Finacial Planning with Justin Powell

0:02Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it. Hey there, welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs, brought to you by Action Coach Growth Partners. I'm your host, Bill Gilliland, and in this podcast, you'll find three things.

0:46You're going to hear real stories from real entrepreneurs that will help you along your entrepreneurial journey. You're also going to get business tips to help you scale up faster, and you're going to get actual coaching to help you get better real world results to be the best entrepreneur you can be. Hey, and if you like the podcast, remember to subscribe. And now, enjoy the show. Hi there. Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I'm Bill Gilliland, your host, and I'm here with Justin Powell from Valor Private Wealth. And I'll let Justin tell you who he is, but we've known each other for a while.

1:25We've been friends and clients, played golf together. It's a lot of cool things. So there's a lot of topics we can talk about, but we're going to talk about business and growing businesses and being in business and all things business today. So it's great to have you, Justin. Yeah, it's great to be here, Bill. I was really excited when you asked me to do this. I always love this format and to reach out to people. So thanks again. Yeah. So tell us, just give us the, you know, the Cliff Notes version of Valor and, you know, what that's about. Yeah. So Valor Private Wealth, we specialize in or I should say we focus on working with business owners and everything that that entails from a financial perspective.

2:11We do deep financial planning with them around what to do in the near term, how to develop an exit plan for the business, figuring out what their business is worth and how to potentially invest profits in a more passive way for their long term future. But in a nutshell, that's what we did. That's interesting because that's a bit of a niche. And what I find is a lot of people in your space, in what I'd call the wealth management industry, they're just looking for a chunk of money that somebody has. Maybe they've gotten a 401k or retirement or something like that, or a big chunk to invest. But how is it different working with business owners?

2:57Well, we're business owners. My business partner and I, we both own this firm. And so what we were finding was that our ideal client tended to be a lot like us. And those were the people that we had the most in common with as well in how we are in our daily lives and how we run our businesses. So we found that in working with business owners, you know, we ended up, you know, resonating really quickly with them and were able to add value very quickly because, as you know, as a business owner, you know, it can be hard to check off every box in your personal life when you have so much going on in your business.

3:42And and so, you know, that's where we come in on that financial side is making sure that, you know, people are thinking about what does it look like after all of this? You know, after the busy days, after running around, you know, what does that look like for you or how do you envision that? And then how can we get you there? Right. And so you're right. Most practices in our space is built on working with individual advisors or individual clients or families. And we still do that because our business owners have families and are individuals. So there's a lot of them. But we just found a lot of success in working with people with shared values, shared interests, and it's been real successful for us.

4:29So, yeah, I think I mean, one of the things that I've always enjoyed working with you guys and, you know, is that I've always felt like the business should give you what you want personally, not the other way around. You shouldn't have to give up all your personal stuff that to have the business. And so one of the things that I find super helpful is when we when working with business owners, it's when we have very clear personal goals so that the business can can go to work to reach those personal goals. So tell us a little bit about your process of helping people figure out what what they really want.

5:08Sure. Yeah. So when we're onboarding a new client, we typically start with a lot of fact finding. and as I like to call it, turning over rocks, right? You know, there'll be several meetings in the beginning where we're just gathering data, right? Whether that's about their business and how those cash flows are and what sort of surplus cash they have to keep on hand and, you know, what extra profits they have and what do we want to do with those down to, you know, personal finances and what do those look like? And so we do a really deep dive on the front end from a financial planning perspective to gather that information so that we can step back, process that information, and then hopefully tie that information to their current goals and their long term goals and look at where we can add value by maybe taking the blinders off, as it were, you know, so that people can see maybe parts that they're missing.

6:12or take blinders off and show them, you know, this is what I really love, is when we show them maybe their situation is better than they thought, right? You know, that's always a – Every once in a while. Every once in a while. You know, it's often that people are actually in a better position than they thought they were. So a lot of due diligence, a lot of data collection in the beginning, and then we process all of that to come back with some recommendations. And then throughout the course of the relationship, we typically meet quarterly with our clients to go over their situation. Often in our world, it's an annual meeting to review something, you know, to review your investments or your financial plan.

6:54With business owners, you know, things have a little bit more nuance, a little bit more complicated, a little bit more fast moving. So we find that a quarterly meeting allows us not to miss anything. Right. A year goes by, you could miss quite a bit of activity, but we're always available to clients. Should they have a question or should they have something come up? That's, you know, high level how that would work. Yeah, the quarterly is good. I mean, I've often found that sort of the 90 days was great for planning. That's what we do. We help people. I've always felt like it was long enough to get something done and short enough to keep your eye on the ball.

7:32Like you said, if you go a year, you know, that that, you know, you'll do some stuff. You don't keep your eye on the ball. I don't you know, I don't know about you. I used to do a yearly plan and stick it on the shelf and come back at it in December. And that's no good. It's it's not. And yeah, just so much can happen in a short period of time. So we're always available to people, but we make sure to have multiple touch points throughout the year, quarterly updates and reviews. and then a couple of really deep dive discussions around their situation throughout the year. Yeah, that's fantastic.

8:06So you talked a little bit about exit planning, and I think that that is a topic that needs more time. I think people tell me like, all right, well, I'm thinking about exiting the business. Well, when did you start thinking about it? If it wasn't 10 years ago, you probably wouldn't soon enough. So tell us a little bit about how you help people with that. Let's just talk about that. Yeah. How'd you like to learn from the best? How'd you like to network with the best? How'd you like to be the best? Well, the key to being the best is to hang around with the best and to learn from the best. And we're going to make that possible for you this August in Asheville at the Asheville Business Summit.

8:48I want you to stay tuned. We're bringing in speakers from outside. We've got a lot of good events planned. It's going to be amazing. We got more information coming, but if you'd like more info on how you can be involved, how you can attend, or how you can be a sponsor for this event, it's going to be over 350 entrepreneurs in one place right here in Western North Carolina in Asheville. For more info or to be a sponsor, I want you to reach out directly to Beth Limmel, that's L-E-M-M-E-L, at actioncoach.com. That's Beth Limmel at actioncoach.com. We look forward to seeing you there. It's going to be amazing.

9:28Right. So a lot of that is around, well, you know, the client's vision of when they want to exit. Right. So maybe they've thought about it. Maybe they haven't. Most have. Most have kind of a time horizon in their mind when they'd like to quit working. But it's usually just kind of in their mind. Right. You know, it's kind of this idea. And I hear this all the time. Well, I want to quit at age 60, but I know that's impossible. Like that's how many times I hear that. Right. It's frequent. And so we like to say, well, we don't know that that's the case. Let's let's start to dive in. And, you know, not to go too deep into strategy, because I think it's very specific to each person's situation, but we do employ some strategies that help people utilize the profits in their business to position in a way that gives them leverage down the line for when they go to exit the business.

10:24Right. So that's really important. And we can talk in more detail maybe on another call about those strategies. But I think having those strategies in place as soon as possible allows people to kind of build up that that leverage to when they go to sell their business. It's not a move that is out of desperation. I think that's a really important thing that they're or that they're not doing it because they're just exhausted themselves and they've hit the wall. Right. But then it's part of a long term goal and a long term plan and that you've taken steps utilizing profits in your business to build a way to exit with leverage and with confidence.

11:07The other aspect of that is knowing what your business is worth, right? I think numbers around it, roughly about 80 % of business owners look at their business as their retirement. The sale of the business is going to be the bulk of their retirement assets that they're going to live on. But around 80 % of those business owners out there do not know the value of the business. You wouldn't have a 401k at a job and be counting on that as the bulk of your retirement and not know what's in there, right? You would know. So that's one thing we also can provide our clients is a high-level business valuation to help them to start to formulate that plan.

11:49If you know what your business is worth, it's going to give you a lot clearer picture on how to plan for that exit. Yeah. Yeah. One of the things I find is that people think, well, I can just sell the business. Well, I mean, OK, you can retire if you have a job and you've got and you've got the 401k and your investments and all that. But you can't just sell a business. I mean, that's that's a long process at best. yeah so i mean it's a it's a it's years you know and certainly even if you have a small business probably eight nine months if everything was lined up perfect so you know so just thinking about it we people really need to be more planful here yeah and i would say you know there's so many topics that come like are you building your business in a way down to how you design your business for that sale, you know, whether you're designing a business that can be conducted remotely, right, as we're, you know, moving more and more into remote work, you know, that could increase the multiple of certain types of businesses, right?

12:55How easy is your system, are your systems that are in place able to be picked up by the purchaser, right? You know, those types of questions, you know, what are you developing that makes it attractive for sale, right down the road? How does it compare to competitors in other markets? What are those multiples that these competitors or these colleagues are getting when they go to sell their business? So all these questions that come up, we can kind of help guide through those questions and help find some answers. Yeah. Everybody needs somebody outside looking in. I always say it's like that offensive coordinator up on the field, a football field where they get a different vantage point.

13:37You can't, they can't. Yeah. We like to say, you know, let us be your CFO, right? You know, let us be your chief financial officer for your personal life and how that applies to your business and everything else. And then we also say that the most important relationship, professional relationship that a business owner has, it's not your CPA. It's not even us. It's not your attorney. It's your business coach. You know, it's that person. It's you. that is going to really help them develop that five-year plan, you know, really take some of the other blinders off where we come in and help them come up with a lot of the questions to ask and maybe take to their business coach and talk about.

14:20You know, I feel like we're all kind of working together for that business owner's best interest. Yeah. Well, there's things they're not seeing, you know. Yeah, I think, you know, I think a business owner, I mean, what it comes down to is what you help them with, which is wealth creation. And you need trusted advisors in all of those areas. You need a trusted financial planner. You need, you know, you need a CPA. You need an attorney. You need, you know, you need an action coach. You need, you need the, you know, all these things. You need somebody to help with exit planning. So all these, it's almost like a star.

14:58You could put little things around the outside of it, you know, that in the middle is the business owner who needs help, you know, creating that wealth. And it's like you said, their business is, in most cases, their biggest asset. Not all, but in most cases, their businesses are. and and where you talked about you know and i'm you know increasing the multiple we found that you know if they can get a business what i call under management in other words working without them as the owner as the owner having to be there every day it's going to at least double the business at the at the very at the very least so so you guys have come on as the presenting sponsor for the ashville business summit and yeah we really appreciate that we're excited about that and we're excited about the summit.

15:50Tell us a little bit about why you decided to do it and what you're hoping and why people should come to this thing. Why should they show up? Certainly. Well, you know, I love to work a room. And so as I understand it, you guys are about to fill the room with some of the best and brightest of Western North Carolina's business community. And when you told me about the opportunity, I think we talked about basically just kind of sponsoring, getting involved kind of at a basic level. And then as the conversation went on, I said, man, well, I think we may want to be involved a little bit more deeply, especially with the focus that we have on business owners and helping them with the topics that we've been discussing.

16:34I do think back to the last one that I attended and how Now that experience was very valuable. I still have that plan we worked on in there. And I actually met some of my best clients at that event that have become really, really near and dear to me and that we've helped so much. Right. We've had so much value to their situation and continue to do so. So it's been even when it was kind of getting started, it has had a personal impact on me and my business to be involved with you guys. And and so we want to not only continue that, you know, for our own benefit, but also for the benefit of others and for the benefit of the business community around us as well.

17:15Yeah, I think I think that's right. I mean, I think the philosophy is we just we just go help people. So, you know, we're here to change lives. And sometimes all it takes is one conversation and sometimes it takes a 10-year relationship. But we're here to change lives either way. I know that you and Stephen feel the same way. So, yeah. Driving force, for sure. I think you hit the nail on the head right there. I've always felt, and some of my best mentors and most successful people I know, have always said, it's nothing new. But if you just put helping people and providing value to people first, everything else will come after that.

17:56You know, if you put that as your focus that you set up, get up every morning and I don't care if it's in your business or with your family or with your volunteer work and philanthropy. It's a community member. If you get out there and just try to make the world a better place in everything that you do, you know, it'll pay off. It comes back to you. yeah it all it all works out we actually had a um tell you a quick story we actually had a client well a prospect and i wasn't my prospect it was mary's and we had our normal meeting and he was interested in growing his business and by the end of the meeting i think he had decided that that business wasn't for him anymore and you know which means basically we don't you know there was there was you know there was no agreement or no money changing hands you know he was not going to become a client but we've still likely changed his life for the better if that's what he needed if that's what he needed to hear then that's what we needed to tell him and i and i'm i'm super proud of that so yeah yeah you never know where it's going to take you but i think being open to wherever it takes you and knowing you're right where you're supposed to be makes a life a lot a lot more enjoyable a little easier yeah yeah yeah so is there anything else that you would like to tell business owners or any advice or or what do you wish you had known before you went into business that you know oh gosh it's maybe not what i wish i'd have known but what i guess you could call it no but patience going back to what we just talked about just a second ago about leading with the right intention.

19:37You have to be patient. It's like you also said, you know, it could take two months, it could take two days, it could take 10 years for that relationship that you start to bear free. It might never bear fruit. So patience, you know, staying active. I think most people know that, that you have to kind of be out there. And that speaks to attending the business summit, right? Getting in the room with people that have similar goals and similar interests and values is really important. It creates community or support in community. COVID was really hard. I think I started my business right in the middle of COVID and, and it was real hard because it, a lot of that opportunity to get face to face with people just wasn't there.

20:20And then it came back really slowly. But I stayed focused on it and I figured out ways to make, make that work for me and actually start have started build a much more remote practices as a result and and which increases the multiple which also gives me more time with my family so you know kind of being patient with it you know understanding that challenges aren't bad things that actually should excite you right you know that's something i talked about with a buddy the other day whose business is going through a tremendous amount of upheaval but he's viewing it as an exciting time of problem solving and new ideas.

20:58And he's just got the best attitude about it. And so, you know, those things come to mind, you know, I'm sure I could talk for hours on stuff. I love that. I love that. I mean, because it is hard when, particularly when you're new and you're getting started and you're maybe doing okay, but you need the business, right? You need, you know, just, you know, for cashflow. And it's hard to be patient with someone because they're just because you need it doesn't mean the timing is right to. Right. Yeah. Yeah, to work together in business, it may be later. And that's. I can't think of how many times where I've had a conversation with somebody around doing business together.

21:35And it was years, you know, before I heard back from them and I said, hey, I've got this. Now I have a problem I need solving that, you know, I need your expertise on. And you've positioned yourself to be that expert. And so, you know, that that takes time. It takes patience. So, you know, having enough to kind of bridge that gap in those first two to three years, I think is real important so that you're not stressing yourself out about making making the mortgage and that sort of thing. And you've got that breathing room. Gosh, that's really important when starting a business. Yeah. Yeah. No, the patience.

22:11That's got basic stuff, but, you know, it's stuff. I don't know. I think patience is hard. I mean, it's always been hard for me. And because I'm like, let's go. Let's make something happen. Yeah, type A guys. We tend to open business. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've done a lot of things. Patience would have been a good virtue to work on. It's always something I'm working on. So, if folks want to get a hold of you or Stephen and Tyler, where can they find you? I think, you know, email is probably the easiest. You can shoot me one at justin.powell at lpl.com. And I'll give you our office number as well. And that is going to be, I'll just give you the direct one, 828-595-4045.

23:10and myself, Stephen Thomas and Dana Wilkinson make up the team that is focusing on the Asheville area. That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, we'll put all that in the show notes and really appreciate all the wisdom here. I love the patience thing. Yeah. And thanks for being here. Yeah. Hey, thanks, Bill. Thanks for having me. I really enjoyed this. And I can't wait to meet everybody at the summit who's coming. And yeah, if you haven't signed up, go ahead and do that today. We hope to see you there. Yeah, and that website is WNCSummit.com. It's WNCSummit.com. Gets you to the Asheville Business Summit.

23:47All the information's there where you can get your tickets, how to be it, when it is. And so look forward to seeing you there. And until next time, all the best. Hey, thanks for listening to the Epic Entrepreneurs Podcast. Here's three things that you can do. Number one, remember to subscribe to the podcast. It takes very little effort on your part. It's going to help you and your fellow entrepreneurs. Plus, you guys know how it works. The more subscribers we get, the more cool things we can offer to you. Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach.

24:21It's free for you at giftfrombill.com. That's giftfrombill.com. Hey, and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business, send me an email directly. Just send it to williamgilliland at actioncoach.com. That's my personal email that I read. No one else reads it first. It's not screened. It's my real email. Just send it to me. I can't wait to talk to you. Hey, and until then, all the best. Hey, thanks for listening to the Epic Entrepreneur's Podcast. Here's three things that you can do. Number one, remember to subscribe to the podcast. It takes very little effort on your part.

25:08It's going to help you and your fellow entrepreneurs. Plus, you guys know how it works. The more subscribers we get, the more cool things we can offer to you. Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach. It's free for you at giftfrombill.com. That's giftfrombill.com. Hey, and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business, send me an email directly. Just send it to williamgilliland at actioncoach.com. That's my personal email that I read. No one else reads it first. It's not screened. It's my real email.

25:56Just send it to me. I can't wait to talk to you. Hey, and until then, all the best.