177. Rich Beyond Money | Noah Rosenfarb

And what holds entrepreneurs back from implementation is this concept that they need more money in order to start living the life that they want.

Yeah.

And when you start to answer those questions honestly and you really look at what is it that I want to do and where do I want to spend my time and with whom, you might find that you don't need more money. So what you have could be enough. What you need now is the courage to implement the changes in your schedule to start realizing, you know, your, your actual time closer to the way you want to spend it.

This is the Wealthy Contractor Podcast brought to you by G4 Marketing. Interviews with today's top home improvement entrepreneurs about marketing, sales, money, mindset, and lifestyle. Now here's your host, Brian Kaskavalciyan.

So I get asked a lot about, you know, what is the Wealthy Contractor? Like, am I the Wealthy Contractor? And I always tell people, no, I am not the Wealthy Contractor. You are the Wealthy Contractor. And everything that we do here is all about helping you, the listener, be more successful, be wealthier, and have more freedom. That's our kind of our marching orders. Is we help— it's, it's on my, our wall over there— is both G4 Marketing and The Wealthy Contractor are all about helping business owners achieve more success, wealth, and freedom. And when I think about wealth, it's not only about money. People mistake this often. Being wealthy is not only about money. Being wealthy is also about time. I write about this in the Seven Secrets book. Wealth is different to different people. For some people, it's a million. For some people, it's $10 million. For some people, it's $100 million. But then also you have to look at, well, how am I spending my time and who am I spending my time with? And so I have a— become very good friend. He's a financial advisor. He's helped— helps us make money. And his name is Noah Rosenfarb. I love his— I guess you would call it, Noah, your title or your moniker is he's a financial advisor, not to the 1%, but to the half of 1%. And so Noah, I asked Noah, we've done a number of things with Noah in real estate. We've done syndicate deals with Noah and we've done well with those. And Noah has introduced us. We first reached out to Noah a few years back when we knew that, oh crap, we're going to have a significant tax liability this year. And this was what, like 3 or 4 years ago, I think. And we're like, oh crap, what are some things that we can do? How can we start thinking like rich people think and start to implement some of the strategies that rich people think? And so we hired Noah, we paid his outrageous enormous fees, worth every penny by the way. And he gave us very, very good advice and some strategies to put together. And since then, we have been able to do some of your real estate deals and really get to know more about, to understand how really, really rich people act and think, especially when it comes to money and investing. And with all of that said, so a few weeks ago when our mastermind groups were here, I asked Noah to come in and do his new presentation, which is awesome. It's called Rich Beyond Money. And everybody loved it. It was a big hit. And I know Noah, you've been going around and doing this to other entrepreneurs around the country. And so I asked Noah recently if he would come to Accelerate and do it for this presentation for everybody at Accelerate. And so he agreed, and so he will be one of our featured speakers at Accelerate. So with all of that set up, Noah Rosenfarb, welcome to the Wealthy Contractor Podcast.

Thanks for having me back, Brian.

Yeah, yeah, you were here once before. I forgot about that.

I did the show a long while back and I've had the great pleasure of speaking to a couple of your masterminds. So thanks to you for that. I've met some great people and I'm looking forward to being at Accelerate and meeting some new faces.

Yeah. So, you know, behind you I see, you know, Rich Beyond Money, earn predictable income. Awesome. Everybody wants to have predictable income, create an ideal life. That's a big— so that's a tall order. They're my friend. And then Build Your Legacy. So talk a little bit about this idea of Rich Beyond Money. Where did it come from and what's the concept? We can't go into the whole thing, obviously, but what's the concept?

No, I would say that the reason that people get value from this methodology and philosophy is because so many of us come from different backgrounds where the focus might have been on finding financial freedom and really pursuing money at all costs because that's what success was defined as, you know, when you were growing up or the media kind of portrayed. And so like many of you, I worked really hard when I was young. I couldn't wait to become a millionaire. That was my number one goal, solely focused on that, you know, to the exclusion of many other things. And I think that was the right decision when I was younger. But when I had children, you know, my wife convinced me— it took some convincing— that there's more to life than money. And so over time, I've recognized, in part from the work that I've done and the families we've counseled, and then through my own experience, that really a life well lived is measured not just in what you accumulate financially, but of course in experiences and relationships and meaning and purpose. And so we've developed a framework to help all those that listen think through how can they start making improvements to their life, some financially, some when it comes to time management, and some when it comes to making sure that they're making a contribution to others.

Yeah. You know, one of the things that you talk about, one of the things that you learned in your experience, by the way, let's do this before I ask you that question. I was going to ask you about the selling of the company thing.

Yeah.

That you've recognized with your clients. But before that, let's just give everybody that maybe has not heard you before, give everybody like your 2-minute story, please. The 2-minute version of your story.

I'm a third-generation CPA. And so I grew up, you know, in a, in a household where my dad was a practicing accountant. I joined his accounting firm when I graduated from college. Helped him scale and eventually sell it. Turned out that I wanted to be my own entrepreneur, not just help him create wealth in his business. And I started a family office for divorcing women. I built and sold that. And then I was—

wait a minute. Wait, hold on a second. You built a— I didn't know this about you.

You didn't know that?

That practice was for women that were getting divorced?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So when I was a practicing accountant, I testified in divorce court about how much businesses were worth, how much money people made.

Okay, that part. Okay, that part I remember, but not that.

Not that I took those same relationships, the divorce lawyers that would refer me forensic accounting work. And I realized that if all I did was just be a good, honest guy, which I know that I am, they would be able to trust that I'd help these divorcing women when they got their large settlements figure out what to do with it. So I built a whole family office around that. At one point, I licensed all my intellectual property to advisors around the country, and then I sold that business in 2014. At the time, I had been living in Florida already a couple of years. The business was in New Jersey, and I was— I guess some people would call me retired. But I was still, you know, dabbling around, helping people and investing in businesses and real estate and websites. And so over the course of my career, I've sold 8 companies. Actually, the 9th one is going to close December 31st. I'm hoping I've taken a company public that I'm a co-founder of. I've closed on 45 real estate transactions and we own 6,000 units of multifamily housing around the country. And now I've gotten re-energized really through COVID. I built a family office for entrepreneurs because I needed one for my own family. And I figured while I was at it, let me help some other people.

Yeah. So. All right. Wow. So you've done, you've done quite a bit there, my friend. That's, that is quite, quite the resume there. Okay. So let's go back to what I was starting to ask you about. So there was something that you noticed with entrepreneurs that sold their company. I think that was part of what started you thinking about, if I'm not mistaken, this, that's part of what started you thinking about this idea of Rich Beyond Money. And because there's a lot of, you know, people want to sell their companies now and there are people in the home improvement industry that are getting huge checks. And so can you talk a little bit about, about that? What you'd say?

So I, one of the things that I did when I was a practicing accountant was help people with their strategic plans. And now that's become popularized by EOS. Scaling up. But I was doing that, you know, right out of college. I started facilitating strategic planning retreats for small businesses. And I had a lot of great success with clients. And one of those clients, I helped them scale and sell and, you know, scale and sell again. But in that process with that one of those families, after they closed on the sale of their company, I thought I did my job for them, helping them get this really large exit that they dreamed of. And then a few months later, I was sitting in a therapist's office with him crying, talking about, you know, maybe ending his long-term marriage. And it hit me like, wait a minute, I didn't do my job. You know, my job is not just to take care of the money. My job is to take care of the person. And, and that led me on a discovery path where I had a podcast in 2012 and 2013 where I interviewed people that not only sold their companies, but more often I was interviewing the people that advised them. And I was trying to collect all the anecdotal data of, you know, was this a unique experience that my client went through? And I came to learn that 75% of people that sell their business regret it. And what I've been able to discern is that when an entrepreneur sells their company, they typically lose a significant portion of the meaning and purpose that they have in their life. And if they haven't been able to replace it with something new, there's a large void that often gets filled with those depressed emotional feelings, can often lead to a divorce. And so I've recognized through that experience that that's really how I want to support entrepreneurs. That's really what led to building this family office. Was saying, I wanna support these entrepreneurs that are gonna sell their company by giving them the entire support system that they need, not just financially, but emotionally and spiritually so that they can live a life that's well lived.

Yeah, so it's exciting to think, oh yeah, I'm gonna sell my company and I'm gonna get a whole bunch of money, but there's so much that goes into that. Like, how am I going to feed my— even though I might, you know, I was talking with somebody the other day and we were looking at his business and we were just saying, just, you know, for shits and giggles, we were creating his growth plan for the next few years and he's doing well. I think it's $8 or $9 million. His plan next year is, I think it's like $12 million with a 17-ish percent net. It's basically a $2 million net, which You know, amazing. And then we were talking about kind of like, well, you know, selling the business after a little bit of time and what does that look like? So if he was to sell today, it would be worth maybe $3 million, $3.5 million. I said, it's not enough. And plus, what the hell would you do by the time you factor in your taxes? People think, oh, $3 million. Oh, that's it. I'm set for life.

I say it takes about $10 million to be a millionaire these days.

Yeah, that's funny, right? It takes about $10 million. And so I think people get seduced by this idea of, you know, I'm going to get a big check for $1 million or $2 million. But then it's like, well, okay, then what are you going to do after? What's going to be the next day? So let's say you sell it. Okay, tomorrow, what are you going to do tomorrow? And how long—

we'll talk about at Accelerate, for those of you that are going to be there, we're going to talk about how you would structure things in advance to know how you're going to step out of business ownership and into whatever that next chapter is with confidence. Yeah, that you avoid these mistakes that some people make. And, well, you know, for those of you that plan to own your business for a long time, we're also going to talk about how to start managing your money more effectively so that you can achieve that level of financial freedom sooner if you don't have it already.

You know, Noah, you know this, but, you know, even the listener to this podcast is all about you know, again, success, wealth, and freedom. And we talk so much about profit here, about making money. You know, I, I'm so annoyed, you know, at this time of year, you know, a lot of people are looking at their numbers and they're like, okay, for the year, and they're closing out their books. And so many companies let the business dictate what they get to make. And the other day I was talking with my friend Mark Curry that I do our profit workshops with, and we talk about, him and I talk about how do you engineer profit from the beginning rather than the end. And the reason I bring that up is that a lot of people don't understand what to do with their profit when they have it. I'll ask people, how'd you do this year? Did you— my typical question is, well, did you make any money? You know, so people tell me, oh, Brian, I did $1 million a month this year. Great. Did you make any money? Well, yeah, it's, you know, we made 12%. Okay, great. So if you did $1 million a month and you did 12%, you made $1 million-ish. Where is it? They don't know, right? Or they'll say, well, I had to reinvest back in the business. Well, then did you really make— is that really what you made? What do you mean you reinvested it back in the business? And so one of the things that you help people with is how do we take it out of the business and how do we create predictable and permanent income on the back end?

And I find that when entrepreneurs sell their company, what they really have confidence in is the income that they generate. So if you don't have income coming in, you can have $10 million in the bank, but you're not going to feel good if you don't have that monthly cash flow to cover all your lifestyle expenses.

Yeah. And you talk about in your Rich Beyond Money, you talk a little bit about building up that passive level of income. And so you guys will, you know, if you're there, you're going to hear about, about that. And he's got some, some real good strategies on how to make that transition. So in this presentation, you talk about money. But let's talk about some of the other things that you talk about. So this idea of creating an ideal life. Yeah, give us the high level. I know you can't do the whole thing, obviously now, but what is the— give us the high level view on that?

Give you the shortest, easiest version of improving your life. And it's simply asking and answering 4 really basic questions. Who do you want to spend more time with and who do you want to spend less time with? And what are the things you want to start doing and what are the things you want to stop doing? And if you put those 4 answers down on a piece of paper here at the end of the calendar year and you really think about it, my guess is 2023 is going to be a better year for you because you're going to have that in your mind.

So just say those 4 questions again. And it's a very good exercise, I think, to do. But if you can repeat—

sure. Who do you want to spend more time with and who do you want to spend less time with?

Addie.

Which, which order there?

And, or, or Noah and Addie.

What are the things you want to start doing and what are the things you want to stop doing?

Yeah, don't yell at me, woman.

What I've found is that so many of the answers that people will write down do not require more money.

Yeah.

And what holds entrepreneurs back from implementation is this concept that they need more money in order to start living the life that they want.

Yeah.

And when you start to answer those questions honestly and you really look at what is it that I want to do and where do I want to spend my time and with whom? You might find that you don't need more money. So what you have could be enough. What you need now is the courage to implement the changes in your schedule to start realizing, you know, your, your actual time closer to the way you want to spend it.

Wow, that's awesome. And then just real quick too, just a little snippet on the third piece.

Sure.

So legacy is something that most people talk about it in the context of financial planning as estate planning. And estate planning is definitely important. We'll touch on that in our conversation at Accelerate. But really what we want to talk about is that purpose and meaning in your life. How do you take from giving to yourself and to your family to giving to others? Because that's what a legacy is really about, is what are you remembered for? And the things that we're going to be doing while we're alive is how we're going to be remembered. And so it's trying to identify the places that you want to contribute that go beyond your own home, that go beyond your own family. And where do you want to make a difference? Listen, everybody that's an entrepreneur is making differences in everybody's life that they employ. They're making differences in all of their customers' lives. And that's why I really believe entrepreneurs are true heroes. They're the people that I love and care about most because I think—

Me too.

We should be celebrating entrepreneurs more than we should. And this business of Freedom Family Office is really designed with that philosophy in mind to support our heroes, to help them live great lives, not just to focus on the money, not just to focus on the indulgence of having this amazing life, but really that third leg of the stool is making sure that we're contributing to others in a way that's meaningful.

Very cool, man. Awesome. So cool. So I'm excited. You know, our event is a little different than most industry events. Most industry events would not bring somebody like you in because everybody wants to hear about that next sales strategy or the next lead generation strategy. And we're gonna cover all that stuff. But this is important too. It's about the life that you build. It's not only about work, work, work and money, money, money and sales, sales, sales. It's also about why are you doing all of that stuff? What's it all about? First thing I ask people is, how much money do you want to make?

And then they say—

and then they'll give me a number. I'll say, great, well, how are you going to spend it? What are you going to do with it? And so, and a lot of people don't stop and think about those questions. My life absolutely changed when I started to think about, well, if I did make the money that I want, and it doesn't matter the number, so I'm not even gonna give a number. How am I gonna spend that money and how is that gonna make my life different or better? And once I started to do that and I really started to think about it, I was able to hit my goals so much faster. I mean, I talk about it in another place, but like in 18 months I quadrupled my income and it was all because I thought about it. I thought it through and I thought about the goal and it started to happen because I was so focused on it and I knew where it was going to go. And so it's an exciting topic for me. And I think the people at Accelerate are just— they're going to love you and they're going to love this presentation. I know the Mastermind members loved it and Addie did too. Addie was the one. Oh man, we got to have him. We got to have him do this at Accelerate. I'll give her credit where credit's due.

So let me make sure to leave your audience with something. If they can't come to Accelerate for whatever reason, I want to just give one commonly overlooked tax tip. And if you've been on the fence about coming to Accelerate, maybe this is what helps pay for it. There's a rule called the Augusta Rule, and you can rent your home that you own. You can rent for up to 14 days and not pay any tax on that income. So all of you that are listening that have a business and you have a home, well, your business can rent that home for up to 14 days. Your business can take a tax deduction and you can receive that income tax rate. So, you know, if you're like many people and maybe the fair market value of renting that home is $1,000 a day, well, that's $14,000 you could deduct off your company. And you don't have to pay any tax on that. And if you're in a, you know, high tax state or, or even in a low tax state, maybe you're paying something like 30 to 50% of that in taxes. And that should be able to cover your ticket to fly out and stay at Accelerate.

Nice. Hey, well, these guys are already going to be there, but Kobaska, you got to do this for your lake house. O'Leary, you got to do this for your lake house. Danny Peterson, do this for your lake. We got a whole bunch of clients that have lake houses. A whole bunch of—

any—

you can do it at your home and you can do it on your home. Yeah.

Yeah. And so if you, if you want some more tax ideas, you could download 23 Overlooked Tax Strategies over at FreedomTaxStrategy.com and just show that to your accountant. Go down that list, see if there's anything you guys have overlooked, and hopefully you'll get some value from that and that conversation with your CPA. Cool.

Awesome. Well, thank you, Noah. Until next time, this is Brian Kaskavalciyan with G4 Marketing Group, and this is the Wealthy Contractor Podcast.

Thanks for listening to today's episode of the Wealthy Contractor Podcast. Let me ask you, did it help you look at your business in a different way? Did it spark an idea or ideas that you hadn't thought of before? Do you have a list of action items that you can take and implement into your business or your life today? I really hope so. If it did, I'd like to ask you a favor. Would you leave a 5-star review of the podcast? By doing so, you'll help other contractors find the podcast more easily so that we can help them achieve more success, wealth, and freedom. And before you go, make sure you subscribe to the Wealthy Contractor Podcast so you get access to the latest episodes as soon as they're available. We're always striving to provide you with great content, so you don't want to miss what's coming up. In fact, if you haven't already, make sure you go to thewealthycontractor.com and get your free copy of my latest book, The 7 Secrets to Becoming a Wealthy Contractor. Just pay shipping and handling, and I'll take care of the cost of the book. So until next time, this is Brian Kaskavalciyan.