IAM2367 – CEO and Serial Entrepreneur Behind an App That Lets You Make Wills and Trusts On Your Phone
Special Throwback Episode with Dave Hanley

Dave Hanley is a serial entrepreneur, with successful ventures, including the social media marketing agency Banyan Branch, which was acquired by Deloitte, and Shelfari, a social network for readers that Amazon acquired.
Dave started Tomorrow after feeling uninspired in his role at Deloitte. Tomorrow aims to help young families become financially stable by providing an easy-to-use app to create wills, choose guardians for their children, and even add life insurance—all for free.
He discusses the importance of intentionality in business decisions, having learned from past successes and failures.
Dave underscores the importance of personal growth and thoughtful leadership in life and business.
Website: Ethos Life
LinkedIn: Dave Hanley
Previous Episode: iam220-ceo-and-serial-entrepreneur-behind-an-app-that-lets-you-makes-wills-and-trusts-on-your-phone
Check out our CEO Hack Buzz Newsletter–our premium newsletter with hacks and nuggets to level up your organization. Sign up HERE.
I AM CEO Handbook Volume 3 is HERE and it's FREE. Get your copy here: http://cbnation.co/iamceo3. Get the 100+ things that you can learn from 1600 business podcasts we recorded. Hear Gresh's story, learn the 16 business pillars from the podcast, find out about CBNation Architects and why you might be one and so much more. Did we mention it was FREE? Download it today!
Transcription:
The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!
Dave Hanley Teaser 00:00
There's a few things like saving for college, saving for retirement, getting out of debt, appropriately, that I really wanted to figure out how to get young people to do.
And so where we began with is an app that you download for your phone, Android and iOS that you download it, you can make a will completely for free, no strings attached. It's completely social experience.
So together you add your kids and you make decisions together, like who's going to watch your kids if something happens to you and who's going to be in charge of your will and making sure that all of your decisions are handled.
Take pictures of things around your house, give those away. All of that is completely free and no strings attached.
Intro 00:33
Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview?
If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.
Gresham Harkless 01:00
Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today.
I have Dave Hanley of Tomorrow, and what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Dave so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing.
And Dave Hanley is the CEO of Tomorrow, whose Tomorrow app provides wills and trusts that you can make on your phone.
Dave is a serial entrepreneur with successful exits to Amazon and Deloitte, and has had a career spanning industries as diverse as microcredit, banking, social media marketing, digital music, and financial technology.
Dave founded the Banyan branch, acquired by Deloitte in 2013, a leading social media marketing agency.
He also led product development for the Rhapsody music service and joined Rhapsody colleagues to build a social network for readers called Shelfari, which was acquired by Amazon in 2008.
Dave is a Fulbright Scholar, World Economic Forum, Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, and recognized entrepreneurial innovator at TechCrunch, Disrupt, Money20/20 and south by Southwest. Dave, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
Dave Hanley 02:02
I am.
[restrict paid=”true”]
Gresham Harkless 02:04
Awesome, awesome, awesome. So the first question I had was to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to start your business.
Dave Hanley 02:11
Yeah, so as you read in my bio. Yeah. Well, you did good job. That was the long version. Clearly I've done this before, but, there actually came a moment.
So after, Banyan was a great run building what at one point was the largest pure play social media agency.
And we sold it to, one of the largest consulting firms in the world, became a partner there. It was nice making multiples of per year than I'd ever made before.
But I really, really wasn't enjoying it. Right. Being a consultant wasn't what I'd always dreamed about being.
And so a dear friend of mine saw me and said, actually told me I was asleep and that I didn't have that same spark of creativity that I had had across the other ventures.
And so she sent me a couple of books to read and one of them was the Artist's Way, which a lot of people have done, millions of people have done this, but it's basically a like a 12 week self directed course in creativity where you end up writing and writing and writing.
And what came out of that was ideas for a half dozen different companies, one of which I really fell in love with, which was the kernel that became Tomorrow, and then really went through a process of understanding, okay, I built and sold a couple of companies.
I've done a lot of things wrong and what do I want to do right and what do I want to keep doing right that I did right before?
And so I really set out to be really intentional with what I've done at Tomorrow. And it's been quite a journey so far.
Gresham Harkless 03:34
Yeah, it definitely sounds like it. And you've had a lot of, great experience and sounds like, ups and downs, great successes, which is always, what we kind of measure.
And then we always look at our friends to be able to kind of redirect us because often they know exactly who you are, what you should be doing.
So because we're so close to it, sometimes we need those people on the outside to kind of say, hey, you should be doing X, Y and Z.
Dave Hanley 03:56
Oh, absolutely. Shortly after we got the company launched, I started spending time with Kara Buhenig, who was, he's an investor.
He was one of the first investors in Credit Karma and he came to us, he came to me and said, hey Dave, I love what you're doing.
You're the first thing since Credit Karma I've seen that reminds me of Credit Karma and I'd love to just start spending time together.
So he phone calls, we'd spend time together live. And now he's on my board and I can tell you that.
So he's not actually not a direct investor in Tomorrow, he's just an independent board. Board Member.
But that guy can tell me that my baby's ugly and I'll just, like, lean in. Like, tell me more. He's super, super familiar with data, is willing to go deep, goes all the way in.
But there's something about the relationship that he's built with me where I am desirous to hear his criticism, ideas, redirection, and having him, as well as a collection of others around me that can do that really has.
That was actually a big shift for me because otherwise, I don't want to hear anything negative. I want to plow forward. And, of course, plowing forward doesn't always take you in the right direction.
Gresham Harkless 05:02
Yeah. And it goes to being able to build that team and to have all those great minds around you, so you're able to hit and charge forward in your goals and hit every mark that you want to hit, but at the same time, you're able to lean on and glean from, like, all these experts that you have around you.
So that's definitely great that you've been able to do that. And I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper and hear about Tomorrow. Could you tell us a little bit more about what you're doing from that standpoint?
Dave Hanley 05:24
You bet. So Tomorrow was born out of this concept that we really wanted to help young families become more financially stable. Right.
And so when we looked at the things that, like, you go to a restaurant, you see the couple got a couple of young kids, the things they're not doing, nobody has a will, nobody has life insurance.
Basically, 80% of young families have neither one of those. And so there's a few things like saving for college, saving for retirement, getting out of debt, appropriately, that I really wanted to figure out how to get young people to do.
And so where we began with is an app that you download for your phone, Android and iOS that you download it, you can make a will completely for free, no strings attached.
It's completely social experience. So you invite your significant another to join Tomorrow, together you add your kids, and you make decisions together, like who's going to watch your kids if something happens to you.
And who's going to be in charge of your will and making sure that all of your decisions are handled.
Take pictures of things around your house, give those away. All of that is completely free and no strings attached.
And then a small percentage of our users decide that they want to buy life insurance. We're the licensed broker. We make that money. That's how we actually function as a business.
And then you're going to see more and more from Tomorrow that you'll see more and more free products coming in and then more and more financial and other products that people need to get their lives on track.
Gresham Harkless 06:40
That's awesome. And I love that you made it kind of like a social and gamification, I guess, type of experience where you're able to, do something that's so important and you're able to not only do it for yourself, but you're also able to bring on your significant other.
Your kids have all that kind of wrapped in. Because so many people, especially younger people, sometimes don't take into account the end.
I mean, we all have an end. So being able to kind of set that up before that actually happens, which a lot of people don't actually do.
Dave Hanley 07:04
Yeah, exactly. And then hopefully part of it is if you learn what a guardian does, you watch this video that explains landmark video.
This is what a guardian does. They love your kids and they look after them in the way that you would want them to.
And then you start typing in the name of someone who might make a good guardian. We pull that contact from your phone and then tee up a message that you can send to them that's saying, hey, I'm getting my act together.
And part of that is picking out guardians for Mia and Max. And I think that you would make a great guardian. If it came down to it, would you be willing to be on the list of potential guardians?
And then that person can say, oh, wow, yes. They come in, they join Tomorrow, and then they can start doing the same thing.
So you actually can inspire other people to do that as well, which is about how, one in three of our users actually come in through that.
Gresham Harkless 07:47
Nice, nice. Through kind of organic outreach. Just because people know it's so important.
Dave Hanley 07:51
Yeah, we all know it's important. It's been on some checklist at some point, oh, I should really do that.
And then, but then the urgency isn't there. We're good at getting car insurance because we're not allowed to buy or lease a car, get a car loan or lease without it, or rent or buy a house without homeowner's insurance.
But, there's no one who's there telling you, you really need life insurance, you really need a will. You have to find that on your own. And so we're trying to make it as easy as possible.
Gresham Harkless 08:16
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I definitely appreciate you for doing that. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce.
And this could be for you or your organization, but this is what you feel kind of sets you apart, makes you unique.
Dave Hanley 08:27
For me or for tomorrow?
Gresham Harkless 08:28
It could be for either or.
Dave Hanley 08:30
So for Tomorrow, where we really, I think, have. Where we stand out among everyone who's ever tried to do anything, estate planning, which wills and trusts, or even really around financial, is that we've actually created the context to actually make it social.
So that you're actually engaging with your spouse or significant other against common goals. You are the vast majority of people who are assigned to be guardians in America, no one's even told them that that could actually be a possibility.
And so we're actually trying to create these important conversations now. And, that's something that we.
That we do that no one else has ever done. And then really just making it visual. So you download the app, it's completely free.
Just use it, check it out, and you'll see that, you've never done this before, and so it might feel overwhelming and you don't want to get it wrong.
And we walk you through it. It's very visual. It's enjoyable, actually, to do. And then in the end, you get documents that are legal in your state that you just can print and sign and get going.
Gresham Harkless 09:25
Yeah, that's definitely huge. And, like, I've always felt like you can definitely correct me if I'm wrong a lot of times, what can prohibit people or hurt people or sometimes, like, family members that pass away that don't have living will or trust or all those things in place.
And then it's such a financial burden on other family members because they have to figure out how to take care of things.
Sometimes goes into, I guess, escrow is it. Escrow is the right word, but it goes someplace where you don't have as much control as you can have if you would have took these steps earlier.
Dave Hanley 09:52
So, yeah, so there's a probate is the priority related. So probate court can be a challenge. Now, there are laws that make sure that things go where the state wants them to go.
But if you there is whole groups of people that are completely vulnerable. So if you're in a relationship with someone for years and years even, and that person, if you're not married, that person actually has no rights to your assets, no rights to any of your decisions.
So if you're in a relationship, you're living with someone, you need to have a will really almost more than anyone other than a single parent, you must have a will, otherwise your significant other will have nothing.
If anything happens to you, most is as a single parent. So as a single parent, especially if you're sole custody, if anything happens to you, there is no plan in place for who's going to watch your kids.
So that person that you want that's most in line with your beliefs is probably not going to be the person that the state chooses, because literally, the state will just look among who shows up.
It could be the loudest aunt or uncle whose political or religious views do not reflect your own. Whatever it is, they're going to show up.
And states can say, well, this person's willing to do it, and they're going to give your child to that person.
So having a will in place really for any parent, but especially a single parent, is critical. Otherwise, now we have, right now, in Tomorrow, we've had hundreds of thousands of children that have been protected using the app and saved from that those scenarios.
Gresham Harkless 11:15
Yeah. And it's definitely huge. I'm a big believer, and I always say to myself, control what you can control, no matter at what level.
So being able to take those steps so that if your son or daughter is young and something happens to you, you're able to at least control that to some degree. And taking these simple steps is a big way to do that.
Dave Hanley 11:31
Yeah, I mean, it'll take you five to ten minutes to do it on the Tomorrow app. So riding the back of the Uber, whatever it is, commercials during one TV show, you can literally get knocked this all out.
Gresham Harkless 11:41
Exactly, exactly. Well, I love how you made it so simple and easy and seamless for people to be able to do that.
And I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.
Dave Hanley 11:55
So I already talked about the Artist's Way, which I think is a great book to check out. One of the things that comes as a CEO is you have a backlog of to dos. Right.
So you have all these things that, you need to do big and small and otherwise. And I've always found that anytime I create a to do list, it is like a thousand things long, and then I get overwhelmed, and then I don't do any of it, and then I just throw it out and start all over again.
And so the app that I love, it's this, it's the most basic of app, it's actually called Todoist. And so Todoist, basically you set, oh, I need to do this thing, but I'm going to do it on Thursday.
And then as soon as you say I'm going to do it on Thursday, it disappears. So I'm only ever looking at the things I'm actually going to do today.
And you drag and drop and I ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And then I get things done and then I can bounce my whole day and then not worry about the fact that I also have a backlog of 60 things I'm going to do over the next few days.
It allows me to be a little more decisive and strategic about what I'm doing. And so it's, it's just a simple app, there's an app for your phone, there's an app for your computer.
But that's one that, has actually probably saved me more personal anguish and has allowed me to not go to bed at 2am trying to crank through more of my to do list.
Gresham Harkless 13:04
And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?
Dave Hanley 13:14
For me, I really think that the number one most important thing that you can give to your team and to your investors is your own personal happiness.
And so the most important way to do that is not to look exogenously, don't look outside yourself, but look inside.
And so taking the time for whatever it is that you need. For some it could just be exercise, but whether it's like therapy or having a great CEO coach, whatever it is, we all have things inside that we need to dig around in and let out.
And if we can actually find that internal joy and self satisfaction, which I've really, really found over through all these ventures.
And when I have that, then I am truly being my best self. And so it always seems like time away and I should look arduous and I shouldn't be taking time away.
But as we said before we started recording, I just came back from safari in Africa, right? And yes, I worked all the way there and I worked all the way back.
And while I was at this wedding, I met people that are going to be key and critical to the things that I'm going to be doing.
But yeah, I spent three days out in the bush looking at animals and feeding my soul. And those things make all the difference.
Gresham Harkless 14:24
Awesome, awesome, awesome. And now, I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different CEOs on the show. So, Dave, I wanted to ask you, what does being a CEO mean to you?
Dave Hanley 14:35
In my mind, being a CEO means that you're the father. I'm a father of four children and literally a father of four children.
I'm going to use the word patriarch, which patriarchy isn't really common, but this idea of having someone who, your job is to be the senior leader, who's actually the steward, looking after the needs of other people.
So understanding the needs of especially the people who work most directly with you, but also the team, making sure that they have all the resources that they need, that they're actually listened to.
I actually spend more time in my one on ones trying to understand like things personally, interpersonally, like how are they, what are they doing to work on themselves and actually helping themselves develop.
And then of course we get to all the, the needed tests and metrics that need to be handled. And I think that if you can find a way to bring both love and strength while still retaining the power that you need as a CEO, then you can do that.
And I think that's what a father who does his job well does, that, that they bring all the love completely unfettered, they bring all the understanding, they bring the listening ears, but then they still understand in the end like they're the father and they're the one that needs to help.
Continue to guide and direct, but also make sure that everyone has everything that they need to be their best selves.
Gresham Harkless 15:46
Absolutely. It's a great thing of being able to build a team and be able to lean on everybody else's expertise and their gifts as well too.
So you've done a phenomenal job with that, Dave, and I truly appreciate you for taking some time out.
What I wanted to do is pass you the mic just to see if there is anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and of course, how best they can get a hold of you and download the app and get started.
Dave Hanley 16:05
Chances are if you're listening to this, you haven't done your will. And if you have, it's out of date. And so download the app, it's free. You don't have any excuses. And then just send me your feedback. I'm dave@tomorrow.me, so you can just shoot me a note and let me know how we can make it better.
Gresham Harkless 16:20
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I appreciate you Dave, and we'll have that link in the show notes as well so that they can get a hold of you. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.
Dave Hanley 16:26
Thank you. Have a good one.
Outro 16:28
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by CBNation in Blue16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.
Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation at Blue16Media.com. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.
Title: Transcript - Sat, 25 Jan 2025 15:07:22 GMT
Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2025 15:07:22 GMT, Duration: [00:16:59.13]
[00:00:00.16] - Dave Hanley
There's a few things like saving for college, saving for retirement, getting out of debt, appropriately, that I really wanted to figure out how to get young people to do. And so where we began with is an app that you download for your phone, Android and iOS that you download it, you can make a will completely for free, no strings attached. It's completely social experience. So together you add your kids and you make decisions together, like who's going to watch your kids if something happens to you and who's going to be in charge of your will and making sure that all of your decisions are handled. Take pictures of things around your house, give those away. All of that is completely free and no strings attached.
[00:00:33.85] - Intro
Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I Am CEO pod.
[00:01:00.78] - Gresham Harkless
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Dave Hanley of Tomorrow, and what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Dave so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And Dave Hanley is the CEO of Tomorrow, whose Tomorrow app provides wills and trusts that you can make on your phone. Dave is a serial entrepreneur with successful exits to Amazon and Deloitte, and has had a career spanning industries as diverse as microcredit, banking, social media marketing, digital music, and financial technology. Dave founded the Banyan branch, acquired by Deloitte in 2013, a leading social media marketing agency. He also led product development for the Rhapsody music service and joined Rhapsody colleagues to build a social network for readers called Shelfari, which was acquired by Amazon in 2008. Dave is a Fulbright Scholar, World Economic Forum, Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, and recognized entrepreneurial innovator at TechCrunch, Disrupt, Money20 20 and south by Southwest. Dave, are you ready to speak to the IM CEO community?
[00:02:02.76] - Dave Hanley
I am.
[00:02:04.12] - Gresham Harkless
Awesome, awesome, awesome. So the first question I had was to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to start your business.
[00:02:11.74] - Dave Hanley
Yeah, so as you read in my bio. Yeah. Well, you did good job. That was the long version. Clearly I've done this before, but, you know, there actually came a moment. So after, you know, Banyan was a. Was a great Run building what at one point was the largest pure play social media agency. And we sold it to, you know, one of the largest consulting firms in the world, became a partner there. It was nice making multiples of, you know, per year than I'd ever made before. But I really, really wasn't enjoying it. Right. Being a consultant wasn't what I'd always dreamed about being. And so a dear friend of mine saw me and said, actually told me I was asleep and that I didn't have that same spark of creativity that I had had across the other ventures. And so she sent me a couple of books to read and one of them was, was the Artist's Way, which a lot of people have done, millions of people have done this, but it's basically a like a 12 week self directed course in creativity where you end up writing and writing and writing. And what came out of that was ideas for a half dozen different companies, one of which I really fell in love with, which was the kernel that became Tomorrow, and then really went through a process of understanding, okay, I built and sold a couple of companies. I've done a lot of things wrong and what do I want to do right and what do I want to keep doing right that I did right before? And so I really set out to be really intentional with what I've done at Tomorrow. And it's been quite a journey so far.
[00:03:34.81] - Gresham Harkless
Yeah, it definitely sounds like it. And you've had a lot of, you know, great experience and sounds like, you know, ups and downs, great successes, which is always, you know, what we kind of measure. And then we always look at our friends to be able to kind of redirect us because often they know exactly who you are, what you should be doing. So because we're so close to it, sometimes we need those people on the outside to kind of say, hey, you should be doing X, Y and Z. Oh, absolutely.
[00:03:56.94] - Dave Hanley
Shortly after we got the company launched, I started spending time with Kara Buhenig, who was, he's an investor. He was one of the first investors in Credit Karma and he came to us, he came to me and said, hey Dave, I love what you're doing. You're the first thing since Credit Karma I've seen that reminds me of Credit Karma and I'd love to just start spending time together. So he phone calls, you know, we'd spend time together live. And now he's on my board and I can tell you that. So he's not actually not a direct investor in Tomorrow, he's just an independent board. Board Member. But that guy can tell me that my baby's ugly and I'll just, like, lean in. Like, tell me more. He's, you know, super, super familiar with data, is willing to go deep, goes all the way in. But there's something about the relationship that he's built with me where I am desirous to hear his criticism, ideas, redirection, and having him, as well as a collection of others around me that can do that really has. That was actually a big shift for me because otherwise, I don't want to hear anything negative. I want to plow forward. And, of course, plowing forward doesn't always take you in the right direction.
[00:05:02.19] - Gresham Harkless
Yeah. And it goes to, you know, being able to build that team and to have all those great minds around you, so you're able to, you know, hit and charge forward in your goals and hit every mark that you want to hit, but at the same time, you're able to lean on and glean from, like, all these experts that you have around you. So that's definitely great that you've been able to do that. And I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper and hear about Tomorrow. Could you tell us a little bit more about what you're doing from that standpoint?
[00:05:24.13] - Dave Hanley
You bet. So Tomorrow was born out of this concept that we really wanted to help young families become more financially stable. Right. And so when we looked at the things that, you know, like, you go to a restaurant, you see the couple got a couple of young kids, the things they're not doing, nobody has a will, nobody has life insurance. Basically, 80% of young families have neither one of those. And so there's a few things like saving for college, saving for retirement, getting out of debt, appropriately, that I really wanted to figure out how to get young people to do. And so where we began with is an app that you download for your phone, Android and iOS that you download it, you can make a will completely for free, no strings attached. It's completely social experience. So you invite your significant another to join Tomorrow Together. You add your kids, and you make decisions together, like who's going to watch your kids if something happens to you and who's going to be in charge of your will and making sure that all of your decisions are handled. Take pictures of things around your house, give those away. All of that is completely free and no strings attached. And then a small percentage of our users decide that they want to buy life insurance. We're the licensed broker. We make that money. That's how we actually function as a business. And then you're going to see more and more from tomorrow that you'll see more and more free products coming in and then more and more financial and other products that people need to get their lives on track.
[00:06:40.92] - Gresham Harkless
That's awesome. And I love that you made it kind of like a social and gamification, I guess, type of experience where you're able to, you know, do something that's so important and you're able to not only do it for yourself, but you're also able to, you know, bring on your significant other.
[00:06:53.48] - Dave Hanley
Your.
[00:06:53.77] - Gresham Harkless
Your kids have all that kind of wrapped in. Because so many people, especially younger people, sometimes don't take into account the end. I mean, we all have an end. So being able to kind of set that up before that actually happens, which a lot of people don't actually do.
[00:07:04.87] - Dave Hanley
Yeah, exactly. And then hopefully part of it is if you learn what a guardian does, you watch this video that explains landmark video. This is what a guardian does. They love your kids and they look after them in the way that you would want them to. And then you start typing in the name of someone who might make a good guardian. We pull that contact from your phone and then tee up a message that you can send to them that's saying, hey, I'm getting my act together. And part of that is picking out guardians for Mia and Max. And I think that you would make a great guardian. If it came down to it, would you be willing to be on the list of potential guardians? And then that person can say, oh, wow, yes. They come in, they join tomorrow, and then they can start doing the same thing. So you actually can inspire other people to do that as well, which is about how, you know, one in three of our users actually come in through that.
[00:07:47.58] - Gresham Harkless
Nice, nice. Through kind of organic outreach. Just because people know it's so important.
[00:07:51.94] - Dave Hanley
Yeah, we all know it's important. It's been on some checklist at some point, oh, I should really do that. And then. But then the urgency isn't there. We're good at getting car insurance because we're not allowed to buy or lease a car, get a car loan or lease without it, or rent or buy a house without homeowner's insurance. But, you know, there's no one who's there telling you, you really need life insurance, you really need a will. You have to find that on your own. And so we're trying to make it as easy as possible.
[00:08:16.91] - Gresham Harkless
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I definitely appreciate you for doing that. And now I wanted to ask you for What I call your secret sauce. And this could be for you or your organization, but this is what you feel kind of sets you apart, makes you unique.
[00:08:27.61] - Dave Hanley
For me or for tomorrow?
[00:08:28.82] - Gresham Harkless
It could be for either or.
[00:08:30.16] - Dave Hanley
Yeah. So for tomorrow, you know, where we really, I think, have. Where we stand out among everyone who's ever tried to do anything, estate planning, which wills and trusts, or even really around financial, is that we've actually created the context to actually make it social so that you're actually engaging with your spouse or significant other against common goals. You are, you know, the vast majority of people who are assigned to be guardians in America, no one's even told them that that could actually be a possibility. And so we're actually trying to create these important conversations now. And, you know, that's something that we. That we do that no one else has ever done. And then really just making it visual. So you download the app, it's completely free. Just use it, check it out, and you'll see that, you know, you've never done this before, and so it might feel overwhelming and you don't want to get it wrong. And we walk you through it. It's very visual. It's enjoyable, actually, to do. And then in the end, you get documents that are legal in your state that you just can print and sign and get going.
[00:09:25.12] - Gresham Harkless
Yeah, that's definitely huge. And, you know, like, I've always felt like you can definitely correct me if I'm wrong a lot of times, what can prohibit people or hurt people or sometimes, like, family members that pass away that don't have living will or trust or all those things in place, and then it's such a financial burden on, you know, other family members because they have to figure out how to take care of things. Sometimes goes into, I guess, escrow is it. Escrow is the right word, but it goes someplace where you don't have as much control as you can have if you would have took these steps earlier.
[00:09:52.20] - Dave Hanley
So, yeah, so there's a probate is the priority related. So probate court can be a challenge. Now, there are laws that make sure that things go where the state wants them to go. But if you, you know, there is whole groups of people that are completely vulnerable. So if you're in a relationship with someone for years and years even, and that person, if you're not married, that person actually has no rights to your assets, no rights to any of your decisions. So if you're in a relationship, you're living with someone, you need to have a will really almost more than Anyone other than a single parent, you must have a will, otherwise your significant other will have nothing. If anything happens to you, most is as a single parent. So as a single parent, especially if you're sole custody, if anything happens to you, there is no plan in place for who's going to watch your kids. So that person that you want that's most in line with your beliefs is probably not going to be the person that the state chooses, because literally, the state will just look among who shows up. It could be the loudest aunt or uncle whose political or religious views do not reflect your own. Whatever it is, they're going to show up. And states can say, well, this person's willing to do it, and they're going to give your child to that person. So having a will in place really for any parent, but especially a single parent, is critical. Otherwise, now we have, you know, right now, in tomorrow, we've had hundreds of thousands of children that have been, you know, protected using the app and saved from that. Those scenarios.
[00:11:15.76] - Gresham Harkless
Yeah. And it's definitely huge. I'm a big believer, and I always say to myself, control what you can control, no matter at what level. So being able to take those steps so that if your son or daughter is young and something happens to you, you're able to at least control that to some degree. And taking these simple steps is a big way to do that.
[00:11:31.51] - Dave Hanley
Yeah, I mean, it'll take you five to ten minutes to do it on the Tomorrow app. So riding the back of the Uber, whatever it is, commercials during one TV show, you can literally get knocked this all out.
[00:11:41.64] - Gresham Harkless
Exactly, exactly. Well, I love how you made it so simple and easy and seamless for people to be able to do that. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a C. And this might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.
[00:11:55.78] - Dave Hanley
So I already talked about the Artist's Way, which I think is a great book to check out. You know, one of the things that comes as a CEO is you have a backlog of to dos. Right. So you have all these things that, you know, you need to do big and small and otherwise. And I've always found that anytime I create a to do list, it is like a thousand things long, and then I get overwhelmed, and then I don't do any of it, and then I just throw it out and start all over again. And so the app that I love, it's this, it's the Most basic of app, it's actually called Todoist. And so todoist, basically you set, oh, I need to do this thing, but I'm going to do it on Thursday. And then as soon as you say I'm going to do it on Thursday, it disappears. So I'm only ever looking at the things I'm actually going to do today. And you drag and drop and I ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And then I get things done and then I can bounce my whole day and then not worry about the fact that I also have a backlog of 60 things I'm going to do over the next few days. It allows me to be a little more decisive and strategic about what I'm doing. And so it's, it's just a simple app. You know, there's an app for your phone, there's an app for your computer, but that's one that, you know, has actually probably saved me more personal anguish and has allowed me to not go to bed at 2am trying to crank through more of my to do list.
[00:13:04.91] - Gresham Harkless
And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?
[00:13:14.59] - Dave Hanley
For me, I really think that the number one most important thing that you can give to your team and to your investors is your own personal happiness. And so the most important way to do that is not to look exogenously, don't look outside yourself, but look inside. And so taking the time for whatever it is that you need. For some it could just be exercise, but whether it's like therapy or having a great CEO coach, whatever it is, we all have things inside that we need to dig around in and let out. And if we can actually find that internal joy and self satisfaction, which I've really, really found over through all these ventures. And when I have that, then I am truly being my best self. And so it always seems like time away and I should look arduous and I shouldn't be taking time away. But as we said before we started recording, I just came back from safari in Africa, right? And yes, I worked all the way there and I worked all the way back. And while I was at this wedding, I met people that are going to be key and crit to the things that I'm going to be doing. But yeah, I spent three days out in the bush looking at animals and feeding my soul. And those things make all the difference.
[00:14:24.09] - Gresham Harkless
Awesome, awesome, awesome. And Now, I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different CEOs on the show. So, Dave, I wanted to ask you, what does being a CEO mean to you?
[00:14:35.73] - Dave Hanley
In my mind, being a CEO means that you're the father. I'm a father of four children and literally a father of four children. I'm going to use the word patriarch, which patriarchy isn't really common, but this idea of having someone who, your job is to be the senior leader, who's actually the steward, looking after the needs of other people. So understanding the needs of especially the people who work most directly with you, but also the team, making sure that they have all the resources that they need, that they're actually listened to. I actually spend more time in my one on ones trying to understand like things personally, interpersonally, like how are they, what are they doing to work on themselves and actually helping themselves develop. And then of course we get to all the, you know, the needed tests and metrics that need to be handled. And I think that if you can find a way to bring both love and strength while still retaining the power that you need as a CEO, then you can do that. And I think that's what a father who does his job well does, that, that they bring all the love completely unfettered, they bring all the understanding, they bring the listening ears, but then they still understand in the end like they're the father and they're the one that needs to help. Continue to guide and direct, but also make sure that everyone has everything that they need to be their best selves.
[00:15:46.00] - Gresham Harkless
Absolutely. It's a great thing of being able to build a team and be able to lean on everybody else's expertise and their gifts as well too. So you've done a phenomenal job with that, Dave, and I truly appreciate you for taking some time out. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic just to see if there is anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and of course, how best they can get a hold of you and download the app and get started.
[00:16:05.59] - Dave Hanley
Chances are if you're listening to this, you haven't done your will. And if you have, it's out of date. And so download the app, it's free. You don't have any excuses. And then just send me your feedback. I'm daveomorrow me, so you can just shoot me a note and let me know how we can make it better.
[00:16:20.59] - Gresham Harkless
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I appreciate you Dave, and we'll have that link in the show notes as well so that they can get a hold of you. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.
[00:16:26.96] - Dave Hanley
Thank you. Have a good one.
[00:16:28.34] - Intro
Thank you for listening to the IM CEO podcast powered by CB Nation in Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at IMCEO CO. IMCEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation@blue16media.com. This has been the I Am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.
Sign up to receive email updates
Enter your name and email address below and I'll send you periodic updates about the podcast.
[/restrict]