John:

Hi, so today we are celebrating

John:

Damien and Matilda Relyea of

John:

the Relyea Insurance Group.

John:

Hi guys.

Damion:

Hi.

Damion:

How's it going?

John:

We're happy to

John:

have you here with us.

Connie:

Yeah, thank you for joining us.

Matilda:

Thank you.

Damion:

Thanks for having us.

John:

Our theme is family, celebrating

John:

family businesses, small family

John:

businesses particularly, and you guys

John:

I think fit that pretty perfectly.

John:

So how did you get started

John:

in family business?

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

I mean, do you want to start with

Damion:

a little bit of our back story?

Matilda:

Yeah.

Matilda:

So my, my background was I was

Matilda:

pursuing medicine at the same time.

Matilda:

I sort of got into real estate and

Matilda:

that ended up being the route that

Matilda:

I stayed on a little bit closer.

Matilda:

So I sold real estate.

Matilda:

I recruited real estate agents.

Matilda:

Damien's background was sort of

Matilda:

varied starting in, started in

Matilda:

plumbing, did a couple of things.

Matilda:

And we were introduced.

Matilda:

To to business, I guess by

Matilda:

connection in New York, which is

Matilda:

where we're from upstate New York.

Matilda:

And that those kind of

Matilda:

business connections originally

Matilda:

actually not an insurance.

Matilda:

They ended up bringing us to

Matilda:

Florida and about six months

Matilda:

after we moved to Florida.

Matilda:

Having spent some time working in the

Matilda:

insurance realm, we decided to start

Matilda:

our own insurance business together.

Matilda:

I should say he convinced me to

Matilda:

work in an insurance business with

Matilda:

him because that's a little bit

Matilda:

more what it was in the beginning.

Matilda:

But since then, about a year and a half

Matilda:

coming up on two years, actually, I

Matilda:

would say we've been insurance business.

John:

Congrats.

John:

Yeah.

John:

Did either one of you guys come from have

John:

a family business in your background?

Damion:

No.

Damion:

So both of our families are pretty

Damion:

job minded, I guess you would say.

Damion:

Your dad's an RN, your mom's a

Damion:

accountant, my mom is a English teacher.

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

So we don't have really any background

Damion:

as far as learning from someone as

Damion:

running a small family business.

Damion:

No.

Matilda:

My uncle had a pizza shop.

Matilda:

How's the piece of shop that I worked

Matilda:

in a little bit, but, but our, our

Matilda:

lineage is not really entrepreneurship.

Matilda:

Well, congrats for stepping

Matilda:

out and doing that.

Matilda:

Yeah.

Matilda:

Cause that is scary.

Damion:

Yeah.

John:

Any, any particular reactions

John:

from family were, were they cautionary

John:

about you when you decided to do this?

Damion:

Not really.

Damion:

We've always just kind of been.

Damion:

I guess you would stay hardheaded

Damion:

pretty straightforward.

Damion:

Like we're going to get

Damion:

this done no matter what.

Damion:

So maybe a little bit.

Damion:

But we also didn't really consult with

Damion:

them because none of them own a business.

Damion:

So we weren't going to ask other people

Damion:

who didn't own businesses, what they

Damion:

thought about us starting a business.

Damion:

We talked to other business owners.

Damion:

But yeah, I mean, obviously parents

Damion:

always want the best for you.

Damion:

But we've always just

Damion:

kind of been that way.

Damion:

I've wanted to own a business since I

Damion:

was probably 15 or maybe even younger.

Damion:

I had small variations of my

Damion:

own businesses, I guess you

Damion:

could say, in high school that

Damion:

weren't technically on the books.

Damion:

But yeah, they're, they're pretty

Damion:

supportive.

Matilda:

Yeah.

Matilda:

Yeah.

Matilda:

And I think, and to your point, we

Matilda:

learned from business owners, we're

Matilda:

really fortunate actually to learn from

Matilda:

other business owners really early on.

Matilda:

Like, don't take advice from people

Matilda:

you wouldn't trade places with.

Matilda:

Yeah.

Matilda:

And that was a big deal

Matilda:

because I love my parents.

Matilda:

You love your parents, but we

Matilda:

wouldn't trade places with them.

Matilda:

In fact, a lot of what we do is for them.

Matilda:

So you, you can't take advice from

Matilda:

the same people you want to help.

Matilda:

Even though we have so much respect,

Matilda:

we've learned so much from them.

Matilda:

Absolutely.

Matilda:

That's a writer

John:

downer right there.

John:

Wow.

John:

Very good.

John:

Very good.

John:

So what do you guys love

John:

most about working together?

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

I think it's that phrase, just

Damion:

being able to work together.

Damion:

When we were working jobs, we

Damion:

weren't in the job market or I guess

Damion:

sphere, you could say very long.

Damion:

We didn't pray for other people very long.

Damion:

But we just hated being apart and

Damion:

we were also building somebody

Damion:

else's business all the time.

Damion:

And there's nothing wrong with that.

Damion:

We worked with great people.

Damion:

We still have great

Damion:

relationships with them.

Damion:

We just got sick of

Damion:

being apart all the time.

Damion:

It just didn't really make sense for us.

Damion:

So now we're together all the time.

Damion:

We're building something

Damion:

together for our family.

Damion:

And it's just so much more fun.

Damion:

It's so much more fulfilling.

Damion:

I think people and us included, we

Damion:

kind of went through the motions.

Damion:

We were just showing up collecting a

Damion:

paycheck and then, you know, that was it.

Damion:

And now we're actually building something.

Damion:

We're on an adventure.

Damion:

Yeah.

Matilda:

And I think that to your, to

Matilda:

your point as well about having more

Matilda:

freedom and choice, like when you were

Matilda:

working, when Damien was working at an

Matilda:

insurance agency, you have a ceiling.

Matilda:

And that's, I mean, that's true of

Matilda:

anything, like when you're working

Matilda:

for somebody, you have a ceiling

Matilda:

because you have opposing interests.

Matilda:

Their goal is to pay you as

Matilda:

little as possible and get as much

Matilda:

value from you, which is fine.

Matilda:

That's their business.

Matilda:

And your goal is to make

Matilda:

as much money as possible.

Matilda:

And in some people's case, do

Matilda:

as little work as possible.

Matilda:

So you really are kind of at odds.

Matilda:

And he just saw the opportunity of like,

Matilda:

I can do everything my employer is doing.

Matilda:

All he's doing is buying, you know,

Matilda:

insurance and buying me leads and

Matilda:

making me come and sit in an office.

Matilda:

And I can do those two things by myself.

Matilda:

And so he's like, he made it that simple.

Matilda:

And I think that was key, honestly,

Matilda:

at first for insurance, just

Matilda:

making it that simple and saying,

Matilda:

Well, I can do this stuff myself.

Damion:

Yeah, I think one of my

Damion:

skills is explaining things like I'm

Damion:

explaining it to a fourth grader,

Damion:

because that's how I operate.

Damion:

I'm like a fourth grade level, so I

Damion:

can break things down pretty simple.

John:

That is huge.

John:

Simplicity.

John:

Simplicity is an art.

John:

I don't, have you ever heard of

John:

the physicist Richard Feynman?

John:

No, he is well known.

John:

In fact, it's called

John:

the Feynman technique.

John:

And it's basically, if you can't take

John:

something and explain it to an eight

John:

year old, you don't understand it.

John:

You're right up there with

John:

a brilliant physicist.

John:

So is there, is there any challenge

John:

that you've overcome together in

John:

your journey that other couples

John:

might benefit from hearing about?

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

I mean, I'd say so the first

Damion:

year in business, the first

Damion:

couple of years in business for

Damion:

most businesses is pretty tough.

Damion:

You're investing a lot.

Damion:

You're not necessarily always seeing

Damion:

the return that you want to see.

Damion:

In the beginning, it was very much

Damion:

separating work from not work.

Damion:

Because we started off

Damion:

in our small apartment.

Damion:

It's a very small apartment.

Damion:

We've worked from home.

Damion:

We did everything from home,

Matilda:

everything,

Matilda:

desks in the living room.

Matilda:

Not a good idea.

Matilda:

It was fun.

Matilda:

Like

Damion:

it was a grind.

Damion:

It was fun.

Damion:

It was the beginning.

Damion:

But it got to the point where it

Damion:

was like, man, this is not healthy.

Damion:

Cause when you're sitting down

Damion:

relaxing, you can see your desk and

Damion:

you're like, wow, I should be working.

Damion:

And it's like nine o'clock at

Damion:

night and you should not be working

Damion:

because you've worked all day.

Damion:

So yeah, just one learning

Damion:

how to work as a couple.

Damion:

But also learning how to separate

Damion:

that when it's not business, you're

Damion:

spending time going to dinner, not

Damion:

talking about, Oh, Hey, we need to

Damion:

buy this and we need to do that.

Damion:

All right.

Damion:

What's the P and L look like just being

Damion:

able to spend time together and separate

Matilda:

it.

Matilda:

And I mean, for most people in new

Matilda:

to business, I mean, your number

Matilda:

one problem is cashflow, like at the

Matilda:

top of pretty much everyone's list.

Matilda:

And so we were, we were profitable our

Matilda:

first year in business, I would say.

Matilda:

That business was making money, but

Matilda:

we were not making money which is

Matilda:

the case for a lot of people because,

Matilda:

you know, even in the beginning when

Matilda:

you're succeeding, you know, we're

Matilda:

like, Oh, yes, like, this is great.

Matilda:

Look at our profit margins.

Matilda:

And then we're like, Oh, but we have

Matilda:

bills and expenses and all of that.

Matilda:

And so it was cool to come out of.

Matilda:

You know, that phase but I think

Matilda:

that's kind of the big, a big challenge

Matilda:

and it can cause a lot of stress.

Matilda:

Like financial stress can

Matilda:

leak into your personal life.

Matilda:

So, yeah, I think we were blessed

Matilda:

to have really good influences just

Matilda:

in our personal life of how to have.

Matilda:

you know, a good marriage.

Matilda:

And that's something that's a continual

Matilda:

work in progress for everybody.

Matilda:

But if you can't separate that, like

Matilda:

the financial stress, it can like

Matilda:

really, you know, be hard on a marriage.

John:

Yeah, I agree.

John:

I want to call out something you just

John:

said that kind of slipped on by, which

John:

was the idea of financial stress can

John:

leak into the into the relationship.

John:

I think it's A much stronger

John:

statement would be appropriate.

John:

I think what I've read is like the,

John:

that's one of the biggest problems

John:

that couples in business together

John:

face is that is the financial

John:

stress stresses the relationship.

John:

Yeah.

Matilda:

And I mean, number

Matilda:

one cause of divorce.

Matilda:

As far as I know, it's financial stress.

Matilda:

You guys can correct me because I, you

Matilda:

have your, you have your facts straight

Matilda:

a lot more than I do, I think, but but

Matilda:

yeah, that financial piece is big, even

Matilda:

for people who don't own a business.

Matilda:

So when you own a business and it's like

Matilda:

suddenly everything, you know, the way

Matilda:

you say is like, you have to hunt and

Matilda:

kill and everything you're going to eat.

Matilda:

That's the most, how it feels.

Matilda:

That's kind of like a primal

Matilda:

example, but like when you're right.

Matilda:

Deal by deal, commission by commission.

Damion:

That's what it is.

Damion:

There's no taking it easy today.

Damion:

Cause you're out, you're

Damion:

literally hunting.

Damion:

If you don't kill, like you don't

Damion:

eat, like you gotta, you gotta

Damion:

put in work, make sure it happens.

Matilda:

Well, and being together

Matilda:

24 seven is another stressor,

Damion:

right?

Damion:

Yeah, I mean, we love it.

Damion:

Like we're, we, we understand that.

Damion:

Yeah, we've done really good at it.

Damion:

But we also got to the point

Damion:

where I got an office space.

Matilda:

We learn our,

Matilda:

we learn how to navigate

Damion:

it.

Damion:

Yeah, yeah.

Damion:

Because we'll distract each other.

Damion:

When we're together all the time,

Damion:

we won't get as much work done

Damion:

because we're just hanging out.

Damion:

We want to have fun.

Damion:

We want to talk.

Damion:

So I ran, we ran a small office

Damion:

space for me to go to during the day.

John:

So one of the ways you

John:

figured out to work more effectively

John:

business wise was to create a

John:

little separate physical separation.

Matilda:

Yeah, 100%.

Matilda:

When he's home like today he came

Matilda:

home from the office early and he

Matilda:

says, Oh, I'm coming home early.

Matilda:

I'm like, Okay.

Matilda:

I'm not going to get anything done.

Matilda:

And I know that.

Matilda:

And that's, you know, obviously

Matilda:

I can work if I have something

Matilda:

booked, you know, it's easy.

Matilda:

Cause I, it's booked.

Matilda:

I can be there.

Matilda:

But yeah, I think we do our best work

Matilda:

separately and it's fun to be together

Matilda:

all the time, but we did have to kind of

Matilda:

find that, you know, balance, especially

Matilda:

because for us, some couples maybe can

Matilda:

sit there and work together for us.

Matilda:

The majority of our work

Matilda:

is done over the phone.

Matilda:

So you can't really have, you know, Two

Matilda:

conversations, phone conversations going

Matilda:

in the same, same small space, same room.

Matilda:

So that does make it a little tough.

Matilda:

So we did have to kind of work

Matilda:

that out and get another space.

John:

Okay.

John:

Yeah, we actually are similar position.

John:

Connie's computer is, desk is right there.

John:

And so if we both wanted to be on the same

John:

zoom call, we would have problems with

John:

echo and you know, all that kind of stuff.

John:

So hence we sit next to each

John:

other for, for coaching and, or I

Matilda:

moved my computer

Matilda:

into the, into the dining room.

John:

Yeah.

John:

No, they're into the house.

John:

Yeah.

John:

Well, there's not a problem.

Matilda:

Yeah, absolutely.

Matilda:

And we've done

John:

that too.

John:

Is there anything that you, anything

John:

about being, working together in a

John:

family business that, you know, now that

John:

you wish you'd known when you started?

John:

I know it's kind of, you're

John:

kind of new in the game yet.

John:

I mean, yeah.

Matilda:

I think, and I

Matilda:

think we've said this before.

Matilda:

I think if we knew, I don't want to

Matilda:

say, I don't want to use the word hard.

Matilda:

I don't really like that word hard.

Matilda:

We work on changing our vocabulary

Matilda:

and having the right words coming

Matilda:

out, but I think if we had known.

Matilda:

Certain things we maybe

Matilda:

wouldn't have started.

Matilda:

So I actually think that that

Matilda:

phrase ignorance is bliss

Matilda:

and that can come off wrong.

Matilda:

We're very glad for the decisions

Matilda:

we've made, but I think if you know too

Matilda:

much, it can actually be a detriment.

Matilda:

So we, we talk to people a lot who,

Matilda:

I mean, they want to start a business

Matilda:

or maybe they're, they're doing what

Matilda:

they're doing and they want to have

Matilda:

something else or other things going.

Matilda:

And it's like, The main thing that you,

Matilda:

you just say a lot is just do it, like

Matilda:

stop talking about it, just do it, because

Matilda:

if you, you can't research it all the

Matilda:

way, you can't explore it all the way,

Matilda:

like, one, the more you know, could be

Matilda:

detrimental to you, you just, potentially,

Matilda:

and two, it's never going to happen.

Matilda:

Yeah, no for sure.

Matilda:

You're never

Damion:

going to get all the answers,

Matilda:

right?

Matilda:

No, no.

Matilda:

And if you get them all,

Matilda:

you might not want them all.

Matilda:

So you might as well just go

Matilda:

through it until you have the

Damion:

result you want.

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

I mean, we'll have people who ask

Damion:

us you know, whether it's family,

Damion:

whether it's friends, cause like we

Damion:

haven't done a lot yet, but we've

Damion:

been self employed for almost two

Damion:

years now, fully the both of us.

Damion:

Like that's an accomplishment.

Damion:

And they'll, they'll just act

Damion:

like, okay, I'm going to do this.

Damion:

I'm thinking about that.

Damion:

And I'm like, Just do it.

Damion:

Like there's nothing

Damion:

else I can say to you.

Damion:

Like until you start going through

Damion:

the action we're not going to

Damion:

be able to have a conversation

Damion:

cause you just don't get it.

Damion:

And that's not to be offensive.

Damion:

That's not to be rude.

Damion:

But when you're talking to another

Damion:

business owner, the conversation is just.

Damion:

There's more depth.

Damion:

There's more conviction.

Damion:

There's more relatability.

Damion:

So you just have to start.

Damion:

Or it's just never going to happen.

Damion:

Yeah, yeah.

Damion:

And we don't know what you don't know.

Damion:

Right?

Damion:

Yeah, like,

Matilda:

yeah, exactly.

Matilda:

And that's like.

Matilda:

Like again, like that's actually a gift

Matilda:

for the first, you know, a little bit,

Matilda:

because if we had known like some of the

Matilda:

stressors or some of the things that we

Matilda:

would encounter not say that we wouldn't

Matilda:

have done it, but would we have been as

Matilda:

excited or like as ambitious about it?

Matilda:

Maybe not like you never know.

Matilda:

Maybe we would have been like, Oh,

Matilda:

well, if we can foresee, we're going

Matilda:

to encounter this financial stress.

Matilda:

Maybe we shouldn't invest so much here.

Matilda:

That's not how it works.

Matilda:

You don't get to.

Matilda:

look down the road and feel like, Oh, I

Matilda:

should do this or I shouldn't do this.

Matilda:

You just have to do it.

Matilda:

And we're just really thankful

Matilda:

we had the influences.

Matilda:

To help us set ourselves up right

Matilda:

and make the right decisions.

Matilda:

You know, for us starting a business,

Matilda:

we were fortunate to be debt free.

Matilda:

That was an important thing for us,

Matilda:

because when you're investing a lot of

Matilda:

money, the lower your cost of living,

Matilda:

the better, and we see people around

Matilda:

us who sometimes they don't have those

Matilda:

influences, or maybe they haven't listened

Matilda:

to the same voices and, you know, we're

Matilda:

just thankful that we did because we

Matilda:

set ourselves up in the beginning.

Matilda:

Had we not done that...

Damion:

Cause if we had, you know, two

Damion:

car payments, a truck payment, I think

Damion:

the average car payment in America

Damion:

right now, I just heard the other

Damion:

day, it was like $600-$700 a month.

Damion:

Like that's insane.

Damion:

That's a lot and there's nothing wrong.

Damion:

Like if you want to do

Damion:

that, we're not against it.

Damion:

We are for our family because

Damion:

we know being debt free has

Damion:

created a lot of options for us.

Damion:

We don't owe anybody anything.

Damion:

So we can take that $700 and turn it into

Damion:

$2, 500 by investing in our business.

Damion:

So yeah, again, I think.

Damion:

I'm never one to, we're kind

Damion:

of going off on a rampage.

Damion:

Yeah, it's, I don't want to.

John:

No, that's, that really comes

John:

back to my previous, you know,

John:

question about, well, what would

John:

you, you know, is there something

John:

you'd tell other business owners?

John:

And that I think managing debt and keeping

John:

your debt as low as possible is a huge

John:

you know, wisdom, point of wisdom, I'll

John:

say that, that a lot of people just

John:

don't get in our culture of payments?

John:

You know how much...

John:

subscription model; everything's

John:

a subscription today.

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

No.

Damion:

And I think one thing that I would add

Damion:

is just comparison is the thief of joy.

Damion:

That's what we've heard.

Damion:

One thing we did during that, I completely

Damion:

cut out social media for a time period.

Damion:

Because when you're looking at

Damion:

Instagram, when you're looking at it,

Damion:

like, are there some people on there

Damion:

that probably live that lifestyle?

Damion:

I think absolutely.

Damion:

There's probably some,

Damion:

but most of them don't.

Damion:

I think it's too easy for people just

Damion:

to post what their life looks like.

Damion:

And you're like, man, why are, why does

Damion:

it feel like we're hemorrhaging money?

Damion:

And there's other people who are out there

Damion:

living a lifestyle that we want to live.

Damion:

So just like doing what you need to

Damion:

do, I think too many people think

Damion:

it's easy to start a business now

Damion:

when it really is like, it's one of

Damion:

the hardest things that you will do.

Matilda:

And I think you could

Matilda:

probably make more sense of

Matilda:

this in the psychological realm.

Matilda:

But we, we talked recently about

Matilda:

like, there's this mindset of.

Matilda:

Like just this life path that people

Matilda:

follow almost by default of like,

Matilda:

you go to school, come out, you get

Matilda:

a job, you meet a guy, or if you're,

Matilda:

you meet somebody, you get a dog.

Matilda:

You get a house, you have a baby

Matilda:

and like we see people who, and

Matilda:

there's nothing wrong with that path

Matilda:

at all, like, but we see people who

Matilda:

they don't actually make choices.

Matilda:

They don't by not making a choice all

Matilda:

of their life choices happen by default

Matilda:

and happens to follow that same model.

Matilda:

And I'm like, wow, I'm so not that

Matilda:

there's anything wrong with those things.

Matilda:

I'm like, I'm just so glad that we

Matilda:

took a step back and like evaluated

Matilda:

some things and chose to make a couple

Matilda:

different choices along the way.

Matilda:

And we just see so many people who

Matilda:

follow and some of those people who

Matilda:

even say they want to own a business,

Matilda:

but there's, there's still making

Matilda:

all those other this cascade of

Matilda:

decisions that's preventing that.

Matilda:

Maybe there's some psychological

Matilda:

explanation for that.

Matilda:

I don't know.

Matilda:

But it's interesting to see.

John:

I'm not a psychologist.

John:

Yes, but I would agree with you.

John:

There's a lot there that, you know,

John:

living by default those, they're addicted

Matilda:

to it.

Matilda:

You know, they're addicted

Matilda:

to a new car every year.

Matilda:

They're addicted to, you know, whatever

Matilda:

that they're, they're going out for

Matilda:

dinner three or four times a week.

Matilda:

And, you know, the fancy alcohols

Matilda:

and the things like that.

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

And it

Matilda:

becomes an issue That they get

Matilda:

locked in to where they're they're at,

Matilda:

instead of pulling out like you guys

Matilda:

did and saying, no, we don't need all

Damion:

that.

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

And I don't think there's anything wrong

Damion:

with those things about once you've for

Damion:

a period of time for a period of time.

Damion:

Yeah, exactly.

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

It gets so radical.

Damion:

And maybe that's not, maybe that

Damion:

gets people a little upset, but if

Damion:

you, I just heard it the other day.

Damion:

I don't remember what it was, but

Damion:

if you want to win, you better be

Damion:

radical at whatever you want to win.

Damion:

Cause when you're, it goes

Damion:

back to sports, right?

Damion:

Like if you want to win the super

Damion:

bowl, you're not going to win the

Damion:

super bowl by playing golf part time,

Damion:

like during the season, they are

Damion:

obsessed and radical with winning.

Damion:

You have to do that.

Damion:

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Damion:

You have to cut it out

Damion:

for a period of time.

Damion:

And then once you've reached a certain

Damion:

point, you can probably bring those things

Damion:

slowly back in or back in completely.

Damion:

Yeah,

John:

it's, it's it's kind of an

John:

impatience at getting, reaching the goal.

John:

You know, I, I want to have this

John:

lifestyle or this, you know, I will

John:

eventually want to achieve this.

John:

And, and the mountain that they've

John:

got to climb to get there seems,

John:

just seems to get bigger, so then

John:

they start trying to take shortcuts.

John:

"Well, I'll just buy this now."

John:

And I instant, gratification.

John:

Yeah.

John:

We're in such an instant

John:

gratification world.

John:

Yeah.

John:

Interesting that you mentioned the, you

John:

know, the kind of the, the cultural models

John:

of, you know, like go to, go to school,

John:

get a job, have a baby, all those things.

John:

I mean, yes, there is a, there's an

John:

assumption in, in, in the culture

John:

of, of what, or has been for a long

John:

time of what a family looks like

John:

and what an ideal life looks like.

John:

And when I was, when we were growing up.

John:

You know, the idea was to have a pension.

John:

You work for the same, you want to work

John:

for the same company for 40 years and

John:

get a pension and the company would

John:

fund that, you know, pension for your

John:

rest of your life, for your retirement.

John:

And that all went away.

John:

Yeah.

John:

There's so many things that

John:

we've seen just go away.

John:

And, but, and talking about family,

John:

as we discussed doing family

John:

businesses for, for this podcast.

John:

We've also got to expand our

John:

model of what is a family.

John:

It's a traditional you know, look of

John:

a family and has been you know, they

John:

oftentimes the, the founder, the person

John:

that runs the business is the male.

John:

And you know, there was a, a cultural

John:

expectation of subservient females

John:

in the, you know, fifties and

John:

before, and all of that has changed.

John:

And so, you know, we've, we got to embrace

John:

the, the variety that exists today.

John:

Yeah.

Matilda:

And I think I, like we talked

Matilda:

about this a little bit when we, when

Matilda:

we met previously that there's different

Matilda:

models of a family business for us because

Matilda:

we are You know, I guess you would say

Matilda:

a first generation family business.

Matilda:

We don't have the same dynamics

Matilda:

that maybe a second and third

Matilda:

generation business would have for us.

Matilda:

We just have us.

Matilda:

So it does come down to that.

Matilda:

Like, like you said, there are

Matilda:

some preconceived models and, and

Matilda:

some of those things are good.

Matilda:

And some of those things are not

Matilda:

some, some work, some didn't.

Matilda:

And it's just like, how do

Matilda:

you, how do we have the best?

Matilda:

highest functioning team.

Matilda:

And that's something that we talk about

Matilda:

because there are times where we have

Matilda:

to shift and be like, okay, if your,

Matilda:

if your plate is full and mine's not

Matilda:

that I need to take something off your

Matilda:

plate and to be able to kind of make

Matilda:

those shifts and acknowledge when,

Matilda:

you know, I have to acknowledge just,

Matilda:

just by the virtue of the way our

Matilda:

business runs, Damon does our sales.

Matilda:

I focus on recruiting

Matilda:

and building our team.

Matilda:

So he does have.

Matilda:

More of that stress at this

Matilda:

point in our business, just

Matilda:

by virtue of where things are.

Matilda:

And so yeah, we definitely have to be kind

Matilda:

of conscious of that dynamic and making

Matilda:

sure things are moving fluidly because it

Matilda:

can be really easy for one person to be

Matilda:

bogged down more than the other for sure.

Matilda:

And that's going to happen

Matilda:

anyway in a, in any kind of

Damion:

relationship, right?

Damion:

Yeah,

Matilda:

absolutely.

John:

So do you network with any

John:

other family business owners?

Matilda:

Yeah, I would definitely say so.

Matilda:

Yeah.

Matilda:

We are big internet, we decided pretty

Matilda:

early on in our business and every

Matilda:

model is different, but our business

Matilda:

is pipeline built, built upon leads.

Matilda:

So we decided we wanted to buy

Matilda:

higher quality leads and network.

Matilda:

That was kind of our, our goal of how

Matilda:

we wanted our business to be built.

Matilda:

And we've done that pretty successfully.

Matilda:

Now there's still phone calls

Matilda:

involved sometimes, but.

Matilda:

That that network of modeling we do we

Matilda:

did join a couple of networking groups

Matilda:

and we've had to evaluate over time what

Matilda:

works and what doesn't, but networking

Matilda:

has been really successful for us.

Matilda:

And I would say that there are probably

Matilda:

several family businesses among

Matilda:

people that we, yeah, that we work

John:

with.

John:

Any, any specific lessons or takeaways

John:

that you've gained from having that

John:

interaction with those other businesses?

Damion:

Yeah, I wouldn't say

Damion:

necessarily as far as like owning

Damion:

a family business on that side.

Damion:

But one thing that we're really good at

Damion:

is getting around other people that are a

Damion:

lot better and more experienced than us.

Damion:

So I mean, countless.

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

Countless lessons.

Damion:

The only reason we have what we

Damion:

have and are going to continue

Damion:

to grow is because of the people

Damion:

we've surrounded ourselves with.

Damion:

Yeah, so that's, yeah,

Matilda:

that's the other

Matilda:

piece of advice we would get.

Matilda:

That's that you say that that's, that

Matilda:

should be the only piece of advice

Matilda:

that we give to business people

Matilda:

who want to own a business, gather

Matilda:

around people who own a business.

Matilda:

Don't go to the bar happy hour and say,

Matilda:

Hey, to your buddy at your corporate job,

Matilda:

Hey, you know what I'm thinking of doing?

Matilda:

I think I want to start a business.

Matilda:

Yeah.

Matilda:

Yeah.

Matilda:

They're gonna be like, Oh,

Matilda:

right now it's Friday night.

Matilda:

We're gonna, this is not the

Matilda:

right person to talk to you.

Matilda:

Get around those people.

Matilda:

But I think in family business,

Matilda:

I mean, from the ones that we've

Matilda:

observed, and I think it's just

Matilda:

important for the second generation

Matilda:

to have to work for it and to, to earn

Matilda:

their own, like dignity and respect.

Matilda:

And I'll, I'll be, I'll be non

Matilda:

specific cause I don't want to say

Matilda:

anything specific, but for the second

Matilda:

generation to have to come into

Matilda:

their own and maybe not just to.

Matilda:

I don't know fall into

Matilda:

the family business.

Matilda:

I guess just that's something that I think

Matilda:

from the ones that we've seen I think is

Matilda:

helpful, you know, because then you really

Matilda:

can truly have a respect dynamic, as

Matilda:

opposed to maybe just tension or feeling

Matilda:

of subservience or something like that.

Matilda:

So I think that that's something

Matilda:

should we, you know, have.

Matilda:

In the future, even like our kids, some,

Matilda:

someday far down the road in business with

Matilda:

us, far down the road Connie understands.

Matilda:

You get this.

Matilda:

Then, yeah, I think that

Matilda:

would be like our main thing.

Matilda:

We would want them to, to go through

Matilda:

their own pain and their own, their own

Matilda:

growth and let them suffer a little bit.

Matilda:

For themselves so that they

Matilda:

respect themselves and so that

Matilda:

we can have a mutual respect.

John:

Yeah, that is actually one of

John:

the, the main pieces of advice that

John:

that we see over and over, you know, in

John:

various levels, you know, we're again

John:

focusing more on smaller business, but

John:

the through all levels of the family

John:

members that come in as a second or later

John:

generation, they need to earn their place.

John:

Nobody is served by somebody just being

John:

given a job because they're, yeah,

John:

having, especially if they're unqualified.

John:

And the experience of going out

John:

and working in either the same or

John:

a different industry, but going out

John:

and getting that business experience.

John:

Ideally in the same industry, working

John:

for a competitor that brings out, you

John:

know, they learned so much and they see

John:

what worked and what didn't work there.

John:

And then they can bring the best into

John:

the family if they choose to join.

John:

But then they're coming in they're much

John:

better informed, you know, they're,

John:

they've got their eyes wide open

John:

instead of just, well, you know, Mom

John:

and Dad have always taken care of me.

John:

And I'm

Damion:

speaking from experience.

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

When you get your own teeth kicked

Damion:

in, it's a little bit different.

Damion:

Yeah.

Matilda:

And I think that's

Matilda:

something that we talk about.

Matilda:

We're really thankful that,

Matilda:

you know, we didn't have.

Matilda:

That the fan even even stepping

Matilda:

away from the business structure

Matilda:

of us kind of coming up and then

Matilda:

getting into business for ourselves.

Matilda:

We're really thankful that we

Matilda:

didn't have that kind of backdoor

Matilda:

of family financial support.

Matilda:

You know, like.

Matilda:

Nobody bought either of us our first car.

Matilda:

Like nobody, my parents paid for

Matilda:

half of my associate's degree.

Matilda:

So do the math.

Matilda:

I, I was putting myself through college

Matilda:

and I don't complain about that at all.

Matilda:

In fact, I'm like thankful for that

Matilda:

because I knew walking around that

Matilda:

campus, I had, it gives you like a

Matilda:

little bit of a pride of ownership.

Matilda:

I knew like, I'm paying my way.

Matilda:

And, you know, same thing for you, you

Matilda:

buy vehicles and starting business.

Matilda:

Like, yeah.

Matilda:

All that stuff.

Matilda:

And I don't want to make it sound like

Matilda:

we, you know, walked uphill both ways.

Matilda:

We didn't like we had, you know, we were

Matilda:

really blessed with the families we have,

Matilda:

but to the same point, like they didn't.

Matilda:

give us.

Damion:

And I can, and I'm so

John:

happy.

John:

Yes, that is, we call

John:

that self-confidence.

John:

There is a distinction between

John:

confidence and self-confidence.

John:

, that you were able to take those

John:

experiences and internalize

John:

them as self confidence.

John:

Basically, I did that.

John:

I did that.

John:

I know I can do that.

John:

And that gives you a a strength,

John:

a resilience that a lot of people

John:

don't have doesn't come otherwise.

John:

And so yes, kudos to you.

Connie:

You got to have

Connie:

skin in the game, right?

Connie:

You gotta

Connie:

put in your time and you

Connie:

gotta put in your effort.

Connie:

What was it that we, we also, the

Connie:

whole thing about if we stop somebody

Connie:

from having the experience where,

John:

oh, yeah, it's that very wise

John:

person said to me the cruelest thing

John:

you can do is to prevent somebody

John:

from experiencing the consequences

John:

of their choices, or their actions.

Matilda:

We can point time and

Matilda:

time again that we had to kind

Matilda:

of go through things on our own.

Matilda:

And then we can look at somebody else

Matilda:

who, you know, maybe we are close to her.

Matilda:

We have a lot of love for, but they didn't

Matilda:

have to go through that on their own.

Matilda:

I think of our first year in business

Matilda:

and we went through some, you know,

Matilda:

financial challenges like it sounds

Matilda:

better if you say cashflow problems.

Matilda:

So that's what business owners should say.

Matilda:

Right.

Matilda:

But no, no, no.

Matilda:

We went through.

Matilda:

Yeah.

Matilda:

You know, financial challenges.

Matilda:

And in that time, like you have a

Matilda:

choice, you can look around for help.

Matilda:

You can try to get somebody

Matilda:

else to bail you out.

Matilda:

Or you can be like, you know

Matilda:

what, I'm going to dig in and

Matilda:

I'm going to get really gritty.

Matilda:

And I'm going to do things that

Matilda:

people don't really like to

Matilda:

talk about and find a way to.

Matilda:

Plug the gap and go make some extra cash.

Matilda:

And nobody likes to talk about

Matilda:

that because they have an ego.

Matilda:

They don't want to talk about

Matilda:

door dashing on a Friday night.

Matilda:

Well, I'm a, I'm a business owner.

Matilda:

What do you mean?

Matilda:

I'm at networking groups and I, yeah,

Matilda:

I address, but it doesn't matter if

Matilda:

you're losing money and it doesn't

Matilda:

matter what the appearance is.

Matilda:

So, you know, we're really thankful

Matilda:

that we went through some of those

Matilda:

times where we got gritty and coming

Matilda:

out of that, like you said, that self

Matilda:

confidence so much higher as opposed to.

Matilda:

Being like, Oh man, I'm so glad mom and

Matilda:

dad come through with 500 bucks for us.

Matilda:

Like that doesn't, then

Matilda:

you, you feel the opposite.

Matilda:

You feel shameful.

Matilda:

You feel guilty because we know people

Matilda:

who do have those situations where

Matilda:

they're constantly going and going and

Matilda:

constantly getting, you know, that relief.

Matilda:

And it's, it's.

Matilda:

Detrimental in the long run.

Matilda:

Yeah.

Matilda:

So yeah, a

John:

hundred percent.

John:

Well, I, I'm confident that if you

John:

have a second generation, join your

John:

business, they're going to be in

John:

good hands and well, so I think

Matilda:

I'm to the extreme.

Matilda:

I'm like, I don't want

Matilda:

to buy our kids cars.

Matilda:

They can pay for their own college.

Matilda:

Like, I don't, what do they need that for?

Matilda:

Like, yeah, I think

Matilda:

that's a little extreme.

Matilda:

I think, you know, maybe

Matilda:

we'll soften up, but I'm like.

Matilda:

No, if we have, if, and when we have

Matilda:

kids and it's like that whole thing of

Matilda:

like, you're not rich, mom and dad are

Matilda:

rich, like they make sure their kids

Matilda:

know that you don't have anything like

Damion:

in a positive way, like

Matilda:

very uplifting, but but

Matilda:

yeah, I think I'm a lot, you're really

Damion:

seriously, you

Damion:

don't have anything.

Damion:

Yeah, pretty much like

Damion:

we're joking, but we're not.

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

Yeah.

Damion:

Awesome.

Damion:

No,

John:

it's true.

John:

It's true.

John:

And that's it's, it's not only a good

John:

perspective for the, that child to

John:

have, but then that child can also

John:

communicate that to, to their friends,

John:

for example, that, that, you know, are

John:

thinking that because their parents

John:

have money that they can just, you

John:

know, it's a free flowing thing.

John:

Well, and they're always asking them for

John:

stuff, you know, my parents have money.

John:

I don't have money.

John:

I

Damion:

go to school.

Damion:

Yeah.

John:

Well, this has been wonderful.

John:

Thank you so much, guys.

John:

How can people if they're looking

John:

for so you guys, you know, want to

John:

give you a short commercial here.

John:

I think you do various

John:

kinds of health insurance.

Matilda:

So anyone who is under 65, we

Matilda:

primarily work with business owners.

Matilda:

So we primarily work with small

Matilda:

business owners who are under 65.

Matilda:

And, you know, they're

Matilda:

a great referral for us.

Matilda:

We'd love to help them

Matilda:

oftentimes business owners.

Matilda:

Don't have, they don't know all

Matilda:

their options for health insurance.

Matilda:

If you have a job, you're used to having

Matilda:

corporate benefits and all of that.

Matilda:

Business owners, especially small

Matilda:

business owners, don't have the luxury

Matilda:

of knowing how to navigate that.

Matilda:

So that's our specialty.

Matilda:

And they can find us at

Matilda:

relyeainsurancegroup.com.

John:

All right.

John:

Perfect.

John:

And I'll make sure I put that in the show

John:

notes when we get this on posted online.

Connie:

Is there any other words

Connie:

of wisdom that you'd like to

John:

close us out with?

Connie:

Yeah.

Damion:

Just do it.

Damion:

Nike has the best slogan ever.

Damion:

I didn't appreciate it

Damion:

until we owned a business.

Damion:

Just do it.

Damion:

Stop talking about it.

Damion:

No one wants to hear it

Damion:

until you've done it.

Damion:

So just do it.

Damion:

Yeah,

Matilda:

that's good.

Matilda:

I'll leave it at that.

Connie:

Perfect.

Connie:

Right.

Connie:

Love it.

John:

Thank you guys.

Connie:

Thank you for joining us.

Damion:

Pleasure.

Connie:

We appreciate it.