"More than ever, companies need to focus on their people"
Gordon Stein Tweet
Gordon Stein is an international keynote speaker, blogger, personal finance expert and author of Cashflow Cookbook – $2 Million of Financial Freedom in 60 Easy Recipes. He delivers transformational talks that help people crush their number one stress – their finances.
His mission is to improve financial wellness and help his audience regain focus, balance and joy in their lives. Gordon combines his trademark wit and storytelling style about a breakthrough path to financial wellness with no risk, minimal effort, minimal sacrifice and no budgeting.
He works with wealth firms to show clients how to free up more cashflow for investing and dramatically accelerate their wealth building. His talks to associations and employee groups provide concrete steps to improve their financial wellness – an often-missed component of overall wellness. And his presentations to high schools and colleges are critical to engage students on financial wellness and help close the gap on financial literacy.
In his earlier career, Gordon was a senior sales, marketing and operations executive at high tech companies including Dell and Apple.
Gordon holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Western University, and an MBA from the Rotman School of Business. He has also completed the Canadian Securities Course and the U.S. Certified Financial Education Instructor designation from the National Financial Education Council. He has volunteered with the Western Alumni Board, the Western Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council and the Crescent School Board of Governors. He is currently a member of the National Financial Educators Council and the National Speakers Association.
In his free time, Gordon is a downhill ski racer, sailor, fitness enthusiast and not-yet-great (ok, not even good) guitar player. His thoughts on personal finance can be found at cashflowcookbook.com.
Check out more interviews with entrepreneurs here.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET FEATURED?
All interviews are 100% FREE OF CHARGE
Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Gordon Stein: I’m an international personal finance speaker and author of Cashflow Cookbook – $2 Million of Financial Freedom in 60 Easy Recipes. I’m on a mission to show people a simple path to financial freedom. So many people struggle with their finances and that situation is getting worse. Money is our #1 cause of stress.
There is little training on financial literacy in schools or the workplace. Often parents struggle with finances themselves and have little advice to offer.Most financial writers preach saving 10%, budgeting and giving up the things you love to save more. That advice may work, but giving up things and tracking expenses runs counter to human psychology.
With Cashflow Cookbook, I created a whole new paradigm. An easy way to free up more cashflow with minimal effort and minimal sacrifice. Oh, and no incremental risk and no budgeting. The ideas of the book caught on in my native Canada and the original book went through 7 printings. Now that I am living in the US, I have released the US Edition of Cashflow Cookbook and am bringing these breakthrough financial freedom ideas to Americans.
I am passionate about helping people crush their financial fears and enjoy speaking about the book to clients of wealth advisors, employee groups and students.
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2022? What lessons have you learned?
Gordon Stein: More than ever, companies need to focus on their people. The business environment has become far more complex and dynamic than ever before. The macroeconomic environment is treacherous, every industry is under attack by disruptive upstarts and the customer continues to evolve.
Building a powerful and curious team with diversity of thought and a mandate for breakthrough ideas is critical. Those kinds of teams can power the continuous reinvention that is necessary for growth and even for survival of the organization.
At the same time, employees are under tremendous stress. Their home life has been disruptive by the pandemic. The economic changes have sapped their wealth and mental health issues are rising. Companies need comprehensive wellness programs that help employees with every aspect of wellness, including programs that address their #1 source of stress, their finances.
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
Gordon Stein: Businesses need to be ready for every kind of change. Climate change will reshape the economy and consumer preferences. Rising inflation affects investment and returns. Political issues are in constant focus. And the list goes on.
The business plan process needs to be much broader and yet more dynamic than ever before. The new business environment means multiple new risk areas for some firms and boundless opportunity for others. It is critical to ensure you are on the right side of the shifts.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Gordon Stein: The speaking industry was flattened due to the pandemic. Events were shut down and bookings plummeted.
Like any other change, the pandemic also sparked opportunity. I shifted more of my speaking to virtual engagements and used some downtime to research and write the new US Edition of Cashflow Cookbook. It was also a great time to connect with existing clients and new prospects and create new offerings to help their audiences with their financial freedom.
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
Gordon Stein: As always, determining the size and impact of change is difficult. We have, at best, a foggy crystal ball. This was my first pandemic and none of us had a rehearsal. Like any change the key is to be nimble and adapt quickly. In the balance of 2022, I will continue to evolve my offerings to suit client and audience needs. The new financial environment adds urgency to helping as many as I can with their finances.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
Gordon Stein: I think two things are happening. There is a greater awareness than ever of the power of virtual meetings, online shopping and even the metaverse. Those options can speed communication, more rapidly disseminate value and increase the velocity of business. At the same time, people crave human connection and interaction. I think that will lead to an increase in hybrid shopping channels, events and interactions. Businesses need to have an omnichannel approach and be ready to connect with customers in their preferred mode.
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
Gordon Stein: Some days I am mostly live in front of customers, other days I am writing new content or doing virtual presentations. Overall, I might average 4-5 hours of screen time a day. A perfect day would allow for less screen time, more live audience interaction and more biking, kayaking and guitar.
The majority of executives use stories to persuade and communicate in the workplace. Can you share with our readers examples of how you implement that in your business to communicate effectively with your team?
Gordon Stein: Stories are powerful ways of sharing ideas. They can be fun, poignant and thought provoking. The best ones are memorable and have staying power. The kind of story that sits on your shoulder and repeats itself to guide you through tough choices or situations.
Cashflow Cookbook is built around a story about Eric and Keisha, a couple with twin boys. They have a great lifestyle, but aren’t saving much or building any kind of financial future. They make and implement a series of financial discoveries that help them add an additional $1.5 million to their retirement fund. All with minimal effort and minimal sacrifice. Their story helps the reader anchor the key lessons of the book and sets the stage for the other 60 financial recipes that can free up more than $13,000 of monthly cashflow.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Gordon Stein: I think that it used to be about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. Now it is getting much tougher!
Now you need continuous transformation in your business.And a ground-up rethink.
Let me give a couple of examples from Cashflow Cookbook.In the book, I provide the reader with easy ways to free up more cashflow for debt pay down or investment. Some of these ideas can save 20% of a monthly bill. Others save 80% or more. What if you are one of the companies where a new offering provides consumers with a better product at half the price? Compare a typical cable TV package at, say $200 a month. But now there is YouTube TV at about $70 a month. If you are at the cable company, how do you compete?
On my blog at cashflowcookbook.com, I did a post about how I saved 94% on my prescription drugs. Turns out that retail drug stores can be very expensive places to get prescriptions filled. How will they complete against some of the online pharmacies.
In 2022, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
Gordon Stein: I am continuously looking for new ways to reach prospective clients for speaking engagements that will empower the audience on their financials.
And those tools are continuously changing, Online marketing, social media and PR approaches are always of interest
A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September in 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. 47% of people plan to leave their job during 2022. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. Do you think leaders see the data and think “that’s not me – I’m not that boss they don’t want to work for? What changes do you think need to happen?
Gordon Stein: There is an interesting cycle at work here that I learned as a business leader.
Many leaders hire “Yes” people and focus on people that they don’t see as a threat. Or they rush to fill an opening.
The result is mediocre hiring. The leader has the monopoly on ideas and doesn’t trust or value the ideas of the employee. Why should he? He hired the “Yes” people that he wanted. The employee doesn’t feel valued or heard and their ideas don’t get implemented. They don’t have an opportunity to stretch and grow. Eventually they leave and often the cycle gets repeated.
But when the leader focuses on exceptional talent with diverse backgrounds everything changes. The leader values their input, the sharp, diverse team help each other refine ideas and rethink the company. The results tell the tale and the team sees their ideas and contributions at work. The company thrives and everyone shares in the financial rewards as well.
That’s the cycle that companies need to shift to.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Gordon Stein: Ha! Mind reading would be a great one. It would save a lot of time during the sales and marketing cycle!
A close substitute is careful listening and good questioning technique with a focus on the needs of the customer.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Gordon Stein: Success for me is about helping more people attain financial freedom. It is our #1 stress and I feel that the ideas in Cashflow Cookbook can help people gain control of their finances. Get their money working for them vs the other way around.
In 2022, I will continue to expand my business, deliver great information from more stages and help more people expand their wealth.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Gordon Stein for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Gordon Stein or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
Disclaimer: The ValiantCEO Community welcomes voices from many spheres on our open platform. We publish pieces as written by outside contributors with a wide range of opinions, which don’t necessarily reflect our own. Community stories are not commissioned by our editorial team and must meet our guidelines prior to being published.