Grow Your Business and Grow Your Wealth

Why do people continue making financial decisions they know are hurting them?

For Dr. Erika Rasure, the answer often has very little to do with understanding the numbers.

In this episode of Grow Your Business & Grow Your Wealth, Gary Heldt sits down with Dr. Erika Rasure, Chief Financial Wellness Advisor at Beyond Finance, Certified Financial Therapist, and Transformational Coach, to explore the emotional and behavioral side of money.

Dr. Erika explains why financial habits are often emotional habits, how childhood experiences influence our relationship with money, and why traditional financial education alone may not create lasting change.

Gary and Erika discuss impulse spending, debt, financial stress, inherited money beliefs, delayed gratification, and the fear many people have that they are financially behind everyone else.

They also explore why people can know they should budget, save, invest, and reduce debt yet still struggle to actually do those things consistently.

Dr. Erika shares how financial therapy looks at the emotional, relational, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of money and helps people understand what may be driving their decisions beneath the surface.

The conversation also turns to raising financially confident children. Erika encourages parents to talk openly about money, involve children in age-appropriate financial decisions, and even share some of their own financial mistakes rather than pretending they always had everything figured out.

Perhaps the most powerful idea comes near the end of the conversation, when Erika explains that financial confidence isn't built through motivation alone.

It is built through evidence.

Every successful decision becomes evidence that you can trust yourself to make another one.

This conversation is a powerful reminder that building wealth isn't only about knowing what to do with your money.

Sometimes it begins with understanding why you do what you do with it.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Money is more than math. Financial decisions are influenced by emotions, experiences, relationships, and learned behaviors.

• Knowing what to do doesn't guarantee that we will do it. Many people already understand that they should save, invest, budget, and reduce debt. Behavior is often the missing piece.

• Impulse spending may be solving an emotional problem. Shopping can provide an immediate dopamine response, even when the purchase conflicts with long-term financial goals.

• Our money beliefs start early. Childhood experiences and family attitudes about money can continue influencing financial decisions well into adulthood.

• Financial goals work better when connected to personal values. Saving an emergency fund becomes more meaningful when someone connects it to a deeper value such as security or stability.

• Money shame keeps people stuck. People often avoid asking for financial help because they believe they should already know the answers or fear they are behind their peers.

• Parents need to talk about money. Children benefit from seeing money discussed, practiced, and managed rather than treated as a taboo subject.

• Financial confidence is built through evidence. Small successful financial decisions create proof that we can trust ourselves to make better decisions in the future.

CONNECT WITH DR. ERIKA RASURE

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikarasure/

Beyond Finance

https://www.beyondfinance.com/

Dr. Erika also recommends the Financial Therapy Association for people interested in learning more about Certified Financial Therapists.

CONNECT WITH GARY HELDT https://www.sbadvisors.cc/

Listen to Grow Your Business & Grow Your Wealth for conversations with entrepreneurs, financial professionals, business leaders, and experts helping business owners build stronger companies and greater long-term wealth.

A business can look profitable on paper and still have a serious cash problem.

In this episode of Grow Your Business & Grow Your Wealth, guest host Sandra “Sandy” Bempah sits down with Brooke Horvath, CPA and Founder of Salt Creek Consulting & CPA, for a practical conversation about the financial numbers every business owner needs to understand.

Brooke explains why profit and cash flow are not the same thing, why business owners should pay attention to more than their P&L, and how the balance sheet and statement of cash flows can reveal what is really happening inside a company.

They also dig into year-round tax planning, why waiting until tax season can limit your options, and the importance of having your CPA, financial advisor, and other professionals working together instead of operating in separate silos.

For entrepreneurs who hope to eventually sell their companies, Brooke shares an especially important warning: preparing for a successful exit often needs to begin years before the sale. Clean financial statements, accurate tax returns, profitability, and smart planning can all influence how a business is valued and whether a buyer can secure financing.

And for newer business owners trying to save money by doing everything themselves, Brooke explains why DIY accounting can sometimes end up costing far more than bringing in qualified help early.

Profit does not equal cash flow.

A company can show a profit and still struggle to have enough cash available for taxes, debt payments, inventory, or operations.

Tax planning should happen throughout the year.

For business owners and people with more complex income, tax strategy should not begin in March or April.

Your balance sheet tells an important part of the story.

Brooke says many business owners focus only on their profit and loss statement, while the balance sheet can provide a clearer picture of the company's overall financial health.

Your financial professionals should communicate.

CPAs, financial advisors, and other professionals may be looking at different pieces of the same financial picture. Collaboration can help avoid missed opportunities and misunderstandings.

Start succession planning before you are ready to leave.

If you plan to sell your business, Brooke recommends looking at your financials years ahead of the anticipated sale because buyers, lenders, and valuation professionals will examine that history.

Sometimes outsourcing saves money.

Business owners can spend countless hours trying to learn bookkeeping and accounting themselves, only to pay someone later to correct the mistakes.

Know where your cash is going.

If your business is profitable but you do not feel like you are building wealth, Brooke recommends looking closely at the statement of cash flows to understand where the money is actually going.

Most importantly, Brooke reminds entrepreneurs that business ownership does not have to be a solo journey. Having trusted people around you who understand your business can lead to better decisions and fewer expensive mistakes.

Brooke Horvath, CPA

Founder, Salt Creek Consulting & CPA

www.saltcreekcpa.com

Learn more about Guest Host: https://sandyfinancialsolutions.com/

Your business may be your greatest asset. It may also hold most of your financial risk.

In this episode of Grow Your Business & Grow Your Wealth, Gary Heldt speaks with Alexey Sokolov, a Northwestern Mutual financial advisor who co-founded and sold Grid Capital. Alexey explains how building and selling his own company changed the way he thinks about protecting wealth.

Gary and Alexey discuss a problem many successful founders overlook: their income, company value, and personal investments can all depend on the same industry. If conditions change, those assets may fall together. They also explore why having substantial assets does not always mean having cash available when you need it.

Alexey shares why tax and investment decisions deserve attention well before a business sale. He explains “tax drag,” examines the role of bonds in a portfolio, and makes the case for bringing a CPA, attorney, and financial advisor into the conversation early. For business owners, the question is bigger than what the company might sell for. It is how to manage what you have built, both before and after an exit.

About Alexey Sokolov

Alexey Sokolov is a financial advisor with Northwestern Mutual in Los Angeles. Before becoming an advisor, he co-founded Grid Capital, a regulated investment platform that he later sold. He works with founders, business owners, investors, and professionals on wealth planning, concentrated holdings, and business transitions.

Connect with Alexey

Email: [email protected]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexeysokolovnm/

Connect with Gary Heldt

Website: https://www.sbadvisors.cc/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-d-heldt-jr/

Schedule a conversation: https://calendly.com/gheldt21054/podcast-follow-up-conversation

Listen and subscribe

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This episode is for educational purposes and does not constitute individualized financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Consult qualified professionals about your circumstances.

What happens when professional success requires you to become someone you no longer want to be?

Charlene Wheeless, MA, MBA, ICF-ACC, spent more than 30 years rising through corporate America, ultimately reaching the C-suite and leading communications for major global organizations. But after being diagnosed with cancer twice, she stepped away from the corporate treadmill and confronted a difficult truth: she had invested enormous energy in becoming the person others expected her to be.

In this candid conversation with Gary Heldt, Charlene shares how pivotal moments of choice shaped her journey from an abusive childhood to corporate leadership, bestselling authorship, and entrepreneurship. She explains why organizations often reward conformity instead of contribution, how leaders unknowingly surrender their agency, and why every business outcome begins with a decision that was made, delayed, or avoided.

Charlene also discusses the inspiration behind her book, You Are Enough!, and challenges professionals to stop chasing validation disguised as ambition. She reminds leaders that words carry lasting power, people must be led rather than managed, and authentic success should never require trading away who you are.

For entrepreneurs, Charlene offers another important shift: stop thinking like a consultant and begin operating like the CEO of your business. Sometimes all it takes to move forward is seven seconds of courage and the willingness to do the thing you have been avoiding.

• Why choice is one of a leader’s most powerful tools
• How professionals surrender their agency without realizing it
• The difference between contributing to a culture and conforming to it
• Why leaders manage work but lead people
• How delayed or defaulted decisions create organizational bottlenecks
• Why chasing validation can look deceptively like ambition
• How to develop a CEO mindset as an entrepreneur
• What seven seconds of courage can help you accomplish

Learn more about Charlene, her coaching, speaking, and bestselling book at CharleneWheeless.com.

Listen to Grow Your Business and Grow Your Wealth on Apple Podcasts.

Visit https://www.sbadvisors.cc/

What happens when the career you worked years to build suddenly ends?

Jack Oujo spent eight years pursuing his dream of becoming a Major League Baseball umpire, advancing to Triple-A before an unexpected setback forced him to reinvent his future. He went on to become a CPA, build Oujo Wealth Strategies into one of the nation’s largest tax-focused wealth management firms, and oversee approximately $900 million in assets under management.

In this episode, Jack joins Gary to share how the discipline, pressure, teamwork, and resilience he learned in professional baseball helped him build an extraordinarily successful financial services business. He explains why business owners need a Plan B, how numbers can remove emotion from major decisions, and why developing strong processes and people is essential for sustainable growth.

Jack also discusses the difficulty of letting go, the importance of preparing employees to lead, and how business owners can create a meaningful life after selling the company that once defined them.

• How Jack rebuilt his life after his baseball career ended
• Why every entrepreneur should prepare for worst-case scenarios
• How financial projections can make difficult decisions less emotional
• Why business owners must stop doing everything themselves
• How documented processes support business growth
• Why coaching employees is one of a leader’s most important responsibilities
• How exceptional service creates loyal clients and valuable referrals
• What Jack learned from building and eventually selling his firm
• Why gratitude matters when transitioning into the next chapter of life

“You only get respect by giving respect.”

— Jack Oujo

Jack Oujo is the founder of Oujo Wealth Strategies, one of the nation’s largest tax-focused wealth management firms, and the bestselling author of Too Smart to Be an Umpire. Before becoming one of the country’s top financial advisors, Jack spent eight years pursuing his dream of becoming a Major League Baseball umpire, advancing to Triple-A before an unexpected setback changed his life.

His journey from career disappointment to extraordinary business success offers a powerful lesson in resilience, reinvention, leadership, and building a meaningful legacy.

Learn more about Jack and purchase Too Smart to Be an Umpire:

https://toosmarttobeanumpire.com/

Listen, follow, and subscribe to Grow Your Business & Grow Your Wealth:

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This episode is provided for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, tax, investment, or legal advice. Please consult an appropriately qualified professional regarding your individual circumstances.

Growing revenue does not necessarily mean you are building wealth. A business can appear successful while its owner’s assets, financial security, and long-term options remain stagnant.

In this episode of Grow Your Business & Grow Your Wealth, guest host Sandy of Sandy Financial Solutions speaks with Paul Etzler, CPA, CGMA, GACP, founder and president of BobBear Services LLC. Paul brings more than 30 years of experience in accounting, tax strategy, financial consulting, due diligence, compliance, forecasting, and entrepreneurship.

Paul explains why business owners must look beyond income and consider the complete financial picture, including business assets, personal assets, liabilities, taxes, succession, and family goals. He also shares an important distinction: business and personal finances should remain separate for accounting and tax purposes, but they must be considered together when developing a long-term wealth strategy.

The conversation explores why tax planning should happen throughout the year, how CPAs and financial advisors can work together, and why succession planning should begin long before an owner intends to leave or sell the business.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why increasing revenue does not always increase wealth.
• How to balance saving, investing, business growth, and enjoying life.
• Why tax planning should happen throughout the entire year.
• How business and personal assets fit into one larger financial picture.
• Why your CPA, financial advisor, attorney, banker, and insurance professional should communicate.
• When business owners should begin succession and exit planning.
• The three questions that can reveal weaknesses in your current financial plan.
• Why professional guidance still matters in an AI-driven world.

Paul also challenges business owners to remain flexible, listen to informed outside perspectives, and accept that a plan may need to change. A business may be the owner’s baby, but sometimes that baby needs an honest checkup.

About Paul Etzler

Paul Etzler, CPA, CGMA, GACP, is the founder and president of BobBear Services LLC. He has more than 30 years of experience in financial consulting, accounting, tax, due diligence, compliance, forecasting, and business advisory services. Paul is also involved in entrepreneurial ventures spanning healthcare, real estate, sustainability, financial wellness, art, and entertainment.

Connect with Paul:

https://bobbearllc.com

Disclaimer: This episode is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, accounting, investment, or financial advice. Consult qualified professionals regarding your individual circumstances.

When most people hear the word franchise, they picture fast food. But some of today’s most compelling franchise opportunities are found in less glamorous industries such as home services, senior care, pet care, youth programs, property services, and business-to-business solutions.

In this episode, Gary Heldt speaks with Jon Ostenson, CEO of FranBridge Consulting, about why entrepreneurs and investors are increasingly exploring non-food franchises. Jon explains how franchise buyers can evaluate opportunities based on their finances, experience, desired level of involvement, local market, and long-term goals.

Jon also challenges the idea that a franchise can be completely passive. He explains why “semi-involved” is more realistic, what separates successful franchisees from struggling owners, and why following the franchisor’s proven system matters.

Gary and Jon also discuss franchise funding, support systems, due diligence, franchise stacking, and how essential service businesses may be better positioned to withstand economic uncertainty and technological disruption.

• Why non-food franchises are attracting entrepreneurs and investors
• Which service-based franchise categories are growing
• How to determine whether a franchise fits your skills and lifestyle
• Why a franchise should never be considered completely passive
• What successful franchisees do differently
• How franchise owners learn from one another without directly competing
• The difference between a franchise consultant and a business broker
• How SBA loans and retirement rollovers may be used for franchise funding
• Why reviewing the Franchise Disclosure Document is only one part of due diligence
• How franchise stacking can help owners expand and diversify

Jon Ostenson is the CEO of FranBridge Consulting, a top 1% franchise broker, investor, author, and Forbes contributor. After serving as President of a national Inc. 500 franchise system with more than 200 locations, Jon has helped thousands of entrepreneurs and investors explore franchise ownership. He specializes in non-food franchising, helping people identify scalable business opportunities that fit their goals, finances, experience, and lifestyle.

Heldt

• Website: FranBridgeConsulting.com
• LinkedIn: Jon Ostenson
• Email: [email protected]
• Free book: Visit FranBridge Consulting to request a complimentary copy of Jon’s book, Non-Food Franchising.

Looking to learn more about Gary Heldt? Visit Small Business Advisors for more information.

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What happens when your retirement plan looks solid on paper, but life does not follow the plan?

In this episode of Grow Your Business & Grow Your Wealth, Gary Heldt speaks with Alan Lee Porter, a nationally certified financial fiduciary, founder of Strategic Wealth Strategies, and former U.S. Army Black Hawk instructor pilot.

Alan shares how serious medical crises within his own family changed the direction of his career and taught him that financial planning must account for more than investment returns. Illness, disability, long-term care, taxes, market downturns, and outdated beneficiary forms can quickly expose gaps in even a well-funded retirement plan.

Gary and Alan discuss why retirement planning should focus on the distribution of assets, tax-efficient income, healthcare expenses, long-term-care risks, and protecting a family’s financial legacy. Alan also explains why individuals and business owners benefit from having CPAs, attorneys, financial advisors, insurance professionals, and other specialists working together rather than relying on one person to handle every part of the plan.

The conversation is an important reminder that financial confidence does not come from predicting the future. It comes from preparing for the possibilities before they become emergencies.

• Why retirement planning changes when you move from saving money to creating income
• How taxes and required distributions can affect retirement savings
• Why beneficiary designations should be reviewed regularly
• How illness, disability, and long-term care can disrupt a financial plan
• Why business owners need coordinated exit, tax, estate, and retirement planning
• The importance of verifying credentials before using complex financial or tax strategies

Alan Lee Porter is a nationally certified financial fiduciary and founder of Strategic Wealth Strategies in Fayetteville, North Carolina. A former U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter instructor pilot, Alan helps individuals, families, and business owners explore tax-efficient retirement strategies, lifetime income planning, asset protection, and financial risk reduction.

Website: Strategic Wealth Strategies

LinkedIn: Alan Lee Porter

Email: [email protected]

Could your business operate for three weeks without anyone calling you?

If the honest answer is no, you may have created a demanding job for yourself rather than a transferable business buyers will want.

In this episode of Grow Your Business & Grow Your Wealth, Gary Heldt speaks with Daniel Scherotter, business broker, M&A advisor, entrepreneur, and Partner at Filament Business Advisors.

Daniel explains why preparing a company for sale must begin long before an owner contacts a broker. Buyers want more than revenue. They want reliable financial records, predictable profitability, documented systems, a capable management team, transferable customer relationships, and a company that does not depend entirely on its founder.

Gary and Daniel discuss how minimizing reported profits to reduce taxes can damage a company’s valuation, why owner dependence shrinks the pool of potential buyers, and how unrealistic expectations can prevent an otherwise successful business from ever selling.

Daniel also shares how strategic buyers evaluate companies differently, why owners must separate personal attachment from market value, and how building the right team can allow an owner to exit without years of difficult transition.

What You Will Learn

➔ Why waiting until you are ready to sell is one of the biggest exit-planning mistakes

➔ How owner dependence reduces buyer interest and business value

➔ Why weak accounting and unclear financial statements create red flags

➔ How management teams and documented systems make a company more transferable

➔ Why the market determines what a business is worth, regardless of the owner’s emotional investment

➔ How strategic buyers can see greater value than individual owner-operators

➔ Why every entrepreneur should build the company as an asset, not simply as a job

About Daniel Scherotter

Daniel Scherotter is a business broker, M&A advisor, entrepreneur, and Partner at Filament Business Advisors. Having owned and sold businesses himself, Daniel understands the sale process from both the owner’s and the advisor’s perspective.

He helps business owners increase profitability, strengthen company value, improve organizational structure, and prepare for a successful sale before going to market. His work focuses on identifying the factors that attract serious buyers and helping owners avoid the operational, financial, and emotional mistakes that can weaken a transaction.

Connect With Daniel Scherotter

Filament Business Advisors:

https://filamentbusinessadvisors.com/

Daniel’s Profile:

https://filamentbusinessadvisors.com/team/dan-scherotter/

Email:

[email protected]

Phone:

804-728-1553

Connect With Gary Heldt

Visit:

https://www.sbadvisors.cc/

Connect with Gary on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-d-heldt-jr/

Schedule a follow-up conversation with Gary:

https://calendly.com/gheldt21054/podcast-follow-up-conversation

Listen and Subscribe

Follow Grow Your Business & Grow Your Wealth for practical conversations that help business owners grow smarter, build stronger companies, and create lasting wealth.

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Most business owners assume stalled growth means they need more leads, more clients, or a new marketing tactic. Dr. Jon Randall argues that this is often exactly the wrong diagnosis. When an owner is buried in delivery, carrying too many non-ideal clients, and measuring the wrong numbers, adding more business can deepen the bottleneck instead of solving it.

Jon joins host Gary Heldt to explain why capacity is one of the most common constraints in growing advisory firms and why the same problem appears across professional-service businesses. Drawing on more than 25 years in the financial-services industry, his experience as a top-producing advisor, and his work with some of the country's fastest-growing RIAs, Jon shows how benchmarking can expose the gap between a busy practice and a healthy, scalable business.

The conversation explores why owners cling to unprofitable clients, how revenue per client and revenue per team member reveal hidden problems, and why delivering exceptional service to a smaller group of ideal clients can generate stronger referrals than chasing the latest marketing tactic. Jon also explains how narrowing a target market makes delivery easier, positioning clearer, and growth more repeatable.

Gary and Jon also dig into the difference between owning a business and owning a demanding job. They discuss what founders must remove from their plates, why delegation should begin with administrative work and delivery, and how profit margin affects both current income and the future value of the company. The goal is not simply a bigger business. It is a business that can grow without consuming the owner.

1. Capacity comes before acquisition. If the owner and team are already overloaded, more clients will magnify the existing weakness.
2. Not every client is helping the business. A large client roster can hide a bottom half that produces very little revenue while consuming valuable service capacity.
3. A few numbers expose the real constraint. Revenue per client, revenue per team member, annual growth rate, and team retention show where attention belongs.
4. Specificity creates stronger referrals. A clear, narrow ideal-client profile helps clients understand exactly whom to introduce and makes service delivery easier to scale.
5. Profitable growth creates freedom and value. Wider profit margins can fund the next hire, reduce the owner's workload, and make the enterprise more attractive to a future buyer.

Dr. Jon Randall is the Founder and Chief Coach of eXtraordinary Financial Advisors, where he helps overwhelmed financial advisors remove capacity constraints, improve client mix, and scale from $1 million to $10 million and beyond. A former top-producing advisor with more than 25 years of industry experience and a doctorate focused on performance psychology, Jon has worked with Barron's Top 100 advisors and some of the fastest-growing RIAs in the country. His work helps advisors eliminate bottlenecks, build scalable teams, increase profitability, and make the shift from technician to CEO.

Ready to identify the constraint holding your advisory firm back? Visit www.xfa.coach to access free resources, explore upcoming workshops, and learn how Jon and his team help financial advisors scale more profitably.

Learn more about Gary Heldt on his website Home | Small Business Advisors