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So buckle up and welcome to Ditch the Suits.

Well, happy holidays.

Happy New Year.

Welcome to the end of 2024.

Welcome back to Ditch the.

Steve Campbell here with Travis Moss.

We know your time is precious right now being the holidays, so as always, I am the chief Brand officer at Seed Planning Group.

Travis is our CEO.

Seed is a fee only financial planning firm.

So Ditch the Suits is all about bringing us our everyday work experience, working with clients just like you to help you get the most from your money in life.

We spent the last episode recapping all the series and all the episodes, and it was a lot of fun going down memory lane because you kind of forget the things you talk about and how cool they are.

But we wanted to not just look back, we want to look forward on what's to come.

So, Travis, I just want to pass over to you whether you've been following dish suits for four years.

We picked you up in 2024.

Why don't you kind of paint a picture as to where we're going to take people in 2025 and beyond?

Well, first of all, thank you.

So, you know, we've had, I don't know, just an incredible year.

We grew by.

We had our listenership grow by about 34% of our subscribers, I guess.

And we're really excited, I think, about just our growth too.

I think, Steve, you and I have grown a ton this year, and I think that we've earned a ton.

We've had, what, about 150 episodes or so now?

Yeah, this is episode 148.

And I, you know, you look back to where we started and look to where we are.

I think we're doing a good job in telling a better story about what we're talking about.

So we were working on next year's schedule.

We've already got it kind of mapped out and it's pretty robust.

We're, we've, we're continuing the weekly episodes like the past year.

Like last year.

We just, in our last episode, we went through the whole kind of week to week kind of episode library, if you will.

We're still going to do the mythbusters and the current events, so we've got that kind of rolling forward for next year.

But we're going to add some guest interviews for the first time ever.

And this is something that people have been like.

We get emails like all the time.

I think I should be on your show.

And I'm like, have you listened to our show?

We've never had guests on our show, but we are actually going to do some guests but with kind of some creativity.

We're going to have some external guests.

So we're going to go out and bring some people into the topic that we're, whatever we're talking about at the time, that is not from our kind of internal.

This is how we approach everything.

We're going to get some different perspectives coming in, but we're also going to bring people from our team and see planning group, some of our financial planners into the conversations that we're having.

So you get to hear from people who are real world, like rolling up their sleeves, deep diving into all things financial planning with clients and can really talk about, you know, oh my gosh, we had this particular type of situation myself, as our business has grown, I'm getting, you know, more and more removed from the financial planning.

I don't work with new clients now.

Now my job is to mentor and help develop our next generation.

And really I work more with the managers and then the managers are working with our new financial planners and wealth managers.

And I mean, we've just got a fantastic team and we want to bring their voices to light and bring them in and hear what they're talking about because they're at the front line and they're really dealing with some very interesting challenges that, that, that people go through financially.

And we want to talk, we want to hear them talk about it and then we're going to take some of the stuff that we've talked about in the past and I think we can do a better job of painting that picture on certain items.

So we're going to go way back in the archives and we're going to pull back forward some things and maybe, you know, expand upon, upon the target that, the topic so we can get a little bit more detailed oriented this time through.

And I'm excited about that because I do think that we've grown quite a bit since we started this podcast and I think that we'll be able to add a lot of value to stuff that's already out there.

But maybe we can make it clearer or maybe it'll resonate better or if you're new to that, to the podcast rather than you going back and listening to every one of the old episodes, which absolutely you should do because that's awesome for us because it gets our, our statistics up.

But to make it Easier for you.

We're going to pull forward some of the important ones and talk about them in greater detail once again.

And we have some more things that we're going to do, but I want to keep some things that we're planning a surprise for our list close to the vest.

Well, and I think it's exciting to incorporate, you know, obviously external guests and going through that process of, you know, asking people to come on and making sure it's a good fit for you guys as listeners and what topics are we going to talk about, but also exposing you guys to the incredible people we get to do this thing with every day.

I mean, Ditch the Suits is Travis and I bringing like, here's what we talk about with people, but then you're going to hear from professionals that are actually doing the work and they're seeing the look on individuals faces when they bring ideas to them from tax planning.

And we get to talk with them every day in internal meetings and feel super proud, you know, of like look at, look at what is being happening every day.

So to bring them on and put a face with a name and share of their experiences, I think will be fun.

And you know, as we look back to the genesis of where Ditch the Suits came from, I think it's fun just to touch on for half a second.

You and I, during the middle of COVID recorded 72 videos every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, primarily for our seed clients because New York was shut down during quarantine.

And who knew that recording those 15 minute videos three times a week was going to become the forerunner for launching this podcast.

And when we started Ditch the Suits In January of 2021, each episode was an hour to an hour and a half.

And there was about 20 episodes in where we kind of had a moment where we thought, you know, this is too long for individuals to listen in.

One sec.

We're trying to do too much.

We were trying to incorporate business planning and financial planning and financial secrets all into every single episode.

And yeah, so I think, I think where you're going with this, I'll let you go further.

Yeah, no, it wasn't.

We just learned, I think, I think we are good at reflecting and saying, how can we do this better?

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Yeah, it wasn't bad, but it's like if you're ever on Facebook and you have a memory come up or on your iPhone of what you looked like five years ago, you're like, oh God, I looked awful.

Not that we were.

I looked way better five years ago.

I have more hair.

I was a little bit thinner.

And not that we were bad with Ditch the Suits.

We were just learning our way through podcasting.

And so I think you're getting a sharper version of us now moving forward.

And so we want to revisit some of the topics that when you, you know, come to Ditch the Suits, you go back to episode one and bear with us.

We're going to bring in some of these items back to the table.

But I know you wanted to talk about as a little bit of a holiday message.

When we started in January, we kind of set the stage that we were also launching additional podcasts and I wanted to kind of share for my own personal reflections because now I've been recording my show called the One Big Thing for the last year and a half, over 45 episodes.

And that's an interview style show.

I have people from the NFL that.

Was a shameless plug.

Well, I.

It's leading into a holiday message for you.

I've had over 45 guests from all, all walks of life, you know, from sports to super affluent famous people.

And what I've learned on that show and what I want to bring to all of you guys is Travis and I talk about the fact that it's more than money and it's more than life.

It's about enjoying the process.

And what I think is really fascinating for me is, you know, I have these people that I look up to that I think are famous, famous or influential.

And then you get them behind a microphone on screen like this and you realize about halfway through that they're human beings just like you and I, and they have insecurities just like you and I.

And I think we can look at a far from the things that people have that we wish we had or that we idolize.

If I just had more money, if I just had more fame, if people knew my name.

And we assume that that's what it's all about.

And what you hear from these individuals is they're depressed, they have anxiety, they don't know what it's all for.

And not that that's the case for everybody, but it's humanized the none of us really know how much time we have or what life is going to throw at us.

And so that's been a very cool experience for me, you know, humanizing these individuals that we all look up to and hearing what they go through in this whole idea of time.

You know, this was something that I had been talking with a lot of family and friends about.

I heard one time on a podcast, a guy say, you know, if you see your, you know, family members only a certain times per year, which is my situation now because I grew up in upstate New York, so I usually go back to New York once a year.

Went back up this past holiday season for Thanksgiving.

They said, if your parents are still alive, think about maybe how long your parents have to live.

Do the math.

And if you see them one time per year, that's how many more times you're going to have with them in person.

And I don't know about what it is about thinking about that.

That's just kind of rocked me and more centered me on am I really making the most of the time that I have with the people I love?

And I think it's so easy in the monotony of life and the speed at which things are moving, to forget that life is still about people and it's about enjoying the moment and, yes, planning ahead.

This is a planning show.

And do the right things, but don't lose yourself in the process.

And so I, as one of the co hosts of this show, have been trying to take this information to heart myself.

And this has looked like when I'm with my dad or my mom or even you, Travis, like, is my phone away from me?

Am I distracted by something that's trying to steal my attention?

Am I fully present with my wife and my kids when they're speaking to me?

Is my brain going, thinking about seed or something I have to do, or am I focusing on them?

Because I could have all the money in the world in a 401k and an IRA and do all the things we talk about, but if I lose my family in the process, what good is it?

And so I think my.

My heart for this show and in this holiday is let's make sure that this holiday we're really enjoying the people that are in our life because they could be gone tomorrow.

And the one thing that in the one episode we talked about the series about death, we don't know when it's coming for us.

So how do we maximize the time and the people?

And when you're here this holiday season, looking forward to 2025, if you blew some things in 2024, that's okay.

We're all human beings.

But how do you get better?

What's one thing that you can do to get a little bit better?

And so as I just reflect, you can't change the world.

You know, you can't make up for all the mistakes you've ever made.

But you can try to be the best version of yourself going forward.

And many times it's not doing extreme things, it's just doing the hard things that you don't feel like doing over and over again.

And so that's what we're trying to bring on the show is just our experiences of how do you do hard things over and over again to live the life you want to live.

So with that, I'm just going to say happy holiday.

Yeah.

And I'm gonna.

So I'll do my shameless plug now.

So we got this little podcast called Unleashing Leadership, which is me and Dave Nurchi, our chief operating officer, really just talking business.

So it's not really has anything to do with finance, however, the business is about finance.

So you'll learn more about the finance business and how Ceda operates by listening to that show.

But it's a no holds bar.

I mean it's, if you don't want to hear words, don't listen.

I mean it's, it's, it's an intense show and it's about intensity.

It's about, you know what, you need to stop wanting, you need to stop worrying, you need to stop waiting for other people to do stuff for you.

You need to stop struggling and you just need to start doing it.

But how do you start and, and how do you understand, Right.

We said in the last episode, understand the rules of the game and become great at the game.

How do you understand?

How do you learn and how do you become great at the game?

Right.

So that, so that you can unlock your own potential.

Somebody else doesn't have to do it for you.

Yep.

And I, and I think that that leads into, I had this all pre prepared.

You know, obviously we, we try to have a pretty good idea as we come into the shows, what we're talking about.

But my holiday message for all of our listeners is that the clock just keeps ticking, and we should not live in fear and frozen or confused because we don't know what real value is.

And I think that that happens all the time.

And I think part of it's because of the word play with value.

We don't understand the difference between value, cost, and price.

You know, there's all these, you know, all this pressure to do things a certain way or to be in a certain place or to be a certain person.

And as much as it's important to look at things like risk and ask questions and have a plan, it's also important to take care of what really matters.

And I think it's along the same lines of what you said, which is, you know, what really matters is ourselves and our loved ones.

Yeah.

You know, whatever you're passionate and you care about, which needs to be more than yourselves.

That's why there's.

And our loved ones.

Your loved ones could be anything.

Right.

I'm not saying that it has to be.

You have to be married or you have to have kids.

It could be your colleagues, your employees, you know, your boss.

It could be your chickens, you know, your dogs.

I don't care what it is.

It can be your church members, but it's your love, the things that you care about.

And if you don't care about anything else, this is a good time to reflect and say, why and how do I work my way towards that?

Because life is so much better when you're doing something for somebody else.

I was talking to a good friend today about the fact that if my wife's not home, I don't cook, and I'm very easy to skip a meal.

And it's hard to live by yourself and make sure you eat healthy, because it's like, who cares?

Nobody's going to know.

Nobody can say, hey, you didn't eat dinner, Go eat dinner.

Right?

It's the other people in our lives who make us better.

It's the other people in our lives who keep us in check.

It really is.

We do it for other people normally, you know, yes.

They say, oh, go do it for yourself.

And there's a component of that, but it's far more powerful when you do it for yourself and for somebody else.

It's just so much more powerful.

And.

But that being said, don't put so much damn pressure on yourself.

This is something that I've struggled with in my career for so long, is putting so much pressure on myself to carry the weight of a mountain.

Sometimes you don't need to be someplace else just because you're comparing yourself to somebody else.

You know, you gotta find strength in the fact that you are working hard at doing a good job.

And maybe you haven't done the best job before.

Maybe you've done a fascinating job.

If you've done a fascinating job, you can still do a better job, I guarantee you.

And if you haven't done a good job, you don't beat yourself up over it.

What you do is you get up tomorrow and you say, what can I do today to do my job a little bit better than what I did yesterday?

Whether it's raising your kids, whether it's, you know, keeping a clean bedroom, whether it's, you know, doing a better, you know, doing better at work, whether it's being a better friend, whatever it is, you can make that difference tomorrow.

But you don't have to reinvent yourself or transform yourself or, you know, if you're at level A and you want to get to level Z, you don't go from A to Z, you go from A to B.

Can you get yourself to level B?

That's all you want to do.

2025, January 1, 2025 is a really maybe January 2, because hopefully you have some fun, you know, New year's Eve and January 1st year a little bit groggy because you had some fun New Year's eve.

So maybe January 2nd, but you can start on day one doing a little bit better and also for the right reasons.

Love that.

Well, and that's a nice segue, too, into this conversation.

Enjoy the loved ones.

But also to you as a listener, just know that if you don't have this all figured out, you're not alone.

You know, I think nobody does.

People with millions of dollars, they ain't got nothing figured out.

Well, and that's the whole truth.

Just the insecurities that you feel or, you know, I should have done this, or why don't I know more?

A lot of people are in the same boat, so keep coming back to ditch the suits.

As we just told you in our last episode, we're going to give you such a wide range of topics and empower you to understand what you should know and how to make decisions.

But it's ultimately up to you.

Do what you want with the information.

I think we got an exciting plan laid out for 2025 and beyond, but we need your support.

If these shows mean a lot to you, subscribe, share them with a friend or loved one.

You know, get in touch with us, let us know, give us a five.

Star or a thumbs up or however the thing works.

And if you got people that you want to hear from in the financial space, reach out to us and let us know.

Steve, Travis, reach out to this person, get them on the show, but also, you know, put that information out there to them.

You guys should reach out to ditch the suits.

You're looking for guests.

I mean, this is going to be an exciting chapter for us to bring more people into this story with us, because it's not just Travis and I.

There's a lot of people doing a lot of great work and we just get the opportunity to share the collective stories and the ideas and really what we've learned over the years.

So, you know, with that, we just want to wish all of you guys an Incredible New Year 2025.

Make it your best year yet by understanding what do you need to know like.

Like what's really beyond your control that you need to learn to let go of?

And how do you enjoy every moment while still planning and making a plan, but allowing life to come at you and making decisions because you have the information that you need.

So Happy New Year.

Head over to digitalsuits.com if you need some more information.

But until then, we appreciate all of you for stopping by.

Digit suits.