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Episode 55: Being Smart About Following Your Passion with Keesia Wirt
162 Plays6 years ago
We are all about following that Jumanji drumbeat—that passion you have that just won’t stay quiet—but that doesn’t mean throwing everything away to do it. So how do you turn your dreams into a source of income without upending your life and your current livelihood? Great question!
That’s why, in our most recent episode, we are thrilled to be speaking with someone who has walked this very walk. Keesia Wirt is pursuing her dreams while keeping her feet on the ground. She is growing a business based on her passion while remaining a key contributor at her day job.
Another wrinkle you may face is that your dreams and passions may seem a little bit strange. Keesia realized she had a passion for writing obituaries. Strange, right? She understands that. But she also realized what was underneath that passion; that the stories of the people we love too often go unheard. Keesia experienced the regret of missing those stories first-hand when she realized her grandmothers had “graduated” to heaven without her sitting down and learning from them.
That’s how Circa Legacy was born. Now Keesia (in addition to her day job!) owns and operates a company dedicated to collecting and sharing the stories that make up our loved one’s legacy. The story of this unique startup is one you do not want to miss.
what you will learn in this episode:
- Getting comfortable with niching down
- Why it is important to celebrate loved ones while we’re all here to celebrate
- How to become a storyteller about the life of someone you love
- The importance of securing a URL in the process of naming your business
- The importance of passing down values and not just money to future generations
- How to create a “value ladder” from entry-level to gold-standard products or services
- Developing a product you can create once and profit from indefinitely
- Challenges and opportunities in fulfilling your passion while keeping a day job
- How to have honest conversations with employers about what you want
- Using cash flow from your day job to be smart about investing in your passion
To understand how to create a value ladder the right way, along with other key startup tips, download our ebook: https://www.uncommonwealth.com/resources/e-books/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Hosts and Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Everyone dreams about living an uncommon life, but how we define that dream is very different for each of us. And for most, it's a lifelong pursuit. Welcome to the Uncommon Life Project podcast. We're going to introduce you to people who are living that life or enjoying the journey to get there. We're going to also give you some tools, tricks, and tips for starting or accelerating your own efforts to live an uncommon life.
00:00:27
Speaker
A life worth celebrating and savoring.
Unique Financial Advising Approach
00:00:30
Speaker
Please welcome your hosts, Brian Dewhurst and Philip Ramsey. Who are you listening to if you're just tuning in? My name's Philip. Brian is Brian. We just introduced ourselves. We are with the Uncommon Wealth Partners. We are financial advisors. And I hate saying that, by the way. But we have a little bit different trajectory for our clients. Little different strategy, little different philosophy. And that is that you are your best asset.
00:00:56
Speaker
And so what kind of ideas, what kind of things did you want to invest in? What is your passion? Once we figure out what your passion is, then we can really make your money sing. Let's go. Let's go. So that's who we are, how to engage us. There's been a lot of people who've been asking us, which is, I think, a blessing.
00:01:15
Speaker
It's let's do a 15 minute free consultation to see if we're even a good fit. And in that interview, we're going to ask you all these questions. Nothing about money would care less about your money. But the people that we work best with are the people who have a vision and a passion. We love those people.
00:01:32
Speaker
Our guest is one of those people. And not only did she have a vision and a passion, but she acted on it and it is dominating, dominating. Okay. So I've got to go to the bio because I'm going to just spoil the whole show. You're going to spoil
Introducing Kezia Wert and Circle Legacy
00:01:46
Speaker
it. All right. Kezia Wert. I just want to say her name because it's just powerful. Kezia Wert.
00:01:51
Speaker
All right, let's go. So Kezia is a brand new entrepreneur. She lives in Nevada, Iowa with her husband and three kids. She has a full time job in marketing and plans to slowly build her new business, Circle Legacy. I question slowly because I think it's going to blow up, but we can see. We'll see. And you can find her at www.circlelegacy.com. Everybody welcome to the show. Kezia work.
00:02:16
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Thank you. Thank you. This is my bucket list to be on this podcast. Yes. So I'm thrilled to be here. I will just say we hand out uncommon life seals every year. And Kezia is in the running strong for 2020. When I saw that at the party, I was like, that's going to be me. It's going to be on my wall. It's on like Donkey Kong. Podcast check now the seal.
00:02:40
Speaker
Yes. Okay. Where do we even begin? You're always better with that than I am. So. Oh my goodness. I feel like I'm just so excited. I can barely contain myself. I want to start where we met. Should we just start there? How did we meet? Where did we meet? We got a shout out to my boy, Eric Baker, because he was the one who kind of introduced us. E.B. E.B.
00:03:02
Speaker
Yes, so I met you guys down in Des Moines. It was to help you with your marketing. Yeah. And I'm going to fast forward a little bit. I love these two. I love the podcast. After meeting them to be just kind of a brainstorming partner, I went home to my husband and was like, Sean, these guys have something really different and cool and we are terrible at our finances and I think they can really help us.
00:03:28
Speaker
But I think we need to, we glanced over Sean, but he is amazing. Your husband is awesome. And he's like a gem that you just got it. Like he's just a hidden gem. He's a hidden gem. So shout out to him too. We're doing a lot of shout outs today.
Inspiration and Passion for Obituaries
00:03:42
Speaker
Okay. Keep going. Sorry. Interrupted.
00:03:45
Speaker
So, um, we, the three of us and Eric, the great, we're all kind of brainstorming ideas, kind of working on new things for you guys. And do you remember you had me read a book. Brian was reading it and he had challenged you, Phillip, to read it.
00:04:02
Speaker
And I said, yeah, I'll read it, too. I want to know this philosophy that you're both working towards. The secrets of expert secrets. Yes. So I it was early spring. I just got the hammock out. I was in my backyard. I was reading this book for your guys' business. And as I was reading it, I kept like jotting down notes about thinking about myself and like, what is my purpose and vision in life? And how could I do something totally different and uncommon?
00:04:30
Speaker
And the word I kept writing down is so weird everybody, but it was obits and obituaries. Because it's a very strange thing when you realize you're an expert in writing obituaries, but I kind of am. And I'm also really passionate about it. And so through that book and through you two encouraging me and for me thinking, why not be an obituary expert in life and help people write better stories?
00:04:58
Speaker
It all kind of exploded into this new business idea that you have currently. Yes. Yes. I think this is really cool because the thing I want to highlight here is when she first had an idea, it was because her background was in marketing. And so you thought you were going to start kind of like your own market marketing, marketing, marketing agency. And what ended up morphing, I will never forget it. We were all sitting there. Your husband was included, which I love when your husband's in our meetings. So.
00:05:28
Speaker
And you looked at him, you're like, Sean, you're gonna laugh at me, but I'm gonna say it. And I remember Sean's like, oh boy, here we go. And that's when you're like, I think this is starting to morph, this marketing idea is starting to morph into a more specific target market. And then you were like, obituaries. And I remember Brian and I, we've had a lot of those moments where like, I need to hear more about this.
00:05:52
Speaker
But honestly, it didn't take us very long to be like, oh my. That is value. And to try to find and how to write an obituary that actually is impactful and kind of emulates what happened in their life is so needed. High pressure. Because the average thing, and you have to be so quick at this. You have to kind of figure this out within a couple days after your loved one has passed.
00:06:19
Speaker
Hours sometimes. Hours. They wanted. Yes. Like 24 hours sometimes. My last one, I had a four-hour deadline to write an obituary. And to try to unpack their life in a couple paragraphs? Daunting. Yeah. Very. And so to have some guidance and wisdom in that? Priceless. And so Brian and I were on board quickly.
00:06:39
Speaker
Well, I think the way you shared it, I was almost in tears, too, because your personal story led you to that, was like, oh my gosh, I'm crying now. Tizi was in tears. I was. So we were almost in tears, like, that is passion and value. And if you could do this for the rest of your life, you'd be like, when do I want to stop? I don't ever want to stop. I think the other thing about your story and relating back to that expert secrets book, which obviously I'd highly recommend, and I think you would too,
00:07:05
Speaker
If you're in business, it's just kind of a really important read, but it's niching down. And I think as entrepreneurs, you kind of want to like, oh, I can do everything for everyone. And then it just burns you out.
00:07:16
Speaker
What's been interesting about your path and watching you is your ability to like comfortably niche down and be okay with that and like actually get stuff done. Yeah. So it's been neat. Yes. So take this now you're, you're doing a marketing agency now obituaries. Where do you go from there? Like, okay. I got, I think I have an idea. I've got this idea. I think it's Pat. I really excited about it. Uh, then what?
00:07:41
Speaker
So really, the whole point of an obituary is to start the legacy story of a person that the world is going to remember them for.
Evolving Business Model
00:07:52
Speaker
And another reason for doing them is just to show how much you love that person and their best qualities and strengths. And every time I write an obituary, I kind of have regret like, did this person know I felt this way about them? Did they know how important they were to all of our lives?
00:08:08
Speaker
That is so good, Kizia. And so that's what kind of took the business upward into. Let's not just celebrate them after they're gone. Let's start celebrating each other while we're here and actually connect over this and really share these stories and these values that are so important to all of us. And so that's kind of what exploded the company outward into kits and working with us to create legacy books or to remember loved ones who have passed away. It's just.
00:08:37
Speaker
I really want to help families and people celebrate one another while they're here to do it. And think about your life now. If you started communicating how you really felt about the loved ones around you, how more fulfilled your life would be? Yeah. Yes. And how much more fulfilled their life would be? Yes. Absolutely. I think in social media now too, it's so easy to feel like you're communicating, but you're not. I mean, a like button isn't the same as like,
00:09:02
Speaker
And I really enjoy you and my life and I value this relationship and those types of discussions, you know? Absolutely. Okay, so how do people, we're going to start with obituaries, how do they engage with that?
00:09:14
Speaker
The website has tons of free information. If you get a call and you've got a loved one who just passed away, I urge you to raise your hand and say, I'll take on the obit. Don't hand it off to the funeral home. Go to the website. There's tons of free information, guys. There's examples of an obituary I wrote for my grandpa. If you want a little more guidance, there's a $10 kit you can download on the spot. It'll be emailed to you.
00:09:44
Speaker
It's i think twelve pages of a template for how i write my obituaries it's all the information you've got to quickly gather for the obituary and it helps you really prioritize. Their values and their stories down into what is a pretty short amount of information.
00:10:02
Speaker
to write. What is the standard obituary length for the paper? Oh, man. Or do you have to pay for it? They can be very expensive the longer they are. Gotcha. And the size of the newspaper you're putting them in. My site also has, I would guess, the world's largest repository of obituary questions. And that is a stake in the ground, but my FAQ on Obits is insane. Every question you could ever have is answered. You put a stake in the ground right now. You put it in. Dig it deep. Let's go.
00:10:32
Speaker
And then is the goal, obviously, because, you know, we're not going to get to everybody, but is the goal that like we would then go to that while we're alive and write our own obituary or is it still more for the family? A lot of people ask me, like, should I just write my own obit? No, I don't think you should. You're never going to characterize yourself the way your loved ones are going to. Let's just.
00:10:54
Speaker
Play that out for a second. Brian graduates on us. We call it. We call dying graduating for the record. So Brian graduates on us and we get up and then someone figures out that he wrote his own obituary. You got to admit like question.
00:11:10
Speaker
Just flushing it all out. So totally edifying that point, by the way. Good job. Okay, keep going. I think I lost your train of thought. No, that's okay. I also, because writing an obituary is a big deal, and if you take it on, kudos to you. So the website also allows you to upload that work and celebrate it. Like, I want people to be really proud that they took the time and effort to write obituaries, and I want to celebrate that with them so they can upload it to the site.
00:11:38
Speaker
There'll be lots of examples there if you need some inspiration for who you're writing about. Sure. I just want to build a community of people who aren't afraid to write about a loved one and just give them the tools to do it quickly and in the time they need to do. And I think there's a lot of people that are listening that they might be using your service, but I think other people around the internet will be using your service because they are people googling this
00:12:02
Speaker
quickly every day. I mean, there's people dying and graduating all over the country. Every minute. And they need quick guidance and resources. Kudos to you for finding this path and narrowing down your client base because that is what Brian and I have seen is very key just for you to start getting traction of like, who am I writing to? So great job. Okay. So then what is it evolving to?
00:12:27
Speaker
I really think the flagship product of Circa Legacy is going to be this kit I created.
Legacy Kits and Emotional Impact
00:12:33
Speaker
It's called Things You Need to Know. And it'll be delivered to your door. I'm very passionate that it needs to be a printed kit, not something you do electronically and put on your computer.
00:12:43
Speaker
This is a kit you're going to fill out. We've got worksheets. We have this really great kind of how to guide that is in my quirky personality that I think this will be a joyful experience for you to do. And it's all the information your family is going to need for those first hours and days after you're gone.
00:13:02
Speaker
And I've seen these called death kits, which I think is so morbid and depressing. I don't want to fill out my own death kit, but I love to fill out my own things you need to know, Kit, because it's really a walk through our life of all of our accomplishments, what we're proud of, our favorite memories.
00:13:20
Speaker
I put in a traditions worksheet because I know there are so many women like me who these traditions we do for our family. I want my kids to keep doing them. And if I'm gone, this is a little reminder like, hey, you three, don't you dare stop doing that just because I'm not here. Totally. And it's therapeutic for you to go through that.
00:13:37
Speaker
Yes. But it's such a gift for the next generation to have. So think about your, anybody that's graduated on you and passed away, thinking about having this in your hand from them is priceless. Yes. So how much is that kit? That kit is 39.99.
00:13:57
Speaker
no brainer and it's not called death kit. It isn't this really pretty berrylicious. That's the color of the envelope it comes in. It's warm and inviting and it stands out in your underwear drawer or your
00:14:13
Speaker
phone drawer wherever it is because I want it somewhere that your family can quickly find it. All right, don't put it at your bank. Put it somewhere where it's easily accessible and tell someone where it is. And my favorite part of this kit, you guys. All my grandparents are gone now, but when I lost both of my grandmas especially,
00:14:33
Speaker
It's just such a hole in your heart like so quickly when they're gone and I would have loved if they'd have left me like a final letter. Like it would have meant the world to me just a last comforting letter from them. So this kit has, I call them one more thing and it's note cards and envelopes and fun little stickers.
00:14:54
Speaker
where you can write this final message to loved ones and put it in here, seal them up. So to me, when they find this kid at your house, it's like this one last big hug from you. It's not only the the financial information and accounts they made. It's emotional. Yes, it's your emotional goodbye to them that you made my world and my life so much better.
00:15:15
Speaker
It's so good because I know stories that, hey, I'm going out for a loaf of bread and I love you and never come back on a piece of napkin. And those individuals like just, they'll never get rid of that piece of paper. So how much more impactful it would be if there was someone who's intentionally sitting down and like for $39, you got to get you some. Come on now.
00:15:37
Speaker
Well that's interesting to me on multiple levels just because my wife and I just redid our kind of estate plan stuff and the attorney gave us you know this like black and white printed out sheets of paper not very licious.
00:15:50
Speaker
And, but he did, he was like, you should write this out, keep it in a physical space. And so that was interesting. And then just thinking through, you know, we've had clients pass away, family members pass away and the emotional weight on that money. You know, we so often think that legacy is money and then people can't do anything with that money because they didn't have these emotional assets to go with it. And I think that's so true. What you're saying is, is like, you know, when you lose someone, you want that person, you want their thoughts, you want their words, you want their perspective.
00:16:18
Speaker
And money doesn't do that. And so it's just it puts that weight on the money because there's a missing asset. And so I think what you're doing is just so timely, especially in this age of social media. You know, yes. Yeah, it just I'm so excited about what you're doing and how you're building this. I think what's also interesting, because this is like kind of two stories woven into one.
Branding Challenges
00:16:42
Speaker
is can you talk a little bit about like how you came up, you know, cause you had a couple iterations with like naming your business and like branding and you're in marketing and it was like, kind of like your own challenge of like, Oh my gosh, name my baby. So can you kind of talk to listeners through like the different products and the different names and like kind of your synthesis of that? Because I think it's so important.
00:17:05
Speaker
I think as me, like I always help love, like I love helping people name things. I don't know why, but I enjoy it. And so, but I think it's so important to like have that belief in what you're calling your business or your products, and then also protecting that.
00:17:19
Speaker
You know, the URL, the business name, all these different things. So it's so fresh for you. I hope you could kind of share something about that. Absolutely. Full disclosure, Circa Legacy was probably number 120 on my list of names. Circa means a lot to me, I think.
00:17:37
Speaker
the year we are all born immediately puts us into a tribe of people who share so many of the cultural references that we have that you are automatically kind of bonded together so circa for me i would be circa nineteen seventy six that's the year i was born.
00:17:54
Speaker
And I really like that idea of kind of identifying with that the start of your story, you know, your circuit year. So I know I knew I wanted circuit in it somehow. But you guys, the process of finding a URL that is not taken is the most daunting and depressing experience. All these names that you fall in love with and then go start doing the research to see if they're taken. They are all taken.
00:18:20
Speaker
They are all gone. Someone's bought them all. And how important is that to have that all match up as a marketer? Super important. Okay. So hear that if you're out there. Absolutely. Because yes, you could do it. And I wanted dot com. I didn't want any of these new, weird... Dot IO. Dot you'll never find anything. Exactly. Most people aren't going to get this right. Yeah.
00:18:43
Speaker
So I think I just kind of, it doesn't, you know, circa legacy, it's kind of weird, but it's also the legacy thing I liked. I like people getting to that mindset of what is my legacy? What are the values I want to be remembered for? What are the stories I want people to tell about me? That's our legacy. Yes. That's the most important thing. So Brian and I always talk about legacy in this area. If there's four components to a legacy, I'm sure there's more, but let's say your core values is a huge one.
00:19:11
Speaker
and then your good and bad experiences is a huge one. Like I would even say your bad experiences are even better than your good experiences. And then I would say how you give your time and money, charitably, like that's a big one for you. And then if the last component is money,
00:19:28
Speaker
If you could only pass three things out of those four to the next generation, which one would the three be? And all people say, I'd rather pass my core values, my good and bad experiences, and my charitable giving to my next generation because if I focus on those and do those well, they won't need my money. But what we would find, at least Brian and I, is when you use your money to pass on those three,
00:19:50
Speaker
your family's going to have more money. And when they finally get that, when you graduate and that transfers down, they're going to be more specific and intentional with your money and it's not going to break up. So there's a lot of Rockefellers, you know, they, they have this like philosophy of like, that's generational money and they do a good job of focus on core values and good about experiences.
Components of a Legacy
00:20:10
Speaker
And so it's really powerful versus I don't think it's a Carnegie, Carnegie's
00:20:15
Speaker
that like three generations, it was poof gone. It was because they were passing down money, but not passing down the actual value that they had. And so to have this is such in line with wealth, finances, legacy, the important things of legacy. So I'm waving the flag. It's amazing. Well, I heard it statistically. I don't know. I was looking at this thing and it was basically like a Bible study. I can't remember where it was. I think it was Jeremiah,
00:20:45
Speaker
It talks about in there, like a family sect and they had almost like 2000 years, like they could go backwards. And to think about, like, that's crazy. And in our generation, like most people don't even know they're great grandparents, you know, if they, you know, predecease the.
00:21:02
Speaker
great-grandchildren. But it's like, what are we doing as families to keep those traditions and to keep those stories? Because that was wisdom. You know, like, hey, absolutely, you know, your whatever grandfather did this or they made this mistake. Like, that's how people shared wisdom. And now we just kind of Google things. And it's like, oh, or in like understanding your gifting, I think, too. And like a lot of terms of what we talk about, you know, the Jumanji beat or that drum beat inside of you of like,
00:21:28
Speaker
Why am I not, I don't want to say happy, but like, I'm not content where I'm at or something else I want to do. And I think Phillips even brought this to light of, you know, his grandfather was very entrepreneurial.
00:21:39
Speaker
And he had a great relationship with him and got to experience that. And I think sometimes, you know, I do believe like we're wired a certain way and that's passed down generationally. And if you don't understand that, it can create a lot of tension and conflict. Like, why am I like this? Or what is this, you know, and to know that you had people in your family that did things or accomplished things that you're thinking about.
00:22:01
Speaker
Is totally invaluable absolutely so i'm glad you brought that up that's. Kind of the other big part of my website is if you go to my about page i say this company was created because of my regrets of never sitting down with my two grandmas.
00:22:17
Speaker
and asking them questions and recording their stories and their words. And it's a huge regret and I always have it. And I don't want other people to have that regret. If you're listening to this and you have grandparents or people who are acting as grandparents, go out this weekend, turn on your cell phone, record it. You don't have to do anything with it, but just make the time to start getting those stories.
00:22:41
Speaker
Yes. So true. So we talked about obituaries. We talked about the things you need to know. Is there anything else to your company that people can engage you with? There is because I'm all about it. Sign me up for it all. Okay.
00:22:54
Speaker
So, because Brian and Phillip are my guys, and they always said they started at the top stair. I started at the bottom stair with a lot of these kits and the downloadable kits. But the top stair for our business is hire us, work with us to create hardcover keepsake books of your family stories, of your own legacy stories.
00:23:19
Speaker
We can write it for you we can interview you we can interview a loved one or we can just design it you can do all the writing in the interviewing send it to us. And we'll put it into that book format so you can print it and have these books to pass down to future generations.
00:23:35
Speaker
So cool. So cool. And if you're broke, like if you're just kind of in a wall, hit a wall, like I don't really know what to do, that would be the place you would start. Yeah. And having Kiesia interview somebody would be like the best interview you'd ever possibly think. I mean, just you've heard the last, what, 25 minutes, you know, it would be the most amazing, natural, flowing conversation that people wouldn't feel like, why are you interviewing me?
00:23:59
Speaker
It would feel very, I would say that you would almost benefit just as much as they would about the wisdom and the stories that they were sharing. Absolutely. What a cool, cool place you're in. It is very exciting. I want to weave this other story. So kind of you're talking about the stairs. And so one of the big things that we've been talking about is the value ladder. And I think what we're all trying to achieve in our life on some level, whatever the focus is mastery, right? Discipline equals freedom.
00:24:29
Speaker
and mastery. And so the value adder for businesses is incredibly important because most times we go into it like, oh, I'm going to go make the pies. You know, if you read the email and then.
00:24:40
Speaker
Oh, I got to run a business of making pies and now I hate making pies because we don't automate our business and we don't think through things. And so the value ladder for me is just a huge thing. And as you stepped into this, cause you did have a full-time job, you do have children and a husband at home. Like you're burning the candle at both ends. And so then to go step into interviewing people and producing these really customized intimate books,
00:25:05
Speaker
That's a lot of time and effort. And so you kind of flipped of like, what could I create free? What could I create for five or $10? What could I create for $40? And then stepping up so people, but it also protected you as the entrepreneur to like get traction. Oh, I can knock out a little kid. I'm not trying to demean it, but versus the hours that would go into producing a whole book about someone's life. It gave you that kind of traction from a,
00:25:33
Speaker
I think of what, like a creative standpoint, a cashflow standpoint, a time standpoint. And now you have like what, three or four products and services that you're offering all branded and they're all thought out. They're all synergistic. And it's just like, okay, I can handle this now. And I have something here that I'm proud of as opposed to like, I'm spending all of my time doing one thing and I have all these other ideas that would have been helpful to people as a resource, like the obituaries and that type of thing.
00:26:00
Speaker
And then feeling that tension of like, I want to get to that, but I can't get to that because I'm over here. And so I think, can you speak into shifting that focus on the value ladder? All too often, I think, if you have a good idea, you go to the top level of like, this is what I like. And so for your example, it's just me sitting down at the kitchen table, pulling out stories and writing books for people and like, ask me how I know this. OK, but I think the smarter way is what you've done is started low.
00:26:28
Speaker
And like if someone buys your $10 or $39 kit, now how much work did you really have to do with that? Like your work is already done. Right. And they're already like inundating themselves with your content that you're getting paid for. So like let's say 17 million dollar or 17 million people individuals go down to download your stuff. How much work have you done?
00:26:49
Speaker
No more work. 17 million individuals go after your top tier or your toast. Toast? Yep. So anyway, so that's kind of the philosophy, I think. And all too often you go to the top ladder rung and you're like, well, let's see if I got a good idea. And the worst case scenario, you do. Yeah. People are like all over you.
00:27:10
Speaker
Oh boy. Okay. So sorry, Brian, Brian asked you a question that I totally kybo that but no, that's exactly what happened. Writing is a very long term process. I mean, talking about taking a person's life and narrowing it down into a book that takes a lot of time and effort. And I quickly thought, well, that's not sustainable in the least good for you.
00:27:31
Speaker
And i didn't wanna limit people to that i wanted to give them the tools and the ability to i want everybody to do this you don't have to pay me to do it i want you to just go out and do it so. Thinking about all the free tools i could provide and then that led to the kids i was like well.
00:27:47
Speaker
You know, I do have a really good idea here. I don't have to give away everything. I can put some of this together, package it really nicely and do step by step guide and make it easy for them to go and do like the things you need to know kids. I've had so many people tell me my daughter has such a good relationship with her grandpa. This is exactly what they need. I want her to sit down with him and go through this and help him fill this out because I know he won't do it alone. So right.
00:28:13
Speaker
That's what I want to do is give people the tools to go out and do this and get it done so they don't have the regret that I do. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. So in this, you're building this circle legacy. You switched jobs. I did. And so another big part of this, you had a Jumanji beat drum beat that was inside of you and you, you went to your current employer and was kind of like, you were honest.
Balancing Work and Entrepreneurship
00:28:37
Speaker
Like there's, there's something else in me that I want to do.
00:28:40
Speaker
And for whatever reason, I don't want to say anything negative, but it just it didn't work out in that you find new company that is like totally cool with what you're doing and encouraging you. Yes. And I just read this. I can't think of the guy's name. I apologize. But Sahil, I think he's the CEO of Gumroad. And I don't even really know what Gumroad is, but it's one of the fastest growing companies in the US. Anyways, I follow him on Twitter.
00:29:03
Speaker
And he had a tweet the other day that I thought was so impactful and it totally ties in with this. He said in several years, it's gonna be weird for people not to work for multiple companies. And I think the newest employee benefit that we're not talking about isn't health insurance and a retirement plan, it's flexibility. And you are so talented.
00:29:24
Speaker
But you know, there isn't the cash flow here to sustain you and your family of what you were making and all that with this yet. But you can bring a ton of value to a company remotely on your terms and their terms and creating an environment where you can have both.
00:29:41
Speaker
And I just think that's where things are headed and you are I think on the front end of that. And so I kind of can you just kind of shed light on the how that's been helpful and how you're making that work. Yeah, absolutely. You're absolutely like my last job. It was much more traditional and the idea of having an employee have their own business, you know, kind of made them uncomfortable, obviously.
00:30:00
Speaker
And I kind of fell into this new opportunity and old boss. It's in Wisconsin. I'm in Iowa. They said come in and interview. We love your background. It's exactly what our company needs. So I went up and I fell in love with them. They're very passionate and I thought, God, what a cool company, but I can't go work for them when I'm starting a new company.
00:30:21
Speaker
So when they offered me the job, I said, I love you guys, but here's the thing. I can't take this job. It just wouldn't be fair. I'm launching this new company soon and I don't know where it's going to go. And this is my email and they wrote me back and they're like, are you are you just using that as an excuse? Do you really not like us or is that really your only objection? That's your objection. I can overcome it really quickly. Yes. Yes.
00:30:45
Speaker
And I was shocked. Kudos for being honest, first off. Yes. Because I feel a lot of people be like, I'm going to try to hide it, but I want to do it. Right. Exactly. Get it out the open. Yes. Which you've been used to doing and trained to do by your current, your old employer. Right. Right. Yeah. And so I was just totally upfront. I turned them down and they're like, Kizia, no, we want you to do both. They're an ag based company. So they're like, half of our staff are dairy farmers. How is your new business any different? And I was like, well, I've never compared the two, but I guess you're right. I mean, why is it any different? Yeah.
00:31:15
Speaker
So good. So I just told them this week, my website is live. I just wanted you guys to know I'm on your time. And they were excited for you. Yes, they were. Yeah. Yeah. So they really walk the walk and talk to talk, but kudos to you for just having a tough conversation early on. That could have gone bad, but you just, hey, this is the facts. Where do we, where do we go from here? And are you going to be okay with that? If you are like, you were almost thinking they wouldn't be, but they were like, oh no, no, no, we're good. We're good. We're that, you're that valuable to us, which is totally true.
00:31:43
Speaker
And I haven't said, like, for those of you that haven't met or been around Phillip in person for a long time, he has multiple superpowers, but one of them is helping people have hard conversations and just having, like, cause you know, we do these things in our mind of like, well, if I say this, they're going to say that. You know, those games that we play, Phillip is one of the best at saying like, well, you know, that's not true. Like you'd probably just be helpful to get out in the open. So in that, like you did that, right? And they bought in and, and I think too,
00:32:11
Speaker
When you combine that honesty and then the traction you were able to get by restructuring the value ladder of starting at the bottom and not the top of feeling this like trapped feeling, you had the confidence and the like you've got the stuff done. You have the kits, you have the downloads, you have all the products set. Like you had that confidence in yourself to be like, no, this is a legitimate business. Yeah.
00:32:34
Speaker
and I'm not gonna put it on hold anymore. And it's just like that combination of honesty and traction was like, boom, now I have it all, now I have the best of both worlds. This is a perfect, I think, baton handoff here, because I wanna kind of talk, if you're okay with it, how Brian and I engaged you and Sean, right, of how the plan went. Because we first sat down, and I think there's always an apprehension to be sitting down with financial advisors. Totally.
00:33:02
Speaker
Let's just say it out loud. Yes. And when we sit down with somebody that says I've been interviewing multiple advisors, my first thing to him was like, I'm so sorry. Like, how has that been going? And it's usually like brutal. It's brutal. Yeah, I get it. And so when we sat down with you and your husband, we really want to take one, the assessment of like, where's everything at? Like in nothing to do with finances. Like how is, how's his job? How's your job? Let's get the lay of the land because that
00:33:27
Speaker
you should be taking in account, if you're a financial advisor, that information. Probably more so than the money. And then we just went into like, okay, well, what's the monthly budget? Like, do we have one? How big is it? Is it, you know, like, let's just work through it. Do you even have one? If you don't, we're going to start there. The answer is no, we did not.
00:33:47
Speaker
Yeah, and which was never totally fine, by the way. Yeah. But like this is one if we're going to start kind of going down this path, you can be working on this as we're refining the uncommon path for our clients. Yeah. And then once we started getting traction and then really it took off when she started like getting so excited about the obituary writing for people and it wasn't writing words on a piece of paper. It was pulling out stories of individuals that were no longer here on Earth.
00:34:15
Speaker
to be able to explain all these amazing attributes about themselves. That's when Brian and I were like, we got something big. And so we put, we poured gasoline on it by helping you organize your cashflow and the assets you currently had to then infuse this in a wise way. So you're not quitting your job tomorrow. We weren't doing that. Yes, they told me I could not do that. Hang on if you wanted to.
00:34:41
Speaker
But I would say that the passion that you had for the job that you were going to work, it started increasing because that money was being purposeful on what passion that she did have. And so as like the course of this, Brian and I have been interacting with Kezia and her family a lot and seeing how things are starting to fall into place. And so when this job in Wisconsin came up, what a cool opportunity because the number one reason businesses fail is cash flow.
00:35:08
Speaker
And so now you have the cashflow, and you have a company that's on board and encouraging your other business. And so this is what I'd love to just highlight. How indebted and excited are you to work for that company? So excited. Absolutely. Yes. And they're excited about you. I give them my all because they gave me such a great opportunity. And so kudos to them.
00:35:31
Speaker
that confrontation of like, oh, I'm kind of doing my side job right now. Exactly. It's three o'clock. Especially with a remote employee. That was a big risk they took. Like, yes. Oh, you're going to be in another state and you're telling me you're starting your own business. We're still in. We still want you. What a testament.
00:35:47
Speaker
What a cool opportunity and one that's going to have a long relationship for both of you. And it's going to be amazing for them because we know how awesome you are. And it's going to be amazing for you because you are, you have loyalty to them and they took, they took a risk. They did. And they took a risk on you and it was a good risk. And now you guys have a partnership for life. I got, I got two points. I don't want to lose them. So one, so Sean, your husband, um, love that guy.
00:36:13
Speaker
he was able to see two with your entrepreneurial, because a lot of times like, you know, one spouse is the entrepreneur, the other's not. And I'm going back to the value line, because I think it's so important. And Philip and I got started at the top rung, and now we're working our way. We're going back. Brutal. We're going to fix it.
00:36:28
Speaker
But to see the baby steps that you were able to knock out so quickly, because I mean, you've put a lot. This hasn't been going on very long. I mean, I started in October. Yeah. Like this is like four to five months, people like less than half a year. You've done all of this and it's live.
00:36:44
Speaker
And so to see that as the spouse of like, oh, wow, that website's done, product's done, people are downloading. Oh, we got cashflow, there's purchases. That is transformational versus going to the top of the ladder and like, oh, my wife's never home. Yeah, we got a couple of grand, but I haven't seen my wife in a week. And it creates so much more attention. And then it's really trapping you in the situation.
00:37:08
Speaker
And so I just think again, I'm going to do a shameless plug because we have a piece on our website, seven steps to launch a business and we have a value ladder in there. So if this isn't resonating over, you know, the podcast, you can download it, uh, www.uncommonwealth.com backslash gifts. So it's a free download for you. Second point I want to make, um, is to your employer and that whole being open to this, because like, if you go to Google.
00:37:33
Speaker
Facebook like they're investing in these top people and they're launching new products and services based on people's internal ideas. But now is like an employer, you know, small business owner. That's like a lot more, you know, your employers not Google, right? And so but as an entrepreneur and as a small business owner, like we have to be open to what our people are passionate about or we're going to lose them. Yes. Yeah.
00:37:57
Speaker
You know, because it's easier. I think now more than ever, I just saw stat that like, I think there's, I don't even want to speculate what it was, but there's a lot of people making like a million dollars a year now through Instagram, all these different things. And it's just, everything is getting deinstitutionalized. And so if you're not open.
00:38:16
Speaker
to helping your employees be passionate, it's gonna cost you. And so I just think that's like the big companies are doing that. We need to do that as entrepreneurs and smaller business owners. And I would say investing in your employees. Once you have an idea, like I really worry about Brian and I's future going into companies because we're like, hey, the 401k might not be the answer for you. Like, so a lot of, I'd say employers don't wanna even bring us in because they know the story we have.
00:38:44
Speaker
But I want to flip that completely opposite, is like how can you invest in that individual, Kezia, and get her excited about what she's doing so she's going to work 10 times harder for you because you bet it on them. I think that's the future for us. And so I think it's fun to just talk through all of this because you are such a success story for us and now you have something tangibly that you can engage with. Kudos to you guys.
00:39:10
Speaker
And this is what we love to do. Every day we get to go talk to people and hear, hey, I want to write obituaries for people. What? Yes. I'm excited about that. And so if you have that drum beat inside of you, if this, I think podcast, maybe you don't write well. I don't write well. We don't write well, let's be honest. But you have something in you that just you want to talk through with somebody and be like, am I crazy here?
00:39:37
Speaker
We're your guys and I want to just hear talk through and we've heard some pretty bad ideas and just kind of had to speak into that. It's like, well, have you ever done that? There's really not a lot of experience there. And does it seem like you're really passionate about that? So we've had those opportunities too. And so we just talked through them. But we're talking to you. That listener who is listening is like, huh, I've never thought this way.
00:40:00
Speaker
And you might have a couple assets that we can reorganize to help you with that idea. That's what we do it on Commonwealth Partners every day. Yes, because I think it's hard to when you're trying to make that shift and you're trying to get buy in from your spouse to have a third party that has been around this type of, you know, this type of thing to have a third party speaking into the truth of like, well, you're still going to have a plan in retirement. Like we still have a plan for you to, you know, basically be done working.
00:40:30
Speaker
And we can take this risk, you know, for your spouse and we can, we can have a plan that encompasses all of these different variables. Cause we obviously understand things are going to change and there's going to be a period of like, you know, higher uncertainty than there may be normally would be. And that's scary for people. And that's scary as, you know, spouses have different histories and experiences of money.
00:40:52
Speaker
And it's a big deal. And so it's been really neat to be able to speak into that for lots of different couples, you know, taking these types of decisions and risks. So Kizia, I want to just thank you for taking the risk to go down this uncommon path because you're not only going down it, you're dominating at it. And so Sean, I do have to just give a shout out to you, brother. Like, thanks for believing in us and believing in your wife to go after this.
00:41:15
Speaker
And I'm so excited about your future. Your future is so bright, you need sunglasses. You know what I'm saying? So you've been listening to the Uncommon Life Project. I've been your host, Philip Ramsey. And I am Brian Dewhurst. Tune in next time. Have a great day. Bye.
00:41:29
Speaker
That's all for this episode of The Uncommon Life Project, brought to you by Uncommon Wealth Partners. Be sure to visit uncommonwealth.com to learn more about our services. Don't miss an episode as we introduce you to inspiring people who are actively pursuing an uncommon life.