the other way around. Does that make sense? [0:21:01.1]
J.R.: We hope so. Yeah, we hope so. That is our intent and we can only do the best that we can do. We know what our parents gave us. We know what we liked, what we didn't like, and so we're bringing our twist to parenting and we'll see what kind of monster we create.
Brandon: You'll mess up somewhere. I already know.
Amanda: So thanks so much for your time today, J.R. If people wanted to get in touch with you, ask you some more questions about real estate or about podcasting or I don't know, you tell me what you'd want to talk to people about, how would -- first of all, what would you like to talk to people about and then how do they get in touch with you?
J.R.: I don’t like to talk to people, so don’t contact me. No. No, I mean my website is ThePodcastFactory.com. I mean, that's pretty much it. I've got a show, Daddy's Working. You can find it on ThePodcastFactory.com.
Brandon: I love that podcast, by the way. I listen to it every week and I'm one of those avid listeners.
J.R.: Thank you.
Brandon: So, it's a really good podcast. [0:22:01.6]
J.R.: Yeah, so that's it, ThePodcastFactory.com or check out DaddysWorking.com. That would be where to find me.
Amanda: Awesome. Thanks so much for joining us. Any parting piece of advice or wisdom to share?
J.R.: Yeah. Put away some money, would you? Put some money away and then invest it when you have enough. You know what? I will give you something that I just got the other day. I went to a real estate seminar. We were learning about master leasing and being better landlords, and I met one of the old guys there, like an old timer. He's a legend in this area, just being a creative thinker, creative problem solver, making deals, and he was telling me how his kids are in the business. And I asked him, "So how'd your kids get into the business?" And he gave me a book. He's like start reading this to your son. He'll like it. So at night right now, I read Hudson The Richest Man in Babylon, just a couple of pages at a time, but that was his advice to me. I will pass it on to you.
Amanda: Awesome. That's a great book. A good recommendation.
J.R.: I just finished The Alchemist, which was the book that you sent to us, and that was a really good book too. [0:23:02.3]
Brandon: It was. That's why we're all here on our personal legends.
Amanda: Absolutely. Well thanks again for joining us and I'm sure we'll talk to you again soon.
J.R.: You don't have a choice; we work together.
Amanda: Yep.
J.R.: Cool, thank you.
Amanda: Thank you. So Brandon, that was a great interview with J.R. What are some of the things that stick out to you from that conversation?
Brandon: Well first off, it was our first interview on this podcast, so I think it helped us in just learning how to interview people because it's different than just you and I talking, you know, all that stuff. So I thought, what I really liked, was how he said discipline is freedom. Discipline is freedom and how if you're disciplined, it actually brings you financial independence, and a lot of people are on the other side, saying "I want freedom, but I don’t want discipline, and I don’t want to, you know, kind of like go into the gym again. I always use this gym." Like, if you go to the gym and exercise, you have discipline. [0:24:02.6]
You have more freedom to be able to do a lot of other things health wise, you know, and I think that's the thing that I really liked. And then also I really loved how he said with his son that he's going to earn things. "Earn things, boy," is what he said. And I think that's something that, again, that I mentioned before is our culture is not about earning things. It's about getting it free or easy and not earning. Does that make sense?
Amanda: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I totally agree that, you know, there's that side of if you can make money, like no matter what happens, if you can solve problems and get paid to solve those problems and you're looking at whatever you want in life, you have the ability to earn it, and that anything that you get in life is going to be earned, then that's a perspective to come at life that then when something does happen that you didn’t earn, because there are things, you know, little gifts that pop into our lives that we didn’t earn, you're going to just appreciate them so much more than if you're expecting those gifts to be the thing that makes or breaks you. [0:25:16.0]
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: And you know, it's kind of that philosophy like whatever you are, getting more money will just make you more of that. So if you can be in that mindset of, you know, I can still have everything. I can still, you know, save, be disciplined, you know, everything's earned, and then all of a sudden a whole bunch of money comes your way, whether from your grandma or from a business opportunity or whatever it is, then that's going to just catalyst you further. You know, you're going to scale up your earning or you're going, you know, have more saved for your future or you know something like that. And then, you know, continuing to enjoy life along the way and those gifts will become that much more special. [0:26:01.3]
Brandon: Yeah. I think that's so true. Like if you get a windfall, it's just going to, of money or anything really, it's just going to be used as you've used it in the past. Like the people who win the lottery and then they're broke five years later.
Amanda: Right.
Brandon: That kind of idea, but if you have that kind of framework set up, when those windfalls happen, you're in a better place. You're in, you know, saving for the future, retirement, I don't know.
Amanda: Absolutely. And so my followup from this is with you to think of a new competition with our money. We're going to, we have you know a little bit of a savings competition between you and me, but we're going to try to find a way to compete even more. That's my follow up.
Brandon: I want to have a money clip like he does. That's possibly a good, cool thing to have.
Amanda: Well, we'll have to talk about that, okay. We better wrap up for today. Next time, we're going to have another great interview coming your way. [0:27:00.4]
We're really excited about the guy that we're talking to and he happens to be an expert at health insurance, so health is one of those…
Brandon: Health insurance, oh no.
Amanda: But like medical care is one of those things we have to be thinking about and like we don’t really know, we haven’t recorded the interview, but I'm expecting that he's going to bring a very unique perspective to the healthcare.
Brandon: This guy's hilarious.
Amanda: He is amazing. We met him and he's become a good friend and we're excited to share what he has to share and the stories along the way, including what he learned from his grandma or you know what he wants to teach his grandchildren. He is a grandpa, I do believe, so that will be really fun.
Brandon: And health care is the cause of a lot of stress, financial stress, the lack of health care or you know somebody goes to the hospital, it causes a lot of challenges, so tune in to that next episode to learn some of those ways that you can get in a better place with your health care. [0:28:06.7]
So until next time, keep building your wealth simply and sustainably for your own future and the future of our grandchildren's generation.
The topics presented in this podcast are the general information only and not for the purposes of providing legal, accounting, or investment advice. On such matters please consult a professional who knows your specific situation.
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