0167: How to Harness the Startegies of the Super Rich & Ultra-Wealthy Entreprenueurs with Author, Speaker, Podcast Host & CEO of Lifesone Companies Timothy McNeely

Ea interviews, episode 167, inspiration, transformation, success stories and the Imperfect Action Round. Seven days a week. Join Mario Ficcini for today's Expert Authority Effect interview. Expert Authority World. I'm excited to share with you today. I have none other than Timothy McNeely. And I've had hundreds of great guests on the show. They've all shared with you and I know you love them. I appreciate the feedback so far, but I have had very few who can say they have inside knowledge of people with 500 million net worth or more. And that's who Tim specializes. And his goal is to help you enrich your life as a dentalpreneur. As an entrepreneur. I don't know about you, but I want to know this because I didn't grow up with those type of people. He's an author, he's a speaker, he's a podcast host, and he's the CEO of LifeStone Companies. I'm very excited to share with him have. I'm very excited to share him with you. After we thank our sponsor, I'll be bringing up Timothy McNeely. How would you like to grow your wealth? Easier than you think. With the change, you probably don't notice anyhow automatically. That's why I started the compounding interest snowball investing with acorns and advise you do too. Get started simply and easily today@eainterviews.com ACORNS Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, Tim McNeely. Tim, how are you doing today?

I'm doing excellent. Mario.

I am so excited to have you on. You have an impressive background. I was excited to have you on, but just the wealth of knowledge you have from the people you've helped. Why did you choose this field?

Yeah, that's such a great question. You know, I went into business for myself and I chose this field originally because I wanted to make some good money and started working with my dad right out of high school and. But I'll tell you, I found myself really in a job that wasn't too fulfilling. Started making some good money and then met and fell in love with my wife, who happens to be a dentist. And I always thought that my job was to manage the investment portfolio really, really well. But like I said, met and fell in love with my wife. She's a dentist and turns out she had another boyfriend while we were dating. It was called her dental practice. We'd be out to dinner or on date night and all of a sudden this other boyfriend would invade the conversation and it'd be things like Tim, I gotta hold back my paycheck to make payroll or I've got. If I don't do it right, I'm scared of what the labor board's going to say. So massive, massive source of stress was owning a business for her. And it turned out it didn't matter how well I can manage her portfolio, it wasn't going to make a difference for her. And I found myself in a job I hated and I couldn't take care of the person I love the most. Something needed to change. And so I went to people who were way ahead of me. And that's where I really started to study the super rich and ultra wealthy business owners. Because I wanted to learn from people at the top. I don't have any clients like that. I don't work with any clients like that. But I certainly want to learn from the best of the best out there. And so my wife and I started implementing some of those strategies and we got back to being on top of the world. And I saw the big impact I could have in helping her move the needle. And I realized this is what I'm passionate about is getting up every single day and helping entrepreneurs. Helping business owners build amazing lives of significance by using lessons from the super rich.

And I love that that's your goal because so many people. Let me rephrase that, because with who I run with and the stages I've been on, I like surrounding myself with people who have a heart like yourself, that want to lead a life of significance and make positive transformations outside of that in the world as a whole. In the past, I've seen people who it appears all they cared about was the money. So I like finding people that obviously know what they're talking about, but also have that heart to want to make a difference. And they are making a difference. So I want to ask you, from the time you had this idea at that dinner to how long did it take or someone should reasonably expect, how long would it take to transform things around if they're in that situation right now?

Well, it took my wife and I several years to really implement a lot of those lessons. But you know, what I've been able to do is by sharing these lessons, you can literally get a decade of experience in a day and you can start implementing some of these strategies right away. So these are not things you have to wait for. Whether it's tax mitigation strategies or, you know, working with some of the best of the best professionals to drive your business forward, these are things you can do right away and start getting some immediate results.

What's the first thing that you would recommend to expert authority world if they want to change things right now? What's the first thing they can do that's the easiest with the highest ROI for it?

Essentially, I would tell them the best, best thing that you can do if you really want to start moving forward is you got to get clear on where you want to go. Right? You got to do that self assessment and look at where you are now, where you want to go and then figure out what the gaps are. But you got to start with a clear vision of what you are trying to build and what does that life of significance for you look like? It is going to look different for every single one of us. But as I've really done the research and helped underwrite the research on the super rich, three things come out. Number one is, you know, most people want to just take care of the people they love. They want to support the people who matter. Number two, they want to move the needle for the causes that matter and support those charities and organizations that are doing great work. And then lastly is they want to change the world for the better. But you've got to figure out what does that look like for you in your specific scenario. So you got to get clear on what you want.

And I'm glad that you're saying that because you might have a wife, a husband, one kid, two kids, six kids or no kids. And those are all very different, different situations for how much you need to take care of them.

Yeah, absolutely. But yeah, it starts with just a simple self assessment of where you are and where you want to go.

So let's dive into the business side of things because I can relate to what you're talking about. Being at dinner just, you know, one of the worst feelings in the world is being around people and feeling alone or being alone and.

Just knowing you can be doing more but you're not sure what to do when your mind's in one place and you're in physically in another or vice versa. It's just like it doesn't mesh up. You want to be present. Why do you think it's so prevalent in entrepreneurs? Because I always hear like, I'm alone, I'm at the top of my game. I'll never forget this. Someone submitted to apply for my book program to publish a business book in eight weeks. And it said on the I said, why do you think you need help? And he said, I'm at the top of my game and I feel so Alone, I have no one to talk to about this or any guidance. I'm the best at what I do, but there's no one else.

Yeah, right. I mean, that's very prevalent in the entrepreneur world. And I forget who said it, but they said if you make it to the top and you feel alone, you did it wrong. Because if you really think about it, the true entrepreneurial journey is one that you're taking with other people where you can share in your success, share in your failures, and you can work together on building amazing companies. And they may not be part of your company, but you can learn from other people. And I think that's why we see such a growth right now of mastermind and CEO groups is people don't want to struggle through this alone. Is they want to take that journey with others and, and they want to accelerate their success even more. And that's, you know, something else that comes out of the research is there's a driveness among entrepreneurs, among dental plane ers who I really work with, is there's a drive for more. They're not satisfied with the status quo. But you don't want to be alone either. And like I said, I think that's why you see a massive growth of CEO and mastermind groups out there.

Yeah, Masterminds are one of. People are my absolute favorite. I love masterminds because you get inside knowledge and gift, get to just shave off 5, 10, 15, 20 years. And it was one of my reasons I started my company. I always wanted to make good money, own my schedule and help people. And there's been various ways I've been able to do that. And I originally was thinking like, FBI, CIA, doctor, lawyer, all things to help people. And the more I looked into them, I'm like.

I know I'm exactly where I should be right now. Let's just say that. And. But when you can help people and have those transformations, what are you doing with your clients? Like, if someone comes on board right now, how long are they working with you? And how long does it take to get them at least, let's say jump started? Because obviously it might take a year, two or three. But how does your program generally work if someone wants to come on board right now, today?

Yeah, no, great question. And, you know, most of my clients, when they come to me, they've already created some significant wealth. They've sold a business, they've made a ton of money in real estate, They've inherited some money. So they've already got some significant wealth. And the thing I often hear from them is Tim, you know, I'm all taken care of. To which I smile and say, of course you are. You know, you've achieved a certain level of success. I would be surprised if you didn't have a team of advisors. But then I asked him about a lesson from the super rich that I've learned. And I said, when was the last time you've stress tested your plans? And at that point they kind of look at me sideways and they say, a stress what? What's stress testing? And then I explained to them that in the family office world, and family offices are the structure that the super rich use to manage their financial affairs. They hire some of the best accounting talent and legal talent and insurance minds, and they set this team of people down in some real estate that they own. And the job of this team is to manage that family's wealth. And these family offices, as they're called, will bring in outside eyes, someone who's not on the payroll, who's, whose job it is to not tell that family what they want to hear, to run a stress test of those existing plans to really validate the underlying assumptions. And they're doing it for two primary reasons. One, they want to catch errors before they occur, they want to catch costly errors before they get magnified, and number two, they want to take advantage of all the potential opportunities out there. And when I sit down to do a stress test with someone, we uncover things pretty immediately and you can walk away after one or two meetings. When we bring in those teams and the experts that you need to look at whatever is concerning you, we're going to identify opportunities and we're going to help you catch and question the underlying assumptions of your wealth planning to make sure it's done right. So we get results pretty immediately.

Well, that's awesome that you do go into detail that much. And you know, when I've talked to people about it before, I'll never forget something I read. And you know, when you're talking about being rich, being wealthy, and just planning for the future, leaving a legacy. One of my favorite authors, Robert Kiyosaki, in one of his books, Rich Dad's Guide to Investing, it talks about you need to have a plan to be wealthy and you need to have a plan to be comfortable. And I think somewhere in between is probably where a lot of people fall because it's like, I'm all set, I'm okay. And I would just ask, similar to what you asked, to what degree you're okay for now, based on what you, you know, you knew. But life is ever changing. How do you compensate for those changes? I know you have what, what has been tied and been proven before, but what do you do when stuff changes with the, the legal and there's new opportunities or maybe some disappear?

Yeah, no, that's a great question. Right. Life is a perpetual movie. It is always changing. It's not static. And that's why the stress testing process in wealth management or if it's business consulting, right. You've always got something in your life, in your business that you're working on improving. And I would argue part of having that life of significance always means you've got something that's not working exactly right. Because you've reached higher and higher plateaus and you've created new problems, new issues, new challenges, new opportunities. And so that life, that business that's always growing, you've always got something that you're updating and changing and looking at. But at the same time, some of the timeless principles always apply. Right. We're in the midst of, you know, coronavirus right now and you say, well, how do you, how do you prepare for that? How did you get ready for the unknown? Well, it's as simple as some of the basic principles. If you have three to six months of a living expense in something called an emergency fund that existed way before coronavirus. And that was really good advice and even more powerful through this crisis. So you can follow some of just those basic timeless principles to prepare for the unknown. But then you can also take proactive steps on a regular basis to question the underlying assumptions. By doing that testing process and challenging those assumptions of your planning.

It sounds like you have a very thorough process and you're covering all your bases. Could you give us one or two more things that you take your clients through?

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, you talked about that starting point, right? Where do you start? How do you begin? And the very first thing that I do when I'm working with a potential client is we start with something that I call the total client profile. And this is, you know, an in depth interview with someone where I'm doing talking 10% of the time and you're talking 90% of the time and I'm asking questions around seven major themes that really impact success and wealth. We're going to talk about your goals, what's important to you, where do you want to, want to go? We're going to talk about your values. We're going to talk about the most important relationships in your life. Right. Who matters to you. After we get through that, then, yes, we're going to talk about the assets and liabilities and the financials, Then we're going to dive in and talk about your existing team. How are they working? Do you have team members you like? Do you have team members who need to be replaced? We'll talk about your process of how you like to engage advisors. And then lastly, I'm going to get to know you and what you like to do when you're not working. So that's that first. First part of the process is focusing on what I call the human element, which I think is the missing element in so much of the planning that goes on with professionals out there is focusing on you and what's important and your goals are. So that's the starting point is the human element. Once we've got that total client profile, then it's working with the existing team of advisors or bringing in our own outside experts to make sure you are taking advantage of all potential opportunities and you're catching errors before they happen. And we often see that in areas of tax planning or the estate planning piece or business succession planning. Lots of times we catch things, we're able to increase valuation. Put more money in your pocket when you're ready to move forward.

You definitely have a thorough game plan and I know your clients are benefiting from it. Tell me, what's the biggest transformation that one of your clients has had from before they were with you to afterwards?

Yeah, great, great question. So I'll never forget the day I got a call from someone and he said, you know what? I'm absolutely getting killed in taxes. I have no game plan. I don't know what's going on. I'm just paying a lot of money. And we were able to sit down, really use that as the stress point, analyze things for him, and we created about $75,000 a year in tax savings for him, and we were able to properly get some insurance coverage. So his family was going to be protected in case something happened. And now he's on track for an early retirement because we did some basic planning and we were able to really dive in there and deal with some of those pressing issues. So it was the tax mitigation, it was family protection and then that estate planning and then eventual business transition strategies that we were able to put in place to them. And once again, it was a process, but we got those tax savings within that first year.

And I'm glad that you say that because I think the world as a whole just wants everything Now, I mean, Internet's getting faster, phones are faster, cars are faster, planes are faster. But when you look at the grand scheme, I mean, I remember when I was like, we need to do this now. And I'm telling my team, it's like this needs to get. And you just sometimes need to take a step back and go kind of killing it. It's only been a month or two, or maybe it's been six months or 12 months in the grand scheme of life. That's still very quick. So when you're saying it took a year, who cares if it takes two or three? You're now saving nearly six figures a year. What's that worth? And I'm sure the way it's structured, as his income continues to grow, that's going to grow.

Exactly. Yeah. We're able to increase those savings as his income increases and really create those results so that he could achieve what he wanted, which was taking care of his family, being able to provide education for his kids, being able to pass on his values and things that matter to him and encourage philanthropy among his kids, too. So. Right. Making that difference and having that impact is just so rewarding. But these are lifetimes of results. And that's one of the challenges with entrepreneurship and business building is driven entrepreneurs. This is how I am, and I've had to work on it. But we're so good at focusing on the things we don't achieve instead of looking at all the things we have achieved. Because like you said, Mario, we want it now. And, you know, driven entrepreneurs, we're just a little bit impatient.

That can be true. And, you know, and I think at the core of it, the reason, because I. Putting myself on the examination table here, what's the reason? Well, the quicker I can go, the more people that I can have to support me so I can go faster and further. And I love bringing people with me because it's boring doing it on your own. And it's not nowhere near as rewarding when you bring people and you can show them. They might not even believe it's possible and only takes a few times to go, you know, open their mind on top of all the other people. But I would say the impatience is from. You have such a heart to help so many people and, you know, you have a finite amount of time if you can help a thousand people month versus a year, what if, you know, I'm. I'm always thinking, well, how can I do that in a week? How can I do, you know, and no matter what it is Great. Now I know how to do it a week. How do I do it in a day? How do I do it in an hour?

And.

But if you don't ever step back and go, you just figured out how to go from helping a thousand people a month to a thousand people an hour, that's like a. I don't even know the exponential logarithmic scale or whatever. It's just more.

Yeah, it's absolutely exponential. And it's more and. Right. And going back to the super rich. Right. Who better to learn from than people who have already made it to the top? And that's why I love studying the mindsets, the habits of serious money out there. What are the billionaires doing? How are they accelerating their success? How are they achieving more with less?

Give me one more. How are they doing? You said habits. What would you say is another habit? Because I know that's. That stems on all of it, and I'm sure there's 30, 40 steps to do a full thing. But what would you say is a different habit they have?

I would say probably one of the biggest habits and mindsets they have is they focus on what they are good at. Right. And they work on delegating everything else. And that's why they do those family offices, that's why they bring in teams of people to manage their wealth, is they want to keep accelerating at what they're accelerating at, and they know they cannot be experts at everything. And this is another common trap a lot of us fall into is we try to be these jack of all trades. Right? We try to do it all. But what happens there is you end up at the end of your life and you're mediocre in a whole bunch of things. Instead of being really good at one thing. And I want to be an expert, I want to be really good at one thing. I don't want to be mediocre in everything.

I've used the example of, you want to be a scalpel, not a butter knife.

Exactly, Mario. Well said.

I'm. I'm glad you mentioned that one, because that's one I've been working on the last couple of years more than ever. Also because, again, there's so many people to help, and especially with the show. I love my team. I'm very thankful for them. There's no way I could pull all this off without them.

So there's that habit. The other habit that we just started really looking into is the super rich, the way they make deals and the way they approach things is they have this everyone wins mindset. And they really approach things from abundance, not scarcity. And they go in, and when they're analyzing business relationships, personal relationships, they're certainly concerned about themselves. But more importantly, they're concerned about how can I help you win? What is it that you're looking for? How can I support you? How can I help you reach your goals? And by adopting that mindset, everyone grows and everyone wins.

That's a great way to be. And.

So many people, I think just because the world isn't that way or they didn't grow up that way, it's a hard thing. But when you do flip the switch, it's a whole different perspective on just, you know, instead of what can I get out of this? It's like, what can I give?

Yeah. It changes everything. And when everyone wins, you actually end up winning bigger than you ever imagined.

Well, I appreciate everything you're sharing. We're going to. I got it right here. I'm kind of excited about this. You're one of the first people to see the real thing. But I call this round the Wheel of Whatever.

Aha.

And we're gonna. There's questions on it that only I can see. And the question I have for you.

I don't know about you, but I'm. It's spinning. That's just amusing to me.

Question I have for you is Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, who would you rather learn about wealth from and why?

It's a great question. I'm going to say Buffett because great. Bill Gates has certainly done amazing things. Very, very smart individual. But Buffett has been able to do things time and time and time again. Right? Because Berkshire Hathaway is a conglomerate of companies. So Buffett's just been able to repeat that formula over and over again. And what him and Munger have done are just absolutely amazing. So I would say I want to learn investing from Warren Buffett.

Final answer?

Final answer.

All right. Excellent. All right, we're going to thank our sponsor and come back for the imperfect action round. Invest automatically, save for later and spend today. That's why I love acorns. I used to think spare change didn't make a difference and saving and investing was an old fashioned manual process. It's not. And it's a game changer. If you're not leveraging, compounding interest in your business and life automatically, you're missing out. Acorns not only makes saving and investing easy and automatic, it makes it even more valuable by investing with diversified portfolios. Spare change, extra cash, and rounding up everyday transactions. You can even set recurring monthly investments in the amount you desire to make good. Great. There is also a debit card option that will continue to help you save and invest even further when you spend. Plus no minimum balance and overdraft fees. Now for the cherry on top. They have partnered with 250 plus companies and brands and growing with their Found Money program to invest back a percentage into your account with the everyday purchases when you shop, two of which you're probably listening to this right now through an Amazon or Apple device. Get started profiting from your everyday life and business simply and easily today@eainterviews.com.

Once again, that's eainterviews.com acorns and we are back with the imperfect action round. Tim, are you ready to take imperfect action?

Let's do it. I am ready.

All right, 60 second answers, rapid fire. Number one, what's the fastest path to the cash?

Fastest path to the cash is you get clear on what you want and you just start taking action. Don't think about it too much because if you think about it too much, you, you're never going to get started. So figure out what you want and start going after it right away.

Excellent. Number two, what is the biggest problem you see your prospects make in the fastest way for them to fix it?

Oh, biggest issue I see time and time again, bar none across the board, all the research supports it is you are working with less than capable advisors. You're working with what I call pretenders. They're really well meaning, likable people. They truly have your best interests at heart. They truly want to help, but they don't have the technical expertise to really move the needle for you. So you're working with less than capable advisors and the best way to fix that is to get the best of the best team possible who can help you achieve everything that's important to you.

I'm going to add another minute or two because I want to go deeper with that. How would you define the technical aspect? What are they lacking and what's the difference from A or B?

Yeah, great question. So in becoming seriously wealthy, which I had the privilege of writing the forward to, we do a lot of research on wealth advisors and we dive into specific strategies, ideas, tactics that the super rich are using and we do surveys and we say, well how many of you know about these strategies? And the vast majority of advisors put their hands up. They say, oh yeah, we know all about defined benefit plans. Yes. We know about captive insurance companies. Yes, we know about private placement life insurance or premium finance life insurance. So they're familiar with these strategies. But then we dive a little deeper and we ask, well, have you ever done one of these for one single client? And the numbers drop dramatically. So there may be familiarity with some of the strategies, but once again, that implementation, it's just not getting done. And we see that across the board. And we just see a lot of advisors are not serving their clients and providing the information and the technical ability to move forward, but then even pushing a little forward and, you know, diving into the technical expertise. Just having technical expertise is not enough. Because a lot of really good technically proficient professionals, they have a hammer and you're a nail. Doesn't matter what they're good at, that's the solution. And they're missing what we talked about earlier, which is the human element. It's really understanding what's important to you. So you want to work with people who have the technical expertise, but they're not focused on the wizardry. They're not focused on, you know, wowing you with the latest products and strategies. They're really focused on solving your problem using the technical expertise.

Wow, that is very timely and I appreciate that. I just shared today. Don't be impressive. Be reliable and loyal.

There you go. Yep, exactly right. And true principles.

You're. You, you just said it there, especially for this because it sounds like you don't, you know, you don't want them practicing theory. And like you said with Warren Buffett, he can do it any which way. Up, down, left, sideways, over and over and over again. It's not, hey, I got. I hit a vein right here, and I'm just going to milk that to the end, and by all means, please do. But it doesn't matter what you give him, he's going to turn it into gold.

Yes.

Man, I could go another 20 minutes. I want to dive into that. That's good. Number three, what is the best way to maximize customer lifetime value that you found?

So best way to maximize value is to deliver value. Right. If you want to really maximize your relationships with your. With your clients, with your customers, you got to always be focused on how can I make a difference for them? What do they need? How can I serve them? What's lacking? You know, what are my offerings? What do I offer now and what can I offer? Right? How can I really solve their most pressing issues and challenges? And if you're focused on solving problems for your customers, you're going to maximize lifetime customer value.

Excellent. What are some books you'd recommend to Expert Authority World that's really helped helped you in life or business.

Yeah, some of the best books that I've read lately is absolutely love. Oh, and I'm going to blank now.

Willpower doesn't work. Benjamin Harding Absolutely fantastic. Mind blowing because it goes into the fact that right willpower is kind of hard to muster, but if you can change your environment, you can slowly change those habits. And then along the same lines, Tom McAvick James Clear is fantastic. Little Don Miller Story brand and then of course Becoming Seriously Wealthy by John Bowen Russ Allen Prince.

Excellent. Where would you like people to find more about you?

They can check me out@timmcneely.com or they can go to lifestoneco.com and grab a copy of Becoming Seriously Wealthy.

Excellent. Well, I've thoroughly enjoyed this and learned a lot. I really could go another 20 to 30 minutes with the questions, but thank you for your time. It's been a pleasure.

It's been a pleasure to be here and help serve your audience.

Thank you again, Expert Authority World. We have another great episode here today. I'll see you tomorrow. Have a great day and God bless. Why Every Business Needs a Book Including Yours Would you like to save five plus hours with every prospect? Generate more leads and profit in your business now? Visit businessbookchecklist.com and learn how you can implement this in your business today. Spare Change? How's that going to make a difference? I know that's what I thought before I started investing. With Acorns, throwing change in a jar is not very leveraging and time consuming. But what about all the transactions you don't use cash for? You know, like majority, Acorns not only invest your spare change automatically with roundups, it also lets you add a preset amount to each transaction. Regardless, it's pretty inspiring to see how quickly and easily you can end up with a pile of cash instead. A pile of receipts. Get started simply and easily today at eainterviews.com forward/acorns once again, that's eainterviews.com forward slash acorns hey, thanks for listening to today's episode. I hope you got a lot out of it. I know I sure did. If you haven't done so already, I invite you to subscribe to the show and also be sure to check out eainterviews.com for complete show notes, the full interview video experience, links to the resources we mentioned, and more. Have a blessed day and I'll see you tomorrow.