500 The Deep Wealth Podcast 500th Episode With Jeffrey And Steve

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Introduction and Milestone Celebration

Jeffrey Feldberg: Deep Wealth Nation. Welcome to another very special episode of the Deep Wealth Podcast. I have my partner in crime, Steve Wells, because this is our 500th episode of the Deep Wealth Podcast. Hey, partner, how you doing?

Steve Wells: Hey, thank you for inviting me. What a milestone. I just can't believe it's been 500, what a great accomplishment.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Where does time go?

Reflecting on the Podcast's Beginnings

Jeffrey Feldberg: Do you remember it was the pandemic. It was locked down. No one was allowed outta their houses. And you and I felt, so hopeless and what can we do? How do we make a difference? And we started the podcast. We had no idea how to do a podcast, but we said, let's try it. Let's figure it out.

Let's see where we can take this.

Remember that?

Steve Wells: Oh yeah, I know. I, it was outta necessity. Sometimes that's the mother of invention. So we had to do it and we talked to a lot of people and I was along the ride with you for a little while and then I jumped ship, and then you invite me back onto the the carriage every now and then, if it's a big number, like 100, 200, 300. Here we have 500. So what an amazing [00:01:00] run you've had, and you've talked to so many people and from so many different areas, all related to business and maybe related to selling their company, buying a company, and all various stages of process.

So I thought maybe the audience would be interested, I'm interested I was in with you on some of these conversations, but I'm really wanted to get some of your insights. You have been in a doctoral program talking to investment bankers and family offices and people who want to sell and people who want to buy. You must have some really interesting observations about that whole process.

Insights on Selling a Business

Steve Wells: Let's just talk about the guy or woman who wants to sell, is there any high level takeaway that you can share that you've seen as some common thread through some of those conversations you've had?

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's interesting because from a high level, nobody really wants to sell until they want to sell. And so the conversation [00:02:00] is, I don't want to sell. I have no plans to sell it. And in fact, you and I were speaking about this a while back. This is why we said, okay, let's now have a fork in the road.

Deep Wealth Mastery. We're going to rename that Deep Wealth Mastery Exit. And as we record this behind the scenes, we're now creating Deep Wealth Mastery Growth. Because for so many entrepreneurs, I want to grow the company. I want to grow my profits. I have no plans on selling. Until, wow, this would be a great time to sell. And actually the best time to sell is when you don't need to sell.

From a high level, and for me it's a mindset that I hear and I certainly respect, and you and I were in there. It takes me back actually to the earlier days of Embanet. You were like, Jeffrey. I'm a little bit ahead on this journey with you and I don't plan to be here forever.

Have you ever thought about the company and the future and maybe one day we would sell. And it was a short conversation because from hindsight it was actually Steve. No, I don't see that. And thank goodness for you, you kept on revisiting it because I can be [00:03:00] stubborn. You have to knock me over the head with a two by four a number of times, and you did it politely a number of times.

You finally got me and then Waleuska open to that conversation of, well, what if we did decide that one day we weren't going to be part of the company, that someone else was going to help take it to the next level and I'm so grateful that you did that because had I gone along with just my thinking at the time, I would've missed the opportunity.

Opportunity would've knocked, I would not have been ready. 

The Importance of Preparation

Jeffrey Feldberg: And sure, you can always sell a business. Are you going to get any deal or do you want the best deal?

You can't just show up and it's going to happen. You have to prepare. And preparation is a gift that keeps on giving.

So the one thing that I see out there with too many entrepreneurs is, Jeffrey, I have no plans to sell ever. I have a big runway. I'm young and I have so many plans and goals and dreams and it's just not going to happen. But life happens and we get so caught up. And as we're talking about this, it reminds me we had a very [00:04:00] unconventional way of running the business because philosophically it was, yes, we're going to sell it tomorrow.

And then on the other hand, actually, we're going to run as though we're going to keep it forever. And it kept a healthy tension of not cutting corners on the one hand, but not becoming so lazy and, oh, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Let's just keep on doing what we're doing. And it actually brought out the best in our leadership, our team, the company for our customers, the market disruption that we're able to create.

So it's a long-winded answer with the short answer being. What I see with so many entrepreneurs is I just can't picture that day. It's like life insurance. Who wants to talk about their death? Who wants to talk about, I'm going to put money into a policy for the day that I die, that it's going to be there for me?

So that's some observations that I've seen along the way in the past 500 episodes.

Steve Wells: Well, sure. It's very emotional. Particularly most of these people selling have built the company from the ground up or from the beginning. And so to get rid rid of a company it's hard [00:05:00] at first because it's getting rid of part of you. You think now it's. Too healthy probably to have all your identity in this company.

But it's just hard not to do that. So it's very understandable why people are reluctant, but you've said this many times is that, what we're going to show you about how to make your company a better company to be sold is not going to hurt the company. In fact, it's going to make it a better company.

If you want to keep it forever and ever, that's fine. Well, the thing is people don't realize is you are going to exit someday. Either you're going to exit and leave a company behind for someone to deal with, or maybe you're going to pass it on to your children or your employees, or maybe you're going to, sell it or sell part of it.

But there is going to be an exit. There is an exit day someday. So it does require some preparation. So I'm sure you've heard some reluctance. I remember we were talking to someone once and, they were reluctant to try to make their company better.

Somehow they thought it would be more manipulative or something that they thought it would be [00:06:00] a bad thing to make the company sell for more money. But you've talked to so many buyers. Also not just the sellers.

And, what would be some takeaways from what's the buyer's point of view and who are these buyers?

Understanding Buyers' Perspectives

Jeffrey Feldberg: So much has changed from when we started the podcast and fast forward till now. You still have your traditional buyers. You have private. Equity venture capital, you have your strategic buyer, so these would be your competitors who for different reasons want to buy your company. We also now have individual investors who don't have gazillions of dollars behind them, but they have enough behind them that for a smaller company, perhaps a smaller transaction, they're now in the market doing that.

The one thing though, regardless of the buyer, here's the theme that I see that most entrepreneurs don't see, and this actually happened to us. We didn't even realize it at the time. I only realized it after going down this path. The best analogy that I can give, buyers are so smart. They are so smart, and they [00:07:00] do this all day long.

And as we often say here in the podcast or in Deep Wealth Mastery. How can you win at a game you've never played before? How can you win at a game? You don't even know the rules because the skillset to start a company is very different than a skillset to grow a company, which is very different than to get investment in your company or to sell the company.

From that perspective, when a buyer comes in, it's as though the buyer is seeing everything in color, full view. Panoramic, stereo, you name it. Everything going on As entrepreneurs, it's like we have these blinders on and it's dim and it is dark and it's black and white, and we're seeing such a small picture.

And if we put ourselves under the microscope, why did we get a 7-figure offer and we said no to that, thankfully. And then later on we got a 9-figure offer? 

Well, the buyer saw the 9-figures. Buyers are smart just like anyone else, human nature.

Why would I offer something if I can get a better value for it if I don't have to pay as much for that?

We [00:08:00] didn't understand that and we didn't see the 9-figures at the time, and we saw the 7-figures. Oh, we can do better. And so that to me is the difference. It's when we begin that preparation when we look to make the company a better company, regardless of whether we want to sell it or we just want to grow the profits, we're bringing out that intrinsic value that's hidden.

We're having sunlight come in and show itself. That's why we call it those hidden Rembrandts in the attic that we're putting out for public display. And that's really the difference. So when buyers come in they see everything. They see the good, the not so good, everything else in between.

They're just not going to tell it to you all the good things. And they're going to see, Hey, how do I get the best deal on this?

And that's really the biggest difference. And what the buyers will also share with me offline, and sometimes they've been brave enough, they even say it on the podcast itself. They want to see disorganization, they want to see some fear.

Not all buyers, but a lot of buyers do. There's some buyers that say, Hey, I want everything all lined up for me. [00:09:00] I just want to be able to do a transaction. I want to know what I'm getting. I don't want any surprises. But there's other buyers who are saying, hey, I kind of like those surprises because it means I can lower the enterprise value. I can get a better deal. So it's interesting from the buyer's perspective what they see and what, as entrepreneurs, we just miss the boat on every day.

Steve Wells: So as the seller, how do you play dumb?

How do you, how do you play smart but be dumb. How do you be smart but give them that, that perception that they want.

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's really going back to, and I know this is going to sound like a commercial with what I'm saying, but it works and there's a reason that it works. When you look to the 9-step roadmap that we created, and you go back to Step 5 Winning Mindset. And the Step 5 Winning Mindset isn't that, Hey Steve, you win and I lose, or I win and you lose.

It's how do we create a win, win? And even if you go back to our liquidity event, we were volunteering our services. We didn't have to do it. And in fact, we were told not to do it, but we were going to the person that was writing the main report [00:10:00] for one of the buyers, we didn't know it was going to be the final buyer, but we're saying, Hey before you finalize that report, if you wanted to take a look, we can take a look at that and make sure factually everything Cis correct. We want you to look good. We also want to make sure that no one has to double back and there was some errors or anything else. And a lot of the times we were told no when we were going through the letters of intent and everything else, but a few times we were taken up on that offer.

Looking back, I really believe it was that mindset of, hey, let's just play ball with everyone. Let's be kind. We're going to be fair. We're going to be kind. We're not going to give away the farm.

At the same time though, how can we add value?

How can we look to find a win, win? And I'll never forget, and we have talked about this on the podcast, where we had one of the buyers, again, we didn't know they were going to be the buyer at the time.

It was just because of that friendly nature. They put down their guard. I remember the one time it was just a social get together we had at the office, we just went to the far corner of the office and it was just us and just started talking. It was like [00:11:00] a fireside chat and when it was done and we all walked out of there. Was just different. It felt hey, okay, it's not adversarial. Yeah. They have their goals. Yes, we have our goals, we're going to agree to disagree, but there was an underlying beginning of a, I don't know, friendship is the right word, but a respect of, hey, these guys are human. They're friendly. They didn't have to do that, but they did an and vice versa.

What about you?

What do you think about that?

Steve Wells: Well, you're right. Humans are humans and people are people. In our case, not, maybe not everyone will deal with this. We were dealing with Wharton MBAs, Harvard MBAs, Stanford MBAs, just throngs of them descending on us. These are really smart, aggressive. They're working 20 hours a day. Hard, hard charging people. They have a life too.

And so, it is good to make that emotional connection. It's like anything facts, obviously these are financial people and facts say the day, but there are emotions involved in it. And the other thing is, I think these people are very [00:12:00] sophisticated, as you said, financiers, and they knew so much more about that end of the world than we do.

There's a part of our world that they don't know, and it's the entrepreneurial world. Where we see opportunity, and so they may not be able to quantify it right away, so we've got to help them quantify it.

So we've got to show a runway and a ramp, which we are able to do and why this is important, and not just gloss over what we see as obvious. Man, you got to see this. We got such great opportunity here. We have to then use our skills or have someone help us quantify that, monetize that, show them, and they're going to discount it anyway, but let them see the vision.

Like you said they want to get a bargain. So they want to see opportunity and if they see disorganization and if they see non-sophistication, they see that as a positive because they know they can jump in there and do that. But also what they're buying, which they cannot replicate, is the entrepreneur's ability to create something out of nothing.

[00:13:00] If they could have done that, they would just make it themselves. So they can't do that. And so to really accentuate that, I think creates more enterprise value for the person. The world has changed a bit and technology is changing a lot. The data room in our day was, it's basically like a Dropbox.

I think, it was pre Dropbox maybe. I don't know. How do you see the world now?

Everyone talks about AI but what is that going to do for the future of the buyer and seller?

The Role of AI and Technology

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's interesting with AI And before we get to AI, I just want to circle back on something that you had said in that last experience. And you're right. We were in these rooms. It was Wharton MBAs, Harvard MBAs, people who were in finance, and Steve, you and me. We're the last people you want to speak to when it comes to numbers.

That was just not our strength. The one thing that we did though, and I don't know if this was conscious for, it's just our personalities. We would just walk in there and we would just be vulnerable. [00:14:00] Hey, so and so. I'm not really great with numbers. In fact, I don't even understand that term that you just mentioned.

Can you explain that to me?

What are you getting at here?

And what are you looking to see, or what do you want out of this?

If you can explain this to me in a way that I can understand, I can help answer. I'll answer it for you. I'm not trying not to answer it. I just don't understand the question.

So can you walk me through again?

Can you just elaborate that and if you want to step it down and speak to me like I'm in kindergarten, I won't take any offense, and in fact I'd prefer that. And it was that curiosity and just putting ourselves out there. And okay some of the buyers tried to take advantage of that and tried to do circles around us with that, and they were cut out of the process.

But the ones who respect that and said, okay, these guys aren't as smart as me. Actually, I kinda like that, that I'm the smartest guy in the room. Never our philosophy, but that was theirs. And it opened up communications and it's with that theme, actually a constant theme as I look at not just our journey.

The successful entrepreneurs that have come onto the Deep Wealth Podcast, because it doesn't matter if it was 50 years [00:15:00] ago or five months ago that they started business. Human nature is human nature, and yes, the technology changes. Yes, society changes. Yes, the norms change. Human nature doesn't. And the most successful entrepreneurs on the podcast that we've spoken to, even ones that aren't on the podcast, what I've seen is it's a relentless pursuit of, okay, tomorrow's a new day. I'm going to do better.

Yesterday, wasn't that great, but you know what? Today's going to be even better. Let's see what we can do. And there's a curiosity.

I don't get this.

Why not?

Or, hey, this is a new thing. So AI, as an example, I have no idea what this AI thing is.

Why don't I find out?

Today's a great day for me to find out. What AI is about as opposed to entrepreneurs who stick their heads in the sand. I have no idea what this AI is. It sounds confusing. I'll let other people figure it out. As opposed to the ones that, yeah, let me see what AI, let me experiment.

I'm going to fail. I'm going to fall down. I'm going to scrape my knee a few times. It's going to be [00:16:00] okay though. I'll figure it out and I'll get there. So that's one of the common themes that I'm seeing. And who knows where AI is going.

Offline earlier today I was sharing with you, I spoke to Dan Monahan, futurists with AI, one of our friends on the personal side as well, and he was sharing his journey of where he sees AI going and it was amazing.

But the common theme, and I asked him this question and it was a similar answer, he said, Jeffrey, just get curious. Learn about AI. Read a newsletter. Here's some newsletters that you can subscribe to. Try it out, see what's going on. Put yourself up the ladder as you get more comfortable, try different things.

So it's curiosity. That would be the one common theme I've seen with the really successful entrepreneurs.

Steve Wells: Yeah, and here's I think an interesting thing. I'm older than you. But because we did our exit in the Internet bubble, and the company was in the frenzy of this internet idea that people were just investing in, building a lot of inter infrastructure. There's a lot of parallels to what's going on today.

But after our [00:17:00] company was sold and the bubble popped. Our company did fine. It did not go down. It kept going and kept making money and it's a testimony to the way we structured the company that favored its sale, but it also favored it if we didn't sell. And I'm glad we did sell because it would've been many more years.

The timing was. Until it was going to be a market to buy again. But it's back to the point. All these things that you're saying we should do to sell, are really positives. We don't know what the AI is going to do and how it's going to be disruptive and it's going to be a decline and we think it's going to be great, how is that going to affect our company right now?

And what can we do and how can we position that?

Obviously everyone's thinking about that. It's not a novel thought, we're going to have these disruptions all the time in businesses and, we just have to figure out how to adapt and take advantage of that.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And as you're talking about that, one of the common themes that I've seen in the 500 episodes, and we're a perfect example of that because you said, Hey, we closed and I'm glad we did. [00:18:00] And then we went on with things and then the Great Recession came. Yes, we closed, but two weeks later, the whole world just stopped and had our closing been. Three weeks later, there would not have been a closing. And we've spoken about that on the podcast many times and that's one common theme. As you shared that, Steve, it just reminded me of the guests who have been on, regardless of their background or what industry that they're in, don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today.

Don't become lackadaisical. because you never know what tomorrow brings Yesterday's already done tomorrow isn't here. All I have is today. Let me make the most of today. Now, having said that, it doesn't mean it's the detriment of your health and you're not sleeping and you're burning both ends of the candle as the saying goes, it's that, Hey, let's just keep on moving forward.

And I remember we had a sense, something just wasn't right. The market is just too good. We didn't know when was going to happen. We made it a commitment to ourselves. Okay we are going to keep on pressing this forward as best we can to get this [00:19:00] closed as quick as we can because something is just off here and I'm glad we followed that.

Steve Wells: Yeah. 

Balancing Business Success and Personal Well-being

Steve Wells: Another thing I would like you to speak to that we live through is, you see people before they exit, obviously, and people after and some people are in the process of building a company and you probably have a hard time getting them even on a podcast because they're running at a thousand miles an hour. And all that will change if they exit.

So when you're in the middle of building a great, successful company and the pressures. That can create, what have you seen of how people have handled that in, in positive ways and maybe negative ways?

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's interesting because as you say that, and I've mentioned this a number of times on the podcast, it was this incredibly successful entrepreneur, a billionaire. Who was not healthy and the end of days were near, and I was speaking with this billionaire, and the billionaire shared with me, Jeffrey, what I would give every last penny in my bank account, all those [00:20:00] zeros, to know that I had my health back, that I was going to be around much longer with the family.

I don't remember all those meetings or even some of the business accomplishments that people tell me about. All I know is I'm in pain. I'm not going to be here much longer. And that always stays with me. I look back, I was not like that. I was just pedal to the metal and forget about my health. I'll figure this out later.

Let me just get this business going up and running. And if you ask me today some of those accomplishments, I couldn't even remember them. I would try my best, but I couldn't remember them. Let me take a step back.

What do I define as successful?

Because someone who has all the zeros in the bank, they could be a trillionaire. They They don't have family, they don't have friends, they don't have their health. That's not success. To me, that's actually being a prisoner. It's the same blank different day, and you have a lot of zeros to show for it. So for me, my definition of success and for an entrepreneur who's in the thick of things, they're building something great, they also realize their biggest treasure is number one, their health.

And then [00:21:00] next to that, it's going to be their family, their friends, their community, their faith, and that's what's going to be first for them. And the business yes, it's important and it pays the bills and the livelihood of the team members and all of that. It's a very distant fourth, fifth, or sixth on that list because they realize, hey, if I don't get it right on the personal side, it's just not going to happen on the business side.

The business isn't going to be as great. Or even if I get it right on the business side, what's the point what's it all for?

And some of the entrepreneurs have said to me, Jeffrey, I'm growing the company at a slower rate, but I'm okay with that because I'm rich when it comes to my joy, my fulfillment, and my life.

I wasn't like that. I failed. I'd give me an F when we were building Embanet, I never really saw that it was, okay, let's go. What else can I do today? 

Balancing Work and Family

Jeffrey Feldberg: I still got some more time today and I missed so many opportunities along the way with that on the personal side that I can never get back.

Steve Wells: I've had the privilege as I know you have too, to mentor many young [00:22:00] business people and even have small conversations or extended conversations. And I think the number one question or problem that they bring to me is work life balance.

How do I balance my work?

How do I do my family?

How do I do this?

And we don't have to get into a lot of those answers, I think for me, it'd be interesting to see if you agree there is no balance. You've got to do one or the other. What you have to do is then take those times and make sure you don't make it all business and otherwise you don't want.

To grab a phone call and you're talking to your child, and so you're balancing the two things. You've got to give your child or your spouse a hundred percent attention and not do the business, and then sometimes you got to give a hundred percent business.

Have you experienced those questions from people as well?

Jeffrey Feldberg: Oh, absolutely. We're going through another Deep Wealth Mastery right now and we have actually a number of very young entrepreneurs and that was the number one question. Jeffrey, I don't know what to do. I have a newborn. And I have my [00:23:00] business. It's still a new business, and I feel so guilty because when I'm with my newborn and I want to be with a newborn, I feel like I'm neglecting the business.

I'm with the business, I feel like I'm neglecting my family.

What do I do? And I share with them really from our journey.

And actually, Steve, you taught me so much along the way with that, because oftentimes you were driving across the country, it was a 24 hour drive from where you were to get to where our headquarters was.

And not all the time, but oftentimes you'd have the family with you and there were ground rules. Okay, I'll be driving and if I'm on the phone, there's no yelling in the background and let's be quiet. But at least number one, your daughter saw you. Okay, hey, this is what dad does, and look at what he's doing.

And it was through your actions, not your words that you're providing so many valuable life lessons and she's an incredible young woman today. Fast forward with that, and you're showing them, and they also saw the sacrifice, but at the same time you were together and when it wasn't business activities [00:24:00] as a family, you're now enjoying family events that you had.

Or maybe it was a conference that we'd be at. And we both bring our families and so you are a great role model and example. Oh, okay there is no balance, but I can blend it. I can have the family here with me, but hey, if I'm in the business, I'm in the business. But at the same time, when I'm with the family, unless it's an emergency I really don't want hear from anybody because this is family time and it's sacred to me and it's going to be the family time.

It was a struggle until it wasn't. And you realize, okay, life's not perfect. Let me just do the best that I can and let me make the most of every moment, but let me be present. That's the gift the present.

Steve Wells: Exactly. And so much of it is your partner. And in my case, Kristy, my wife, and Stephanie, my daughter. So, I think what I tell people is you don't want resentment on either side. You don't want her to resent my work and I don't resent the interruption. So by having some kind of discussion about it and then talking about how you can incorporate your life together and [00:25:00] again, for us that work I would drop them off at a mall or something and then go have a meeting they were fine with that. That actually became kind of fun. If you can work it all out, you get the best of both worlds. Not everybody has all those flexibilities, there's some way to do it and it's probably on an individual cases, but I will say it's so important in your life because as you said, you don't want to get down the road and go, wow, I miss some of the most important things ever

That said. 

Challenges of Post-Exit Life

Steve Wells: We've talked and we've been through it ourselves, people who've gone through the whole process and now they sold their company. What takeaways, do you have from those people's experiences?

Jeffrey Feldberg: Oh my goodness. There are so many takeaways and generally speaking, I put myself in this group as well. So many entrepreneurs that I've spoken with are not ready for the Postex exit life. I know I wasn't. And what they tell me is, Hey Jeffrey, I didn't find my happily ever after. I thought that all the zeros in the bank, not having [00:26:00] the daily pressure of the business, not having the daily grind, that I would be ecstatic, that life would be grand and it would be a dream come true.

I feel depressed. I feel worse now then when I had all the pressures in the business, and I'm bored outta my mind. And we deal with that so much in the Deep Wealth community of why we need to prepare for the post-exit life now, even if it might be three decades away, to begin to get to some rituals that we can do right now.

And to me, that's the biggest takeaway of speaking to the entrepreneurs. Looking at your journey, looking at my journey, it's can I today at a much smaller level with much less time, but still have it in my life rituals that can later be expanded to fill the void when the business is no longer there?

And what I mean by that, going back and there's a theme that we're organically creating here, it's really, if I had to put it into one or two words, this theme that we're talking about is joy. It's [00:27:00] fulfillment, and for the post-exit life of when we eventually do exit. And Steve, hopefully it's not the kind of exit that you were talking about earlier where they're, they're taking us out of the company because we're no longer around.

We've gone to meet our maker, not that kind of an exit where we've chosen to have an exit maybe to the next generation, or some investors have come in or we are now part of a board that we've created for the company and we're no longer in the business, or we've outright sold the company. And the takeaway that I've seen from so many entrepreneurs, and we talk a lot about this in Deep Wealth Mastery, how today can I have activities that leave me feeling more energized and excited?

And maybe it's only a 5% of my time this week or this month, but down the road, I can make that 50% if I want, but at least I have. That ritual, that momentum in my life. I have the roots. They're small roots, but they're there.

It's not such a guessing game because what I never realized and what so many entrepreneurs don't realize, these [00:28:00] things take time when you lose your identity in the business, which never should have been like that in the first place. But when the business is no longer there and you now have all this time.

You're not going to have new activities or new friends or new rituals overnight just because you have all the zeros in the bank, or just because you're such a terrific entrepreneur. You need to find it. And a lot of the times, Hey, that didn't work. Actually that really didn't work. I didn't like that. Let me find something else.

And that takes time to do. And so the biggest takeaway from the entrepreneurs that have exited is, let me, well beforehand begin to plan out what that's going to be.

What kind of groups or activities can I sign up for can I become a part of?

What associations can I start doing it?

Yeah, I know I don't have the time for it, but at least let me look into it and see what it's about. Or maybe speak to a few people who are already doing it at least very loosely, begin to have some connections. Those have been my observations.

What about you?

Steve Wells: It's hard to know when you haven't been through something. So there may be people who've exited many times and they're prepared, but they actually probably are starting another business. But it just as [00:29:00] much as you need to do tax planning for your exit and this about amount of money you're going to get.

I think you'd need to do some planning in your life. And we did some of that and some of it, we didn't, we talked to someone who really had a great checklist once, but some of it is just not jumping into the next thing because, Type A people, we feel a void if we're not on charging.

And so how to stop something, just stop doing anything for a year, what are you going to do?

All of a sudden you've got millions of dollars and you've got a bunch of money, you're going to have to invest or do something with, all this is hard to do when you're in the middle of trying to run the company and sell the company.

I understand it, there's much planning as you can do, I think will help you in the long run and create some failures and heartaches, as a result of it.

Investing Time for Personal Growth

Jeffrey Feldberg: And it's interesting as you're talking about that, and I'm reflecting now on the 500 or so guests, and it hasn't been completely 500 guests we've done a lot of solo episodes along the way, but let's just call it 500 and it's interesting because I see the clear patterns.

And the entrepreneurs who, hey, I'm going to [00:30:00] invest in myself. I don't have the time. I just don't have the time. I am full up. You know what though I will make the time. I will find the time. I am committed to finding the time. I don't care what I'm doing.

I'll find the time. And on the podcast offline, they're sharing with us, Hey, I'm trying this. You should try this. Or, what about that? Or Have you heard about this? Or, in our masterminds, we see the entrepreneurs who are sticking around after we have a live mastermind. Hey. Have you ever come across this or can you tell me about that, or They're consistently showing up all the time they're there.

Yeah i'm traveling halfway around the road, but I didn't want to miss it because I didn't want to miss this one gem that might be said. I want to be there. And it's for me as entrepreneurs who really put on this earth, I believe, to change the social fabric of society by finding incredibly painful problems that no one knows how to solve. But we can be world class at solving.

The ones who really succeed, not just at solving the problem, but having some fun. I'll use the F word fun and enjoying themselves [00:31:00] along the way. The one common pattern with that is, okay, I am investing time. I'm not spending time. I'm investing time. I'm going to put this in my calendar.

I'm going to make this a priority, and other things are going to fall by the wayside. But that's okay because I need to learn. I need to keep myself sharp, I need to recharge. I need to be around other entrepreneurs to see what they're doing. And it's such a big theme that I see with the entrepreneurs who really go far and no judgment to the ones who do.

Okay. But they could do better because, hey, I'm so busy. I have missed eight of the last 10 masterminds. I don't really have time for this, so I'll fit it in when I can and wow, what a night and day difference. No judgment, just an observation of what a difference it is in that kind of mindset.

Steve Wells: And not all entrepreneurs, but I think by and large the entrepreneurs that take something from zero to something, they're creators. And that's our case and I feel that all the time. This desire to make and build and grow is really a stronger motivator than money. We have to make money or you can't grow, but the motivation [00:32:00] wasn't necessarily money.

So when you're not creating something, I think it's like you're an artist all of a sudden you can't paint. That's the void that people feel when they don't have that business it's like their palette. It's their music score.

Finding ways to to repurpose those energies and skills that you have could be in another business it depends, or it could be in other areas. Even setting up foundations and philanthropy, there's lots of other things , that are just as energizing and might be something for certain people.

Servant Leadership and Team Building

Jeffrey Feldberg: And you know what's interesting, and as I think about this, again, I'm looking for patterns for the 500 plus guests that have been here, we've had a number of billionaires who have been on the podcast, and without exception, they all have the companies run without them. Think about that.

They have the company run without them. And I know offline we're talking, we're having a lot of fun. We're talking with them. And on the podcast itself, the respect that they have for the team, the respect that they give to the team, the trust that they have in the team, but the authority that they're also giving to the team and they're there to [00:33:00] help troubleshoot.

They're there when the, you know what hits the fan, but it's a team's responsibility and they make that very clear to the team. Hey you figure this out, this is your responsibility. I'm not going to abdicate, I'm going to delegate. I'm going to be here for you when you need it, but without exception, they're the ones that are really in more of a board of director role and they're in the company because they choose to, not because they have to.

And if they wanted to take a year sabbatical, guess what?

The company would be there to be even bigger. Yeah, sure. It's not going to be the same without them there, but it would go on, it would grow, it would be consistent and keep on doing what it's doing. That's not a mistake, and it's not a coincidence that every ultra successful entrepreneur on the podcast who is in that situation runs the company that way.

Thoughts about that?

Steve Wells: Yeah, I think that's a unique skill and that's one that I don't think I had developed as

Jeffrey Feldberg: Welcome to club.

Steve Wells: I know. And the one thing that we didn't. Part of it isn't that we didn't want to, we didn't really have time to develop our team, like we wanted to. And if we had time to do that.

But, you think about it if you can [00:34:00] leverage yourself, of course that's going to be so much better. And then integrate yourself in those areas where you think you really have value. And you have to be honest about that with yourself because you can't be best at everything, but there are probably some things that you're pretty good at.

And maybe this is as you age, I say you, me age is you look back and there's a lot of books written about that. Like the greatest the people who live longer are like conductors, they were virtuosos and they can't play the violin or the piano like they used to, but they've got a skill now of combining their experience and looking at it in a broader way that makes them a great conductor.

Engineers or certain kind of high tech people, they peak out at 30, but the ones that keep doing well can use that. But they use their knowledge and skill. To assemble teams of people and they understand the concepts and they can make great things happen. I think maybe the CEO the founder, the president, whatever you are can think of that more as the statesman, the elder statesman, even if you're 35, to try to take that [00:35:00] experience because you're probably working with 20 year olds, so, anyway I think that's exactly right.

Reflecting on the Journey

Jeffrey Feldberg: And I'm wondering, Steve, because when this episode airs, it's a very special time of year. It's actually my favorite time of year, and so 500th episode, it's just before Christmas. Just before the new year is around. I know for so many people, it's a time where things slow down. It's some time for reflection.

Unfortunately, we do the New Year's resolutions, just the once a year. That's a whole other episode of why that shouldn't be the case. But all that said, with the Holiday Season, it'll be upon us as people are listening to this or evergreen content, they're listening to this maybe it's the middle of July, who knows?

But that said, as we head to end of the year and people are thinking of the next year and what can I do?

And they're reflecting upon, hey, what worked, what didn't work?

What lessons along the way it could be anything. It could be from guests that we had on the podcast. It could be from the masterminds that we have in Deep Wealth Mastery, your journey post-exit, or our journey as we're building up Embanet.

Anything that comes to [00:36:00] mind that you want to share with Deep Wealth Nation of a best practice or a strategy looking back now that, hey, I am so glad that I did this, or, you know, what had I done this earlier that would've been terrific or I'm so glad I stopped doing this.

Anything comes to mind that you can share?

Steve Wells: Some of the most important ones are about family. The other one I think is being honest with yourself on who you are and taking the time to reflect on that and really working on my ego. What is about my ego that wants me to be right or to do this, or, it's how can I fight that ego so that we stay open and maybe at the end of the year it's a time to reflect a little bit on that. It's a little more introspective probably. Everyone has their different ways they look at the world.

I was always future oriented as I've gotten older I am now. I think I'm in the present and I [00:37:00] haven't quite gotten to the past yet, but the other people are really good at kind of, reflecting on the past. And so that's always been hard for me. So maybe other people can do that and learn from the past year's mistakes or see how I got in the way.

Some of this is faith related to me personally, but it doesn't have to be for everyone. We just don't, we just don't want to miss those parts of ourselves that might be hindering us and looking back and try to analyze it in some way might be helpful. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: As you're talking about that, it's that servant leadership that's coming out and the incredibly successful entrepreneurs they've all exhibited the servant leadership, and in fact, God bless the people who are defending our country. We've had so many people in the services who have come onto the podcast because now they're in business and they all share the same thing.

Hey Jeffrey, just because I'm in charge of this group, they don't have to respect me. In fact, they won't respect me until I earn their respect.

And yeah, I can tell them something to do, but are they going to take a bullet for me?

No. They will take a bullet for me once I respect them. Once I get to know who they [00:38:00] are, their whole story, what they're about, I get to know their daily ups and downs of what's going on with the family.

It's also a servant leadership in a different kind of context. And then with what you said. I know you and I on the faith side, this past year in particular, we've had just time where you and I are doing our own Bible study and it's our own time of the two of us talking and about our faith and our beliefs.

And I know for myself it's had me go within and really reflect and have the better version of Jeffrey begin to show up and say, Hey, this wasn't such a great version of Jeffrey just yesterday. Let me think about this. How can I do that? And so you're so right with what you're saying, with reflection and faith and that servant kind of leadership

Steve Wells: Yeah, exactly. And it's not always an easy thing to do or a natural thing. It's not also something you check off the list once you get it done. It's an ongoing process and, we're all struggling and learning, in that area. Hopefully.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. 

Closing Thoughts and Reflections

Jeffrey Feldberg: So with that said, as we begin to wrap things up here, and [00:39:00] again as this airs, as we look to the New Year, and again, someone who's listening to this, it could be the middle of the summer, perhaps a new month is coming up. It's just a new chapter.

Why don't we call it a new chapter. Any closing thoughts or words before we go into wrap up mode for Deep Wealth Nation of if they were to do one thing coming out of this episode, or, Hey Jeffrey, you know what?

Over the past 500 episodes, here's something that has really inspired me or in our masterminds, or, hey, off to the side when I've been doing this solo this is something that's really made a difference. Depo Nation, why don't you give this a try? Let's give Deep Wealth Nation a gift, but the gift is something that can enrich their lives.

Any thoughts about that?

No pressure. No pressure, Steve.

Steve Wells: No pressure, right?

To come up with this words of wisdom that everyone would want to write down. I need a book of quotes in front of me. I could come up with something. I don't know if it's just me, but, I always feel like the school year September, I always feel is more the beginning than January.

I don't. It's weird for me, from all those years in school, I [00:40:00] always kind of do a lot of my work around then writing down your goals and maybe it's more in my stage of life now too. I give such gratitude for being able to continue to create in different ways.

And some of them can be business, but there are other creative ways and just have the blessing of just making things. For me I love photography and cooking and music and those kinds of things. To be able to , be involved in that is just such a blessing.

And of course then having family, and I have grandchildren, so, I'm in that stage where those are just so energizing. I have to adapt away from some things that I would personally want to do myself to be a part of the experiences of grandchildren.

It's a short period of time when they grow up and that's going to be gone. So when I look at the years I try to intentional how I'm going to make those things happen.

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's interesting. As we started going into wrap up mode, though, what you shared with the cooking, the photography, that's always been a common theme for you, and you never lost that. Even when [00:41:00] crazy busy on the business side, you're cooking dinners for Kristy and Stephanie and the family or the neighbors or the friends, and you kept that.

Now it's expanded and there's a big project. I'm not going to take the wind out of your sails. We'll have it as a top secret project right now for Deep Wealth Nation. But when you're done with that, let's talk about that and we'll share with Deep Wealth Nation what you've been up to and what you've done. Really proud of where that's heading and what you're doing with that. That'll be really exciting.

Steve Wells: Well, it's just what you said before. If you're going to exit, look for those things in your life that you really enjoy. And you're probably using some of those in your business right now. You'll have the opportunity to maybe do those in a more intentional way, I love tennis and stuff and I don't really spend a lot of time doing golf and that kind of thing. That's just not me. But some people may want to go around and do every golf course in Scotland, I don't know, or write a book about it. I got a friend who's written books about golf, when he retired, so, everyone's got their thing

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, it's follow your passion. Absolutely. And so with that [00:42:00] said, as we head into wrap up mode, Deep Wealth Nation, what I'd like you to think about and as we wrap this up on the 500th episode, it's interesting because Steve, as you know, and I believe it was you that may have even come up with a question, the closing question that we always have for every guest is the DeLorean car.

And if you can go back in time and tell your younger self some advice or a one or two liner, and you know what's interesting in Deep Wealth Nation, what I want you to take away from all of this is the one theme, if there's one theme of what most of the guests have said when they've been asked that question, it's, hey, Steve, Jeffrey, I wouldn't change a thing.

The experience that I hated at the time that I thought was the worst thing actually became the best thing because I got through it, didn't think I could. I got through it and it made me a better person. It gave me a skillset. It gave me wisdom of what not to do because success is as much knowing what to do as much as what not to do.

And so deep Deep Wealth Nation, the takeaway, particularly if you're listening to this, it's now the holiday seasons. We just dropped this [00:43:00] episode, the journey is the treasure, the journey is the gift. It's not the destination.

And I'll share one quick story with you, Steve. I've shared this with you before on the podcast. It's worth bringing up again.

I remember you, me, and Waleuska. It was crazy times we were traveling and trying to make things happen and lots of stress and lots of pressure, it just popped into my head and it came from God or the universe. But the thought was, and I remember the voice in my head, Jeffrey enjoy these times right now.

As crazy as it seems. Just enjoy with Steve, with Waleuska, with the team enjoy what you're doing right now because it's not always going to be like this and this journey that you're on right here, right now, this is very special. Make the most of it.

And so Deep Wealth Nation, as you head out to do whatever you're going to do, remember the journey that's your treasure. That's the gift. Be present. Take the time out, no matter what's going on. God willing, tomorrow's another day. It'll be a better day for you. And so with that partner, any [00:44:00] parting words or shall we wrap it up?

What do you think?

Steve Wells: I think you've said it all. Let's wrap it up. Thank you for letting me be a part of this 500th episode. What a privilege.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Well that said then, Deep Wealth Nation, it's official. This is a wrap and as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe.

Thank you so much.

Happy Holidays.

Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year.

God bless. 

So there you have it, Deep Wealth Nation. What did you think? 

So with all that said and as we wrap it up, I have another question for you.

Actually, it's more of a personal favor. 

Did you find this episode helpful? 

Have you found other episodes of the Deep Wealth Podcast empowering and a game changer for your journey? 

And if you said yes, and I really hope you did, I have a small but really meaningful way that you can actually help us out and keep these episodes coming to you.

Are you ready for it? 

The dramatic pause. I'll just wait a moment. Drumroll, please. 

Subscribe and Stay Connected

Jeffrey Feldberg: Subscribe. Please subscribe to the Deep Wealth podcast on your favorite podcast channel. When you subscribe to the Deep Wealth Podcast, you're saving yourself time. [00:45:00] Every episode automatically comes to you, and I want you to know that we meticulously craft Every one of our episodes to have impactful strategies, stories, expert insights that are designed to help you grow your profits, increase the value of your business, and yes, even optimize your post exit life and your life right now, whatever you want that to look like.

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So all that said. Thank you so much for listening. And remember your wealth isn't just about the money in the bank. It's about the depth of your journey and the impact that you're creating. So let's continue this journey together. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for listening to this episode.

And as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. 

Thank you so much. 

God bless.