IAM587- Blogger Teaches on Wealth-building Strategies

Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Jeff Rose of goodfinancialcents.com. Jeff, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Jeff Rose 0:37

Thanks for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:38

Yeah, super excited to have you on and what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Jeff so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Jeff is an entrepreneur disguised as a certified financial planner, author and blogger. Jeff is an Iraqi combat veteran having served in the Army National Guard for nine years, including a 17-month deployment to Iraq in 2005.

He's best known for his award-winning blog GoodFinancialCents.com and book, “Soldier of Finance: Take Charge of Your Money and Invest in Your Future.” He's also the founder of Wealth Hacker Labs, a movement to teach accelerated wealth-building strategies to future generations.

He currently writes for Business Insider, US News & World Report, Forbes, Entrepreneur and has been featured in major sites such as The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Reuters, and Fox Business. Jeff, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

Jeff Rose 1:23

I'm ready.

Gresham Harkless 1:24

Awesome. Let's do it. So they kick everything off. I wanted to hear a little bit more about how you got started your CEO story what I did to get started your business?

Jeff Rose 1:31

Yeah, it's funny, because if you if you start the beginning of my journey, I didn't have that typical CEO background, I dropped out of college, I was working a dead end job doing data entry, eight hours a day, 40 hours a week, end up joining the Army National Guard, just basically to get my button gear. I started my career as a financial planner, which I was working for a bigger brokerage firm, still a W two employee. Basically what it took was that brokerage firm being bought out, which ended up being Wells Fargo to basically force me to starting my own business. I did that with three other other advisors kind of came together because before then I didn't really have the courage to go off on my own. Like, I didn't think I could do it. A lot of limiting beliefs, because I had just because I didn't have rich parents and have wealthy parents, and then ended up starting the blog goodfinancialcents.com. Then starting my own registered investment advisory firm and all sudden, I became one of the coolest things on the business card to be able to put CEO, and founder and so that was that that journey of the likes of dropping out of college, going nowhere to eventually becoming my own CEO.

Gresham Harkless 2:37

Yeah, no, I definitely appreciate you for for sharing that. I think so many times I often say is sometimes your environment determines your altitude and if you don't know of any opportunities to be better, even though we have it within us a lot of times we're not around that or have those things pushing us to reach those heights? Sometimes we don't even realise that that's a possibility.

Jeff Rose 2:57

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 2:58

Yeah. So was there something specific that happened in your life that forced you to kind of, I guess, switch that mindset, or that light switch went off? Or was it like progressively over time?

Jeff Rose 3:06

It was progressively over time? Like I think one of the biggest changes or I guess shifts was reading the book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. It was a client of mine who actually recommended it. I remember reading that book. Even though like the book doesn't really tell you what to do, like specifically, it did just start to created just this mindset shift, like like what could happen. That began that journey of like, just trying a bunch of different things. He does talk a little bit about network marketing in that book. So when you ever you're a young, new, broke college kid, are you working professional, that's like one of the easiest things that you can do. So I am trying a few network marketing businesses that probably net loss of $500 or more, dad tried real estate that didn't work out, and then actually end up becoming the blog, which was the initiative was not a side hustle. It was more of a marketing tool for the practice. But then that ended up becoming a side hustle, main hustle and like that is what I do now. So basically grew the online business in about half the time, to the point where the financial planning business that I was the CEO became a distraction, which is just it's still crazy for me to think that but I end up selling that business last year. So but yeah, it all goes back to Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and just okay, I don't know what the next thing is. But there is something and like, I'm willing to put in the work and try a bunch of different things and forgive myself if I fail, because I failed a lot and that's just began that journey.

Gresham Harkless 4:36

Yeah, no, I appreciate you breaking that down. Because I think it just as I was, you know, listening to you talk about the different things, I think it's that mentality that you talked about of trying different things. The last part, which is huge is forgiving yourself for when things don't work out. Because I think a lot of times when we go through things and things don't work out, we get frustrated and then we say oh, we beat ourselves up and say oh, you're not smart. You're not whatever, you're not this. You're not that when in reality that's how you become successful. It takes time to try different things out to figure out what works test stuff out. Then things start to make their way if he had that mentality, so appreciate you for, for breaking that down. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper about good financial sense and everything you're doing with it with the growth with the wealth hacker YouTube channel. Can you take us through like what we can find there and how we can get more knowledge and information?

Jeff Rose 5:17

Yeah so good, good financial sense. So as I mentioned, that was a blog that was purely started as a marketing tool, when I finally understood the potential because prior to that I was built my business primarily off cold calling. So for those ever watch Wall Street or boiler room, like I mean, I was that annoying telemarketer that was interrupting your dinner. That's what I did for like, the first two years, I was doing dinner seminars, I was doing Lunch and Learns like I was doing all these different things just trying to grow my business. When I thought like, oh, I can publish when I finally realise that you could publish an article, and it could potentially reach 100, 1000, a million people. Like it was like, oh, okay, like, I would much rather do that. Also recognising that as if you're in the services industry, chances are you're going to get the same question asked over and over and over again. The point where, like, can I just put a tape record in my office, I hit play and just like here's my answer. So I just started just sharing, like, a lot of those questions. Like an FAQ section, my clients and prospects start putting that on the web. That ended up helping me be discovered not just by new clients, but also like just media outlets, and all this other stuff. Like I didn't realise, like after, I think it's almost like three months of watching the blog. I mean, it was not what it is today. I mean, it was very basic. I didn't know what I was doing. I just was trying to crank out content, and I end up being contacted by CNBC. Keep going like I was in Southern Illinois, small town. I'm this young guy who just started a co founder at an investment firm, like, they'll have a huge client base. I get contacted by CNBC in New York and it's all because they found me on Google. That was one of those like, I didn't make any money off of that, but it showed me Oh, wow. Okay, so like, yeah, people can't find me this way. So that's what I started doing. Then I end up connecting with another, actually another veteran who also had a Finance Blog, and we end up connecting and then he shared with me how much he was making from his personal finance websites. It blew me away like it just the fact that you could at that point it No, you couldn't make money from a website. I just thought I don't know, I know what I thought I didn't know. So then began putting on Google AdSense was like, the easiest thing to do at the time, just kind of copy and paste the code, put it on the on the website. I think after doing that, for like, a month or two, I made my first Google Adsense paycheck which was $152 and my life was forever changed. I remember getting that cheque. I mean, this is why you have direct deposit setup, like I got this cheque from Google and like, I didn't want to deposit it, because it was like a cheque like from Google, actually, you have like, I have a photocopy of that check still. I finally I think I had to deposit because like, it went boy, days or something so glad I took a picture. But then $152 became 250, then 500, and 1000, 2000 and I think the highest I ever made was like four or 5000 from AdSense. It's like, Wait, this isn't just like a side hustle. It wasn't making as much as my entrepreneur practice, but still, like making 50 $60,000 a year off of something that you actually really enjoy doing just was a was a fun process. So that ended up growing and becoming a thing and where wealth hacker labs came from was selling the financial planning practice. So for me, like my identity was like tied into financial services marketing tool, but like it definitely was like the breadwinner right now like the revenue streams coming in. But then rent mentioning Rich Dad Poor Dad earlier, when I think about where I'm at right now in my wealth building journey, like I am in a position where I just never even thought that I could be here to achieve financial independence like in my late 30s and selling my business and literally I just I just really enjoy what I'm doing and just have everything that we'd ever need. I'm a huge sneaker head like I didn't realise I was a sneaker head now I own like all these I'm a huge Jordan one fan. I have all these different Jordan ones. I don't even know why I have them but like they're just a lot of fun. I've spent more money on shoes than I just laughable but like the fact that I can and doesn't impact anything what we do and we're able to give to charities and all this other stuff. But so for me, wealth hacker Labs is good. Funchal sense was like, I want to show people that aren't investing to start investing, start taking charge of their financial future. Whereas wealth hacker Labs is like, hey, that's, that's the start, like kind of doing the Dave Ramsey baby steps like get that foundation. If you really want to accelerate your wealth building and be one of these people that are talking about being a millionaire, multimillionaire like in their 30s and 40s. Then it's different than saving 10% of your income and budgeting and what's your all good sound financial principles? But if you want to be something different than you got to do something different and that's really where wealth hacker Labs is coming in, really just want to show people yeah, it took me I still cut off a lot of years now compared to a lot of clients I was working with, but the thought is like, Man, if I can show somebody that is my like the younger version of me right now who's 25 and he wants, what I want, if I could show him how to do it half the time, like that I would get so much joy out of doing so. So that's kind of like that transition for me. Hopefully, I'll make hope all that makes sense.

Gresham Harkless 10:14

Yeah, definitely makes sense. I appreciate you for breaking that down and kind of building obviously, both of those as well, too. I love the fact that you said that what resonated with me most is if you if you want something, if you have to try and do something different. I think a lot of times, if that's your goal, you have two different ways where you can get a lot of knowledge and information depending on whatever your how you define success, whatever your goal might be. So definitely appreciate that. We might have already touched on this, but I want to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, and it could be for you personally, or your different platforms. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Jeff Rose 10:47

What sets me unique, is the fact that I'm a major sneaker head. I think what probably makes me unique in the business space is that isn't I'm a Christian, and I'm totally cool sharing that but not in a judgmental way. A lot of times people here like if you're if you're a faith in, you don't support somebody that doesn't agree with your faith. I hate that, because I see a lot of Christians that you don't agree with what I believe, then you're going to hell. It's like that's not what God wants. So for those that don't practice, the things I do with my faith, like, I'm not one to judge I'm the one to love them for who they are, and to meet them where they're at. It's something that I used to shy away from just because just fear of judgement and just fear how to go down that path. But it's one of those I've just really embraced. I've enjoyed it like I've had, I mean, especially if you can imagine on YouTube I don't, it's not in your face, but it's hard to tell my story, business or personal and not bring the faith element into it. So I don't that makes me unique, but it's something that I've enjoyed along the way.

Gresham Harkless 11:54

Awesome. I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack and you gave us one already, but this could be another app, book or habit that you feel makes you more effective and efficient.

Jeff Rose 12:04

I joined a coaching programme, and the coaching programme in itself was a chain like a game changer for me. But a piece of that was before you join the programme, you had to take what's called the Colby index for your Colby score. It's similar if you've heard of disc or like Myers Briggs, but basically it's just a personality score. It basically is just, it's just shows you who you are and there's four different areas that you score in, they give you a number. With that Colby score, like it just was so revealing to see like so for me, I'm a high Quickstart something's like a big idea guy, I love I get so excited about ideas, ideas just coming, just spewing out of my brain in my mouth. But another part of the Colby index is a follow through, which I am a too. So I'm a high Quickstart big idea guy when it comes to actually doing implementing those ideas like till the end, like I'm horrible. I suck at it. It's one of those things like, I guess I already knew that. But like I really didn't like it when I saw it and recognise it like, oh, that's why I have all excited about this. But whenever it comes to this stuff, like oh, I don't like that. Just learning about who I am and, and how I operate and where I get my Mojo and in what gives me like excitement and joy. It's just now when I approach a project or approach my day, like when I see that man, I know like that's going to trip me up, like that's where I either I don't do it, or I find a way to outsource delegate it to somebody else.

I definitely appreciate that. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So that could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if he can happen to a time machine what would you tell your younger business self?

Just reminding myself that it's okay to fail. It's okay to try something new and just remember that your failures don't define who you are.

Gresham Harkless 13:56

Awesome. Now I wanted to ask you my absolute favourite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO and we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Jeff, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Jeff Rose 14:06

For be CEO is obviously it's being in charge, being the man I go back to was the Facebook movie, back in the day? Yeah, I won't say what he had on on the visit. But it's not just being in charge of your own destiny, but it's also being able to lead others and being able to just show true leadership principles which means being vulnerable. It means also being authoritative. It means being able to listen, to learn to adapt.

Gresham Harkless 14:38

Awesome. Oh, Jeff, I truly appreciate your time and all the awesome things you're doing. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic so to speak just to see if there's anything additional, you can let our readers and listeners know and then of course, how best they can get ahold of you. Find out about the blog, YouTube and all the awesome things we're working on.

Jeff Rose 14:51

Yeah, I think having a financial planning background and really talking about people about investing. Obviously, I'm always gonna suggest it's always good to invest. But I think, which you already know this, hopefully let your listeners know this, like the best investment that you can do is in yourself. I know that's cliche, you hear that a lot and just to give some very specific examples, I mean, for me investing in myself was joining a coaching programme spending almost $10,000 on this coaching programme. That was a lot of money for me and I saw so much growth out of that investing yourself into individual counselling. Just sometimes being an entrepreneur can be a lonely place, and maybe you got some stuff you to work out like you are worth investing into conferences and purchasing and investing to mastermind groups, investing into mentors. So yeah, buy for the investing sometimes we feel guilty, like where are we like, I can't justify spending that much and it's not an expense. It's not money you're wasting, it is an investment and you are the best investment. .

Gresham Harkless 15:47

Absolutely and people that want to follow up, what's the best way for them to do that?

Jeff Rose 15:51

Yeah, so you can check me on YouTube. Either search Jeff Rose or Wealth Hacker. We mentioned the blog goodfinancialcents.com. As far as interaction I do hang out on Twitter, at J Jeff Rose is where you'll find me.

Gresham Harkless 16:02

Awesome. Well, thank you so much again, Jeff. We will have the links and information in the show notes and truly appreciate the reminder as well to to always make sure that we are invested in ourselves because we are along with ourselves for the entire ride. So whether we're doing something that it's an app today or doing something tomorrow, those investments that we make will pay dividends. So truly appreciate that reminder, and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Outro 16:22

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening