A big thank you to beehiiv for making this newsletter possible.If you’ve been kicking around the idea of a side hustle or just want another income stream that doesn’t suck up your weekends, start a newsletter.It’s hands-down one of the easiest ways to create something of your own. No products to ship, no boss breathing down your neck, no fancy tech required.I use beehiiv because it’s stupid-simple and actually fun to use.The first time I used ChatGPT, I thought I was onto something big.Type a prompt, get magic back. Simple.But a few months in, I realized I wasn’t really using…

I had an epiphany recently.There’s been a common thread running through everything I’ve done the past 20+ years — I’m obsessed with leverage.Building stuff that keeps growing without adding more grind.In this post, I’ll break down how how Gen X entrepreneurs can use business leverage frameworks like the Star Principle and Naval Ravikant’s Four Types of Leverage to build a sustainable business that grows without more hours.My Journey to Understanding Business LeverageBack when I was a mechanical draftsman, I figured out how to design complex documentation for standard product lines that could be reproduced across departments with little or no…

The older I get, the more I realize the power of community isn’t some empty social-media platitude we post for likes—it’s survival.But it took my stubborn ass awhile to realize this.Like a lot of us Gen Xers, I was raised with a latchkey, go it alone attitude. Head down, work hard, figure it out yourself.It’s been working for me for awhile but less and less everyday.In a world moving at AI speed, the lone-wolf mindset is a looking more and more like a dead end. The people who’ll stay relevant and sane—the ones who’ll keep growing—are the ones who learn…

If you’ve ever been laid off and thought, “How the hell am I going to start over at this age?” — this podcast episode is for you.Fernando Labastida has been laid off three times.Once during the 2008 crash.Again during the “AI apocalypse” of 2023.And one more time after 50 — when most people start thinking their best days are behind them.But instead of crawling back to another job, he flipped the script.👉 He took the same skills that got him hired in the first place and built a new business that no algorithm can replace.Fernando calls it finding your superpower…

Learn AI. Stay Relevant. Get Paid.If you’re 40-plus and wondering how to stay relevant (and paid) in the AI era — you need to check out theCLICK.It’s not another course — it’s a hands-on community that shows you how to:✅ Use ChatGPT-5 like a pro✅ Build your own AI “workforce”✅ Package and sell AI-powered servicesI’ve been a paying member for almost a year now, and honestly, I’ve learned more here than anywhere else online. Even better — I’ve made my subscription cost back 10 times over by providing AI services to clients.Try it out for 14 days and see for…

Trick-or-treat! This week, we’re having a little Halloween fun. Let’s see what your Halloween costume might reveal about your financial personality.As usual, we share a few laughs in our getting-to-know-you segment and highlight some great quotes of the week. We also tackle a fantastic listener question about managing multiple financial advisors and how to simplify your retirement planning.For this week’s Retirement Ride Along, we chat about our trip back to Matt’s hometown- Copeland, Kansas!Here’s some of what we discuss in this episode:Get-to-know-you questions: Driving skills, least favorite chores, and more (6:47)Quotes of the week from Bill Murray and more (19:34)Main topic: What…

If you’ve ever looked around and thought, “I worked my whole life for this?” — boy do I have a podcast for you.Kurt Sassak knew from age 11 that he wanted to be a chef.By 39, he’d cooked in luxury hotels across seven countries, climbing every mountain he could see.On paper? Dream career.In reality? Total burnout.The passion was gone. The joy was gone.And every Sunday night came with that quiet dread: “I can’t keep doing this.”Most people in his position double down — push through, change jobs, chase the next promotion.Kurt tried that too… until he finally realized the truth:👉…

Welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good! After a two week cruise exploring the Baltic Capitals in Europe, we’ll have almost a whole month in Raleigh before our next big trip.  During September, we spent the first couple of weeks prepping for our cruise. It took a lot of time to research the eight different cities we visited around the Baltic sea. We visited Oslo in Norway, Aarhus and Copenhagen in Denmark, Stockholm in Sweden, Kiel and Rostock in Germany, Tallinn in Estonia, and Helsinki in Finland.  As always, the visit to each port was way too…

A big thank you to beehiiv for making this newsletter possible.If you’ve been kicking around the idea of a side hustle or just want another income stream that doesn’t suck up your weekends, start a newsletter.It’s hands-down one of the easiest ways to create something of your own. No products to ship, no boss breathing down your neck, no fancy tech required.I use beehiiv because it’s stupid-simple and actually fun to use. When I first learned about affiliate marketing, I thought it was too good to be true. Back then I was promoting these “Learn Master Guitar” DVD courses that…

If you’ve ever thought, “Maybe I missed my shot,” this one’s for you. Eve Enslow spent decades climbing the corporate ladder at Microsoft. Great job. Big title. Constant travel. Then burnout hit hard. Instead of grinding through it, she walked away—and started over. What she discovered next flips the whole midlife narrative on its head. The big lie about midlife isn’t that we slow down.It’s that opportunity slows down for us. In this week’s Redefining Retirement episode, Eve breaks down what really happens when you stop chasing someone else’s definition of success and start chasing meaning again. And that’s just…