Welcome back to the Daily Mastermind, George Wright III. I am your host and with your daily deals of inspiration, motivation, and education. I'm really excited today because we've got a guy that we are going to, you'll probably see a lot more of, someone that is a CEO and founder of a company that is helping business owners, great topic for us, business owners to get their mindset right around money and grow and protect and build their business. And so, Justin Buonamo, good to have you on the program, man. How are you doing? I'm doing well, my friend. You're an absolute legend. I enjoyed our conversation before we hopped into the recording, and I am extremely pumped to be here. So thank you for having me. Yeah. You know, what's funny is I usually will bring guests on and I'll put this like big bio together. And trust me, I want people to understand who you are and where you're from. But as we got going, I felt the same way. It's like, man, we're not going to have enough time for all the amazing stuff that we're going to be talking about. So anyway, just so everyone knows, I mean, you are a absolute stud right now. You guys are killing it. You're the CEO and founder of Journey to Financial Freedom, which is a company that's designed to help CEOs, owners, I think high achievers probably as well, but individuals to really get their dream lifestyle through financial mastery. And the reason this topic was attractive to me and I wanted to bring you on the show is because I think so many people get into business and finance and growing and making money that they forget that lifestyle was all the reason they were doing it. And they don't get lifestyle if you become a business owner. So do me a favor and just give everyone just a quick synopsis of like who you are, what you really are about, and kind of where you came from. I appreciate that, man. So I actually came from a background where my parents were successful individuals, kind of the cream in the crop, both high school stars, really good looking individuals. And they filed for bankruptcy for the second time by the time I was 10 years old. And this was back in midnight or early 90s, late 90s, excuse me. And they were making back in the late 90s, like almost $150,000 put together. and they still filed for bankruptcy for the second time. And I remember being 10 years old and losing everything because of that. They got a divorce. We lost both cars, our house, and I even had to give my dog away, George, because the two rental properties that we were going to wouldn't allow pets. And so right then and there, I made a promise to myself, one day when I can control it, I'll never have to worry about money ever again. And so fast forward a little bit, I turned 23, finished my master's in healthcare management with a focus in finance. And I got a job at Johns Hopkins Hospital that I had no business being in. I think that they were just really desperate and it would have been open for a year. And I was crazy enough to take on this really big position that no one else wanted. And so inside of that position, I got a very large salary and I also got a lot of financial responsibilities for the hospital. And so based off my training and my salary and just some basic logic that was like, if I stayed in this corporate world and climbed the ladder and developed how they wanted me to develop, my income was only going to get larger. And so I had to make a decision then to learn how to manage money correctly. And I built a personal system that ended up working for me, some friends. And back in 2020, started my own company, Journey to Financial Freedom, where we now do financial coaching for business owners. And as I was telling you before the show, we take an approach that I think is what makes us so successful and has helped our own company grow to seven figures only in our second year of business a couple of years back. And a lot of Our clients have done the same because we take the approach where we teach finances in two buckets, right? We teach the systems and strategies, right? The black and white, which is really important. I think a lot of companies, they unfortunately stop there. But where we have found to get real long-term sustainable results, you also have to work on that internal world, right? Because your external wealth is just a reflection of that internal wealth. You can fake it for a little bit. You could budget. You could save some money for 90 days. But ultimately, if your belief system is negative around money, that's going to dictate and result in your behaviors long term. And so we change that belief system with our clients. And then from there, once it makes sense, then we shift our focus to their income. Because it doesn't make sense when people first come to us to teach them how to make $20,000 more a month that they can't handle their current situation correctly. So once we put that foundational work in, we then shift our focus to their income to turn their business into what we call their financial freedom vehicle. right? So our goal is to get business owners to financial freedom and financial freedom. Very simple definition is owning an asset or assets that spend you enough money each month automatically to cover your expenses in your lifestyle, whether you choose to show up or not. Right. And so our business is our assets. And so we teach our clients how to turn that asset into that financial freedom vehicle. And so living your dream life is fueled by your dream business. When you learn how to manage this beautiful thing called money correctly. And so we always tell our clients that our mission is, or just an easy way to put it is money is the tool, freedom is the goal. I could care less about money itself. I care about the opportunities and lack of decreased stress and anxiety that it's going to provide for you, your family, and your business. And so I have found in my own personal journey and working with thousands of clients that this beautiful tool called money can unlock financial freedom when you manage it the right way. Bro, you just, you guys, okay, guys, that's it. You go ahead and stop now. We just had a summary and we're going to unpack this, trust me, but that is awesome. And I know that we've had like some similar places we've gone and backgrounds and stuff, but guys, listen to me. If you're hearing this episode, you get a lot of people out there talking financial freedom, financial independence. And I think that some people have kind of a negative stigmatism because whether it's network marketing or opportunities, their relatives got, whatever. But this is what we're talking about here. What we're talking about is if you want to build and grow a business, you really truly have to break it into a couple of parts and you did it really well. You said you build a foundation for the inner game, outer game, right? Some strategies and things. And then you focus on the business and creating a lifestyle business. So I want to kind of bust those two things apart for a second, because you made this comment about the systems and strategies. And I know that what people are listening to right now, they're like, give me systems, give me strategies. What you found over time, it sounds like, and I have certainly found that is that people really do have like what Tarv Ecker and Ed Milet and all these guys talk about a money thermostat, a money blueprint. Like they truly, there's a lot of guys and gals listening to this podcast that have made a lot of money and then they lose it, or they make a lot of money. And like your parents bankrupt a couple of times, or they make a lot of money and they don't understand what's going on. And it's because they're focused on the money and the money is just the result. It's just a result. So how do you, because this is a real big question. how do you get people to pay attention to the fact that it doesn't matter how many strategies you apply if your mindset around money and your inner game you called it um isn't right like how do you get because i know that that is the foundation to create that in your life how do you get people to you know accept that because that needs to be the foundation or do you have to kind of back your way into it like give us some of your experience around that yeah absolutely and So, um, two things come to mind. One, um, is a, I guess an analogy or an example that are used and then two would be the science behind it. So when we talk to our clients I kind of I I always ask them this question I like have you ever been on a diet or a workout plan right That you trust for 60 to 90 days and then fell off afterwards and then made it really hard to get back on track right? You know, raise your hand if you listen to this, but I'm raising my hand. I'll raise both of them, right? And the reason is it's not, it's not because anything against the fitness and nutrition industry is nothing against those programs. Those programs are great, but what happens is they only address things at a behavioral level. And if you address things at a behavioral level, you'll never get long-term results. You start to get long-term results when you address things at a belief level, right? And so here's the science. Our reality is a direct result of our behaviors. Our behaviors are a direct result of our beliefs. And our beliefs were formed through our traumas and experiences in life. So if you can go all the way back and address the traumas and experiences in life that formed your beliefs, particularly around money, you can start changing the behaviors and then your reality. And so- Guys, I got to stop you for a second because I I want you to keep going, but people are going to skip over that. What he just said was golden. Those results have to be traced back to your beliefs about them. And so many people are working so freaking hard on the result that they could make a small tweak on their belief and make a huge difference. I didn't want to interrupt you, but that is a huge nugget that you just gave. I want to make sure people got that. Thank you, man. And I appreciate that because when you can fix those beliefs, that's when you get long-term sustainable results. That's that internal world. And how you fix them is just figuring out what happened to you in life that made you form those beliefs, good or bad, but particularly the bad ones. And so I'll give you an example because sometimes it's not even money related, right? Growing up, I had a dad who did a lot of great things for me, but it just seemed like it was never enough for him, right? And so I could never please him. I always had to, I thought I had to achieve and accomplish to get his love. And so I'll give you a perfect example here, right? Your motives with money, right? Two things can be true at once. They can be bringing you closer to God or they can be bringing you further away from God or they could be good motives or bad motives at once or healthy motives and unhealthy motives. And so perfect example here. Did I create my company, JFF, to have an impact on millions of lives through financial coaching? 1,000%. But did I also create it to make millions of dollars to bring it back to my dad and say, hey, dad, is this enough, right? And it's like the behaviors are not just around spending. We can get into the spending all day long, right? But behaviors around money, even earning wise, right? Are linked to those traumas and experiences in life. I'm a high earner because yeah, I want to provide for my family, but I've also in that work that I've done around my beliefs, I think that I need to earn high to earn my dad's love. And I trace that back to my traumas and my experiences in life. And then also with spending too as well. So always my dad made a lot of money, spent it. So it was super chaotic. It was like this roller coaster of finances, right? And so if you think about it, right? Think about if a child grows up in a chaotic home and they turn 18, you take them out of that home and you put them into a healthy one. What happens in a couple of months? They start creating drama and chaos because that's what their ego or their nervous system thinks is normal, right? Or status quo. So when it comes to spending, a lot of times I found myself in the past, obviously making a lot of money and spending it because I didn't feel safe with that amount of money in my bank account because I was so used to having no money growing up or money being made and money being spent. And then over time, I've realized I've just gotten more creative with it. I put a pretty bow on it and pulled an investment, 500K into renovations into a home that we didn't actually need to do that. I probably should have bought rental properties. But if I'm maxing out my IRAs on January 2nd, no matter where we're at financially, right? And just doing all of these things that, yes, they are good investments, but what I've found is I'm just getting rid of money out of my bank account because I don't feel safe with it. And so this is detailed work. I've been doing this for years, but what I'm trying to do is paint a picture of, I've figured out what happened to me in life, why I believe the way I do, particularly around money, and then started observing and correcting my behaviors. And I'm ultimately getting better results and long-term results and changing my wealth generationally because of that. I like what you said about observing and correcting your behaviors, because I'm sure you get this. And this is a question I was going to ask you before we got going, but there's a lot of business owners. I'll take myself as an example that had a huge degree of success. And they attribute that to behaviors that maybe don't serve them long-term. Like you were doing things to impress your dad. Other people are doing things for the reward and recognition of impressing other people, but it's got them to that point. So when you get someone who's, you deal with relatively successful people that want to go to the next level. It's like scale from seven to nine figure type people. How do you go to individuals that feel like if I change my behavior that served me, it's going to weaken me or not work for me? And you might've answered it partly by saying you correct the behaviors. In other words, you're not saying necessarily you got to change your behavior. How do you address that? Because I know in my life, I've thought, man, I was kind of like a driven, a personality thing. But I think a lot of the motives behind it were not the right ones long-term. But I don't want to stop being that person. I don't want to change that. So what do you say to people that think, oh man, I don't know if I should change my behaviors and beliefs? Right. It's not really about changing the behaviors. It's more so analyzing the motives behind them. And so a very simple question that I tell people where it's like, this is how you can analyze the motives behind it to make sure the behaviors are pure and headed in the right direction. Simple question. Is this action or behavior bringing me closer to God or bringing me further away? And so I asked every single time when we go to sell something in the business or we go to market something, or I go to have a conversation with somebody around money, I just simply ask myself, is my motive behind this bringing me closer to God or bringing me further away? Right. And so there's nothing wrong with earning a ton. I'm still going to earn seven figures for the rest of my life, or if not more. Right. But I'm no longer doing it to buy my dad and other people's love, I'm doing it because it's in the best interest of me, my family, and my business, right? Yeah, I love that. Yeah, and steward it correctly, right? And do what God is calling me to do it with, then I just, I know that I don't have to actually change the behaviors themselves, right? Just the motives behind them. And so, you know, the other day I heard God tell me, you know, on my quiet time, he's like, I gave you that work ethic that you have. Stop making it the enemy as you do this spiritual work, this internal work. Instead, just make sure when you're using your work ethic. It's just bringing you closer to me, not further away. You're using it for the right motives. Yeah, I like that. I like that a lot. And this actually is a great opportunity and kind of segue into the second thing I want to do. And guys, listen, if you're listening to this podcast, don't worry. I know you're wanting strategies and tactics and things like this. We're going to put a bunch of notes in the show, some links in the show notes and things like I'll make sure that you get what you can. But remember, our goal here is like 20, 30 minutes of day, we want to make sure we respect your time. But I want to bridge into, you just said, the motive and the reason behind it. Well, I think that's a great bridge into the second part. You talked about the foundation of strategy and mindset. And then you talked about focusing on your business as an asset to create a lifestyle. I think when you get older, more experienced, you go through life, you start to realize that your reasons for doing things need to be different. They should be different. You talk about God, maybe individuals, it's their family, it's their focus, whatever it is. But ultimately, most business owners want lifestyle. And that is literally the opposite of what you get when you start the business, if you're doing it the wrong way. But nowadays, I think people get a little bit more excited around the idea that I create a lifestyle business I mean shoot I zooming from Scottsdale Arizona right now might be in Utah whatever It like that a different kind of lifestyle business because I can go out to the pool afterwards or whatever But let bridge into this point where you now talk about how you take your business and turn it into an asset to create the lifestyle that you really want and the reason behind why you're doing this, right? Yeah, yeah. And so again, going back to the beginning of this, right? Like most people, like you said, they get into business for the lifestyle, right? And, you know, it's impossible to live your dream life if you don't have your money in order, because having your money in order is going to strongly dictate the success of your business. Money is an incredible tool for the scaling and proper management of your business, particularly to create the lifestyle that you want. And so when it comes to that lifestyle freedom, right, strategy-wise here, right, we'll get into a little bit of a strategy around that. And so the first step that I tell people is go through your budget, right? Or your monthly expenses, right? Add up what you're spending each month currently, right? So think easy numbers. Let's just say it's 10,000, right? I can, step two, can imagine that most people, that number is not what your number would be if you were living your dream life, right? And so we then say in this step two, with some humility, add in some more expenses. Like what would your mortgage be on your dream house? What would the car payment be on your dream car? How many vacations would you be taking a month, right? Let's just say that's another $10,000 on top of that, right? So now we have $20,000 a month total, right? And so now the idea is that we need to create an asset or grow an asset like your business that will spend you that $20,000 a month each month automatically, whether you choose to show up or not. Once it does that, you are financially free, right? And so as you can imagine, learning how to use money, leverage money, understand money, and be comfortable with money, let alone attract more money too as well, is a very key component to turning your business into that financial freedom vehicle, right? And so that's good. But I like how you make it specific, right? Because I think some people understand I want to create more money. I want to create, this is what I need for my lifestyle. But they don't really get down to it and put it together. I mean, they don't know what it takes to cover their needs if they weren't working. Or they think, if I just create enough income, I can live the lifestyle. And they don't realize you need income around something that's creating it when you're not working. Where do you – I don't know what majority – it's funny because we talked about a lot of the similar things. And so that's why I really, I think, was attracted to the idea of having you guys on the show. So where do you start someone when it comes to this? Do you dig into their business or do you find that a lot of times it doesn't need to be that depth? It's really more principles and strategies that they need to apply in a more general sense. Fantastic question. So when people come to us, they think more money is the solution and we're not against making more money, but it's not the solution at first, right? Taking control of your current situation is because we truthfully believe in this topic called stewardship, right? money is a gift to us from God or whatever higher power you believe in. And for them to bless us with more, they want to see that we're taking care of the current situation correctly, because otherwise it'd be a recipe for disaster. And so we start with taking control of their current situation, right? Because for one, there's a lot of room for improvement a lot of times naturally, and that's okay. And for two, a lot of people's situations, right, aren't as bad as they think they are. The majority of people's stresses and anxieties around money are subjective, which just means they're non-factual information, right? It's a gray area. It's dictated based on emotions, technically, or a lot of times negative emotions. And when you replace that subjectivity with objectivity, which is just black and white, let's just see what's actually going on in the situation. A lot of times the stress and anxiety decreases and the creativity to now go earn more and do better with the current situation increases. And so there's a lot of low hanging fruit and a big bang for your buck to take control of your current situation correctly. And in that, we implement the right systems and strategies. We help you build a better relationship with money. And then from there, now it makes sense to make more money. Like I told you before that just started, when people come to us, if you can't handle your current situation correctly, you have no idea what's going on with your current situation, there is no point in us teaching you how to make more money. Because all you're going to do is you're going to make more, you're going to spend more, you're going to make more, you're going to see just as little. You're going to make more and have the same exact problems you had in the past when you had less money coming in. And so where we start taking control of your current situation, and I promise you that is the door, the biggest door that you could possibly swing open to then receiving more. You know, it's funny. Early days, right? This is early in my career. I had one of my mentors say to me, and all growing up, I had people say, what do you want to do? What do you want to be? What do you see yourself doing? Like we all taught, like what kind of job, what kind of career, what kind of identity you want. And he asked me a different question and caught me off guard. He says, I don't care about that. He says, what do you want your life to be like? And I'm like, dude, what do you mean what do I want my life to be like? I want to make money. He said, okay. But he says, you got to get really clear on what you want your life and lifestyle to look like because that will determine how you structure your business. Is that something you really believe as well? And how important is it for people to clear? It's hard. It's ambiguous to a degree, but how important is it for someone to identify what they want their lifestyle to be like in order to pattern their blueprint of their business around it? Is that one of the things that you feel is critical? Absolutely. Because that helps us get intentional with our clients' income goals. Because I'll give you an example. When we first had a mentor a couple of years ago by the name of Clients and Community, this company is incredible. And really cool guys and own the company. They're actually based down in Scottsdale. And they were making a million dollars a month at the time. And because I looked up to them, I was like, a million dollars a month, right? And so my wife and I sat down and we looked at what we would have to sell and in what capacity and what that would take to fulfill that. And we were like, yeah, I don't think we want to make a million dollars a month, at least from this one business. Because that lifestyle, what it was going to take input from me or commitment-wise from me, Like, I just didn't want to do that with my time and my energy. And then also I just didn't want to manage the staff and the amount of clients that would take to hit that income goal. And so, yes, we do that all the time with our clients. How much do you want to work a month and how do you want to show up in the business? Then based off that, we come up with an income goal that obviously has to match that financial freedom number that we talked about earlier. It has to be that large, but we help break it down on them. Okay, great. If you want to make that amount of money with what you're currently selling, here's the capacity that you're going to have to sell it in. And then here's what's going to be required from you to fulfill that capacity. And so then we look at that, like, do you want to work that much a month? Do you want to work that much a week? Are you willing to manage this amount of staff? Are you willing to manage this amount of clients? Because it's going to leave X amount of time and energy left over for that lifestyle that you went into this business to build. Sometimes it's not long-term. Sometimes it's short-term. Like for my wife and I, the first couple of years of the business, right? Like I hustled my ass off, but it's the bow and arrow. You got to pull yourself back to shoot yourself forward. You know, now we make a couple. I love that analogy, dude. I'm taking that. That is a great analogy. Take that, please. And that's so important in the business world where when we're looking at this, we tell people, yes, one day you will have that lifestyle that financial freedom provides, but you're going to have to pull yourself back at first. And if you do it the right way, it's only temporary. And so I worked a ton of time the first couple of years, but now we're doing a couple million dollars on autopilot and I work 10 hours a week And this is considered my work and I freaking love it Right And so it about getting intentional with those income goals looking at what that going to take for your lifestyle adjustments by short term and then ultimately to a long term goal. Yeah, man, you've got it, man. There's just guys, listen, there's a lot of wisdom and everything he just said. And, you know, even stuff that sometimes guys, listen, listen to me. If you're driving, if you're moving around, listen to what I'm saying here. There's, there's intention. A lot of times people as successful as Justin, they, you know, they've got all the strategies and techniques, but you have to listen to what they're saying. He's doing what he loves. That is a big factor. He is intentional with what he's doing and how he's doing it. And he was willing to do the work when he needed to do the work. So then he can create the lifestyle with this, but you could make less money with a better lifestyle and live a better life than if you're a nine-figure company, but it's grinding you to death. So, man, by the way, I'm going on record as saying Justin is the one that told me that the first time, that bow and arrow, man, I love pulling yourself back to be able to shoot yourself forward. That's amazing. Brother, we got to have you over to our Mastermind Academy, but I know we're getting shorter on time. So I've got to ask you this. Is is there, what would be a good strategy, stepping point, something tactical you could recommend to listeners that may have a business that are grinding, they're like, man, he's so right. I want to get on track with going the direction of having more of a lifestyle. I don't know where to start. What's some kind of a strategy or tactic you could give our audience to start, just to get somehow to break the cycle of what they're doing. What's something you would recommend right now, given the state of the marketplace and everything? Two things. One, building wealth and financial freedom has very little to do with the number that you achieve and mostly to do with the human being that you become in the process. And at best, your financial journey will be a beautiful dance of four steps forwards and two steps backwards. And you need the tension, you need the mistakes and you have to be willing to fail because our mountains, particularly when it comes to finances, right? Our mountains, our stresses, our tension, they're given to us as medicine, right? They're given to us as medicine. We take that medicine, we'll develop into the human being that is willing and capable to receive and manage more and continue to grow that, particularly for generations to come, right? And I tell people all the time, I don't want you to be wealthy for five years, 10 years, or even 30 years. I want you to be wealthy for generations to come. And business owners that build generational wealth, they build in on a strong foundation. And a lot of times that foundation has to do with financial literacy and stability, right? And so on the strategic side, the majority of business owners, financial stresses and anxieties, limitations or missed opportunities has to do with subjectivity. Like I said earlier, right? It's a guessing game, right? Do you think that you got to pay this off? I think I need to accomplish this goal first. I I think I need to make this much money. I think I should pay myself. I think that all debt's bad or I think that I should pay this off first. Like all of that, I think, there might be some right suggestions in there, right? But all of that, I think, 95% of it is non-factual information that's causing 100% of your stress and anxiety and your limitations, right? So the biggest first step is put some objectivity to your situation, some black and white, right? Like really understand what's going on. What you resist persists. So stop avoiding it, right? Because all you're doing is avoiding work that you're going to have to come back to later if you're really serious about achieving financial freedom. There's no shortcut. Yeah, you could do it an unhealthy way if you want, but there's a real right way to do it. And it starts with taking control of your current situation. And two financial scans that I love that'll tell you exactly what's going on in your situation to then allow you to build the best strategy off of it. You got to put a budget together, a P&L, whatever words you want to use. It frustrates me that society thinks that budgets aren't valuable and or are scared of them. Budgets shouldn't make you feel scarce. They shouldn't make you feel limited. Budgets should empower you to live your life and spend your money. I want you to live your life. I want you to spend your money, but in a calculated, controlled, and confident fashion, and budgets allow you to do that. The second financial scan would be a balance sheet, the very simple way of seeing what's your worth and what you owe. And both of those financial scans, we now have what we call your unique variables, which are needed to be able to build you the best strategy possible, right? And there's a massive difference between good strategy and optimal strategy. And the gap between those two destinations is extremely costly, right? Not even just money-wise. And so that would be my advice to y'all who are trying to get started financially. I know there's a lot there, but please take notes on that, unpack that. And those would be the first steps that I would suggest that you take, most successful clients have taken to become seven-figure owners. Yeah, I love that you also separated that piece that a lot of people forget about, right? You know, there's a budget, which might be your cashflow type stuff. And then there's your assets, your net worth, your balance sheet, you know, something that's showing you're growing wealth. There's so many people cash, rich, wealth, poor. So I really like that. The other thing I'm just gonna kind of double down on what you just said, and it just shows how much, you know, we have similarities is that it is less about the money and the tool and the strategy, and it's more about you. It's my favorite quote by Jim Rohn that he says, you know, success is not to be pursued, it's to be attracted by the person you become. And guys, if you're listening to this, that's what it's all about, right? When you become a better person, you can learn to attract success and you can learn to, you know, creating a lifestyle business does not mean you do less. I mean, it does not mean that you get less. The idea is there is a tipping point where you can do less and get more, but it does involve that inner game. So Justin, man, I appreciate having you on the show. For those of you that are listening, we are going to put a bunch of links in the show notes so we can get everybody connected with you. What's your Instagram handle again? It's Justin underscore Buonimo. I'm sure the spelling will be in the show notes. We will. By Justin underscore Buonimo. Reach out to me, shoot me a message. I'd love to connect. Yeah, we're going to put those links in there, guys. I encourage you to connect with him. And then also I asked him before the show, so I'm super grateful he's willing to do this. I asked him if he'd be willing to do a webinar, do some education for the community. He'd read to do that. So I will also put a link to the webinar in there. Super grateful. This is something that he's only offered his high-end clients in the past. So another benefit of being part of the show. And I know there's so much that we need to still unpack with you. So that'll be an opportunity that you can kind of get in the weeds with everybody, give them some real strategy and tactics, which is what we generally do in our academy, but you're willing to do this in this webinar. So thanks again, brother. I appreciate you being here. Thank you so much for joining us today. Absolutely, man. It was a blast. Thank you for having me. And maybe we'll get round two on the book soon, unpack some deeper notes around this. Yeah, I think there's no doubt in that. So listen, guys, if you're listening to the show, make sure you like and subscribe the show so that we can make sure you don't miss any episodes and Share the show. You know, our mantra is, you know, it's never too late to start living the life you were meant to live. It follows perfectly with this topic, but you got to take action. You got to get specific. You've got to do something about it today. And we appreciate you being here with us.
