DecaMillionaire Decoded

Every day when I turn on the news I see the word "inflation" and never in my life have I seen this word so much. Just the other day, my wife and I went to our local grocery store and purchased bacon, but the cost has been getting increasingly expensive. It's not just food—we've seen inflation impact power bills and gasoline. Every time we turn around, it seems like inflation is rearing its ugly he...

You've probably heard me preach—shout from the mountaintops, even—several times that for us to drive the values of our companies, we have to decentralize ourselves. We have to remove ourselves from the epicenter of our business—position ourselves where it can function without us. But if decentralization is crucial to the success of our companies, why do we keep returning to the fray?   In this epi...

Sales and marketing teams play similar roles in a company. However, many business owners fail to understand the relationship between sales and marketing, costing them resources and the opportunity to efficiently scale their businesses. When it is understood, cultivated, and optimized, a balance of sales and marketing can create happy, long-term customers while boosting a company's growth.   In thi...

I went through the process of exiting three businesses in the last year. Despite my experience as an entrepreneur and certified exit planning advisor, I found that the process of moving my business from an illiquid to a liquid position was challenging. Truly, there's no amount of preparation that can prepare you for the emotional rollercoaster you're going to ride as you exit your business.   What...

There are a few ways to sell your business: you can sell to a family member or your employees or managers. But what if none of your family members want to take over your business? What if your managers don't feel ready to take an entrepreneurial role? In that case, you may want to sell your business to an open market. Just like other exit strategies, selling your company to an open market comes wi...

The idea of selling a company to a manager or a group of employees isn't unheard of. In my decades of being an entrepreneur and consultant to other business owners, I've listened to many conversations about transitioning organizations to workers. But should you actually sell your business to your employee? What are the holes and blindspots that you need to consider? In this episode, I discuss the...

Whenever I sit down with business owners and ask them where their business is going to end up, the majority of them have the same answer: they'll give it to their kids. But even if business owners transition their business to their family, it is not without risk. So, if you're an entrepreneur who wants your children to continue your business legacy someday, what are the things you can do to make a...

This past year—after over three decades of being a business owner—I finally sold my business. There were a few things that I was fortunately prepared for and I was able to avoid devastating blindspots. Unfortunately, not a lot of business owners plan for their exit and, when they do eventually sell their company, they sell it for well under their expectations. How can you avoid this and ensure tha...

If something in your business can be measured, it's something you can improve. But we business owners often don't measure; instead, we're keen on licking our forefingers and sticking them up in the air to see which way the wind blows. If we want to scale our businesses and increase their value, we need to create a systematic guideline that's objective, measurable, and repeatable. In this episode,...

I have been helping business owners and entrepreneurs reach their dreams and goals through consulting for over two decades. And over the years, one thing is obvious to me: the companies that have detailed and implemented processes are the companies that often yield the best results. So how do you build and implement impactful business processes that can help you scale your organization? In this ep...

In our business or personal lives, it's probable that we sometimes step on other peoples' toes. We're only human, after all. As entrepreneurs and business owners, it's also probable that there will be times when we need to handle a conflict or complaint brought to us by an employee or stakeholder. Whenever there's a workplace issue, we need to follow some key actions and guidelines to effectively...

Whether you realize it or not, we are all playing the Wealth Game. Some never get off first base; others sprint and find themselves in second base; a lucky few reach third base. However, no matter where you are in the game of wealth, you must finish the game and reach the home plate of your financial life. So, what does winning the Wealth Game look like and how do you get there? In this episode, I...

If you've reached third base in the Wealth Game, congratulations! You more than likely have achieved your financial goals. You know, without a shadow of a doubt, that you and your family are financially secure and that you can meet your goals, whatever they are. At this point of the Wealth Game, you might think that that's it—you've won. But the game is not over yet. Your journey is not complete u...

In baseball, moving to third base is a natural progression: you hit the ball, turn first base and run to second, then move to third. Of course, you wouldn't stand idly on second base if you wanted to win—the same is true for the Wealth Game. At the second base of the Wealth Game, you might consider yourself successful. You're living within a budget; your income is sustained and stable;  you're mak...

Where are you right now in your journey through the wealth game? Do you have savings or emergency funds? Are you investing in your future? Do you have a 401k? Have you started your own business? If you have, congratulations, you're in second base! As we continue our journey through the wealth game, we want to begin saving, investing, and accumulating assets while we cast our eyes to third base. Ye...

There are so many traps along the way of the Wealth Game that could keep you from achieving financial independence. Emotions, financial habits, and lifestyle choices can all tie us down to the Wealth Game's first base and prevent us from moving to second—yet, it is not impossible. Those of us who aspire to move beyond first base have to figure out what it takes to reach second base: the stage of a...

I vividly remember playing baseball while I was growing up. I remember hitting the ball, running the bases, and hearing the fans go crazy. And, of course, there's my dad on the sideline, jumping up and down, pumping his chest like a peacock, and shouting that he's proud of me. The wealth game can have the same effects on our lives if we play it correctly—moving from home plate to first base, then...

What is wealth to you? Is it happy relationships with friends and family? Or, like Virgil, do you think that wealth is health? What about financial wealth? For so many people, the idea of financial wealth is something mystical—something that belongs to fantasy. But I genuinely believe that wealth is a game and, if we can teach people how to play it, it can be easier, less intimidating, and more en...

The role of video in our everyday lives has become more and more prominent. In fact, Business Insider has observed an unprecedented growth in digital video viewership between 2019 and 2020. Yet, despite this rapid increase in viewers, we small business owners don't really tap into the power of video in marketing. I believe that if we took the time and energy to create video-based assets for market...

If you're like me, you spent 90% of your time speaking face-to-face and engaging with clients and groups of people before Covid-19. When the pandemic hit, my world changed. I, like many business owners, had to transition from doing in-person communication to interacting with clients and other people through the phone or video conferencing. But if a business owner isn't using all the video capabili...

David DeCelle is the President of Model FA, a community for financial advisors to come together to learn about sales, marketing, and business development from experts and other financial advisors. David and his team at Model FA are dedicated to empowering financial advisors by helping them build the practice that they envision. Before becoming President of Model FA, David was a financial advisor h...

We business owners are a unique breed. In addition to the many plates we spin and the responsibilities we have, we want to see our businesses move forward. And, whether you realize it or not, we have a destructive habit that, if left unchecked, can undermine our dreams, our team, and our vision—and that habit is self-sabotage. In this episode, I discuss what self-sabotage is, why it happens, how t...

I've been in the business game for over 30 years, and in that time, I've helped many business owners sell or buy businesses (I also wrote The Ultimate Sale and Your Baby's Ugly to tell the tale). However, it's one thing to write about an event and another to go through it yourself; so, when I sold my companies, I was reminded of the key principles all business owners need to consider when preparin...

Patrick Brewer is the President and Chief Marketing Officer of WealthSource, a company dedicated to helping financial advisors thrive with business resources and innovative solutions. He is also the founder of the Model FA family of companies that supports financial advisors in growing sustainable businesses. An entrepreneur and speaker, Patrick is passionate about helping advisors and the people...

"If you had limited time and resources, what would you do tomorrow that you're not doing today?" This is a question I've thought a lot about since 2021—a time when my wife and our family experienced severe ups and downs that had us reevaluating what's truly important to us. As we evaluated what mattered the most to us, one word kept coming back to me: "impact." It has always been my mission to sha...