From $1B Wealth Firm to Top Restaurants | David Steele's Dual Success

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Welcome to CJ Moneyway Media, a storytelling platform built brick by brick where conversations become lessons and experiences become perspective. This is the mindset of a panther, moving with patience, discipline, and purpose. From podcasts to books to media storytelling, CJ Moneyway brings voices, journeys, and real conversations to the forefront. You're now listening to the CJ Moneyway Show.

What's up, my good people? Welcome to the CJ Moneyway Show, conversations built on patience, purpose, and the mindset of a panther. I'm your host, CJ Moneyway. Today's guest is someone who doesn't just build businesses, he builds ecosystems. David Still is the co-founder and CEO of One Wealth Advisors, a $1 billion independent wealth management firm focused on helping clients simplify their lives and achieve long-term financial success. But that's only one side of the story. Hey, welcome today, my man David, to the show, man. What's up, D?

Oh, thanks for having me. Excited to be here.

Oh man, I appreciate you coming on, man. I appreciate you coming on. Although we on different sides of the spectrum, you know, I'm a Lakers man, he a Philadelphia 76ers man. We had to go through the course that I actually became a Laker fan when Magic Johnson was beating on Dr. J in the NBA Finals in 1980. We all remember that one. Rookie coming out of Michigan State, winning the championship. Very rarely, seldomly done like that. Dave, man, let me ask you this, man. How do you run a billion-dollar firm and still build restaurants?

So yeah, I mean, I worked in restaurants all through high school and college, and I loved the business but didn't think I could make money, frankly, opening a restaurant. I had a lot of enthusiasm for that business but didn't have confidence it would be— it would give me economic security. So I started in in building financial planning practice starting in 1991, a long time ago, and built that one client at a time. And my brother joined me as my first team member 6 years after I'd started that practice. And he and I then continued to build the one client at a time. And eventually, we got to the point where we had, I think, some mastery in how to operate that practice. My brother had worked in restaurants also during high school and college, so he had some empathy for my passion that I had to scratch an itch. So I'd written a business plan for my first restaurant and put a team together, and the first restaurant did really, really well. And now we have 10 restaurants and a pretty big restaurant company. I still run the financial planning practice and probably put about 80% of my time into it. So I do both. So I guess a way to think of it is I am the executive chairman of a restaurant company, but I am a full-time operator of a financial planning company.

Hey, what's the name of these restaurants, man? What's the name of them?

I live in San Francisco most of the time. I also live part-time in New York City where I am now, but when I'm in, I'm mostly in San Francisco. And like the ingredients for dough, flour and water, you know, you make dough with Flour and Water. So the company's called Flour and Water Hospitality Group, and we have a bunch of restaurants all around that name, Flour and Water, pizza, pasta places.

So, okay, that's cool. That's cool. Let me ask you this, man, because you said something that was kind of interesting to me. You said that your brother joined you 6 years later after you, you know, came up that this is what you wanted to do. So I guess my question is like, Why did it take your brother so long? Did he not see the vision, you know, say that you was trying to put out at first?

Or— and he was younger, man. He was 6 years younger. So he got out of college and he thought he wanted to work in restaurants too, but then he realized he hated being a cook. And so pretty quickly he said, hey, uh, would you hire me? And I figured out a way to get him hired. But no, he would basically started with me right out of college.

Mm. So what was that feeling like too, man, after 6 years watching you do what you trying to do and then for him to come on board, man? How was that feeling for you personally?

Well, our relationship has shifted over the years from me being his older brother and the power dynamic that comes with to us being peers and equals now, which I— we still fall into that older-younger brother paradigm occasionally, but generally we've successfully exited that phase. But back then, it felt wonderful, but probably not quite as wonderful for him because of the older brother, younger brother paradigm.

Yeah, I get you, man, because I'm 6 and a half years older than my brother too. So I already know how that is, you know, not too old where I can't relate to you, but old enough to where, you know, I've been through some things that you ain't been through yet, you know. So that's just like, especially coming up when you're younger. So let me ask you this, man. Why do most entrepreneurs stay stuck in one lane?

Probably because they should, actually. The thing about what I'll call scalability of our time is it requires a pretty relentless process, I think, of mastering skills, tasks, roles, and then eventually delegating some of those teachable skills, tasks, roles to younger people or people that are newer. And that allows you, I think, to elevate what you're doing to focus on the things that maybe only you can do until eventually, as the organization you're building evolves, you begin to have a scaling organization, not just a scaling— you're not just scaling yourself as an individual. And I think when somebody has economic security and confidence that the entrepreneurial effort they put forth is solidified and sustainable, that allows them to direct their energy elsewhere and then apply the same approach to a second or maybe third thing. That is maybe only when somebody should not stay in one lane. I look at somebody like Elon Musk or even back in the day, Steve Jobs. These guys, Elon Musk runs a bunch of different things and Steve Jobs did a few different things and then ran, of course, a company that was about as dynamic as any that's ever existed. And they often get referred to as polymaths, people that are experts at seemingly unrelated disciplines. And I think that really what they mastered was the ability to coalesce and organize people into a singular idea or a mission. That is what these polymaths do. And I don't put myself in that league, but I think I've figured that out.

Yeah, I mean, restaurants, billion-dollar corporation, man, I think you figured out a whole lot of things today, man. Let me ask you this though, real quick, man. To build restaurants, like you say, you traveling from New York, you know, San Francisco, and then you had to spend 80% of your time in the firm building these entities, man. Like, what were some of the downfalls, you know what I'm saying? Some of the pitfalls that you ran across? Because we can look at David now and be like, hey man, everything is all, you know, say hunky-dory, it's all good. But a lot of times we don't see or we don't know the behind-the-scenes things that it took to actually get to where you are now.

Well, the hardest thing— first of all, this is a statement about humanity, but comparing ourselves to others, these are dangerous things. And I think it's getting worse and worse, or people are more and more susceptible given the flow of information that exists now in this day and age. But I think the biggest challenge we have as human beings and therefore as entrepreneurs or For the wealth management company, when we think about individuals and financial decisions they make for themselves, ideally, it's not being compared to others. Ideally, it's looking at yourself, what you're trying to accomplish, and really making sure that what you're trying to do is authentic to who you are, what you want, what you need, then building plans around that rather than looking outside and saying, "What should I be doing?" or "What could I have done?" And so, there have been instances across my life as an entrepreneur or even as an individual making financial decisions or maybe even succumbing to clients of ours that when we are trying to advise them what they should do, we're not able to be aware that really their motivation is not based on their authentic needs and goals and individual authentic selves, but more based on them seeing FOMO, like what others have and they should want that. So I don't know if that answers your question, but—

I like it, man. You know what I'm saying? Like, stay in your lane. Because I was just talking about this not too long ago, and I was just talking to somebody earlier today. You know, a lot of times we look at other people and want to emulate them, or we too busy focusing on other people and their legacy instead of building our own, you know what I'm saying? So I get you, and I know where you're going with that too, man. Like, I want to— like, like when I first started my podcast, for example, somebody was telling me, oh man, well, you should, uh, do it like Drink Champs. I'm not Drink Champs, you know what I'm saying? I mean, like, I'm not talking about the same things they talking about, nor do I have the platform that they have, you know. I gotta build from where I'm at and, you know, saying the stage that I'm in, man, not looking at what other people doing. That lane is for them. That's not my lane. Maybe one day I can get in that lane, like you say, with Elon Musk, like a Steve Jobs, but that's not my lane. I don't have a trillion dollars, bro.

Well, you know, the other side of the stay in your lane is almost negatively connoted, which is like, stay out of my lane, stay in your lane. And I would say, how about this? Stay focused. You know, because I mean, I think that that's positively connoted, right? Stay focused. And I think it's important to be focused and to be clear about who you are in life in general and, and what you want. And if you are taking your focus off of a particular area of your life, be sure that that area is solidified.

Solidify the area of your life, man. Stay focused. I like that. So let me ask you this, David, man. What does success actually look like beyond money?

Okay, well, you asked it, so I'll tell it. My brother and I just launched a podcast called Human Success Stories, and what we're doing is we're interviewing our clients of the firm, trying to triangulate on a— I don't think there's a universal sense of success, but all these different definitions of success. And to me, success is having everything you want, which can be managed by wanting less because then you have everything you want. Or maybe not, maybe you want more and then you figure out a way to pursue that, that what you want. But that's more of a framework. For me, success is, am I loved and do I love?

Mm. Am I love or do I love? Hey, man, and good luck on your podcast, man. Wish you, you and your brother great success. You know what I'm saying? Look at that relationship building right there.

This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace.

Last year, I went through many different life changes. I needed to take a pause and examine how I was feeling in the inside to better show up for the ones who need me to be my best version of myself.

When you're navigating life's changes, Talkspace can help. Talkspace is the number one rated online therapy, bringing you professional support from licensed therapists and psychiatry providers that you can access anytime, anywhere.

Living a busy life, navigating a long-distance relationship, becoming a first stepfather, Talkspace made all of those journeys possible. I could speak with my therapist in the office, I could speak with my therapist in the comfort of my home. I was never alone.

Talkspace works with most major insurers, and most insured members have a $0 copay. No insurance, no problem. Now get $80 off your first month with promo code SPACE80 when you go to Talkspace.com. Match with a licensed therapist today at Talkspace.com. Save $80 with code SPACE80 at Talkspace.com.

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That's going to be pretty cool. So when do the podcast drop? Are you— have you started already?

We started, we launched 2 episodes, and we actually, after I finish this interview with you, I have our we have our third interview.

So, oh man, hey, it's all good, man. Good luck to you on that, man. Stick with it and give everybody that knowledge, man, on how to build, not only build, man, but scale what they building.

This episode is brought to you by CJ Moneyway Media, where podcast ideas become platforms. Through the Moneyway Lab Masterclass. CJ shares real lessons from the lab for creators building their voices brick by brick. From powerful guest conversations, storytelling that inspires growth, CJ Moneyway Media is about one thing: building legacy through stories. Learn more at CJMoneyway.com.

MUSIC Store.

Let me ask you this, David, man. How do you balance multiple ventures without burning out?

People. I really only work about 30 hours a week. And the way that I'm able to do that is by empowering, training, nurturing, developing team members. For the restaurant company, we're like 350 employees now or something like that. Really, it's me working with an executive team that we've built over the last 17 years, that there's like 9 people on the executive team. So to me, it's about nurturing, developing, empowering the executive team, because of course I'm not working directly with all of the employees of that company. For my financial planning company, it's a 14-person company, and we do manage about $1.3 billion of client assets. So it's not like it's insignificant, but it's a very efficient business and it's a much smaller team. And it does allow me to have one-on-one relationships with each of the team members, very close relationships. And so I work really hard at empowering, training, delegating, nurturing my team members of that company.

I like that, man. He's a man that's not afraid to let other people fly, you know, because he could— 30 hours a week, man. Everybody would like to work 30 hours a week operating restaurants and generating a company that's generating $1.3 billion, man. I want— give me that $500 there, Bill. Thank you there very much. Hey, so let me ask you this, David, man. What separates high-level wealth planning from average financial advice?

Oh, that's a really excellent question. And I think that the finance industry is to blame for this, but the reality is that investment returns are, in my opinion, commoditized. What I mean by that is you build a portfolio and if the portfolio is half of an allocation into stocks, diversified stocks, and half into safe things like treasury bonds, your returns are No matter what the advice it is for you to put the money in, if it's allocated that way, your returns are going to be in a pretty narrow band between one portfolio versus the next. That's what I mean by they're commoditized. What really generally worries people in life is feeling like things are slipping through the cracks. They're not attending to all of the things that should be attended to when you're worried about paying your bills, that's a different type of financial planning than when you have millions and millions and millions of dollars and generations coming after you. Really, your priorities there relate more towards tax and estate planning and coaching and nurturing your family around how to make sure they think about money properly, and it has very little to do about investment returns. So, I think the difference between the average advice or financial advice you're going to get versus somebody, a company or a team that I think is more evolved, they have an awareness that really what matters is the integration of all these different areas of somebody's financial life and making sure that things aren't slipping through the cracks and that they have a cohesive plan rather than what they're really being pitched on usually, unfortunately, is I can make you more money than the next guy, which is bullshit. Excuse my language.

It's all good. Call it what it is, man. Hey, so let me ask you this, David, man. Impact. How do you use business as a vehicle for positive change?

Well, the first thing we do is We develop people, you know, see above what I said earlier, which is I really think if I can hire somebody on one of my teams and give them a sense of empowerment, agency, and mastery in a particular focused area, that's a really good thing you're doing for society, for culture, for humanity. So, it really does start there. The more typical things around impact is We give 1% of sales for my financial planning company to charity where we match our clients' charitable giving and we match every team member, their charitable giving. And we have a philanthropy team that is made up by, I think, 3 of our team members at the financial planning company who make sure that the rest of the money is given away each year. The restaurant company, our big concern in terms of impact is number one, it's around the environment and regenerative farming, which is a technique where you're healing the soil that the big ag chemical solutions, when they, in terms of how they farm, really kind of messed up the soil around the world. And there's a pretty almost perfect science that argues that if soil is healthy, it actually pulls carbon out of the air. I'm being a little bit technical here, but we've been giving 1% of sales for the restaurant company for, I think, more than 10 years now. And now it's a pretty big company to regenerative farming to try to heal the soil in America, at least the farmer's soil in America. So that money goes towards helping farmers convert crops to regenerative techniques rather than big ag chemical techniques.

So let me ask you this, man. You know, you was talking about farmers. So, you know what I'm saying, was it something in, you know, coming up or in your past that drew you to actually want to, like, help farmers out? Did you guys grow up on something like that? Is that part of your life and that's why this is so important to you?

There's an overriding philosophy in California that really mimics the Mediterranean which is to say the cuisine changes with the seasons. So what vegetables you're consuming in January ideally would be different than the vegetables you're consuming in July. And why? Because the farms have different growing seasons. And so that is another way of saying it's called California cuisine. People think of California cuisine, it's really seasonal cuisine, locally sourced. So philosophically with, and just in terms of our ideals around our menus, it's been driven by that. But it's through that that we became more and more aware of regenerative farms versus traditional big ag farms. There's also a hero of ours who we began supporting, a guy named Anthony Mint, M-Y-N-T, who created an organization called Zero Foodprint. And he was a friend of mine in San Francisco. He used to be a restaurateur and then learned about this regenerative soil problem. He courted us over a decade ago and asked us to sign up to give 1% of sales to his organization who's going to do this. And so he really shined a light on it for us. So thank you, Anthony.

Thanks. And hey, so David, man, let me ask you this, man. Where can we find you at, man? Where can we find everything about David Steele, about your restaurants, about The Fire and where can people get a hold of David at?

I have a silly little website I created because I do so many different things, both professionally and as board member of different companies in the music industry and restaurants, of course, and yoga studio and fitness stuff I do. And it's a website that's davidsteele.xyz, D-A-V-I-D-S-T-E-E-L-E dot XYZ.

So David, man, you brought up music again. I think I heard you say that once before, either it was back screen or during the interview. What's up with this music, man? What you doing in the music industry? This is where you spend your other time at? Your other— if we work 40 hours a week, other 10 hours a week, you know what I'm saying?

Well, there's 144 hours in a week. And I always try to remind people when they say they don't have time to do something, I'm like, there's 144 hours in a week. Let's do the math. Tell me what you're doing with that extra time when you claim you want to be doing this thing you don't have time to be doing. You got time. There's 144 hours in It's there. But anyhow, in the music, I sort of weaseled my way into the music industry because I love music. And years ago, a good friend of mine, Jordan Kurland, who created a— he's got a rock and roll band management company called Brilliant Corners. And through my relationship with him, he first asked me to get involved with a music festival production promotion company called Noise Pop, which is big in the San Francisco Bay Area. We put on some music festivals and do some booking for venues, et cetera, et cetera. So I joined the board of that organization a while ago, and I recently joined the board of Jordan's company, Brilliant Corners Band Management. So I'm on the board of two music industry companies, but it's all related to my friendship with Jordan Curlin, who seems to think I know a little something about organizing companies and that knowledge is transferable somehow to the music industry.

Oh, okay, man. See, I thought, uh, maybe you was getting your guitar out, you know. You know I can't play without my guitar, string, you know. I know you remember that cartoon back in the day, man, Tom and Jerry. I thought you had your instrumental game up and you had your vocals going on or something, but I get it. If I had a chance to bring you on my board with what you doing out there in the world, man, I'll bring you on too, man. You probably gonna have a couple more board, uh, seats waiting on you. So, uh, let me ask you this, Dave, man, before we get out of here. What would you tell someone who wants to build across multiple industries?

Well, I would first tell them to build one and do it great and sustainably and make sure they've got a team that is able to operate it when they begin to divert their attention onto the second thing. So that would be absolutely the first thing. And then if you're going to do multiple things, it's rinse and repeat. It's master the thing, Put people in a position to have agency and equity, literally and figuratively, in the operation of that thing, and coach and nurture them. And don't steer your attention away from that thing until it is truly sustainable.

Mm.

Don't try multiple things, man, until you get the first one down pat first, and then you can wash it and repeat it, man. Appreciate you, David, for coming on today, man. Hey, this conversation with David Steele is a reminder that success doesn't have to fit into one box. Too often people believe that they have to choose between logic and creativity, between stability and passion, between building wealth and building something meaningful. But David showed us that it's possible to do both, to build at a high level in finance while creating experiences, culture, and impact an entirely different industry. That's the mindset of a true builder. If this episode challenged you the way you think about success, share it with someone who's ready to expand their vision and step into something bigger. And if you haven't already, take a moment to rate the show. It helps us keep bringing these conversations to a global audience. Until next time, legacy over likes, brick by brick. Hey, this your boy CJ Moneyway Johnson, Laker fan all day, every day. And my man David Steele, Philly fan, We'll settle with that though. Until the next time, we outta here.

Peace. You've been listening to the CJ Moneyway Show. With real stories, real lessons, yeah, and real perspective come together. Remember, move with patience, move with purpose. That is the mindset of a Panther. Till next time, keep building your legacy brick by brick by brick by brick.

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