Frankie and D: The Inside Scoop on Dustin’s New Book— Man’s Picture of Wealth (#80) — Transcript
Updated: Oct 26
THE PICTURE OF WEALTH · EPISODE 80
Frankie Barnet asks Dustin Serviss about the ideas behind his book, Man’s Picture of Wealth. They discuss changing beliefs, life after achieving major goals and what wealth means beyond assets and money.
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This transcript was generated from the episode audio and lightly edited for readability. It may contain transcription or speaker-attribution errors. Refer to the recording for exact wording.
Chapters
[00:00:00] The book’s questions about old beliefs
[00:05:03] Wealth beyond money and assets
[00:09:33] The ideas behind Net Net Tough
[00:14:31] Different readers and stages of life
[00:19:03] Business experience during a recession
[00:24:07] How Dustin began writing the book
[00:29:40] Making room for parenting
[00:34:03] Theo, a new venture and resistance
[00:38:49] The financial tension of working less
[00:44:07] Improving the business and its expenses
Guest & resources
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Transcript
[00:00:00] Dustin Serviss: There's a lot of questions that the book starts to uncover that challenges people's current beliefs and and makes them update their beliefs. Maybe they're the same, but maybe they've never taken the time to ask the questions themselves.
[00:00:13] Show announcer: Welcome to the Picture of Wealth, a podcast all about living more of your life now yet being responsible for your future. Lifestyle experimenter, wealth scientist, and financial coach, Dustin Service, shares life hacks, wealth tips, and interviews successful entrepreneurs on how they're thriving in happiness, purpose, and prosperity.
[00:00:36] Dustin Serviss: We've done this five times. Six times, actually. Frankie, this is our last episode, and, I don't think it'll be... Actually be our last. I think we're gonna do more. I think we're gonna bring great messages to the world. I'm not sure what it's gonna be, but we are gonna talk about something today that's near and dear to my heart and, is spent a lot of time in the last couple years doing. So what are we talking about today?
[00:01:06] Frankie Barnet: Well, I'm very excited to be here and to be talking about, drum roll, Dustin's new book, Man's Picture of Wealth, which I, dug into a little bit yesterday. And, I I was I always feel bad to say I was impressed. I don't... It wasn't like I had low expectations or anything, but I, I really enjoyed what I read. And I think that that you really crystallized a lot of the ideas and themes that we've been able to talk about on the podcast over these last few weeks. So I think that it's something your listeners will really enjoy. So let's just jump in and, like, give us give us, like, your elevator pitch for the book.
[00:01:55] Frankie Barnet: Like, just describe it in two, three sentences. What are you doing here?
[00:02:02] Dustin Serviss: Oh, well, that's... I know I'm gonna have to get really good at that elevator pitch. Right? I think there's, there's a point in a man's life where you've worked hard, you've built up a certain whatever it is, you've met some of the major goals that you set in your life, and you have a, like, a reprieve and then some minor anxiety around, k. What next? Like, how do I even set my goals? And is this is this what I wanna do for twenty five years? Or... And I'm talking about, you know, maybe it's a a volunteer effort. Maybe it's, you know, something... You know, a sport or a hobby. Maybe it's a career.
[00:02:37] Dustin Serviss: You know, there's so many avenues that you could ask this question around. But near and dear to me, it's, you know, those those beliefs that I had as a small child of, like, you know, do all these logical steps, and you'll be successful, and you'll have money, and and you'll be so happy. And it it really is is not that I've discovered it's wrong. It's just I was ready for a different view of things and a different, things to look... Be excited for and almost live more back to your childhood where you're, you know, kind of just going through the weeds, running around, playing tennis, playing do whatever.
[00:03:13] Dustin Serviss: Like, I look at my two sons play and how they go through life, but I don't act like that because you should you should act very methodical and step step step and, you know, mature. And, you know, again, I grew up in a an upbringing that taught me a lot of things about business, and I worked at a golf course at a very young age around, you know, you know, I'll call it men, for the most part back then. And now it's... You know, golf's developed into a big women's sport, but that was thirty years ago where it was the country club and Mhmm. You know, certain things. So, yes, those...
[00:03:47] Dustin Serviss: That taught me some things, but the world is different than it was thirty, thirty five years ago. So the world is a little more open. The world has a lot more efficiencies that maybe you can do certain things and and still accomplish the same goal. So long winded elevator pitch of this book is about someone going on a journey. He realizes he needs to make a change. He wants to, you know, do better with his wife. He wants to still be an achiever and still achieve things, but maybe his goalposts are different. And it's okay to let go of some of the old beliefs that he had and bring in or learn new beliefs.
[00:04:24] Dustin Serviss: And this this, you know, guy goes through a journey of meeting people that are not maybe as obvious. And so for the reader, there is people in their life that are maybe not as obvious as one might think. You know, I often ask people on the podcast, to think of the five richest people that they know in their friend group. I'm not hearing about the Bill Gates and all that. I'm talking about in your sphere, who are the five richest? And then ask the same question. Are those same people the five wealthiest people you know? And everybody unanimously always says, well, yeah, maybe one or two of them, but not all five. And I'll say, why?
[00:05:03] Dustin Serviss: And and so you really realize, oh, there's some differences, and wealth is much bigger word than rich or money or assets. It's, it could mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. So that book really uncovers that. And then near the end of the book, you know, there... I don't wanna sort of ruin it, but there's, there's some great steps this particular guy learns that are... There's key takeaways in the book that people can apply to their own life. And within, you know, say, five minutes, get a framework, get their relationship back on track, get their wealth visualized,
[00:05:40] Dustin Serviss: get their goals visualized, and then work the plan and essentially apply... You know, we have a model for it, but, it's called the spending accelerator. And the the... Our unofficial mantra at Service Wealth on... In the other business is to help people live more of their lives now yet be responsible for their future. Mhmm. So, you know, something that, you know, was always ingrained in my head from a young age was, you know, climb the ladder, you know, do all the responsible things, get the best grades, of which I didn't get the best grades, but I got I got enough to get through. But, you know, make more money, save save, save, save,
[00:06:17] Dustin Serviss: buy, you know, assets, you know, stocks, real estate, all that stuff. And then when you retire at sixty or sixty five, you will have more than said average person of which that will mean you're more than average said person's happiness. Well, that's right. But, you know, working with clients for seventeen years, I realized that, you know, some of them haven't made it to sixty. Some of them haven't made it to sixty five. Meanwhile, they had lots of money in the bank. And so that that to me says, well, maybe could they have gone to a couple kids' sporting events? You know? And maybe they didn't want to, but maybe they didn't think they could.
[00:06:52] Dustin Serviss: So there's a lot of questions that the book starts to uncover that challenges people's current beliefs and makes them update their beliefs. And maybe they're the same, but maybe they've never taken the time to ask the questions themselves. Mhmm. And the book really brings that out of people.
[00:07:13] Frankie Barnet: Yeah. I think one of the... When you start in your introduction talking about, your grandmother, and I I found that story, like, really moving. You said your grandmother, all her life, she wanted to go on a cruise, and then she passes away. She never went on a cruise. And is it your mother... You and your mother find the brochures for the cruises in a pile behind the microwave.
[00:07:37] Dustin Serviss: Yeah. It was my it was my mother. And I didn't know that story until recently and... Well, recently in the last five years. But, you know, my mother telling me the story
[00:07:48] Frankie Barnet: Mhmm.
[00:07:49] Dustin Serviss: Of which, you know, she's almost in tears.
[00:07:52] Frankie Barnet: Yeah. And,
[00:07:53] Dustin Serviss: you know, she's telling me... Because she lives, you know, a fairly simple life, but she she has money in the bank. She spends. She travels. She, you know, maps out a plan so I can buy an ebike. And I'm gonna ride my ebike, and I'm gonna join pickleball. She's never played pickleball, doesn't hardly know anybody at pickleball, but the pickleball court is, say, you know, a fifteen minute bike ride from her house. And so she asked me, hey. You know, we looked at her financial plan. Can I spend a few thousand on an ebike? And she has used that ebike so many times over the last couple summers.
[00:08:27] Dustin Serviss: And, you know, it leads to ebike to pickleball, meet her new friends, play. Mhmm. Then a couple of them might bike over to a park that's, you know, five or seven kilometers away, but it's it's easy. And they have a a cider on the beach and and then ride back home, and that's six hours of a loop, you know, by the time they play. And and so that... That's a pretty good day of retirement. And
[00:08:49] Frankie Barnet: Yeah.
[00:08:50] Dustin Serviss: You know, she's not afraid to to to spend the money, and and it comes with, though, having very good optics into her numbers and us being able to look at a few things and say, well, if things don't work out, stock market, real estate, whatever, are you still okay? Can you still spend the money? And those stress tests, for most people, aren't as easy to apply optics to and see where... That's that's our, you know, that's our bread and butter.
[00:09:19] Frankie Barnet: Mhmm. So I also wanna... One thing I'm kinda fascinated by that I want to segue to. So how many books have you written, remind me?
[00:09:30] Dustin Serviss: I've written one ebook, which was
[00:09:33] Frankie Barnet: a
[00:09:33] Dustin Serviss: course during COVID, and it was more of a, a nine steps to... Nine essential steps to financial independence, I think, is what it was called. The course was actually called net net tough.
[00:09:50] Frankie Barnet: That was cool.
[00:09:51] Dustin Serviss: And as your net net, like, your bottom number
[00:09:54] Frankie Barnet: Yeah.
[00:09:54] Dustin Serviss: What... You know, like, the comment, like, what's the net net? You know, what's the, you know, the... Basically, the bottom line? And so during COVID, you know, for for me, I was living it. It was, you know, March sixteenth, laid off two staff. Bonnie Henry in... Oh, in British Columbia says no one goes to, you know, x y z business. You gotta stay home. And I was thinking, wow. Like, this is for real. So what are the bills? Like, what's the net net that you need to survive? And so there's lots of concepts came out of that and, you know, reviewing one's insurance, you know, insurance premiums, you know, making sure you got the right insurance
[00:10:32] Dustin Serviss: for your budget. It's all nice to have the the best insurance, but maybe when times change, you gotta you gotta pivot and and switch. And and instead of not having insurance and canceling, maybe you could switch it. And so that was there's a course on that. There's a course on spending. And all these were about two minute videos, two and a half minute videos with a step, you know, a five minute exercise after. So net net tough was the course and, one ebook. So this is my first real fiction... What you call it? What would you call it as your writer's voice?
[00:11:06] Frankie Barnet: So I mean
[00:11:07] Dustin Serviss: instruction or edge edge of fiction?
[00:11:11] Frankie Barnet: I see. You had a hashtag that.
[00:11:13] Dustin Serviss: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:11:15] Frankie Barnet: I mean, yeah, that that was kinda one of my questions. Like, I I found it really interesting that even the way you're describing it, like, I I... And it's... It took you until, like, your third or fourth description of a book to, like, really make it clear that this is a novel. Like, this... Like, you wrote a novel. And, like, so what was your... I mean, what motivated that decision? I think... And maybe this is, like, speaking more to, like, my biases or whatever. But I... You know, I think hearing your... Just, like, knowing you and hearing you talk about the book, it seems like the more
[00:11:52] Frankie Barnet: expected move would be, like, to write a a how to book or a wealth management book that's more instructional. But you you didn't do that, and I find that really interesting. And I I wanna know why.
[00:12:04] Dustin Serviss: Well, it's... There's there's a bit of a story. And because we have a few minutes, I'll share it. I I I wrote it as a novel because some of my favorite books, one was called The Magician's Way. Another one was, written by my book mentor, which is Tom Deans. It's called Every Family's Business. And so in The Magician's Way, it's two guys who work, you know, downtown... I think it... The camera is Wall Street or the Chicago Board of Trade or, like, very suit and tie, and they go to the best... This is the best pub name. It's called the Bull Market, which is just so awesome.
[00:12:40] Dustin Serviss: But, anyway, they're in the bull market, and they have this conversation. Mhmm. And there's stuff going on. It's a party in there, and this mentor is kinda helping them, you know, learn. So, again, novel, lots of good little nuggets, and not a how to book with, you know, do this after each chapter. And and I... Because I don't... I think... I'd love to know what the stat the stat is on that of how many people actually go through and write or do an exercise. But Yeah. Books I've... You know, for me, personally, again, other people's experience might be different. But you read it, you get inspired, you maybe make a little tweak
[00:13:12] Dustin Serviss: to your day to day routine, and then you go on and you pick up the next book, and you give a little tweak. But it's like it it just tweaks your mind enough to make a a motivation pivot or a change. And so, that... And then Tom Deans is two two guys on an airplane. So they're flying to, I think the Bahamas, the Caribbean, or somewhere offshore. They both sold their businesses, and they both have checks. And they're taking their checks to deposit them offshore in, you know, a high net worth bank account. And they're comparing stories of how they each sold their business. One guy did it right, one guy didn't.
[00:13:51] Dustin Serviss: And so they compare and they come up with these questions. So those two books were the inspiration behind it to say, like, I want a book that I could take on a trip, on a plane. You know, it's easy reading. Like, again, you're you're reading the book. It's Mhmm. It's not filled with financial jargon. I don't even think I talk about the market in there. So, you know, when when you think about that, it's like, okay. I want a book that is good now, is good in the future, that my great aunt can read and goes okay or a man can read who's older, younger. I would say the audience is definitely... You know, if someone's already retired
[00:14:31] Dustin Serviss: and has money in the bank, they may get value out of it in a sense of how do I pass my money on? There's there's just... There's some cues in the book that might jog an older person that's retired with money to to deal with it different. Then you have the diff... The other camp of, you know, the forty year old hard charger successful person who is saying, is is this what my world is going to be? Is this... You know, again, this isn't a, how to get rich quick book. This is for a book with somebody who, you know, has a business or a career. They're saving money. They are, you know, you know, hitting some savings and income goals,
[00:15:16] Dustin Serviss: but there's still more questions. There's still, is there a different way I could do this? You know, my one example... And and, I'll change his name for the... For confidentiality. But one gentleman, I'll say guy, gentleman, paid me to help him figure out how to take Fridays off. So that particular guy, I've talked a little bit about in the podcast before, but here's a person who, you know, would make, you know, hundreds of thousands extra a year. And so he has a great income. He saves hundreds of thousands a year, And his wife is saying, like, why don't you get more work life balance?
[00:15:54] Dustin Serviss: Like, you go to the office at seven, you come home at six, and you work Saturdays. Like, do you have to? And he's saying, yeah. That's the way I've got here. Like, that's what I have to do. But he's also saying, I want my marriage to continue. So Mhmm. He he wants to be more work life balanced, but yet has trouble getting, you know, unattached. And and so for that particular file when I worked on it, we looked at, like, the management team, and there was five managers. I said, well, why don't we give each of those managers a twenty grand a year raise?
[00:16:28] Frankie Barnet: Mhmm.
[00:16:28] Dustin Serviss: That's gonna be a hundred thousand less that you're gonna save if the business stayed the same. So now you've got all these guys' raises, but you're given them more responsibility that's gonna let you take the Friday off.
[00:16:39] Frankie Barnet: Right.
[00:16:39] Dustin Serviss: So a year later, that guy is still working on the plan. And it's... This is this is... Well, I've thin his head where Yeah. Listening, you know that I'm bugging you because I just texted him the other day.
[00:16:50] Frankie Barnet: That's... That was one of my questions too. So the the main character, Theo, is is, like, as you're describing, like, doing really well in his life, but... Or doing well in his career, but he's struggling. He has some health issues, and there's some tension in his marriage. And he kind of... He opens up a little bit, not not, like, explicitly about... I mean, he opens up a little bit about some of these questions that he's been grappling with and maybe wanting to pursue some more creative roots that might not be, like, directly as lucrative than his usual business ideas. And he's met with a lot of resistance when he talks about this with
[00:17:32] Frankie Barnet: his father, especially. Mhmm. I mean, has that been your experience when you when you try to introduce these ideas to people?
[00:17:43] Dustin Serviss: I would say that it's... In the book, some of it's a little bit dramatized, but at the same time, the messages are still the same. There's still this, overarching theme out there with... And I see it in my own life... In in other people's lives too where older generation sees younger generation doing it different than they did. Mhmm. The older generation is be... Is successful, and they believe that's because they did these certain steps. And they've reaffirmed that over decades and told themselves that the reason they're successful is they did these steps. Mhmm. We're now, you know, two decades down the line of when
[00:18:23] Dustin Serviss: their kids are coming up the ranks, and their kids are doing it different, and their kids are are still being successful. But in the older generation's mind, they're being irresponsible. They're Mhmm. How could this person take a day off? Like, you need to be on-site, or how could, you know, this... But in... Like, some of these older generations don't have email.
[00:18:45] Frankie Barnet: Right.
[00:18:45] Dustin Serviss: They didn't... They... Like, to interact with a potential customer, they would drive to their house on a Saturday Mhmm. Where, you know, the younger generation can send an email, a text, a phone call, during business hours on a Tuesday and get back to them faster.
[00:19:02] Frankie Barnet: And so
[00:19:03] Dustin Serviss: it's hard to really quantify, you know, who's doing it right. One thing our generation hasn't really felt is a big ass recession. We felt two thousand eight, like, well, I did in in my business. But at the end of the day, I got up every day in two thousand and eight. Market's going down. My investment block was way down. That affects my revenue. So if the market goes out thirty five percent, my investment revenue went down thirty five percent instantly. You've got a situation like that where I still went to work every day. I still got dressed, went to work, did my thing. And at that time, you know, thankfully, I I had no kids, so I
[00:19:37] Dustin Serviss: could still just work. And you're doing things going, I don't know if there's gonna be a payoff, but that's the essence of being an entrepreneur. That's the essence of being an artist. You're doing something, and you're going... You know, that's why we do what we do because the payoff, if you believe in yourself or if you stick around long enough, usually is greater than just going and getting yourself a job and just sort of grinding, you know, punching the clock in and out every day. And it feels a lot more rewarding. Some people are not built for that. Some people's personalities can't stomach. Some people's lives
[00:20:13] Dustin Serviss: can't, sustain or handle big drop in income because you got bills. Or if you're a single parent and you've got a kid going to daycare, like, it might just... Might not... You have to work. And so Right. You know, there... There's... You know, I'm kinda way off on a tangent, but I think that's... That is in the story. And Theo and his father... You know, Theo has always wanted to make his father proud and always wanted to do what they said and and always looked at them for guidance. And at some point in a person's life, there may be times when you use that as your true north or you use your parent
[00:20:52] Dustin Serviss: as a a sounding board, but there are other times in life where you need to make a decision yourself. You need to be able to take in all the stuff because you are the one that's gonna have to live with it. My father used to always say to me as a kid, whatever decision you make is right. And, it's a very simple comment, but it means that you've made a decision.
[00:21:15] Frankie Barnet: Right.
[00:21:16] Dustin Serviss: And since you made it, you have to live with it. Because if you take someone else's... You know, we were just talking about the book cover. You know, what design... You know, like, you got all these input from all these different people that you believe are logically credible.
[00:21:31] Frankie Barnet: Mhmm.
[00:21:32] Dustin Serviss: But it's it's my name on it, and it's it's my future that that, you know, is gonna have to sell the book. So that's a lot more work. Doing the book is easy. That's probably Yeah. Twenty five percent of the work. You know, seventy five is actually getting the book in the right hands. And and realistically, you know, when I use the principles in the book in my meetings and see someone's face just sort of, ah, or, okay. Like, now I, like, I I could show my spouse that. We've never been able to talk about money, but that that is a one page picture. Yeah. That's... Now we can get somewhere.
[00:22:08] Dustin Serviss: Because most people in today's day, they don't have attention span. And I Yeah. And I don't blame them. There's lots of cool stuff to do in the world. So Mhmm. If you can take in information quicker, which that's what we're all about, and that's what technology gives us, then, and it helps you make better decisions, you will feel better, I e, more happiness.
[00:22:27] Frankie Barnet: Mhmm. So I, reminded me of another question I have that's, kind of relating. Last week, we talked a little bit about Steve Jobs.
[00:22:37] Dustin Serviss: Mhmm.
[00:22:38] Frankie Barnet: And I neglected to mention that I used to be so obsessed with Steve Jobs. It was like, great day.
[00:22:44] Dustin Serviss: You strike me as someone that would hate him.
[00:22:47] Frankie Barnet: I know. It's very unexpected. Well, it's not unexpected.
[00:22:50] Dustin Serviss: Hate's a strong word, but someone who would not hate
[00:22:52] Frankie Barnet: him. I I hate all the others. Like, I don't know why, but I I was on a trip through the mountains with my parents one one summer, and they had the ebook of the Walter Isaacson. Like, that massive... And he was... It was fascinating. He's he's fascinating. But, anyways, one of my my favorite quotes from him, I think he's describing one of the people he works with and, like, everyone he works with completely hates and thinks they're, like, the dumbest person ever. So he's describing... I think it's the guy from Coke, John Scully. Okay. And he says, he suffered from a disease. The disease he suffered from was thinking that a good idea is
[00:23:33] Frankie Barnet: ninety percent of the work. So the idea was that if you go into a project, no matter how great the idea of... For the project is, if you go into that... Into the project and come out with a product that is exactly what you envisioned when you came in, That product is by definition of failure because you didn't learn anything in the process of creating that. So my question is, what did you learn in the process of writing this book?
[00:24:07] Dustin Serviss: Well, what? I moved an hour and a half from the town that I used to live in, you know, which is is part of it. But, yeah. So it's kind of a full full circuit journey, especially right where I'm at right now. So I wrote the book probably... I started it about two years ago. So two years ago, Dody and I, you know, she would watch her, you know, Netflix show. And on Wednesdays, I would drink wine, which I'm not a wine drinker, but I would have a glass of wine. I called it wealth wisdom Wednesday and and, or wisdom Wednesday. And I would write. And so I would write Yeah. And have a glass of wine. And she would be in a show.
[00:24:48] Dustin Serviss: And so I just would write these little, like, blurbs and then finally put it all together. But, at that time, that was pre COVID. So, like, events, you know, I I, I used to, like, think, okay. Well, if there's extra time in the day for my duties, then I could just market more. I could go to an event. If I didn't have an event a week where it's from four to seven PM or four to six or whatever, I was thinking I was slacking off. And the reason I would go to these events is maybe I would meet a client.
[00:25:24] Frankie Barnet: Right.
[00:25:25] Dustin Serviss: And there's all different views of sales, but, like, you gotta have meet new people and put them in the hopper and, you know, cultivate relationships. So when I looked back though at all these events that I've gone to, I didn't have really any clients in the last five years from any of these events. So one might argue who's a salesperson, well, you you need to be out and about. Fine. But I was sacrificing home time. I was sacrificing, you know, maybe a a workout. I was sacrificing a bike ride instead of, you know, going and hanging out with, generally, people I didn't know. So that... Like, I'm an... I I think I'm an extrovert.
[00:26:03] Dustin Serviss: I I like being out social and being around people. So that, I I liked. But at the end of the day, lots of time, I didn't know any of these people.
[00:26:12] Frankie Barnet: Mhmm.
[00:26:12] Dustin Serviss: So, you know, very generic approach. When I said, okay, well, I'm gonna cut that out, and I'm gonna free up those three hours. Well, now all of a sudden, you know, I got two small kids at the time that, you know, maybe I could contribute around the house and and feel okay. And you take that away. And then, it it really was, you know, I had all my goal sheets since two thousand ten to own an acreage. And around Kelowna, owning an acreage costs a fair bit of money. And so we had built a house in twenty fourteen, in... In a nice neighborhood. And so when we looked at, like, okay. Well, if owning an acreage is not a reality, what about if we own
[00:26:54] Dustin Serviss: an acreage outside of town in a town that my wife is from? So it's a little bit easier. Mhmm. But, again, no business connections. No nothing. I have no, you know, core network. My wife has some old friends here, but, and her her father lives here. So we... You know, part of this sort of journey and and my thing is, okay. Well, if I wanna, like, actually live this life of more balanced, then we need to make a radical change. I need to get out of... Because all those events were were, don't get me wrong, fun. And when you get invited to it, you've you've feel like, okay. Great. I'm in the loop.
[00:27:29] Frankie Barnet: Yeah.
[00:27:29] Dustin Serviss: When I'm here, I don't get invited to anything, but I spend a lot of time with my kids. I have a lot of time to work because I work out of my house. And, really, financially, we sell off in a big center, move to a a smaller center, and we're kinda a lateral move on the finances for how much... But except I have, you know, an acreage. So, you know, that, you know, was part of, you know, sort of this movement to to live what Theo is is doing and Yeah. And test it. Again, it's... It seems to be working. You know? And what also was a benefit is COVID enabled remote work where, you know, for a long time, you know, older clients didn't want to...
[00:28:09] Dustin Serviss: Didn't wanna come to the office. You know? It's safer to be at home. Okay? Yeah. And now, you know, they're saying, I have an office in Kelowna, and, you know, we gotta come down there. Gotta drive down there and park. It's like, we're fine with Zoom or or even phone. You know, people are saying, hey. Like, Zoom's great, but I gotta... I'm gonna take this meeting with you, but I'm gonna be driving from my kids' gymnastics to my kids' soccer, and that's when we're gonna meet. I can't Zoom. Perfect. We can still accomplish everything. And with some of the tools we've started to onboard, and in digitization,
[00:28:41] Dustin Serviss: we used to draw a lot with a pen and paper. Now we draw a lot on a digital platform that someone can see on the screen. So all those things, you know, make things more efficient. You know, back to what I was telling you about. You know, if you can deliver the same thing or better and it's more efficient... And at the end of the day, you know, we're in a service business. If the client is happy, then then we're checking off all the boxes. If the clients aren't happy or that shifts or people wanna start going back to the office, then we start... We'll put more emphasis there.
[00:29:10] Frankie Barnet: Yeah.
[00:29:11] Dustin Serviss: I don't wanna turn this into a into a financial thing, but I think that's that... So you're... To answer your question, yes. You know, again, my calendar, we talked about that in a couple of podcasts. There used to be revenue markers. So on certain months, hit certain revenue markers. Those are now replaced with certain things. You know, my Fridays off are super important. I do hustle Monday to Thursday, but, you know, how many times on Fridays can I go mountain biking in a year? That's important.
[00:29:39] Frankie Barnet: Yeah.
[00:29:40] Dustin Serviss: You know, last year, because I was really trying to push to get, get involved in, which I wasn't, you know, sort of parenting and dropping kids off at preschool and helping out in things that I thought were impossible. The thought of, like, dropping a child off at eight in the morning or, you know, not starting work until nine, that was, like, unheard of. Like, how would I ever pull that off? So I started marking, okay. Every drop off, I'm gonna put a green slash on that date. And so I say, okay. I did two or three this week. You know, my wife works. So, again, it's... You know, she's busy too, so that has to be that has to
[00:30:16] Dustin Serviss: be part of the program. And so those aren't... You know, the daycare preschool drop offs aren't goals for this year. Because they've... I've already made them a habit. So now I Mhmm. I almost do it every day for drop off in the morning except one day. So Mhmm. New goals. You know, what what are those? You know, that's that's how we're we're living this sort of program. Now what I should say is I'm not the plumber with the leaky pipes in the in the finance department.
[00:30:41] Frankie Barnet: What does that mean?
[00:30:42] Dustin Serviss: Well, so the the analogy is, like, you know, you hire a plumber, and he's very good at fixing your plumbing. But his plumber to his house, he's got leaky faucets because he's so busy trying to help everybody else.
[00:30:54] Frankie Barnet: Okay. It's not that he's a bad plumber.
[00:30:56] Dustin Serviss: No. He's a... He's an excellent plumber. He just doesn't make his own a priority, or he's so good that he doesn't have time. In our world, I look at my own finances as a as a bit of a... You have a sort of a base of a framework that I work off of that I teach clients. Is it working? Is it not? And then there's an experimental component with fringe money. And what I mean by that is you have your core of investments that, you know, I'm putting a certain amount away a month for a certain day in the future. And then there's other stuff. You know, there's always new ideas that come up. So before I talk to clients about something or
[00:31:34] Dustin Serviss: clients often ask, hey, have you ever heard of this? I want to be ahead of the curve, and I would have done it with my own money and be able to say, yeah, that did go well. Because with finance, there's a lot of theory out there, a lot of theory and lots of opinions. And so there's lots of reading and blogs and, you know, lots of people weighed in their opinion because it's easy to do on social media. But if you can say, yeah. I put, you know, x amount of thousands into something, and I lost it off. And here's why or here's my analysis of after the fact, and here's what I learned.
[00:32:07] Dustin Serviss: That's a lot more credible, I think, than simply just a theory. You know? If you make money, great. Then you you would share that. So there's there's those little things. So in in my world, there there is what we call a conveyor belt or a... You know, the spending accelerator is another term we use for it, which is, you know, every month, I reinvest some of the money back into my wealth business. I take some of it out. I put it in savings account. I take some of it out, put it in long term investments. And if there's money left over at the end, we purposely spend it on things that are in our goals and values.
[00:32:41] Frankie Barnet: So back to the book, I'm curious. We've talked about him a little bit. The main character Theo. How do you see him in relation to yourself? Is this like a... Are you doing an auto fiction project?
[00:32:54] Dustin Serviss: Or I never I never even knew that was a word. I would say that the line sort of blurs into not as much and then sometimes a lot like him.
[00:33:07] Frankie Barnet: Uh-huh.
[00:33:07] Dustin Serviss: I think I wouldn't have been able to write it if I didn't know a lot of those experiences myself. Mhmm. You know, I don't wanna give away the story, but I've never been to where he goes. Some of the of the subplaces he goes, I have definitely been in those situations where you you learn something or someone says something and you go, oh, wow. That's that's an interesting way to look at it. It is a nonfiction, or it is a fiction. So there's Yeah. There's story around principles. There's principles in there that are that are mine, that we've used, that I've picked up. I reference other books in there.
[00:33:46] Dustin Serviss: So it's it's really a combination of some of the things that I found the most valuable in sort of research and reading and then woven into an easy to read story. So I would say the line is sort of back and forth. It ebbs and flows to me and to to a character.
[00:34:03] Frankie Barnet: Yeah. Another thing I'm curious about... So, again, without giving away too much, but this happens pretty early, early on on the on the book. And I'll just say, like, so Theo is is exploring a a new, a new venture. It's this contest. And like I said it before, he does tell his father about it, and encounters some resistance. And then there's, there's a scene where he... Either the narrator explains that he purposely hasn't told his wife about it. And I'm wondering... It feels... It felt to me like perhaps the reason he's not telling her is the same. He doesn't want the same reaction that he gets out of his father, but
[00:34:49] Frankie Barnet: I thought maybe maybe there's something different there too. Like, what were you what were you thinking? Why do you think that he was nervous to tell her, had resistance to tell her?
[00:35:02] Dustin Serviss: I I would say that in, in early childhood years, like, when you got small children, it's all hot... It's all hands on deck, or this is how I interpret it. And I and I wasn't like that at the start. But there there becomes a cadence where the whole world is for the small children, and you sort of lose your own... You lose that sort of... You go from when you're, you know, single or with a a partner, and you've got, like, your own free time, and you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, kind of. And so
[00:35:36] Frankie Barnet: Yeah.
[00:35:36] Dustin Serviss: You've got now the scenario where you can't do that. You've gotta be at home. You've gotta make sure that, you know, mom's getting rest and and baby's getting rest and you're up early. And, you know, you might have everything planned. You're like, okay. Well, baby usually sleeps between, you know, x time and x time. I'm gonna go work out. You can sleep too. And then, you know, classic is you come home from your workout. This is from experience, and they didn't didn't sleep during that time. Yeah. And and mama bear is pissed. And so, you know, in in the in the book, it it it kinda brings up that scenario where life has kinda gone on,
[00:36:12] Dustin Serviss: and he's fearful to ask for for free time for fear of being... Not being able to help out.
[00:36:22] Frankie Barnet: Mhmm.
[00:36:22] Dustin Serviss: And, you know, it is a once in a lifetime experience. So he knows that's important for life in the big picture, but in the short term, doesn't wanna confront that fear of this is gonna be a shit thing. This is gonna this is gonna cause me frustration in my day to day for for the short term. And then he he goes on this trip and comes back and, you know, and back into regular life. And I think we're all faced with that at some point where you wanna do something. You wanna buy something, you want to experience something, and the other person maybe just doesn't share those same values.
[00:37:00] Dustin Serviss: For those who are something, it doesn't mean it's wrong, and it doesn't mean the other person isn't right by challenging you about it. Because if it's a big ticket spend, if you don't have your finances in check or if you don't have... You know, if you're constantly going on fishing trips and then Yeah. You know, you're like, hey. I got this once a flight. It's like, well, no. It's not. It's a once a month experience for you. The... You go on these fishing trips. You're away for a week.
[00:37:23] Frankie Barnet: So Yeah.
[00:37:24] Dustin Serviss: And everyone's built different. You know, some partners don't mind being away from those. I think of... I commend families where someone works in the oil patch, and they have to go away for three weeks, come back for a week. You know, that works for some people. It's like, well, you know, some women would say stereotyping, but men man goes away
[00:37:45] Frankie Barnet: Right. Yeah.
[00:37:46] Dustin Serviss: To camp, comes back. Woman's at the house with the kids, you know, doing all the work. You know, man's saying, well, I'm I'm paying the bills and sending the money here, so I need to go. This is my only skill I have. And I'm almost saying, like like, do you know how hard it is to to to raise small children and run the family? And and so there's this... The tension that happens.
[00:38:06] Frankie Barnet: Yeah.
[00:38:06] Dustin Serviss: And so some women, though, are are... They like that. They like that space. And and other people say, I could never I could never have my my partner be away for that long. So Yeah. You know, there's all these different personalities that it's not either or, and some people could be in the middle, and and some people might change their mind at age thirty two or something where they just Yeah. For... From twenty two to thirty two, they were cool with it. Now they're not. So then what? You've got a person, you know, doing their their craft and, you know, climbing the ladder and making good money, and now all of a sudden, do you
[00:38:41] Dustin Serviss: want me to be at home, be around? Well, our income's gonna go down in half... More than half.
[00:38:48] Frankie Barnet: Mhmm.
[00:38:49] Dustin Serviss: Oh. Okay. And and I often see... I... I've seen clients... I would say often, I've seen clients who have done that where they've taken... You know, they made two fifty a year. Hey. I want... I don't want you traveling anymore for work. They come back and they make a hundred. All of a sudden, they make a hundred a year, and the, you know, the family is stressed out about money. So
[00:39:09] Frankie Barnet: Right.
[00:39:09] Dustin Serviss: They were... They're not stressed about the family work life balance, but they are super stressed about the money.
[00:39:15] Frankie Barnet: Yeah.
[00:39:16] Dustin Serviss: These are the the levers that that everyone's trying to pull and and make, you know, work it out.
[00:39:25] Frankie Barnet: I mean, I I was impressed at how how you set it up in the book. And I think, like, what you're just describing, I think a lot of people could relate because you do see... You know, you do a good job of, of constructing the the the wife character, and every... Anyone can understand where where she's coming from. But at the same time, you see this man, and you know where he's coming from, so it doesn't seem selfish. It didn't seem selfish to me that he wants to do to do this thing, especially because we know that he he seems to be struggling a little bit. And we know... I mean, we assume that going on this
[00:40:07] Frankie Barnet: this journey, like, following this, this new pursuit is ultimately gonna lead him to be more present at home and and more present with the family. So I think it's an interesting... And and you've said it really well, the balance between, like, short term and and long term. And and I guess... Yeah. I I thought... I found that interesting. Oh, I think so. Done well.
[00:40:32] Dustin Serviss: Happy that you brought that up.
[00:40:34] Frankie Barnet: Yeah.
[00:40:36] Dustin Serviss: You got a closing one for me, Frankie? A quick, quick and dirty question? Oh,
[00:40:40] Frankie Barnet: alright. So we have multiple characters in the book so far. I read about half of it. We have Theo, who you say he's having he's having panic attacks. His doctor tells him he's he needs to slow down. He's working too hard. He's having panic attacks. He has this trouble with his wife. He feels like he hasn't spent any time with his kids. And then there's there's another character later on who I think... I believe suffers from stomach ulcers because he's working so much, That... So you see this, like, real detriments to people's health. So, I mean, what do you... Do you see... Do you see that as a problem in society that we have people working
[00:41:21] Frankie Barnet: so hard that it's keeping them from their families? It's, like, negatively impacting their health. The the... We live in the society that demands people to work so hard that these are... That we have these real life costs of their family and their health being jeopardized. Like, don't... Do you see that as a problem?
[00:41:41] Dustin Serviss: I would say that nothing has gotten done without hard work. So where where the... It isn't that I think people should just straight up work less. I think that people could be more aware. You know, the human body is a... Is an amazing thing. Human mind's amazing thing. And I just think people get a bit on a track where Mhmm. Once you're in the track, it's... You know, some people are... You know, I have friends that are working union job or... And they're like, Oh, no, man. I'm going to be here for twenty years. You know what my pension is? That suits their track. And they will come to me and they'll say, Hey, I got this opportunity
[00:42:19] Dustin Serviss: to go work for a private contractor, But I don't know the unit... Like, the pay is gonna be double. Here's the... You know? And and I look at it as an as an entrepreneur and think, oh, man, there's opportunity everywhere here. Like, just spilling out of the paper. And at the end of the day, they decide to stay at their job. And and the reason is is they just... Maybe there... Maybe there's a there's a a genetic makeup or who knows what it is. But but those Is
[00:42:47] Frankie Barnet: it because of the sec... Because of the security?
[00:42:49] Dustin Serviss: Well, I think it's always the security or, they just they just don't care to express... You know, I see business as a way to express an artistic form. And so with... There's so much creativity and innovation that you can do that... That's sort of where I see that connection. So to to your original question of, like, no. I don't think people should just work less. I think being more aware of how to make yourself more productive, I e nutrition, I e what you put in your mind. So my nourishment, if you're just soaking up the news every night opposed to, like, soaking up a Betterment podcast,
[00:43:30] Frankie Barnet: Yeah.
[00:43:31] Dustin Serviss: I'd probably pick... You might be surprised that, you know, when you go to work, you see things different. Mhmm. And you see, you know, wow, I could actually... If I... You know, for employees, if you think you're going for a raise, what have you done to raise the value for your business owner or for the owner? Because a straight up raise because of inflation will fine, but you will get way further ahead if you're coming to the table saying, hey, I've figured out this, or I'm doing this different. In business, it's the same. It's if you're serving customers, then... And we all serve customers.
[00:44:07] Dustin Serviss: You might do business to business or you might do business to client. What could I do better? And on the expense side, what could I do better with less or for less? And so, again, that's a... That could be a whole another series, but, I I don't... I definitely do not wanna portray that message that it's just, like, right when you're out of high school, you should be like, I want work life balance. Like, I'm just gonna be, you know, just whatever because we talked about last time.
[00:44:38] Frankie Barnet: It... There needs
[00:44:39] Dustin Serviss: to be income. So Yeah. Comes out of hard work, and that comes out of building relationships. It comes out of building knowledge, building skill, leveling up yourself with education, and leveling yourself up by trying things that you may fail at. Mhmm. And it isn't a total waste of time. It isn't a total waste of money because now you know. Hopefully, that bookends what you were
[00:45:07] Frankie Barnet: asking. Well... Yeah. No. That's great. And I definitely enjoyed, what I've read so far of the book, and I I definitely encourage people to check it out.
[00:45:17] Dustin Serviss: Thank you. Well, it'll be out there.
[00:45:18] Frankie Barnet: Thanks for talking to me about it.
[00:45:20] Dustin Serviss: No. Yeah. Well, thanks for, reading it and giving me your input. I value it. Man's Picture of Wealth, it will be probably late this year, early next year complete. So send me a private message if you want a copy, and I will put you on the list. So thanks, Frankie.
[00:45:38] Frankie Barnet: Thank you.
[00:45:39] Dustin Serviss: And I I think we could probably do another book podcast, in the near future.
[00:45:43] Frankie Barnet: Yeah. I'd love that.
[00:45:45] Dustin Serviss: Alrighty. Thanks. Bye bye.
[00:45:46] Frankie Barnet: Thank you.
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