In this episode, Nick speaks with Ryan Daniels about faith, family, and finances.

About Ryan Daniels

Ryan is a licensed financial advisor and owner of RFinances. As a U.S. Army Veteran, Ryan and his team continue to serve by partnering with businesses, churches and community groups to host workshops to teach people the basics of money. They also provide 1 on 1 financial coaching to help people build a simple to follow financial plan that fits their life. Ryan is the author of “Money Basics and Fundamentals (Build A Plan That Fits Your Life!)” and host of the “Say Hi to Money” podcast.

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Your Friends at “The Mindset & Self-Mastery Show”

00:00:08:13 – 00:00:37:24

Nick McGowan

Hello and welcome to The Mindset and Self-mastery Show. I’m your host, Nick McGowan. And on this show, my guests and I unpack the stories that shape us and the lives that we lead on our path to self-mastery. Today on the show, we have Ryan Daniels. Ryan is a licensed financial advisor and owner of our finances. He’s also a US Army veteran and he and his team continue to serve by partnering with businesses, churches and community groups to host workshops to teach people the basics of money.

00:00:38:06 – 00:00:54:17

Nick McGowan

They also provide one on one financial coaching to help people build a simple to follow financial plan that fits their life. And Ryan is also the author of Money, Basics and Fundamentals Build a Plan That Fits Your Life. He also hosts the Say Hi to Money podcast. So let’s not wait any longer.

00:00:54:18 – 00:01:01:16

Nick McGowan

Let the games begin. Hey, Ryan, welcome to the show, man. How you doing?

00:01:02:00 – 00:01:03:16

Ryan Daniels

I’m doing great. Thanks for having me.

00:01:03:29 – 00:01:24:23

Nick McGowan

Absolutely. I appreciate you jumping on. I know we are. We’ve connected through actually another podcast guest, Rich, who was on I think he was episode four or five or something. And it seems like it was a while ago, but he had connected us through a networking that he had put together. And I know we had a conversation a couple of weeks ago.

00:01:24:23 – 00:01:29:13

Nick McGowan

It was great chatting with you. So I’m excited that we’re able to do this. You also have your own show, right?

00:01:29:18 – 00:01:39:00

Ryan Daniels

I do. It’s called Say Hi to Money Show. So, well, I’m sure we’ll dove more into that as why I call it that. But yeah, I’m looking forward to our conversation today.

00:01:39:15 – 00:01:45:01

Nick McGowan

And I appreciate that. So why don’t you start us off? Tell us what you do for a living. And one thing that most people don’t know about you.

00:01:45:23 – 00:02:04:06

Ryan Daniels

Sure. So I’m a licensed financial advisor, but I prefer the term coach. And the reason for that is you’re never going to find me in a suit and tie in a stuffy office and certainly not going to be trying to impress you with charts and graphs and a whole bunch of complicated language. Because, let’s face it, everybody’s busy.

00:02:04:17 – 00:02:25:27

Ryan Daniels

The last time the last thing they have time for is to sit down in a stuffy office and be overwhelmed by all that jargon. So what I like to do is meet people where they’re at. So I enjoy partnering with businesses, churches, community groups that are willing to host events where people can come and learn everything they should have learned in high school.

00:02:26:12 – 00:02:33:19

Ryan Daniels

Because let me ask you this, Nick. So what did you learn about money in school.

00:02:33:19 – 00:02:38:21

Nick McGowan

Specifically from school or outside of school? My extracurricular activities.

00:02:39:00 – 00:02:42:03

Ryan Daniels

Yeah. Like your formal education. How many classes did you take?

00:02:42:04 – 00:03:02:25

Nick McGowan

That was kind of my answer. I mean, they taught us nothing when it comes to money in school. I even get why I remember getting out of school, getting credit cards and stuff like that, and getting in the debt and being like, Man, why? Why didn’t I learn about any of this stuff in school? And everybody I was with at the time that was in the same spot, they’re like, Yeah, why didn’t we?

00:03:03:02 – 00:03:24:00

Ryan Daniels

Yeah, absolutely. Because that’s the answer I get from everybody. And the flip side of that coin is, how often do we use money? Well, just about every day. If you’re buying a cup of coffee or you’re buying a house. Money is involved. So I believe if people know better, they can do better. And what I’m excited about being on your show today is when it comes to money, a lot of it is.

00:03:24:00 – 00:03:33:29

Ryan Daniels

We have to start with your mindset. What do you believe about money? What were you shown growing up? Because what we think about is what we bring about. And I’m sure, you know, it’s a cliche we’ve all heard before.

00:03:33:29 – 00:03:40:04

Nick McGowan

But it’s true. It’s totally true. So you didn’t tell us the one thing that most people don’t know about you.

00:03:40:18 – 00:04:03:19

Ryan Daniels

Oh, yeah. So I would say the one thing people don’t know about me is I really enjoy three things carpentry. So I’ve actually built all of my kids furniture. I enjoy hunting and fishing. So any time I can get, you know, working with my hands or be outdoors, that’s where you’ll find me. So that’s that’s really my dream.

00:04:03:29 – 00:04:18:01

Ryan Daniels

And what drives me is I want to be in a position one day where I can walk out my back door, own about 400 acres or more, and just be in my own paradise. Right? People want to go on vacation. I want where I live to be a vacation.

00:04:18:04 – 00:04:23:21

Nick McGowan

Now, I know you’re in Pennsylvania, so do you see that happening in PR or is that more like a Wyoming thing or something?

00:04:24:13 – 00:04:43:13

Ryan Daniels

Well, I don’t like to set limits, so I think it would be cool to have your primary home. Right. I still want to always continue serving people through the business because it’s so rewarding. But then have those escapes. You can have like a mountain house here. It’d be awesome to own, like, a ranch out west somewhere, you know, different types of hunting that way.

00:04:43:14 – 00:04:45:15

Ryan Daniels

So yeah, that’s what that’s what drives me.

00:04:46:10 – 00:04:50:00

Nick McGowan

And that’s cool. So tell us, how did you get into finances?

00:04:50:22 – 00:05:11:12

Ryan Daniels

Yeah. So after high school, I guess people don’t know this either is growing up. I was passionate about music and Nick, I believe you were a musician as well, but from the time I was five years old was when I first started music. Played the piano at first, seventh grade or fourth grade, rolled around and picked up the saxophone.

00:05:12:00 – 00:05:34:09

Ryan Daniels

And then ninth grade I picked up the clarinet just to open up more opportunities with different groups. Long story short, went to college, majored in performance on clarinet, joined the Army. I always wanted to be in the Army. Originally, I wanted to be a para rescue jumper with the Air Force. But you got to be a strong swimmer to do that.

00:05:34:09 – 00:05:58:03

Ryan Daniels

And that’s not really in my wheelhouse. So I enlisted, served nine years in the Army bands. That was pretty cool. Got to travel. The world was in Alaska for three years. South Korea, Virginia, Japan, just for a couple of weeks. So it was pretty exciting. But once we started a family, I was ready for something different. I want a little more stability.

00:05:58:26 – 00:06:23:03

Ryan Daniels

You know, the army calls you 10:00 at night and says, be in tomorrow at five. That’s where you go. So I want a little more predictability. So I went back to school, I worked on my MBA, and that’s when it really solidified the decision that I wanted to still serve people in a meaningful way. And that just happened to be a good fit with teaching people about money because of what we talked about earlier.

00:06:23:12 – 00:06:48:11

Ryan Daniels

So I am licensed as a financial advisor, can help people with, you know, investments, insurance, the whole nine. But really what I get motivated about is educating people so they feel confident in what they’re doing. So that’s how I got started under the mentorship of a financial advisor in Virginia. I worked part time until I got out of the military, and I’ve had my own business now for a little over five years.

00:06:48:11 – 00:07:10:12

Nick McGowan

So all of the business sounds like it would be fun, but potentially not as fun as playing in bands all over the world in the Army. But I could only imagine that you had to manage your mindset pretty tightly because I’ve never been in the army, but I could almost picture a drill sergeant yelling at you to play a B-flat or whatever.

00:07:11:01 – 00:07:33:25

Ryan Daniels

Yeah, you already know musicians are usually a pretty cool bunch of people. So some of those stereotypes of the army were a little bit more subdued. I mean, I did pursue other training. That was something that attracted me about a career in the Army was I was I didn’t just have to do music. There are opportunities to do other things.

00:07:34:07 – 00:08:02:22

Ryan Daniels

So I love shooting. I go to the range as much as I can. So that’s something I really took a knack for in the Army was they always put me in charge of planning the ranges and running the ranges. But as far as mindset goes, one of the toughest experiences was doing the mountaineering course. When I was in Alaska, I was actually considered one of the hardest courses in training you can do in the Army.

00:08:02:22 – 00:08:27:00

Ryan Daniels

And in all honesty, the first time I did it actually failed. I didn’t pass. And they structured it in a way where it’s a two week course. You go through the first week and then a few days in the second week because they need everybody there to do the team obstacles. So like you’re lowering equipment down the side of a mountain, you’re having to cross a ravine, like you’re hanging from a rope and, you know, going across, doing all these things.

00:08:27:18 – 00:08:48:06

Ryan Daniels

It’s not until like midweek of the second where you do your final testing and if you pass all of that, then you get the opportunity to go for two or three days and spend it out on a glacier. Well, I mean, that’s pretty cool. But what happens is I failed the initial testing, so I had to wait till week one and a half to retest.

00:08:48:13 – 00:09:09:10

Ryan Daniels

And I missed the smallest detail like I did the not correctly, but I forgot to put an overhand not to secure it at the end. That little detail made me feel the class. So as far as mindset, right, I was fortunate. I was raised in a family of a strong work ethic. You’re persistent, you don’t quit. That’s just not acceptable.

00:09:09:10 – 00:09:30:00

Ryan Daniels

Right? So that was ingrained in me and I think that’s why I enjoyed the military that no, quit the, you know, team, team environment. So with that, I one of two options I could be like, well, I made it most of the way through. That was a cool experience, but I went back the next year and then completed the course.

00:09:30:00 – 00:09:52:13

Ryan Daniels

But I think all that has to do with mindset, it’s it’s too easy to give up on anything in life, right? Whether you’re trying to lose weight, whether you’re trying to grow a business, you’re going to have challenges, too. If you if you know that going into it, then you can already mentally prepare yourself of, I’m going to keep going because it’s you already know what’s going to happen.

00:09:52:29 – 00:10:16:14

Nick McGowan

And that’s got to be tough to to get almost there and then have it pulled out from under. You and have to wait an entire year. I I’ll be honest, what comes to mind right now is not Army, but completely basketball. Chris Paul from the Phenix Suns, everybody’s kind of butchering him because he has to wait a whole nother year to be able to see if he can come back and they can do something.

00:10:16:22 – 00:10:35:01

Nick McGowan

I thought about his mindset and what he must be going through now, obviously that you’re here. Talk to us about what that was like going through that entire year, knowing that you’re working back toward this thing. You could be in the exact same spot where you fell all over again. So how did you manage that throughout those 365 days?

00:10:36:00 – 00:11:05:26

Ryan Daniels

Yeah, so a few things. One, obviously I messed up, right? So I accepted responsibility. This was the given task and I did not complete it to standard. So what did I have to do with that? Well, I had to own it. And then the second thing is I had to fix what I screwed up. So I sought counsel of somebody else in my unit that completed the course previously, and I got them to work with me on that skill set so I won’t mess it up the next time.

00:11:06:04 – 00:11:28:12

Ryan Daniels

So throughout that year it was kind of spot checking of reviewing some of the skills so it would stay fresh, you know, I wouldn’t lose all the information I already learned. The second one is I had to recognize it wasn’t a guarantee that I would even get the opportunity to try again. So there’s only so many slots available for that course.

00:11:29:12 – 00:11:47:08

Ryan Daniels

And on an aside, I always wanted to do the airborne school so, you know, be able to jump out of airplanes. But again, there’s only so many slots. So I would apply year after year. I think I applied like four or five times and never got a slot. So I mean, it just wasn’t meant to be in that in that regard.

00:11:47:19 – 00:12:07:28

Ryan Daniels

But as far as the mountaineering course, I just made sure that my training sergeant knew I want to go back. So when you see that those slots open up, submit my application like I want to go. And so that just that persistency of speaking it into existence like hey, I want to do this, I got to complete this.

00:12:08:08 – 00:12:34:19

Ryan Daniels

But then also doing something about it, like taking the action. You know, you and I shared some books that we’ve been reading and different things like that one my mentor, he told me knowledge is great but only applied knowledge will solve anything or change anything. So that always stood with me of every time I read a book of, okay, what did I learn?

00:12:34:25 – 00:12:54:05

Ryan Daniels

Now, how can I apply it? Like come up a couple action steps. So that answered your question. It really was just mindset of, Hey, I’m going to pursue this, but I’m also going to work on my skill set in the meantime so that I have the best chance possible to complete the course when the opportunity is given to me.

00:12:54:21 – 00:13:12:06

Nick McGowan

Yeah, it makes total sense. Especially now that you had mentioned with the book being able to figure out what are the things I can take away from the book. I know there are books that I’ve read multiple times where different things will pop out at different times. The book that comes to mind the most is kind of obvious.

00:13:12:07 – 00:13:27:18

Nick McGowan

It’s the Bible, you know, that’s one of those books where you might read a verse at one point and you’re like, God, I have no idea what you’re talking about. And then you read it six or seven years later and you’re like, Oh my God, you can just hear it be spoken to you and then there are little nuggets of wisdom that pop out in other books.

00:13:28:09 – 00:13:46:03

Nick McGowan

But you’re right, being able to put those things in action is the thing to be able to do. Some people have a very hard time of figuring out How do I take what I just learned and put into action? But I think we need to be mindful that you don’t have to immediately put it into action. It’s not like you stand up, go, Oh, I’m halfway through this page, let me go do this thing.

00:13:46:13 – 00:13:59:26

Nick McGowan

But it’s being able to simmer on that a little bit. And how do you take the things that you’ve learned from books and be able to put them into practice? Do you kind of go through a note them a bit or do you kind of let them sit back in your mind and kind of seep in?

00:14:01:13 – 00:14:30:29

Ryan Daniels

So combination of that, while I’m reading, I always have a highlighter tucked behind my ear and then I also have a pen, because if you know you’re going to highlight a lot more like what’s standing out to you, but if something really speaks to you or it’s an action item, I’ll put like a star next to it. And so the best example I can give you of books that I’ve just completely devoured in the process of building my business is The E-Myth, the one page marketing plan?

00:14:31:19 – 00:14:56:12

Ryan Daniels

And then there’s a couple other ones. Oh, Building a Story brand by Donald Miller and his marketing made simple. Those are gold for anybody looking to build a business, or even if you’re starting an organization, it could even be a nonprofit and you’re trying to attract people. You’re getting your message out there. I highly recommend those books, but like you were talking about it when you read it later, right?

00:14:56:13 – 00:15:18:21

Ryan Daniels

When I’m at a different stage in the business, I will go back and reread those and actually just pull them out on Friday work because I was working on a pop up for my website, I was like, What can I give away as a lead generator? Right, because that’s what a business thrives on, is if you don’t have anybody to talk to, you’re going out of business.

00:15:20:01 – 00:15:43:23

Ryan Daniels

So I would say starting with highlighting things that you’re learning in the process, using a pen, I take little pieces of paper and write ideas on shove it into the page. Where you got that from. And then I always carve out in my schedule at least an hour a week where it’s solely focused on marketing or applying what I’m learning.

00:15:44:15 – 00:16:07:01

Ryan Daniels

So, you know, I glean everything from my morning and evening readings and then I take that information of, okay, how can I apply this the next week? You know, if it’s a very specific personal development book, like I know you’re reading Atomic Habits right now, that one, you probably can apply something the next day after you’re done, right?

00:16:07:07 – 00:16:15:00

Ryan Daniels

Because he gives you so many specific tips that you don’t have to have drastic changes to something really small and it makes the world of difference.

00:16:15:13 – 00:16:38:11

Nick McGowan

Oh yeah, that. And I’m halfway through the book and it’s basically yellow. It’s just covered in highlighter because I’m the same way. I don’t have it behind my ear, but I always have a total nerd moment here. But I’ve got pens and pencils and stuff next to my desk. And earlier today I was going through my highlighters and I was like, Oh, I’m going to take some of these out.

00:16:38:27 – 00:16:53:15

Nick McGowan

And my my brain, I was like, I’m going to put them around the house so that when I have the books that are also around the house, I can grab them. And I got so excited about it, I was like, This is so great. I’m going to be able to just color it up because that is a crucial thing to be able to actually go back through.

00:16:53:20 – 00:17:06:00

Nick McGowan

I mean, think about how many times you’ve just picked up a book as you walk past it and you go, Oh, you’re thumbing through it and that yellow bit or the orange or whatever pops out to you and you’re like, Oh yeah, I remember that thing. That’s cool.

00:17:06:16 – 00:17:19:16

Ryan Daniels

Well, it’s also why I don’t particularly like borrowing books from people. I might borrow it just to skim it, but if I’m actually going to read it, I go and buy my own copy so I can, you know, highlighter it all up and write all over it.

00:17:19:16 – 00:17:39:20

Nick McGowan

I’m starting to get to the point where I’m starting to buy a couple of books at a time where like, I’ll buy Atomic Habits and I’ll buy two or three of them so I can send one out. Some of my friends and family live a bit of a ways away, so I’ve stopped doing that with some books or I’ll just, I know I’m going to send it to you, but I’ll just dropship it with Amazon or whatever.

00:17:39:20 – 00:17:56:11

Nick McGowan

But those really good ones, when it start to speak to you and you want to talk to somebody else about it, that means it’s doing something for you. So let’s actually take a little bit of a step back. You’ve touched on your on your upbringing a little bit. You just said it was a crime to be able to lead you into the military.

00:17:57:01 – 00:18:05:17

Nick McGowan

But are there any major moments or episodes that have happened in life that you can look at and you say, you know what? That was one of those moments in life that absolutely changed me.

00:18:06:13 – 00:18:38:11

Ryan Daniels

Yeah, I, I think as far as how I feel, the upbringing is helping me in my endeavors now. One of them was just a constant reinforcement from my parents and especially my grandfather. He was one of those, I think think of your your old school, you know, grandfather with, you know, conservative values. Just he instilled you know, you hold the door for for women to walk through like you get the point there.

00:18:39:00 – 00:19:03:07

Ryan Daniels

But the inspiration for the book I wrote about money was a phrase he always used of basics and fundamentals. So growing up playing baseball, I love the Atlanta Braves. So if I showed him like, Hey, watch this wind up, I saw so and so doing, you like smacked me upside the head and say basics and fundamentals. So in other words, you can do all the basics like perfect.

00:19:03:17 – 00:19:27:03

Ryan Daniels

Yeah, don’t worry about all the flair right now. I think too quickly we try to embrace all that. So fast forward a little bit. When I really got passionate about music, I think school became a hindrance on that a little bit because I was not interested in science, I was not interested in math and any of that stuff because it was taking time away from my passion of music.

00:19:27:16 – 00:19:57:26

Ryan Daniels

Yeah. So if there’s any kids listening, cover your ears. But what I would do by the time I got to high school, I would go around to all of my teachers and request permission to go to sectionals, right? So like the little small group band practice things, they didn’t know whether I had it or not. But what I did is I like myself in the practice room for like 6 hours because I can work on my craft to pursue the passion I had, which was to be a professional musician.

00:19:58:16 – 00:20:20:25

Ryan Daniels

So but that started even before that. I mean, middle school, I, I was busy. I had activities in the evening like Boy Scouts and all these different things. And, you know, as a musician, it’s competitive, right? Your skill set has to be super high. And again, you pursue something with no guarantee that it’s ever going to work out and you’ll ever get your big break.

00:20:21:26 – 00:20:42:26

Ryan Daniels

But you got to try it. So what I did as well, I don’t have that much time in the evening. So I would wake up and like 5:00 in the morning to practice before I would go to school and it just that was reinforced from my parents and grandparents of like don’t do things half assed right if you’re going to do it, do it.

00:20:43:15 – 00:20:47:22

Ryan Daniels

Otherwise you’re just going to give excuses. And mediocrity, in my opinion, is no way to live.

00:20:48:04 – 00:21:08:09

Nick McGowan

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, totally. I think there’s a battle of mediocrity where we as humans and specifically men have to battle mediocrity throughout the day, where it’s just so easy to just breath. I don’t want to do it. Bucket, You know, whatever. And you lean back on something or what have you. But I think that always opens up the door.

00:21:08:09 – 00:21:33:26

Nick McGowan

There’s something behind it, because if you really wanted to go do something, guess what you would do that you would go do it. Go figure out a way to be able to go do it like you would done even as a kid. So I appreciate that you were doing that as a kid. I, I was an art kid in high school, so I would kind of do the same thing just with like art class, where I’d be like, Hey, I got a project, an art neighborhood, whatever, and I would just go down or I would leave or whatever I was going to do.

00:21:33:26 – 00:21:51:17

Nick McGowan

But it’s interesting, like, let’s talk about the high school thing and with music, because you ended up getting into the military or army and playing music. I remember sitting in the counselor’s office and then telling me I was a musician or an art kid. We can get you to Art Institute or Berklee, but you’re not going to make any money.

00:21:51:17 – 00:22:08:20

Nick McGowan

So what do you want to do? And I stopped listening at that point. In fact, I was like, I’m done. And I think senior year was basically like two major classes and the rest was nothing. So to have that sort of scenario where they were like, You’re not going to make any money, you’re not going to do anything.

00:22:10:02 – 00:22:23:04

Nick McGowan

It’s a different story because here we both are your financial advisor or podcast host sales and the coach. Obviously we didn’t hit our rockstar dreams, but things worked out the way they needed to work out. So you’ve got some kids now.

00:22:23:07 – 00:22:24:01

Nick McGowan

How old are your kids?

00:22:25:03 – 00:22:32:28

Ryan Daniels

So my oldest is six. She’ll be seven in the summer. My middle is four years old and the youngest is 18 months.

00:22:33:13 – 00:22:51:28

Nick McGowan

So you’ve got some time until they’re in middle school to be in the same spot that you are or that you were rather to be able to kind of work through that stuff. But now that you’re in that spot and you get to be dad and you get to pass this stuff along, how do you see what you’ve learned growing up that you’re going to be able to transfer over to your kids?

00:22:52:15 – 00:23:19:13

Ryan Daniels

Well, definitely the the work ethic. And one thing we do not tolerate in our house is excuses. So it’s okay to make mistakes, but you need to own it, right? So as soon as I hear the words like but or you know, that’s always followed by an excuse as a guy who’s responsible for that. So even at four years old and six years old, they can say, I am okay.

00:23:19:13 – 00:23:45:06

Ryan Daniels

So how are you going to fix this? But that but that all starts with that. That’s a reflection of those roots that were instilled in me of, you know, from a parenting perspective. My dad, he started a side business of cutting grass. But the reason for that was that would be the money that would allow me and my siblings to do the extra things like music lessons.

00:23:45:06 – 00:24:05:20

Ryan Daniels

And my brother was good at football. And you did all kinds of different things, but I saw how hard he worked. But then the key here’s here’s the key I think, for parents is you always hear about these like snotty teenagers that don’t appreciate anything. I think a lot of that is because they they weren’t told or they don’t have the perspective.

00:24:06:05 – 00:24:27:09

Ryan Daniels

So from a financial advisor standpoint, what I teach parents on a coaching level is if you ever hear your teenager complain like when you’re on a vacation, put it in perspective. Do you know that your dad had to work two and a half weeks so that we could be on vacation right now? Like those little things of, Oh, I never thought about that.

00:24:27:18 – 00:24:52:06

Ryan Daniels

Maybe I will be a little bit more grateful. So, so really, I think back to what you said to of especially men, they’re just like, yeah, I want to do that, but forget about it. That one, you haven’t found your passion. Or two if you don’t motivate yourself, find something in your life that does motivate you. You’ve heard it in all your reading.

00:24:52:16 – 00:25:21:08

Ryan Daniels

You’ve got to have a way. And so for me, one, how selfish would it be? And to what kind of man would I be if I didn’t be the model for my three daughters? That anything’s possible, right? So if I put a goal, you got to speak it and then you got to have people hold you accountable. So not only does my mentor hold me accountable, but because I told my kids and my wife what I’m going to do, you gosh darn better do it right.

00:25:21:18 – 00:25:44:16

Ryan Daniels

Integrity’s a big deal. And it’s just really, really cool to see them at such a young age already dreaming about, Hey, we could do a business like this. Hey, we could do this or that. But but it doesn’t. It has to be that positive environment that you’re creating, but reinforcing it with your own actions. So I’m not perfect by any means.

00:25:44:16 – 00:26:07:29

Ryan Daniels

You know, I, I don’t hit my goals all the time. I obviously slip up. You’re nobody has a solid mindset. So you go through a couple of days of you’re down in the dumps about, Oh, I didn’t hit my goal last week or whatever it is, but you have to have something to remind you of what you’re fighting for and get back on the horse and, you know, be that example.

00:26:08:23 – 00:26:26:28

Nick McGowan

Yeah, it’s a it’s interesting. So I don’t have any kids, but I’ve been around little kids before and I know little kids are usually unfiltered. So if you tell them, hey, I’m going to do this thing, that four, six year old might go, Daddy, where did where is this? You said you were going to do this. And they have that.

00:26:26:28 – 00:26:42:26

Nick McGowan

I would imagine you’re like, I don’t want to be in that sort of spot. We’ve got to make sure that we’re doing these things the right way. And that’s cool that your kids are already starting to do that sort of stuff. I’m sure that also, you know, probably a little pat on the back for you and your wife to say, Hey, we’re doing some good things here.

00:26:43:24 – 00:27:09:27

Ryan Daniels

Yeah, you know, this shows about your mindset and self-mastery. So if you pick up any book to get started on these topics, you’re going to hear some common themes. One of them, you’ve probably all heard of a vision board, right? That’s not just for you. You can make that a family activity. So we actually took our one wall in the dining room and we each have a frame.

00:27:10:08 – 00:27:44:02

Ryan Daniels

So our personal vision board, but then we have a vision board for family goals as well as business goals. So it’s like a collage on our dining room wall and then it’s just something we can all look at when we’re eating dinner together and kind of be like, Hey, you did this. That’s awesome. You’ve already reached one of your goals is that positive reinforcement goes a long way for sure, because it’s counter to think about your how you felt when that counselor said you’re not going to make any money as a musician.

00:27:44:02 – 00:27:44:10

Ryan Daniels

Right?

00:27:45:17 – 00:27:48:06

Nick McGowan

So the air went out. It was like, right, okay. Yeah.

00:27:48:20 – 00:28:17:05

Ryan Daniels

Thanks. It’s a parent’s job I think is to, you know, reinforce the what do you call it, self esteem. Self-esteem, I think, is really lacking in the world today. And a lot of it, I believe, comes from like a victim mindset, where instead, if you empower yourself through the self and you know that you’re responsible, I think that’s the difference.

00:28:17:15 – 00:28:43:06

Ryan Daniels

If you accept 100% responsibility for your life game changer, because then you know you have the control to do whatever you want. It starts with the decision and then the action that follows and you don’t have to have all the answers. What’s great is, you know, there’s people like yourself that have podcasts to talk about and you bring people on to share experiences so you don’t have to be born a master.

00:28:43:06 – 00:28:56:14

Ryan Daniels

Nobody is. But there’s teachers and mentors everywhere. You know, if you just pick up a book, Norman Vincent Peale, he can be your mentor. You can pick up any of these things. And that’s going to get you to where you want to be.

00:28:57:04 – 00:29:15:01

Nick McGowan

That’s a good point, and thank you for the nod to the podcast. I always appreciate that. But I think the the day and time that we live in now with the amount of information that’s out there, social media and everything that’s going on in some ways can be too much information for people because we can see people that are doing things.

00:29:15:01 – 00:29:43:18

Nick McGowan

Social media is kind of an evil in some ways, but it’s primarily bringing out the stuff in us because we see people that are doing great things. But you really didn’t see all the B.S. that went behind whatever that great thing was. And I’m hoping that more of this comes up, like you’re saying, where you’re able to listen to a podcast, you’re able to go look for things, but it takes somebody taking that action to either pull up a podcast or start to Google something to look for help.

00:29:44:08 – 00:30:00:17

Nick McGowan

So I want to get into some of the deeper work because when people talk about doing some of the work throughout the days, I know people listen to this show, they look for little nuggets of wisdom. What are the things that I can take away from this that I can add into something I’m already doing? You touched on your reading in the morning and reading at night.

00:30:00:17 – 00:30:09:09

Nick McGowan

Sounds like we’re probably akin to that where we have morning and evening routines. Well, why don’t you tell us a little bit about what your routines look like to be able to share some of that wisdom.

00:30:10:09 – 00:30:33:02

Ryan Daniels

Sure. So I usually wake up about six in the morning, do some exercise, grab a cup of coffee afterwards, and that’s when I do my little. There’s a great book you guys can record. Miracle Morning. That’ll help you. It’s quick read, but that will help you explain what Nick and I are talking about of everybody’s is different. Your morning is going to be different than ours.

00:30:33:02 – 00:30:58:17

Ryan Daniels

Probably a little bit. But that book of coach you through how to build your morning routine. And so I get my cup of coffee, I’ll start off reading a devotional and then I’ll pick up whatever book I’m reading at the time. Usually I try to do something more in the mindset or, you know, habit building anything like that in the morning, in the afternoon or evening is when I’ll read something.

00:30:58:17 – 00:31:21:28

Ryan Daniels

Business specific. So I find out new ideas on how I can market better communication, like how? How can I be a better presenter? So a great book, a reading recently is Talk Like TEDx. So that’s a actually by a researcher who examined all of the top TEDTalks and what is it about them that made them go viral? And he breaks it down.

00:31:21:28 – 00:31:47:18

Ryan Daniels

And it was affirmation for me that my style doesn’t have to be like somebody else’s style. You can be great in your persona, right? So these some people were successful with a whole bunch of PowerPoint slides. Other people, they just had a title up and talked, but they went viral as well. So there is no right or wrong way to do things.

00:31:47:18 – 00:32:18:20

Ryan Daniels

And I think that’s one of the first things you need to embrace and recognize is your journey is not going to be my journey. Your journey is not going to be next journey. And speaking of social media, yes, social media is like snapshots of people’s life. So I always love this phrase compete. Don’t compare to a few. It’s great if there’s somebody in your same industry or you’re like a competitor with your business.

00:32:18:26 – 00:32:37:06

Ryan Daniels

I don’t I’m not going to compare my business to somebody, another financial advisors business. I’m going to compete with them because, you know, deep down, I believe I can help people a thousand times better than anybody else. But that’s because I know my heart’s in the right place to do that. And I want to make sure that person is taken care of.

00:32:37:23 – 00:32:57:18

Ryan Daniels

But let’s say that they’re making more money than I am. I’m not going to feel bad about that. And matter of fact, I want to congratulate them. Right. Success leaves clues. So now I can look at what are they doing? Is there something I’m missing? Maybe they’re communicating better. Maybe they learn something or offering something that I’m not.

00:32:58:10 – 00:33:19:22

Ryan Daniels

And that’s why those people are going there. But if I looked at that and got defeated, I was like, Man, this just isn’t going to work. Then what do I do? Do I quit? Quit my job and and go, do, you know, move widgets around? Like, what am I going to do? What I would show is the exact opposite again, back to man up about it, right?

00:33:20:10 – 00:33:42:04

Ryan Daniels

Except that learn from it and then be the example for my kids of overcoming in those obstacles. Because like you said, it’s social media. It looks like an overnight success, but that’s years in the making. You don’t see the sitting there at night or all defeated. You know, you didn’t make any money this week. Like, what are we going to do?

00:33:42:27 – 00:34:02:10

Ryan Daniels

Do I have to put it on a credit card like the entrepreneurial rollercoaster especially is true, right? The ups and just when you think you’ve got it going boom like drops out from underneath you. But it’s the it’s the mindset that gets you through. Your goals have to be bigger than your inconveniences.

00:34:02:23 – 00:34:14:12

Nick McGowan

That’s a good point. Before we hit record, you and I were talking a bit, even a point where I was like, we just had a hit record now. So we keep talking about these things. But you brought up kind of the level system. You want to go into that a little bit.

00:34:14:12 – 00:34:39:00

Ryan Daniels

Yeah, great point. So I learned this from a conference. I attended the speaker there. He said that problems are relative to the level that you’re at as a person. So if he used a scale from 1 to 10, so if you’re a level four person and you have a level three problem hit you, that’s going to be a pretty big deal.

00:34:39:26 – 00:35:03:17

Ryan Daniels

But let’s say that you continue to personally develop. You’re speaking affirmations all the time. You you don’t let the the little inconveniences bother you like you keep it in perspective. Now you develop to a level eight person. That same level three problem is like a blip in the radar. It’s going to be not even a big deal at all to you right.

00:35:03:17 – 00:35:29:08

Ryan Daniels

So I think that’s important because I can’t remember if it’s the average person only reads two books after high school like Total or if it’s only two books per year and know you’re looking like, man, I really like cyber two at least two books a month. Right. But the point behind that is, yes, I think in high school, a lot of us, when you’re told to read Catcher in the Rye or these types of things, it might not motivate you.

00:35:29:23 – 00:35:54:20

Ryan Daniels

But if you’re like, Hey, I have a clear vision, a clear goal of the type of person, the type of life I want to have. And you see who has that already. Okay. Now what qualities about them make them able to have that lifestyle? And then you find the books, resources, conferences, you can attend YouTube videos, podcasts to listen to that will help you develop into that person.

00:35:55:05 – 00:36:17:12

Ryan Daniels

Now, it’s enjoyable, right? If it’s a requirement to read X or whatever book, right, you’re probably not going to be motivated to do it. But if you’re motivated by the the end prize, then that’s a little bit more motivating to wake up in the morning, read a book and become the person that you need to be to have what those people have.

00:36:18:09 – 00:36:40:05

Ryan Daniels

Success is not limited. Same with money, right? There is an abundance of money. So this whole like the rich are greedy. We should give it to everybody out. Now, the people that started companies, they sacrificed a lot. If you if you read their biographies, you know, they they slept in their office. They slept in started out of a garage.

00:36:40:05 – 00:37:04:16

Ryan Daniels

They had their parents give their whole life savings on the hope that it might work out. So they risked it all. But it’s because their dream was so big. So I really just encourage people, no matter where you’re at, if you are a number three, it’s not a slight against you. That just means you have, you know, seven numbers to go to be the person that you want to be.

00:37:04:16 – 00:37:27:02

Ryan Daniels

And maybe we never maybe we never become a ten. But what if you became one from a three to a four? Now life becomes a lot easier, right? Was little. Somebody cut you off on on the road or, you know, you go to buy something at the store and they’re all sold out. It doesn’t ruin your day. It’s like, okay, well, yeah, maybe I can get something different as you grow as a person.

00:37:27:16 – 00:37:31:13

Ryan Daniels

So I like that analogy. The 1 to 10. Keep it in perspective.

00:37:32:03 – 00:37:51:15

Nick McGowan

I like that too. It’s not. In some ways life is like a video game. In other ways it is not like a video game where you don’t finish level, you collect all the points and then you pause. You go to the bathroom, grab a drink, come back, and on the next level, that’s not how this stuff works. So you can’t really see when you at different level all the time unless it’s a drastic jump.

00:37:51:25 – 00:38:17:06

Nick McGowan

Like if somebody goes from a two to a six, that’s a big, big jump. Most everybody will see something like that. But for those people to be able to see it, it’s those little moments. I actually had a moment that happened recently with a podcast. I had a great episode with somebody and it failed. The recording failed and the teenager within me started to lose his shit.

00:38:17:06 – 00:38:38:21

Nick McGowan

Just go crazy and just instantly like, Wow, I can’t believe it. And within seconds, all of this, like, bloomed up. And I went, Wait a minute. I actually jumped. I stood up, stepped away, walked outside for a minute, came back and was totally good. But I realized at that point I was at a much different level than I had been years ago, but it took years to get to that point.

00:38:39:10 – 00:38:45:05

Nick McGowan

Do you have things that are similar in that sense where like you can see things that happened, your homework told me what a freaked out.

00:38:45:21 – 00:39:01:08

Ryan Daniels

Yeah, I think so. I think my personality by nature is I’m pretty introverted, pretty, pretty chill. My wife jokes when she talks to people and says, Yeah, Ryan’s excitement. Like when we got married, it was like.

00:39:01:28 – 00:39:02:11

Nick McGowan

Cool.

00:39:02:22 – 00:39:04:00

Ryan Daniels

You know, we’re having a baby.

00:39:04:10 – 00:39:05:10

Nick McGowan

Well, cool about Ryan.

00:39:05:19 – 00:39:32:19

Ryan Daniels

Yeah, exactly. So, you know, my my band of emotion, I guess, is pretty, pretty small. I do enjoy meaningful conversations. Like, you know, I’m enjoying what we’re doing right now. But just as far as a scale, I think it’s pretty small to begin with, but absolutely frustration is something you need to tame, right? You got to you got to get it back in the jar because nothing good comes from that.

00:39:32:25 – 00:40:04:13

Ryan Daniels

And that’s a lesson we’re really trying to get our six year old to understand right now is when she gets so worked up about something, she can’t think of a solution. So it’s just calm down, right? So any parents out there, a book I recommend to you is called Raising Lions Best Book on parenting I’ve ever read. I don’t know what your style is to parenting currently, but it is puts really so much stress in the entire household because you don’t let their emotions take over your emotions.

00:40:04:29 – 00:40:29:16

Ryan Daniels

Right. You have to be the guide for. So I won’t spoil the whole book. But his basic concept is you have to remain emotion, but show no emotion when they do something that you don’t approve of or they’re out of control, like I have lost it, you simply just say, Break and they’ll be conditioned to go sit on their band or sit right where they’re at for like a minute.

00:40:29:28 – 00:40:53:19

Ryan Daniels

That’s it. It gives them time to accept what they did, and then afterwards there’s no explanation. They know what they did, and now they can come at it level headed and solve the problems that works wonders. The key with it though, just like any personal event, is consistency. So whenever we hit a lull of may have what is going on around here like the kids there’s a full moon like what’s up?

00:40:54:15 – 00:41:15:02

Ryan Daniels

It’s because of us right? So parent if you don’t like what your kids are doing, it’s a mirror. That’s how you’re acting. You’ve let your emotions get out of check. You’re your demeanor out of check. So yeah, I recommend that book Raising Lions has been a game changer for my wife and I, and we listen to it on the way home from a conference, I downloaded it on Audible.

00:41:15:10 – 00:41:40:23

Ryan Daniels

So another tip for you guys. Turn your car into a classroom, forget the radio. Turn on auto audiobook, turn on a podcast, because that’s your chance to use your time wisely. So you can you can do one of three things. Waste your time, spend your time. That’s what most people do. Or you can invest your time so you can invest your time and becoming the person you need to be to have the life that you want.

00:41:41:03 – 00:42:01:12

Ryan Daniels

You can invest your time, improving your skill set right, or you can invest your time pursuing through action whatever it is you’re trying to do. But most people, because they’re not inspired, like your audience here, right to to dream and go after something as most people will waste their time or spend their time.

00:42:02:06 – 00:42:29:18

Nick McGowan

I think there’s a balance where people need to just waste time sometimes just get away and just sit veg, watch some TV, do something that’s work or what have you. But there’s also being mindful of the time. So like your buckets of time where you invest in what you’re investing in. I know there are certain people I talk a wake up in the murk, oh man, I’ve got to get right into this thing because they’re not managing their time properly to allow themselves to have time to set themselves up.

00:42:29:18 – 00:42:48:21

Nick McGowan

Right. And then by the end of the day, they’re just stressed and freaking out because they didn’t set themselves up properly. You and I both know that because we’ve done it before. You know, like you have those mornings, you’re like, Nah, screw it, I’m not going to do this thing halfway through your day. You’re like, Oh, I probably should have done all that in the morning because you know how it primes you and kind of get you moving through the day.

00:42:49:02 – 00:43:12:25

Ryan Daniels

And to to help people with that. I would recommend they take a piece of paper like a just a regular notebook paper right at the top 168 because there’s 168 hours in the week and then just go through what you do. So if you sleep now however many hours a night, times seven, right, that number down. How long do you eat per day, right?

00:43:12:25 – 00:43:35:03

Ryan Daniels

Maybe a half hour for lunch, half hour for breakfast, hour for dinner says 2 hours a day, seven days that 14 -14 just go down through all of that. And most people’s mind is blown. How much time is left over? So there’s I mean, if you do want to watch TV or something and you think you only do it an hour a day, then write down minus seven.

00:43:35:24 – 00:43:56:21

Ryan Daniels

But when you see 36 hours left at the end, where do you think that money’s going? You think it’s going to invest in your time? No, it’s going to wasting time. Right. So that that’s how you can transfer that awareness into. Okay. Well, let me let me start like a block calendar from this time to this time. I’m going to be intentional with my time.

00:43:57:20 – 00:44:22:23

Ryan Daniels

If you like video games, if you like woodworking and if you like hunting doing it, put it in your schedule. Because if you put it in there from I’m going to do this from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. or 10:10 a.m. on Saturday to 1 p.m. on Saturday. Then, then you have it planned out because otherwise if you just start doing it on Saturday morning, next thing you know it’s 6 p.m. and you never got anything else done.

00:44:23:11 – 00:44:45:14

Ryan Daniels

So yeah, I agree with you. You got to have fun. It’s a balance in life of, you know, pursuing things you’re passionate about, but taking time to what are they going to say? I smell the roses, right? Like enjoy the moment as well, because some of your biggest memories are going to come from just hanging out in the driveway, playing with chalk with your kids or something like that.

00:44:45:14 – 00:44:54:08

Ryan Daniels

So you got it. You got to make time for that as well. Can always be business. And again, don’t don’t compare yourself to others that look like that’s all they do.

00:44:54:18 – 00:45:16:16

Nick McGowan

So yeah, because that’s not all they do. That is not all know everybody is human in some ways, such as we only see the sayings of Paul Ryan. You’ve, you’ve dropped a lot on us. I think we’re probably going to need a list of all the books that you’ve given us in this podcast episode as well. But is there one piece of advice you’d give somebody on their path towards self-mastery?

00:45:16:23 – 00:45:44:12

Ryan Daniels

Yeah, I think it’s big. Have grace with yourself, but you can’t change overnight. And if you move two steps forward, you’re probably going to move one step back. It’s okay. But what you learn over time is that you can self-correct. So like you shared Nick of, you know, the podcast in record and then you had self-awareness to just walk away for a moment, right?

00:45:44:15 – 00:46:12:22

Ryan Daniels

And you put it back in perspective. If you miss a day, like if you say, I’m going to wake up in the morning and read for a half hour and you miss a day, don’t, don’t quit then. And they’re like, This doesn’t work. It takes time to change. And no different than going to the gym. It hurts like heck for the first few weeks because you’re building new muscles and you’re building a new muscle when you go down this journey of mindset and self-mastery.

00:46:13:14 – 00:46:38:29

Ryan Daniels

So it’s, I guess the best quote I’ll leave you with is the most successful people in the world. Take the time to figure out exactly who they want to become and what they want to achieve, and then invest the rest of their hours in actions consistent with those ideals. That’s from T Harv Ecker. So that’ll help you figure out what you want to do, really solidify that vision.

00:46:39:10 – 00:46:49:14

Ryan Daniels

But then it’s an awareness of how am I using my time and and just be great, have grace with yourself. It’s a process right point.

00:46:49:14 – 00:46:59:00

Nick McGowan

And that’s a great millionaire mindset you got there. Yeah, pun intended. So, Ryan, thank you for being on the show. Where can people connect with you?

00:46:59:24 – 00:47:20:24

Ryan Daniels

Yeah, so I’m on I have a Facebook page. It’s our finances, coaches the handle. But you can look for our finances. You can see the little R will be the logo. But the best thing to check out would be our website. That’s our finances dot com. So the letter our finances dot com and you know all of our coaching is free.

00:47:20:24 – 00:47:40:06

Ryan Daniels

So if you guys have questions don’t don’t do the ostrich effect and bury your head in the sand like reach out. We’re here to help. It might be as simple as recommending a book to you. It might be sitting down for a half hour on a zoom call and showing you how to do a budget. Right. It’s our goal is to take you from where you’re at to where you want to be.

00:47:40:25 – 00:47:51:00

Ryan Daniels

And you do. And we do that by building you a simple to follow financial plan that fits your life because everybody’s life’s different. So I do appreciate your time today and having me on.

00:47:51:25 – 00:48:03:17

Nick McGowan

And I appreciate you and thank you for wrapping it up like a good old podcast host. And before I did, You’re The Man I appreciate being on and I look forward to being on your show too. And thanks everyone.

00:48:03:22 – 00:48:12:25

Ryan Daniels

Awesome.

00:48:12:25 – 00:48:36:18

Nick McGowan

Another great conversation on today’s episode of The Mindset and Self-mastery show. When we think of things we should have learned in school, yeah, I’m sure we can all agree finances is at the top of the list in the habits and disciplines in grace are great. They’re really just components to a positive money mindset and they really won’t get you anywhere unless you know what to do with that money.

00:48:36:27 – 00:48:54:00

Nick McGowan

So I’m glad there are people like Ryan in the world who truly wear their heart on their sleeves and are doing great work to help people in the community learn about and grow their finances. So let me ask you, how’s your financial mindset? Did this conversation change the way you look at it or think or act towards money?

00:48:54:28 – 00:49:12:05

Nick McGowan

I’d love to hear what you thought about the episode today in the conversation. We got into it and if you enjoyed the episode, please jump over to iTunes. Subscribe rate. Leave a five star review. It’ll help lots of people because remember, we didn’t learn about this stuff in school and if you really enjoyed the show, go ahead and share it with a friend.

00:49:12:13 – 00:49:31:20

Nick McGowan

Share it with a colleague, share it with somebody. You know, that’s pretty rough for their finances, I think. Check out the show notes for more info, contact info for Ryan and check out the other episodes on the Mindset and Self-mastery show dot com as well as our YouTube channel where you can just go to YouTube and type in the mindset and self-mastery show.

00:49:31:20 – 00:49:55:05

Nick McGowan

And thanks again Ryan for being real, for being honest and for being vulnerable with us, and for sharing some great tips and doing some great work. And I’d like to thank our sponsors, the Manly Club and the Powerhouse men, brotherhood men. Do you consider yourself to be a powerhouse man? The criteria for becoming one is simple live with virtue and do good work.

00:49:55:21 – 00:50:15:20

Nick McGowan

You see, a powerhouse man builds his life. He doesn’t settle for you. Tax mediocrity at the root. And that’s exactly what we do in the powerhouse men brotherhood you visit the manly club dot com for more details and thank you to you. Yes you thank you for hanging out with us today for being here for these shows. Really, really appreciate it.

00:50:15:20 – 00:50:24:04

Nick McGowan

Hope you’re getting something out of it. I sure as hell no. I am. And with that, remember, your mindset matters and so do you.