Uncommon Wealth Podcast

When you’re young, you don’t think twice about having a coach for soccer, baseball, field hockey – whatever sport you’re into. You need someone to coach you through the basics and show you the ropes. That all changes when you start adulting. You think you know everything. You don’t seek out those coaches and mentors who were clearly so instrumental in helping you learn and grow.

Episode #43 is all about getting over yourself and finding the right coach or mentor for whatever goal you’re pursuing. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign that you are aware enough to know what you don’t know.

We are huge fans of coaches and mentors. And we have been at every point in a mentor/coach relationship. We have business coaches who have helped us set goals and get our business to the next stage. We have served as mentors to each other. And we cherish our role as financial coach to so many of you. It’s inspiring and humbling.

Remember that feeling when you made a great play, or struck the note you’d been practicing for so long? Remember looking to the sideline at how proud and excited your coach was for you? You need coaches and mentors in your life now just like you did as a kid. When it comes to crushing goals, learning and growing, it is hard to underestimate the power of good coaching and mentoring.

• Why coaches and mentors are so important to reaching our goals
• Getting over the stigma of asking for help
• The difference between mentoring and coaching
• Why getting too much advice can be as bad as not seeking advice
• When to seek out a mentor and when to seek out a coach
• How coaches and mentors can help you develop a plan
• How coaches help you get off the sidelines of your life
• The value of what coaches and mentors receive back from the relationship
• How to find your mentor or coach
• The importance of setting expectations with a coach or mentor

These days, it’s not uncommon for a person to graduate from college with tens of thousands in loans – sometimes reaching debt loads of $100,000 or more. We all know this is insane, but what can we do about it?

In this episode, we do a deep dive into the dark pool of college loan debt. There has got to be a better way. We are disgusted with what’s happening and we’re going to talk about it.

One aspect of our work that we love is speaking to high school students. We speak at local high schools about twice a year. One thing we run into a lot is a total lack of planning when it comes to paying for a 4-year degree. So you want to go to Stanford. Great! After getting accepted (a huge hurdle in itself) how are you going to pay for that premier education provided at a premier price?

That’s what we want to dig into here. Understanding your options about where you might attend school and how you can pay for it without digging a giant hole of debt for the student or the parents.

• Uncommon solutions to higher education without crushing debt
• How predatory lending targets college students and their parents
• The crucial role mentorship can play in discovering the right path
• The 4-legged chair of college funding
• How to treat applying for scholarships and grants like a job
• Why putting money away is just one of 4 paths to college funding
• How real estate can help fund your child’s education
• Why you shouldn’t sacrifice your financial security for your child’s education

One challenge nearly every entrepreneur we meet faces is the “shiny object” syndrome. Starting new things is fun and when we get one project off the ground, most people start thinking about the next.

When we hear that someone wants to start a new venture, we are excited for them. But we temper that excitement with one quick question, “Do you have any experience in this market?”. If the answer is no, that’s a red flag.

Not that you should never venture out of your comfort zone, but keeping your entrepreneurial activities focused on some kind of related field or area of expertise just makes good business sense.

That’s why we were so glad to talk with our guest, Evie Peterson. She is a true entrepreneur, operating (at last count) Farmhouse Catering, Gatherings Event Space, Farm Grounds Coffee Shop, and Farm Pond Inn. The awesome thing about what Evie is doing is that there is some clear connective tissue between all these ventures. She has taken her gifts and experience in hospitality and food and created ventures that work together to provide Evie and her family an uncommon life.

Since high school, Evie had worked in the restaurant business, so after college, Farmhouse Catering was a natural next step in that evolution. Over the years, she has added an event space, and then a coffee shop and restaurant. Most recently, she and her husband have refurbished an adjoining property where they host bridal parties and others who will be using the event space as well as other travelers to Nevada, (pronounced Neh-VAY-dah) Iowa.

The synergies between these businesses provide Evie with multiple income streams and flexibility that represents an ever-expanding sense of time freedom.  

• How to add activities that don’t take you off track, but create more cash flow
• Why it sometimes makes sense to start slow and build capacity over time
• How to create synergies between your various businesses
• Best practices for having your children or other family members work in your business
• Dealing with difficult customers
• How to both have a family life and a job that you love
• Making a plan for your uncommon life

When most people think of income, they stop at earned income – the money you make in a paycheck from a job. We want people to think way beyond that in order to pay off debt, put a reserve of savings aside, and get your money to really work for you.

In our latest episode, we outline 8 unique streams of income. Big companies like Apple are earning money every minute. That might be a mind-bender but think about payday in your home. Does that happen once a month? Twice?

Imagine bringing money into your household every week. It has been said that an extra $500-$1000 a month would make an enormous difference for most families. It would truly be game-changing.

Listen in as we help you explore ways of doing just that.

• 7 ways beyond your paycheck that you can create streams of income
• The difference between passive and residual income
• How to create streams of income while you still have a day job
• How to leverage your money to create streams of income now instead of waiting for retirement
• Why you should look for ways to create streams of income based on your interests
• How to create scale on different streams of income
• How to think about ways you could gain income on weeks when you don’t get a paycheck

What happens when there’s nothing wrong with your job, but your hobby brings you and everyone around you so much more joy? That is a tricky spot to be in. Could your hobby be more than a hobby? How do you find out? Join us for Episode #39 of The Uncommon Life Project as we explore sweet success with our guest Christina Moffatt, Cupcake Warrior.

Christina faced challenges along the way, both large and small, as she built her business. She talks with us about how to not just shoot from the hip, but find the courage to jump in and take smart entrepreneurial risks. And when challenges come along, how to roll with those punches.

After working for 10 years in corporate U.S.A., Christina Moffatt decided she was tired of seeing people who had no happiness in their day. Her mission became to find out what makes people happy. The answer, she discovered, is cupcakes and dessert. A baker since she could hold a measuring spoon, Christina combined her culinary skills with her management and marketing experience to create Crème Cupcake + Dessert, which expanded from a home-operated bakery to a commercial kitchen in less than a year.

A graduate of Iowa State University and the University of Toledo CBA Program, Christina owns and operates Crème Cupcake + Dessert, and serves as the Director of Small Business Resources for the Greater Des Moines Partnership. She also devotes her time and talents to many local boards. Christina has won several awards for her business including DSM Top List for Best Bakery, Cityview’s Best Dessert, Sweet Equality Best Dessert, runner up for the Iowa Mixology Competition and runner up on The Food Network’s Cupcake Wars. Christina has also been featured in Pastry & Baking North America in the Regional Showcase and Baker in Focus.

• How to understand your numbers before quitting your day job for a new venture
• Why having your spouse on board is so crucial to entrepreneurial endeavors
• How to scale from a hobby to a thriving commercial enterprise
• How to manage start-up capital outlays
• Delegating so the business does not become your entire life
• The power of people believing in your concept and especially you
• What to do when life hands you something that’s not in the business plan
• How to find good mentors and become a mentor to others

Did you know that when a storm is coming, buffalo will actually turn around and run into the storm because they get through it faster whereas cows will run with the storm and stay in it longer?

That is what this episode is about – running through the storm. The Uncommon Life is not all rainbows and unicorns. Sometimes we face challenges that, in the midst of them, seem insurmountable. And sometimes, the best path is through the storm.

That’s what happened with our guests, Ian and Christina Nelson-Johnson. On their way towards a perfect life together in Oregon, they faced several personal and professional challenges. They made the decision to face the storm and chase a dream rather than put it off for years to come. Find out how an uncommon strategy can lead to major breakthroughs in building out your dreams.

Ian is a trained clinical psychologist committed to working and providing an affirming space to people from all walks of life. His work focuses on the following areas: men’s issues, relationship distress, trauma, depression, gender identity, anxiety, grief, family of origin concerns, spirituality, and identity concerns.

Christina is a yoga instructor who has practiced and taught yoga all over the world—from a college class in Portland, Oregon to a sub-basement studio in Amsterdam to an ashram outside Sydney, Australia. For her, yoga is much more than positions to put your body into. It’s about connection with yourself, connection with the people doing yoga with you, and connection with your instructor. When we can connect and be vulnerable with one another in a nurturing environment, we can begin to heal mind and body.

• How to come back from career setbacks
• Unlocking the potential you bring to challenging situations
• When to consider taking money from an IRA
• Why the Uncommon Life is not always the easy path
• Options you have in pursuing dreams when your savings are limited
• The multiple ways you have to invest – way beyond the stock market
• Finding the strength to ask for help
• How to think uncommonly about leveraging investments in yourself

Money is deeply personal. When you go through a tough time and make a decision that winds up costing you money or just don’t pay close enough attention to where your money is going – that can create a sense of financial guilt.

We don’t get this sense of guilt out of nowhere. And yet, at least in North America, it is not a topic that gets discussed very openly.

In our most recent episode, a duo cast, we talk about where this sense of guilt comes from and how to get beyond it. There will be a path forward for you and often it can happen more quickly than you think.

So much of our context and understanding of money comes from our upbringing, how we saw our parents handle money, how they maybe even fought about money. Money is a huge topic, especially in relationships, and especially as we look backward to our past. This looking back can have a lot of impact on our financial shame and financial guilt. So let’s start looking forward.

When we work with people, they are often surprised when we help them see a path forward that is both hopeful and much quicker than they imagined. It does take discipline and planning, but guilt is counter-productive. We’ll share our perspective and tips you can use today for getting out of debt and creating wealth now and in the future.

• How to remove guilt from the equation and work on your financial present and future
• Getting beyond a mindset of failure
• Why you need a financial strategy beyond paying off debt
• Why asking for help is a great first step beyond financial guilt
• Tangible acts you can do right now to know your numbers
• Why it’s so important to know your personal profit every month
• How to build up your emergency fund
• Building cash flow beyond your monthly expenses
• Where to find encouragement to get beyond financial guilt

The world of trademarks and patents can be very confusing. Our guest on our latest podcast is going to remove that confusion.

If you are an entrepreneur, business owner, or inventor, you run into questions about trademark and patents all the time. What does common law cover when it comes to trademarks? How much does it cost? What kinds of brand and product essentials should be trademarked? Patents are a whole different ballgame. But a patent, especially a provisional one, may not be as big a hurdle as you might think.

On this episode, we talk with Matthew Leaper, a true expert in trademark and patent law. He answers all the above questions and more and talks us through the various ways to monetize your intellectual property once a trademark is received and a patent is approved.

Matthew Leaper is an attorney with Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh, one of Canada’s premier intellectual property law firms. Matthew works with innovators to refine and protect their ideas, having learned best practices from some of the best intellectual property firms in the U.S. and Canada. He has worked to zealously serve some of the most IP-oriented, innovative companies in the world.

From these experiences and capabilities, he has developed subject matter expertise in numerous technical areas, and become highly skilled at generating value from that expertise. He has worked closely with inventors and business managers to draft patent applications. These cover a wide range of technologies including diagnostic sensors; energy efficiency technologies; laser technologies and applications; manufacturing methods; medical devices and implants; non-invasive surgical technologies; and software applications, including artificial intelligence and machine learning.

This episode is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not to be construed as legal advice.

• • How trademarks protect brand identity
  • Tools to research trademarked names through TESS
  • The cost and process of registering a trademark
  • When to go the “free” route and when to register a trademark
  • The scope and limitations of a patent
  • The strategies to understand in filing a provisional patent
  • How prototyping fits into patent development
  • Why some products can be protected by both trademarks and patents
  • How the geographic scope of your patent can affect your licensing strategy
  • Intangible values of having a patent

What happens when you start a business, it seems pretty successful from the outside, but is it sucking your soul away? What do you do when your clients start to act more like pirates? Entrepreneurship is full of a lot of peaks and valleys. Getting through those valleys can be downright brutal.

On our most recent podcast episode, we have a candid conversation with Justin Wise, who built a very successful digital marketing company from scratch, watched it implode, and found the wherewithal to start rebuilding again.

Justin Wise studied to be a pastor, but found the digital communication part of that life to be more suited to him than having the title “pastor.” He went on to start what would become a very successful digital marketing company called Think Digital.

The company went through a phase where things were, to put it mildly, not going well. Justin does not hold back in describing the challenges of this time. Some colorful and downright icky analogies are used. But that’s just effective communication, folks! Having things fall apart is an entrepreneur’s worst nightmare. How do you come back from setbacks like this? How do you keep your faith intact? How does your family weather those storms?

For some solid answers and some great inspiration, our conversation with Justin will not disappoint.

what you will learn in this episode:

• How to build a business from your existing network
• How to sell off aspects of your company and when that makes sense
• Why protecting status is a barrier to risk-taking
• The crucial role of supportive family and mentors to business success
• How to monetize your expertise
• Why communication with your management team is so important
• How to pick up the pieces when a business dies
• Building systems and processes so clients don’t walk all over you
• How to find a financial path forward without losing your soul
• Why people of faith should be more willing than others to take risks rather than play it safe

A solid footing is the best place to be when you decide what your next step should be. That’s our approach to wealth advice. We want to put clients in a position where their financial basics are covered and they have cash on hand to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

In our most recent episode of the Uncommon Life Project podcast, we take a closer look at how to create a financial safety net that ultimately gives you the ability to take some risks when others may not be able to.

A good financial plan will help you strategically invest in yourself, so your basic needs are covered and then you can make informed decisions about investing in ways that align with who you are. We think your unique abilities and what God has put you on the earth to do is your long position in the market. That’s what we mean when we say your life is long – the market.

• How to de-risk your risk
• Why low-cost index funds are not the only game in town
• How to think of banking as a process rather than a product
• The benefits of indexed annuities
• Ways to mitigate risk so you can pursue the life you want
• What real diversification looks like
• How to create multiple income streams from one common interest