Trying a Different Approach (#49) — Transcript
Updated: Oct 26
THE PICTURE OF WEALTH · EPISODE 49
Dustin Serviss reflects on a childhood snowboarding experience to explore goals that seem impossible. He considers how trying a different approach can change the options a person sees.
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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
[00:00:23] Questioning the familiar approach
[00:01:37] The big-air contest
[00:02:56] Choosing a different way down
[00:04:15] The result and the lesson
[00:05:58] Applying the analogy to markets
[00:08:54] Waiting for an opening
[00:09:26] Looking from the other side
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Transcript
[00:00:01] 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.
[00:00:23] Dustin Serviss: Sometimes I catch myself caught in the track of regularity and limiting myself, or not being open to maybe even impossible things when it comes to goals and lifestyle aspirations. How could that possibly happen? Maybe for you, it is, business expansion, leaving your job and starting your own company. Maybe it's, asking, for a wage increase that's unheard of in your industry. Maybe it's acquiring a certain property that seems impossible. Maybe it's doubling your revenue. What in your life have you thought that is something I would love to accomplish, but it just seems impossible? I wanna take you down memory lane, and I vividly, remember the
[00:01:00] Dustin Serviss: day. I remember exactly, you know, how it looked, the people who were there. And I was fourteen years old, and it was Crystal Mountain Ski Hill, which currently isn't even open anymore. But we're going way back. You know, when I was fourteen, you know, big air contests were the thing. And this is before x games and before, you know, all the crazy flips and spins, you know, were mainstream, but flips were just starting to become a thing in snowboarding contests. So for any of you who don't know, basically, big jump, landing, you go off the jump, you do some tricks, and you land, and that's kind of the end of the show.
[00:01:37] Dustin Serviss: So that was called the big air contest back in the day. And, you know, so so, again, you're standing with me. We're at the top of the chute waiting to go, and there's a crowd all around the jump. And there's actually... There was a cabin there with people on the deck and a DJ and an announcer. And, you know, this this was actually, what they call a tabletop. So sometimes a gap jump, which is a launch and then a landing, and you have this big gap in the middle that if you come up short, you hit the other side. But this was a tabletop, and so it, was a tabletop step down, so a big launch with a flat top and then a transition, a
[00:02:15] Dustin Serviss: steeper transition down to the run. So you you would catch the transition, and it would make landing a lot easier. But I I figured that, after, you know, going through two heats and making it to the final round that I probably wouldn't win because I couldn't flip. And, the size of the jump, this was no place to to attempt my first landing. Although I've been practicing them, I couldn't flip. And, numerous, you know, con... Contestants, you know, were doing flips and, stick in the landing. So I, you know, got this in my head that I had to attack this situation from a different angle. I came up with a plan that from the start of the shoot,
[00:02:56] Dustin Serviss: you know, people would make speed checks on their way down, you know, kinda losing speed or slowing down, and then they take the jump. I decided that I would take, no speed checks, and I would go straight from the top of basically the t bar and do my favorite method gramp, a method grab and stop the landing and maybe be noticed by the judges. So, you know, here we go. No speed checks, straight into the jump, and I was coming into the jump real hot. So hot and grinning, ear to ear thinking, holy man. This is gonna be huge. Well, halfway through my move, you know, holding on to my board, I'm in the air, I realized that I was right.
[00:03:35] Dustin Serviss: This was going to be massive. And, I was then noticing I'm gonna land land probably twenty feet past the transition and basically flat on the run. So as I, you know, put myself in position to land, the next thing I remember is my face plastered to my board in between my bindings and my snowboard. And I'm not sure how I could even get my body into that position again, but that's where I was. And it didn't cause a major crash. I just... I washed out. I I tried to stand up right away and hide the face, basically, in my pain and my knees. And, all that sort of... The pain went away quickly as the announcer was confirming and the crowd was
[00:04:15] Dustin Serviss: cheering so loud that that was the hugest air, for sure of the contest. So I met my dad, near the bottom of the run, and he just said, holy shit. And, you know, now the ending of that story is I didn't actually win, but I did come third, and got a medal for basically, you know, the commitment to, taking a different approach to all the other people and and be a youngster. So it was a memory I reflect on, you know, because, you know, regularly in business, and investing, you know, with money, sometimes there are moments where you have to think through the situation from a different angle.
[00:04:54] Dustin Serviss: When you think of a situation like making a business move or a career move or buying real estate or stocks, the markets are not a straight line. So that means they go up and they go down, you know, in all markets. And if you're trying to get into real estate, and houses or the rentals and, you know, you're trying to, but there's multiple offers and literally two hours before they're listed, they're sold. Do you think you're in a power position and buying with lower risk? And, you know, what if you look at it from a different angle, though? Maybe you say, maybe I could use the property different than its intended use,
[00:05:25] Dustin Serviss: or maybe I put in a bit of sweat equity and get the city to rezone it to something else. Not all situations are impossible. Lots of people have stances on the ALR land, and and that's impossible. But not all situations are impossible. It must... Might take you pitching to city hall. So maybe a different approach to, you know, your real estate in a hot market is sit on the sidelines until the market cools. That lowers your risk. You know, maybe you partner with someone which, you know, you're gonna make less return, but at least you're in the game and with a partner, your exposure risk is lower.
[00:05:58] Dustin Serviss: So, you know, tying it to stock markets, the S and P five hundred, you know, back ten years ago, So two thousand eleven, you know, for all you stock people, you're gonna understand these numbers. But for everyone else that isn't into stocks, you'll get the picture. In two thousand eleven, it was roughly thirteen hundred. Within a year of making new highs, and within the next fourteen months, it was also making new highs. Two years after making those new highs, it was making new highs. It's at two years, of being flat, but then, you know, basically, a year and a half after those flat years, it was making new highs.
[00:06:32] Dustin Serviss: Two years after that, it was flat. And now post COVID, you know, for six months after sort of in the in the two thousand or twenty twenty one, we're again making new highs. So my point is that we are making new highs all the time. And so, you know, people are, you know, waiting for, you know, there's gotta be a correction. It can't go this high forever. Yeah. There might be correction, but you could be missing growth. Now, at the same time, I look back, you know, through through history and and found some stats on corrections, so I'll get into that in a minute. But now we don't know the future.
[00:07:07] Dustin Serviss: And if you're a person who looks at history for knowledge, it might be worth looking deeper into those places you're considering. Again, real estate, your career. And, you know, look at the market or look at your career situation or look at your goal from a different angle. You know, we're getting... You know, you know, I just... I looked at some stats on... You know, a couple of years ago, it was... You know, the countries are in the worst debt situation ever. Now, you know, some of the media articles are saying that the populace is is in the largest cash reserves because no one spent any money in twenty twenty one.
[00:07:41] Dustin Serviss: We haven't done anything for a year, so now we're, you know, building up savings. So maybe this is what the whole system needed was a big, you know, kind of injection of savings and slowing down. And, you know, maybe we won't be in debt forever. You know? That's a... For a whole another day and countries are in debt. I know all that. But the article I was reading was saying that consumer behavior has actually increased their savings. So if people are saving and they have, you know, there's... They have savings and they have ambition to do things, We could be in an interesting growth and boom situation where companies that offer
[00:08:15] Dustin Serviss: things to people that have money that wanna spend may see, you know, major profit. So barring no major world or nation event that, you know, makes, you know, everything just crash, the real estate market and the stock market may make more sense than people might think or the media portrays. So caveat, I I did look back that every year going back, you know, for a number of decades, there is a correction at some point. You may or may not notice it, but a correction might be ten percent retraction in the price of the stock market. So if you're looking to time something, you know, maybe you
[00:08:54] Dustin Serviss: sit on the sidelines and wait for something to, you know, show signs that there's a a bit of a blip or an event, usually. So, again, when Greece was going broke or, know, the UK, you know, the Brexit thing, that caused the markets to bounce down. But the profitability of most of the businesses on the markets in Canada and the US were still the same businesses generating profit, but it causes panic. And that can provide a bit of a buying opportunity. And I'm getting way into the the deep of of today's message. But, you know, tying it back, if you're stuck in a financial decision or
[00:09:26] Dustin Serviss: buying or selling, or a career move, take your shoes off, walk in your socks over to the other person's side or the other side of the transaction you're considering and put on their shoes and think, you know, if I'm buying something, why are they selling? If you want a raise, put yourself in your boss's shoes. You know, if you're a business owner and you want to expand ten x, what things will you need to put in place so that expansion can happen and you have equal or better lifestyle now? If you're in a shitty marriage, put yourself in the other person's shoes and ask, is that person's problem...
[00:09:58] Dustin Serviss: Is is that that person's problem or is it mine? And what have I done lately to try and make the the marriage better? And finally, if the goal is something that is something you desire, but you have a, you know, a bit of limiting belief or gristle making you stuck, you... Maybe try and identify where that gristle or that stickiness comes from. Maybe it's a parent's financial view on x y z that that you want, and their view doesn't have to be your view. Your financial situation might be very different than theirs was when they were considering what you're considering now. So why should you carry those beliefs about the potential outcomes that
[00:10:37] Dustin Serviss: may happen? This is your journey. So when in doubt, don't worry what everyone else is doing. Go straight up that jump and do the biggest method grab you know how to do. Chances are you will survive. I did.
[00:10:52] Show announcer: If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend. If you found this episode super valuable, leave us a review on iTunes. It will help us continue to bring you top quality content. For more information on anything discussed on the show, visit w w w dot service wealth dot com. That's service spelled s e r v I s s. Any investment topics covered on the show are not investment recommendations, and you should seek professional advice before making any investment decisions. This show was produced by Prodigy Podcast. Thanks for listening.