Episode 1181: Invest in Others - Interview with the Host of the Contenders Wanted Podcast Rob Cook – Part 2

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining us on episode 1,180. One of the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:00:06] Rob Cook: I'm Rob Cook. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to focus on what is really important while achieving success is key.

[00:00:23] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this. The inspired stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Maderer.

[00:00:29] I would argue that all business is service. You're providing value in some way to someone in exchange for, in our economy money. You're serving them in some way. You're providing them with a service literally, or you're providing them. You're serving them by giving them a product that they need or want

[00:00:52] Scott Maderer: welcome.

[00:00:52] And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God [00:01:00] wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast, who will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence.

[00:01:14] So that you can impact the world

[00:01:17] in today's interview with Rob cook, I ask Rob about why dads need to invest in their family. I also ask Rob about the responsibility of being a positive influence in our roles in life. And Rob also shares with you why he thinks it is so important to focus on millennials and young parents. One reason I like to bring you great interviews.

[00:01:40] Like the one you're gonna hear today is because of the power in learning from others. Another great way to learn from others is through reading books. But if you're like most people today, you find it hard to find the time to sit down and read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible.

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[00:02:26] Rob is a CPA and CFP fiduciary financial advisor who looks and plans beyond stocks and bonds and traditional financial planning with his clients. Rob believes that when thinking and talking about wealth, the conversation shouldn't be focused on money, but instead on the purpose for our money, In other words, the legacies we are creating today for our families.

[00:02:50] Rob is also the host of contenders wanted podcast, where we believe you could have incredible success without sacrificing what's most important [00:03:00] through the podcast. He leverages his personal experience and interactions with the ultra successful to help success oriented parents with young families, get more time balance and financial freedom in their lives.

[00:03:12] So they can move from being a contend. To a champion. Welcome to the show, Rob.

[00:03:17] Rob Cook: Thanks Scott. Appreciate you having me on the show.

[00:03:20] Scott Maderer: So Rob, last week, we talked a little bit about your family your wife, your early career, and you mentioned how putting family first putting those boundaries up was so important to you.

[00:03:35] How do you see your responsibility? Now you have young kids at home. You've got a wife you've got a family. How do you see your responsibility for investing in your family? How do you balance that with the impact that it has on your business, your career the other side of your life?

[00:03:52] Rob Cook: Yeah that's a difficult thing to do. I'll admit. I view my, the importance of investing in [00:04:00] my family as paramount for me and my life, my priorities are number one, my. Number two, my family, number three, my health, and then basically everything else after that and that everything else includes my career and or hobbies or whatever.

[00:04:16] And so for me, if that is my priority, I think we, we touched on this last week there's difference between something being important versus something being a priority. And if that's my priority, I then need to structure my. That way. So in my career, I do everything necessary to never work a Sunday so that I put those first things first I might check an email to make sure that if there's any, as the saying goes, is in the Meer something really bad going on.

[00:04:47] Then okay, we'll handle that, but then quickly get back to what's most important. But those are very few and far. In fact, I, some, I do things like I turn off the notifications [00:05:00] on my phone, so people can't interrupt me on those days. They can't distract from what's actually most important.

[00:05:05] If they need to get ahold of me, they can call me that I'm not gonna just be available to respond to emails. And I've got, I've gotten some healthy pushback from a lot of people because of that. But I think establishing those clear boundaries makes it possible for me to then be able to invest in my family and investing in my family, to me means being a good example, first and foremost, to my kids, it's one thing to say that they should do something, but it's very different to practice what you preach.

[00:05:33] And I don't wanna be a hypocrite. I don't want them to look at me and go dad says that we're most important, but he does this stuff that doesn't make any sense. I would never wanna be that dad. So for me it's a paramount importance to be a good example of that to not be the hypocrite.

[00:05:53] And then to lead out on those things that I think are most important or that I say are most important for our family. So leading out in prayer [00:06:00] or scripture study or leading out in learning, if I tell my kids it's important to learn then I better set a good example of one who learns. Who's always learning new things and sharing things that I learn.

[00:06:09] If I tell my kids that it's important to work hard, they should see me working. If I tell my kids that it's important for us to be honest and truthful, even when it's not easy. Then I better be honest and truthful when it's not easy period. Cuz there's a saying in our faith, you know that no success can compensate for failure in the home.

[00:06:28] So I better make sure that I do those things that are right at home because if I become some CEO or I own a multimillion dollar company and, or I. Millions of dollars. It will all mean nothing if I just destroy everything here. So for me, I see my responsibility to invest in my family, as in, as paramount second, only to my relationship with my, with God and my own personal faith.

[00:06:54] And so then that trickles down and impacts everything that I do in my career. So for example, with my [00:07:00] podcast, I do everything at night after my kids are all asleep or really early in the morning, like right now we are recording this. Early in the morning. So that later in the day, I can spend my time with my family.

[00:07:11] I purposely set up boundaries and I purposely block my time such so that my family knows that they're most important to me.

[00:07:19] Scott Maderer: So talking about that your podcast and. Then what you do in your career. So if we move away from the family for a second, I think you also have influence and impact on people with their financial future, through your podcast. How do you see your responsibility to serve others in those roles?

[00:07:39] How do you see that influence ?

[00:07:41] Rob Cook: Yeah, so it's funny, as I was reading these question, some of these questions that you sent me before the interview, and I got to this one. I realized that for me,

[00:07:52] influencing and serving others is an integral part of what I do outside of this. In [00:08:00] our last episode, we talked about how, for me, one of the most important things in my career was to find something where I could serve someone in a meaningful way every single day. And so for me, I would argue that all business is service.

[00:08:15] You're providing value in some way to someone in exchange for, in our economy money. You're serving them in some way. You're providing them with a service literally, or you're providing them with you're serving them by giving them a product that they need or want And I found that the more that I can think, less of myself and more of these other people and more of the people that I'm trying to serve, the better that I do, it hearkens back to Matthew 10 39, who solo loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

[00:08:49] I found that's the same in business as it is in my faith. If I lose myself serving and helping these other people, I tend to just do. I tend to be able to help them [00:09:00] more. And I tend to do just better work. I feel good about as a financial advisor, I'm a fiduciary which means that I'm always gonna put my clients' needs above my own.

[00:09:13] And as a podcaster, if I don't serve and invest in my audience, What their needs are and specifically try and help them solve their unique challenges. My podcast would cease to exist. Really I'd have no listeners . So I feel like everything that I do in a professional setting revolves around this idea of serving and providing value So how do you think. your faith. You've mentioned that several time has influenced the way you view your choices around career family, the podcast, even and other things.

[00:09:56] Yeah. I'm well I, if, for listeners who listen to the last [00:10:00] episode, you've heard me reference it multiple times. cuz it, in my opinion has impacted every aspect of all of those career family and more like I said last week my faith is interwoven into the very fabric of who I am. And if you don't understand clearly to some.

[00:10:20] My faith or the, at least the extent my faith impacts me. I You don't, you, you couldn't know me. I found my faith when I was very young. I was fortunate in that way. And so it's really had an impact on everything in my life. Last time. We talked about my four criteria for finding my career part.

[00:10:38] Tho those criteria were influenced by my faith. We talked about how I turned down certain job offers because I prayed and I felt like it wasn't right. And we talked about how

[00:10:52] my faith in my family has influenced even the way that I operate on a daily basis. [00:11:00] But it really it really impacts everything for me. Yeah. And especially with the cuz you mentioned earlier know, your fiduciary, do you think that's affected your view of what that means?

[00:11:15] Scott Maderer: So beyond just the legal definition of what it means to be a fiduciary which, cuz I, and the reason why I ask that is cuz I know there's financial advisors that get into trouble. There's financial advisors that are Le living the letter of being a fiduciary, but aren't necessarily always delivering that.

[00:11:35] I think sometimes people hear, oh, they're a fiduciary, they've got my best interest at heart and they turn off their filters because they assume. That's always true, but I've also seen cases where that doesn't play out in a way. That's always true. Yeah,

[00:11:49] Rob Cook: no, it, it definitely has cuz you're right.

[00:11:53] There are definitely instances where individuals are supposed to be fiduciary. So they're supposed to be looking out for their client's best interests, but they do [00:12:00] not. I think that's part of what drew me to the profession was that I felt like there was such a need for better advice. Better service in that regard.

[00:12:10] Couple of stories actually, to paint how this idea of being a fiduciary is so important to me and our firm. Number one if you wanna know if your advisor is actually a fiduciary, see if he gives you advice that will actually hurt them in their own. For example I just had a conversation recently where I sat down with some clients, there were some pro some potential clients over a lunch.

[00:12:33] We talked about various items at the end of the lunch. I told 'em that they should go talk to someone else that someone else was gonna be a better fit for them, that someone else was gonna be able to give them exactly what they needed. And that only later maybe if you wanted, we should come back and have a conversation.

[00:12:47] After they had talked to that other person, I literally turned away business. They wanted to hire me. And I said as much as I really appreciate that, I don't know if it would be a great fit at the moment. Here's the other things that you need to do. You need to go do [00:13:00] these other things, go talk to this person.

[00:13:02] And then if you still feel like you need to chat, we, you wanna work together. Great. Let's work together. But if not, that's okay. You should go talk to this person. This is what you really need. And. Part of the reason why I joined the firm that I joined is because that's just part of our culture.

[00:13:15] For example, one of our, there's a story at our firm that one of our founders we had given us certain instructions. We thought we had executed on those instructions, but we hadn't. And then all of a sudden we. Realized a short time later that we hadn't, and it had a financial impact on the client that they had missed out on a certain opportunity.

[00:13:39] And we weren't talking here just a couple hundred bucks, we're talking about a hundred thousand dollars opportunity. And our founder wrote a check out of his own pocket to cover that. Cause that was the right thing to do. We should have done it. The client should have had that benefit. We didn't do it.

[00:13:57] Therefore we're gonna make it. And [00:14:00] it's stuff like that, that I think really makes a real fiduciary. And so when I think about for me being a fiduciary is just, it was like yeah, that's just the way that I operate, because my faith teaches me that I'm supposed to be that way. My dad actually is a, he's a territory manager for caterpillar tractor and my dad always operated like a fiduciary.

[00:14:22] Even in that sales role. And as a kid, I, I remember watching him do basically what I just told you that I had done with a client multiple times. And I distinctly remember I was with my dad and his truck. We would've visited one of his clients one time and it, I think it was I don't remember, I wasn't at school for some reason, but I was with him that day and we were driving up the mountain, going visiting some clients and.

[00:14:44] I remember my dad was off to the side, talking with a couple of other people there at this particular job site and the owner and I were standing there and the owner made some sort of comment about how he was so grateful for my dad. And turned and I looked at him cause you're a teenager and you're like grateful [00:15:00] for my dad.

[00:15:00] Why are you grateful for my dad? And he looks at me and he goes, your dad always tells us the right thing. He always is taking care of. and as a kid that made a big impression on me and I thought, you know what, that's the right way to do business. That's the right way to do things. They love my dad because even if he sends him away, he does what's right. So for me, I just followed that model. Then when I got him the business, then yeah. Then I eventually became a C CFP because technically then I had a fiduciary standard and yeah, my firm had one, but there was no other way I was gonna operate because I had seen the example of the right way to do things.

[00:15:36] So when you talk about being a fiduciary and how has faith maybe impacted those things? Or how do we find, maybe what's a real fiduciary. I think you gotta keep those types of things in mind. What do their actions say? Are they actually gonna give you tell, give you advice?

[00:15:48] That'll not be for their own benefit that actually hurt them financially outta their own pocketbook. Then you're working with the right kind of person. So I [00:16:00] know in the show and in the podcast contenders wanted, you've mentioned to me that you like to reach millennials, you like to reach young parents you're a young parent yourself.

[00:16:11] Scott Maderer: Why do you focus on that audience?

[00:16:15] Rob Cook: This is a great question. I think there's really two answers to it. The first one is cuz they are my people period. You is them. I is them for sure. And I feel like because I am one of them, I feel and I can understand the life of my own listener because of that.

[00:16:38] Contenders wanted is this show that's about striving for greatness. Having to deal with all the crap that goes with life, but trying to focus on doing it the right way. And contender brings up this image of of a fighter, right? Fighting for what's most important fighting for what's right in life, fighting off all the other distractions and those things that are coming life.

[00:16:59] [00:17:00] And I feel all of those things myself on a daily basis. Like you said I'm a young dad, I have my own family. I'm trying to figure all this stuff out. I battled my own feelings of worthlessness of my own feelings of frustration of inadequacy, of all those normal things. And I think that enables me to then step into the shoes of my listener and go, okay what do they need?

[00:17:18] What do they want? What do they hope to hear? It just in a way makes my job a little easier. But then the second reason is. As millennials, we get a really bad rap or really bad rap. Every generation gets a bad rap at some point, but I feel like we just kinda get piled on all the time and I freaking hate it.

[00:17:42] I think we, as a millennial generation have so much potential. Yeah. Every generation's got their bad apples. Of course. And some may even argue that there's more bad apples in my generation than another, you know what? I don't care. I refuse to admit that my generation is a [00:18:00] bunch of dead beats on mom and dad's couch.

[00:18:03] There are a huge chunk of us that are more than worth our salt that are contenders, that are fighting to do things right. And we inherited a world that is just different. In many ways, then a lot of previous generations, we're the first generation to grow up in an internet age. We're the first generation to grow up with a host of things that are very different than a lot of groups of people.

[00:18:32] And that has its own unique opportunities and its own unique challenges. And I feel like we just get bagged on so much. So if I can. Show the world that we have such great potential and that we are doing great things and help, and I help some of us in the process step up to the plate and do great things and make, become the greatest generation [00:19:00] 2.0, like, why not?

[00:19:01] Let's try. I may not, I might not succeed in that, but I think that's part of the reason why I do that is because I feel like we have such great potential. So let's try and become great. Let's try and do things, you'll be happy to know that I once did some research and found quotes about how the generation behind whatever generation was saying it was the worst generation ever.

[00:19:27] Scott Maderer: And I found them going all the way back to Aristotle.

[00:19:31] Rob Cook: Oh, that's funny.

[00:19:32] Scott Maderer: Literally every generation has said of the generation coming behind. The world's going to heck in a hand basket cuz of this generation that's coming up. It's it's adorable thing. oh, I would totally agree with that for sure.

[00:19:46] Yeah. And I found him going all the way back to, there was a quote from Aristotle where he basically said the universe is in, in Greece is gonna fall because of this generation that's coming up behind us and it's [00:20:00] It did fall, but not exactly the way you thought so anyway, or for the reason that you thought.

[00:20:05] So I think there's not quite like that, that I think there's a little bit of that. It's normal to look at the generation because they're different and different must be bad. Yeah, exactly. I just like to point out to people that everyone thinks of the millennials as.

[00:20:21] Lazy and these sorts of things. And it's you do realize that everyone was calling them gen Y and then they literally banded together and said, Nope, we're gonna be called the millennials. We're changing our name. You don't do that if you're lazy. .

[00:20:33] Rob Cook: Yeah, actually I think it's funny when people say millennials don't do much and millennials don't change the world or millennials are just sitting on their mom and dad's couch.

[00:20:41] And I. Look at some of the most influential companies in the world they're founded by, they're founded by millennials. What the are you talking about? Yeah. Like Facebook mark. Lay aside your feelings about Facebook. Personally, I think it's a spool, but he's just a great example of a millennial who's changed the world, right?

[00:20:59] Scott Maderer: Absolutely. [00:21:00] You can argue whether it was for the good or for the bad, but he's changed it. Yeah, exactly,

[00:21:04] Rob Cook: exactly. It's exactly my point.

[00:21:08] Scott Maderer: Yep.

[00:21:08] You could follow Rob on LinkedIn as Rob cook or find him over on Facebook. Is Rob cook the best place though, to find out more about Rob or his podcast is over at his website. Contenders wanted.com. Of course I'll have links to all of this in the show notes as well. Rob, is there anything else you'd like to share with the listener?

[00:21:29] Rob Cook: Yeah. For those of you who would be interested, I actually have a, I call it the financial freedom Pathfinder quiz, cuz I'm trying to help more people on that financial side through contenders wanted, if you've ever wanted to know what path should I take to reach financial freedom? What's the the best path suit for me and my personal desires and predispositions and that sort of stuff.

[00:21:49] I've taken 10 plus years of personal finance and wealth. Learning about wealth and wealth creation and talking with people on my show and different things and created a quiz that helps people figure [00:22:00] out which of one of the 25, I think are the 25 unique paths towards financial freedom is best suited personally to them.

[00:22:06] So if anyone's interested in that, you can check that out by going to contenders, wanted.com/freedom. You can fill out the quiz get that for free. And there's also a couple of bonuses that come along with it, just for completing the.

[00:22:17] Scott Maderer: Awesome. That is a that sounds like a great gift. I'll link that up in the show notes as well.

[00:22:22] So folks can find it easier if they're driving or otherwise. Can't find it. Thank you so much for being on the show today. Really appreciate everything that you've shared.

[00:22:31] Rob Cook: Thank you, Scott. Thanks for having me on.

[00:22:32] Scott Maderer: Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes [00:23:00] rate.

[00:23:00] All one. iTunes rate, it'll take you through how to leave a rating and review and how to make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you can get every episode as it comes out in your feed until next time, invest your time, your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.