Break Free™

We listen to music because it awakens something inside of us. Something exuberant. Or thoughtful. Or something sorrowful. Music is spiritual like that. Some of us play musical instruments well, but some musicians struggle to have financial sustainability using their musical talent. They look for a day job to sustain themselves because music cannot do it for them. In this episode, we are joined by a fantastic entrepreneur who proved to the world that Music can sustain people financially: Ken Arlen, Owner of Arlen Music Productions. Ken Arlen is living a dream and there is no better way to teach entrepreneurs than balancing financial sustainability with artistic integrity.

Here’s more about our Guest, Ken Arlen:

 “A sought-after orchestra leader and saxophone soloist, Ken Arlen has been a featured entertainer for numerous celebrities and dignitaries, from US Presidents to Hollywood stars. Ken is the founder of Arlen Music Productions, a Chicago-based entertainment company that specializes in providing live customized music for the national special events industry. AMP was awarded best entertainment company by BizBash and Better Magazine 2014-2021. The Ken Arlen Evolution Orchestra was listed in Chicago Magazine as the “Top Choice” for a glamorous Chicago wedding.”

Ken Arlen’s Website: https://arlenmusic.com/

David Mansilla: https://www.davidmansilla.com/ 

The Break Free Podcast: https://www.breakfreepodcast.co/

Never stop doing what your heart wants. No matter your age, when you focus on something, you can achieve it. Your passion for what you do will help you break free from your current state to your happy state. No matter what the challenge that will come to you and your business. Learn from a successful entrepreneur, Mike Wandler, President of L&H Industrial.

Learn more about Mike Wandler:

 “Mike leads L&H Industrial’s business strategy in building the blueprint for our future. With his deep experience in the company and immense business knowledge, Mike is instrumental in identifying new market opportunities. His inspiration for technology is what drives our state-of-the-art machines, software, and innovation. 

Mike began his career at L&H Industrial as a laborer and machinist, eventually becoming the machine shop supervisor before becoming Vice President of the company. He began leading the company as President in 2000, and was driven to improve L&H’s capabilities, facilities, tools, processes, work culture and opportunities. Over the years he has led a series of transformational initiatives that have re-defined how we do business. 

Mike holds a Bachelor’s of Business Management from Kennedy Western and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management program. Served 8 years on the Wyoming Business Council focusing on the Wyoming Economy with a passion for the effects of Commercial Air Service on Business Development”

www.lnh.net

www.davidmansilla.com

www.breakfreepodcast.co

What do you think makes for a great company culture? Creating a culture is crucial in every organization. Strategy and culture are among the primary tools of top companies and leaders.  Find out how to discover the best culture with Kevin Yu, Entrepreneur, President of Consulting Haus. 

Learn more about our guest Kevin Yu:

 “My parents are from Hong Kong. With very little money but many hopes and dreams, they decided to leave their home. They came here to Toronto in the ’70s. I was their firstborn, and my sister came a couple of years later.

I remember when I was 5 my parents bought their first house. My mom worked in a factory and my dad was a cook at a Chinese restaurant. They didn’t make a lot of money. My parents had to be creative to buy a home.  The house was renovated on the top floor to have bedrooms, a kitchen, and a washroom. We lived on the main floor and basement. Our tenants lived on the top floor. My parents created a rooming house where we resided under the tenants. That house was the first experience that I remember about anything to do with real estate. They went on to buy another 2 homes after that first house. I now believe anyone should be able to create wealth and stability with real estate.

I was 30 and renting a house with 3 other roommates. My cash flow was amazing and I had a lot of disposable income as my rent was only $500 per month. I was also dating my future wife at the time.  We were living like most people in their 30’s. Having a lot of fun and not thinking about investments and our future.

My Mom, understanding that real estate is a sound investment, insisted that I buy a condo. I didn’t want the responsibility. But she persisted and gave me $20,000 as a down payment.. I bought my first condo for $200,000 in 2006. It was a struggle. It was hard giving up going out all the time. I had to stop ordering take-out and had to start buying more groceries.  My wife and I didn’t have any future plans.  The one grown-up thing that we did was get married a couple of years later.

During that time when we lived in that condo, my wife was trying to get her real estate license. I was helping her with the math section and thought it would be fun to do the course with her. She decided she preferred the staging side. So she switched gears and started working towards getting an education in interior design. I kept on going and received my real estate license. She gave me her blessing to become a realtor.  

After 5 years of living at our condo, it appreciated by $120,000. We’d recently had our daughter Olive. We outgrew that first home right away. We did some light renovations and staged our own condo. My wife has a great eye for design. With our teamwork, we ended up selling that condo for a record price for the building. I didn’t know it at the time, but my wife was going to join me. We were about to create a real estate team together.  

The increase in equity gave us an opportunity to buy a condo townhouse. We spent about 4 years in that home.  We staged that property to appeal to as many buyers as possible.  It ended up selling in multiple offers.  We understood what buyers are looking for.  The sale price was the highest amount in the complex.  Our next home was a larger detached house with a basement apartment.  It cost us less monthly to live in the detached house compared to the condo townhouse.  Soon we renovated and sold it in order to buy our dream home.

Owning real estate has given me and my family opportunities that we would never have had if we kept renting.  We learned from owning and selling properties and applied it to our real estate business.  We lived through a lot of the pain points our clients are currently experiencing.  Every move had complexities that we had to deal with.  But we solved them and incorporated them into our business.

kevinyuteam.com

www.davidmansilla.com

www.breakfreepodcast.co

Very few people talk about the feeling new entrepreneurs get when they start their own business. It can be a beautiful thing, but sometimes it can make you feel more trapped than you did in your corporate job. Most business owners want to achieve freedom in life, but when they start a business they don’t get the freedom they want. Find out how to break free from that situation in this episode with Bryan Sarff, a successful entrepreneur.

Learn more about Bryan Sarff:

 “True wealth is more than just money. True wealth is your family values. The passion for the work you do. The experiences you create with those you love. It represents the ripple effect of your legacy. That’s true wealth.

My goal is to help clients achieve the freedom to make work optional.

What's uniquely special about True Wealth is our uncommon care, the elegant simplicity of our planning, and our faith in the future.

At True Wealth, we’ve developed a process that puts all the pieces of your financial puzzle together.

The Work Optional Formula™ includes:

👉🏽 Wealth preservation. The goal of wealth preservation is to produce the best possible investment returns consistent with your time frame and tolerance for risk.

👉🏽 Wealth enhancement. This is about tax efficiency: minimizing the impact of taxes on your investment returns while ensuring the cash flow you need.

👉🏽 Wealth transfer. Effective wealth transfer is all about taking care of your heirs: finding and facilitating the most tax-efficient way to pass assets to your loved ones in ways that meet your wishes with minimal difficulty and cost.

👉🏽 Wealth protection. This includes all concerns about protecting your wealth against catastrophic loss, potential creditors, litigants, children’s spouses, and potential ex-spouses, and identity thieves—in short, ensuring that your assets are not unjustly taken.

👉🏽 Charitable giving. Many affluent individuals are looking outward beyond their own families to the world at large. If this is you, making meaningful gifts to charity in the most impactful way possible is a key issue that we help you plan for and work to accomplish.””

retirewithtrue.com

www.davidmansilla.com

www.breakfreepodcast.co

Do you feel stuck in your current situation? Are you wondering what changes you should make to reach your goals? Listen to this episode with an Entrepreneur and President of Sweet Financial Partners, Brittany Anderson.

Here’s more about Brittany:

 “Brittany is a an advocate of all things that set your soul on fire - an entrepreneur, coach, leader, author, wife and a mother of two precious little girls & one handsome little boy.

Brittany’s ability to lead and create a killer culture amongst the Sweet Financial team has earned her the title of “culture queen.” Since joining Sweet Financial Partners in 2008, her goal has been to help create a well‐oiled machine so the entire team can focus their days on creating an exceptional client experience. Her love of people and conviction behind inspiring everyone she touches to live as the best version of themselves, has influenced her role as a coach for our Women Forward and Smarter Business platforms. She helps to empower our Women Forward members to realize their full potential and aids business owners in streamlining & systematizing their companies, all while engaging their teams.

Earning her bachelor’s degree in business management from Minnesota State University, Brittany has always had a passion for understanding how to most effectively run and grow a business. Her drive and ambition contributes to her entrepreneurial nature. She has taken her business building and team engaging insights and has worked with CEOs, entrepreneurs, business owners and authors alike. She has shared her expertise through her contribution to three published books and will continue on with her love for writing as she is set to publish two additional books in 2021.

As one of our fearless leaders, entrepreneur, author, wife and mama of three, she currently lives in Sherburn with her husband, David, two daughters Jersey and Stella and son, Vincent. In her free time you can find her enjoying the outdoors, reading a good book, coming up with design ideas for the never ending remodel on their home or playing with her sweet babies.”

sweetfinancial.com

www.davidmansilla.com

www.breakfreepodcast.co

This week, I got together with the amazing Amy Joy, a Life Coach, Mentor, and Entrepreneur, to talk about how we face hardships and how overcoming them can help us to change our life for the better. Learn the steps to break free and embrace freedom.

Amy is a mentor/coach at Amy Joy Coaching, co-owner of Lux Life Vacations, and owner of Upaya Healing Center, where people come to work on their mind, body, and soul.

She is the author of the book “Get Your Shit Together- How to go from Fear to Freedom” launching September 17th.

Amy is a sacred Kambo facilitator, Reiki master, and is also certified in sound, instant miracle, and crystal healing.

Amy has worked 4 years as a missionary in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, as a teacher’s aid of special needs children, and as a camp counselor for many years.

She is a single mother of two sons by birth plus another son by unofficial adoption, an avid traveler (having been to 56 countries), and she loves to salsa dance and kick the boys’ butts in hockey and soccer.

Amy loves people and is passionate about helping and inspiring them to live extraordinary lives.

Amy Joy's Website: amyjoycoaching.com

David Mansilla's Website: davidmansilla.com

The Break Free Podcast Blog: breakfreepodcast.co

Are you managing people remotely? Find out why you should go into remote work and how to scale it. Learn that in this episode with Liam Martin, Remote Work Advocate, Founder of Time Doctor, Running Remote, and Staff.com.

“Remote Work is the future. The office is dead and I'm here to help you move your company remote or scale your remote organization towards success. Let me know how I can help you.

My Projects:

TimeDoctor.com is one of the world's leading time tracking software for remote teams.

We help companies to be able to manage remote workers just as if they were in the same office, maintaining a high level of productivity.

Our goal: To help individuals and organizations to be more productive, to help stop people wasting time on distractions and instead finish what is important to them.

Remote workers can easily and quickly track their time so they remain productive, and business owners can relax knowing their team is being effective.

Running Remote is the largest conference on building and scaling remote teams especially for remote business owners and leaders.”

www.runningremote.com

www.davidmansilla.com

www.breakfreepodcast.co

Find out what it takes to get closer to your entrepreneurial dreams in this episode with Henrik Leborg. With 20 years of experience as Chief Financial Officer, he is now creating his own business as Fractional CFO.

Learn more about Henrik Leborg:

“WHAT I DO?

I help businesses like yours that want to grow and add value to their companies. I do this by performing a ‘financial health check’ to find out what is already good and what can be improved upon in terms of profits, cash flow and business value. I then work with business owners to formulate and implement a strategy to meet their business goals.

Leveraging over 20-years’ experience, I have been helping professionals to grow their businesses by providing the real numbers and streamlining their financial reporting.

SPECIALTIES:

-> Financial Health Assessment

-> Value Builder Consulting

-> CFO Services

-> Exit Planning

WHO CAN I HELP?

Business owners, and CEOs of B2B software companies, creative agencies and professional firms.

Are we connected? I would be happy to connect even if we can't see a way to work together right away.

Along with our core CFO offering we also provide:

• Cash Flow Forecasting
• Financing
• Business Planning
• Risk Management
• Management Reporting
• Business Valuation

What A Client Had To Say:

Henrik was extremely easy to work with, and his experience and expertise ensured that we took into consideration all factors before making a major decision. We ended up making the move, and the financial projections that he prepared were critical in working with lenders to establish financing for the new building.

Some of our Achievements:

• Reduced annual expenses by $600,000
• Introduced streamlined financial reporting reducing turnaround time from 20 days to 4 days
• Doubled inventory turnover and reduced accounts receivable outstanding by 50%
• Helped sell a company for a great price with $500,000 additional tax savings
• Boosted profitability and added $2 million to portfolio value “

www.gravityconsulting.ca

www.davidmansilla.com

www.breakfreepodcast.co

Change will always be part of your life, but not everyone knows how to overcome their fear to change and to the unknown. Learn how on this episode with Daniel Clarke, a Financial Adviser at Farber Group, and an entrepreneur.

Here’s more about Daniel Clarke:

 “A financial advisor who specializes in guiding family owned businesses and entrepreneurs to achieve optimal financial health. Working together, we will establish a road map to prosperity and financial freedom creating a lasting legacy for your family.

After spending over a decade as a business owner and leader in the hospitality industry, Daniel knows what it takes to foster long lasting relationships. It starts with trust and respect for each individual and their unique goals and needs. By developing a deep understanding of your needs, he will ensure the advice you receive is clearly focused on achieving what is most important to you.

From a foundation of hard work, humility and an innate drive for success, Daniel will partner with you on a journey to reach the financial outcomes you planned for.

Daniel is an avid swimmer, passionate home cook and family man who is determined to create the perfect sourdough loaf.”

farbergroup.com

www.davidmansilla.com

www.breakfreepodcast.co

Learn the entrepreneurial journey of the first person who worked as an intern for free and opened the opportunities of internship in The Grand Canyon, and find out how to get help in building your own business. All of that in this episode with Manny Padro.

Learn more about out guest, Manny Padro:

“Manny Padro is a certified financial Planner in a private wealth advisory practice at Ameriprise Financial Services.

For over 125 years, Ameriprise has been committed to putting our clients’ needs first. Over the years, we’ve helped millions of people invest billions of dollars so they may pursue what’s important to them.

Our advisors develop ongoing one-to-one relationships with clients and take time to understand what’s truly important to them and their families. To help clients achieve their financial goals and prepare for the expected and unexpected, we offer personalized financial advice and a range of product solutions, including investments, insurance, annuities and banking. Smart technologies enable clients to track progress toward individual financial goals, as well as see how investments and solutions are performing, at any time, any place, from any device.

At Ameriprise, our focus is to help clients achieve their financial goals and feel confident, connected and in control of their financial life.”

www.ameripriseadvisors.com

www.learnearngive.com

www.davidmansilla.com

www.breakfreepodcast.co