Leap Academy with Ilana Golan - How Lacy Garcia Conquered Financial Fear and Transformed Wealth Planning for All

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

Despite her background in financial services, Lacy Garcia faced significant financial challenges after her marriage ended. She struggled with imposter syndrome, advising clients on finances while dealing with her own financial issues. Too embarrassed to seek help and unable to find the right advisors, Lacy turned her fear and discomfort into a drive for financial education and empowerment. She founded Willow, a fintech company focused on making financial advice more accessible, especially for those overlooked by traditional services. In this episode, Lacy joins Ilana to share insights on financial literacy, achieving stability and independence, and Willow’s approach to matching clients with the right advisors. Lacy Garcia is the founder and CEO of Willow, an award-winning platform that connects clients with certified financial advisors using an AI-powered matching system based on their financial goals and preferences.  In this episode, Ilana and Lacy will discuss: (00:00) Introduction  (01:44) How Divorce Shaped Her Passion for Financial Education (04:02) Finding Clarity Amid Financial Fears and Uncertainties (09:52) From Financial Ignorance to a Career in Finance (13:14) Letting Go of Shame to Achieve Financial Health (16:13) Why You Don’t Need More Money to Start Investing (20:01) Creating Willow to Make Financial Advice Accessible (24:29) How Personal Experience Shaped Willow's Mission (29:07) Navigating the Weight of Decision-Making in Startups (34:31) The Role of Investment in Startup Growth (39:56) Ways to Avoid Common Financial Mistakes (42:55) Getting Personalized Financial Advice for Free (43:55) The Importance of Financial Literacy Lacy Garcia is the founder and CEO of Willow, an award-winning platform that connects clients with certified financial advisors using an AI-powered matching system based on their financial goals and preferences. She is passionate about empowering advisors to better serve the next generation of clients through tailored training programs. Lacy has been featured in top media outlets like The TODAY Show, Business Insider, and Yahoo Finance, and was named Hispanic Empowering Executive of the Year in 2023 by Wealth Solutions Report. Connect with Lacy: Lacy’s Website: https://www.trustwillow.com/  Lacy’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lacy-garcia/  Leap Academy: Ready to make the LEAP in your career? There is a NEW way for professionals to Advance Their Careers & Make 5-6 figures of EXTRA INCOME in Record Time. Check out our free training today at leapacademy.com/training

People say this to me all the time. They're like, I'll go look for a new advisor once I get my act together. Wait a second, would you say, I'm not feeling well, I'm going to wait till I feel better and then I'm going to go to the bathroom. That's totally true. Lacey Garcia,

the founder and CEO of Willow, a financial platform which connects women and families with their ideal financial advisor. Two-thirds of all Americans today report that they feel like they're living paycheck to paycheck. And I was in a really dark and challenging place, both on a personal level, on a financial level.

Instead of looking at where you're not, take a moment and acknowledge where you've come from, everything that you've accomplished. That is going to be what enables you to then figure out exactly where it is you want to get to. Is there one really common mistake that you see repeatedly with people that are coming to you, the needs, the financial advice? The number one thing is... Lacey Garcia, the founder and CEO of Vuelo, a financial platform which connects women and families with their ideal financial advisor, which is so, so, so important.

This incredible idea really came to you from your own need at your 30th, right, or somewhere around mid 30s. And due to your own life changes, what happened? Eliana, it's wonderful to be here with you. If you had told me 15 years ago that I would be sitting here, having started trustmulot.com and having had the experience that I have, I would be sitting here, having started trustmillo.com and having had

the experience that I have, I would never have believed you. But I think that both my professional, but really my life experience, if anybody who is listening right now has ever had their life really blow up in their face, everything, somebody who was a type A planner, it wasn't quite a wake up overnight, but it felt that way where I was all of a sudden in this quarter life,

call it midlife crisis where all of a sudden my marriage was ending unexpectedly. A lot of things that I had thought were reality in my life were all of a sudden not what I had thought. I was in a really dark and challenging place, both on a personal level, on a financial level, and also at the time my career was helping to propel me forward, but I had found myself, I was in financial services

and here I am then actually acting as an advisor to other people, but then struggling on a deeply personal level and not being able to get connected to the people that I needed. So I felt like we all hear about imposter syndrome. I felt like an imposter. And at the moment, fast forward,

it was five years later that I started Willow, but I hadn't realized that that experience that I was having at the time, it felt so, I was so ashamed, couldn't believe I wouldn't have wanted to share with anybody so embarrassed. But frankly, I realized that actually so many, not just women, but so many people have been in similar circumstances and through that

and struggling to figure out and get the answers and get connected to the right financial professional. And then wondering why is this so hard? I'm like, maybe I made some mistakes and maybe some things happened very differently, but I'm asking the right questions. I'm trying to do the right things. Like, why is this so hard?

Maybe it's not me, actually. Maybe that there's a different way to do this. And maybe there should be a different path than feeling like you have to be judged or you have to be judged or you have to have your act together when you're going and trying to put a financial plan together. In fact, actually, you should be connecting with somebody who's coming and helping you and helping you to identify those areas that make you feel really stuck or scared or confused.

And I'm getting chills just hearing it. Take me there for a second. The reason why is that a lot of our listeners are in the same boat. They might be feeling stuck. Maybe they got laid off. Some of them are trying to figure out what on earth am I doing? And many times these things, they have somehow implications. Are their marriage on relationship with kids, on nightmares, insomnia, anxiety.

Like I've seen people with health issues. So you see how this ripples into everything in your wellbeing, right? So take me there for a second because you're obviously financially those fear. What are their fears? Is it more about how do I keep the house? Is it more about how do I keep a job? Is it more about how do I keep a job?

Tell us a little bit more because I think that also ties really beautifully into what you advise people today or what all of your staff, but talk to me a little bit about that. Two thirds of all Americans today report that they feel like they're living paycheck to paycheck. that they feel like they're living paycheck to paycheck. And when you look at people who are earning $100,000, $200,000 and more, obviously we're dealing with a high cost of living, inflation, all these down certain markets, all these things, right? And coming out of COVID and just everybody is feeling it. I feel in many ways, so many people and I'm sitting here speaking as somebody who is technically a Zenniel. I'm in that Gen X, the millennial. I sort of,

I was trying to get a little bit, but you know, anyone in their mid-30s to 50s to 60s is really feeling this, right? We're in that sandwich generation. We've maybe achieved so many things, but in other ways, we don't feel like we've achieved things.

We're raising our children, we're taking care of our parents. There's just so much, and I think so many women feel this constant state of overwhelm that not just women, but men too, but to your point, I think that you'd be surprised, but the majority of people who are seemingly very successful, have their act together, high-income learners are first of all worried,

am I gonna be okay? And they feel they're just not doing everything that they should be doing, that there's so many things that they should be doing better, that they haven't saved enough for retirement, they're not investing the way that they should. They feel like there are things in their life that they thought would have been easier,

that they thought they would have been able to afford, and it's a real struggle, right? Especially when people are losing their careers, unexpectedly, overnight. They're losing their jobs or the amount of change that's happened in the markets. And it's a real crazy time, right? And I feel like, I think some of the emotions are fear,

overwhelm, panic. I feel like those think some of the emotions are fear, overwhelm, panic. I feel like those times that are those dark and those challenging, if you take a moment to just take a step back and rather than just blaming yourself, but actually looking at it and thinking about it and trying to like have perspective about it, you actually realize, okay, take a breath.

Take three deep breaths. A, you're gonna make it through this. You've been through things that are so much harder. But then also, like, what you're experiencing, you're definitely not alone. You are very much not alone. You're in the norm. I mean, you're in the majority Americans who are struggling with all this right now.

And educated and successful, and we're not talking about how we're talking. And the first thing is just to acknowledge it and to take a breath, acknowledge it, try to breathe through it. And then I always say then think about what you want, right? And write down your goals. Get to that place where you can clear your mind enough that you're like, okay.

And if you don't know what it is you want, that's beyond normal. It's a process. You have to just take small steps. Don't focus on, okay, maybe you've all of a sudden lost your job and you're trying to figure out what to do next and it's like, the only thing you can do is just breathe

and put one foot in front of the other. Guess what? That's success. I agree, I agree. You've just started a company and we all hear about the success stories of entrepreneurship, but the reality is 90% of it is really, really hard. So I think in that sense, I think part of it is like, just give yourself grace. Wherever you are today, instead of looking at where you're not, take a moment and acknowledge where you've

come from, everything that you've accomplished, all the strengths that you have that you can harness, and give yourself the grace. And if you take that moment to find silence in the chaos, that is gonna be what enables you to then figure out exactly where it is you wanna get to and take the steps that you need to in the right direction. I love that, Lacey.

And you're right, at least 70 percent, if not more of the people we work with. And these are, I don't know, almost a thousand clients a year. So it's a big amount of data. They have no clue what's next for them. And I remember this was probably one of the hardest thing for me because as high achiever driven, the next step was always very clear,

and suddenly not knowing is the hardest thing, because your identity is, at least mine, was always attached to my title or to the company, or, you know, and suddenly you feel like a nobody. And that's been a really, really hard process for a lot of people. So I think what you're saying is so, so, so true. And what I love about your honest story is because you have worked, you know, your background is in financial services. You knew a lot.

But suddenly when it's your own life challenges, it makes it really, really hard to look inside and really understand what you don't know that you don't know, what are the things that you're missing. Talk to me a little bit. You're going through a divorce, you're a single full-time working mom, you're trying to make this all work. What questions did you even think of asking in order to find the answers that you needed? And, you know, I love how that created a company.

So we'll talk about that too. Well, I think that I felt where I was was I had started my career in actually the nonprofit education in the nonprofit sector, and then had moved over into marketing and business development, and worked for actually one of my co-founders at Willow. We worked together at where.com, which is acquired by PayPal, and he ran data science for PayPal. But I had this varied background before then I got into financial services, and I came in first on the marketing and then the R side.

Then I was all of a sudden got on the path to becoming a financial advisor because of my ability to connect with clients. So it was like, wait a second, I feel like I skipped. I mean, I have an MBA. And I'm like, I skipped the typical 10, 15 years of experience that you would normally get trained in that industry where you really learn how to like think, like, you know, you learn everything about personal finance.

Most of us don't, unless you are raised in a family, are in an environment, or have a teacher or a mentor or life experience that really teaches you about the value of money, about personal finance. You really, we just were not raised to necessarily be smart on these things. You were raised to work hard, get a good job, try to make as much money as possible.

But then it's like, go, then save, invest. It's like, wait a second, but how do you do those things? There were so many things. I'm Cuban, I'm a daughter of a Cuban refugee, so I can share. There's things that I was raised that any debt was bad, which is not the case. There's a lot of good debt.

And so I didn't have a credit card till I was in my mid-20s. If you don't have a credit card, you don't build credit. What are you doing? And I actually started, all of a sudden, kind of woke up and was like, wait a second. I had a bad credit score in my early 20s. And I was like, I haven't even had a credit card.

But it turns out that I had like, library books. That was the only thing this is back in the day, no longer they can't do this anymore, but in New York City, I was like, how do I have my credit? It was from like a whole new library. So these are things that you just don't, and I feel my education and at that time, two master's degrees, I was like, how is it that I didn't know that? I'm totally ashamed and embarrassed that I had no idea that I had to

start building my credit and that if I didn't, then if you want to go and buy a home or loan a car, all these things, you don't have the credit to do it. So these simple things, so that's where I was definitely in a place where I'm like a lot of these things that I felt like I should have known, I didn't know, but I'm surrounded today still by absolutely brilliant,

still like absolutely brilliant, successful people who didn't grow financial professionals. And these things are just not part of your day to day, right, like for the norm, for the majority of Americans. If you don't live, eat, breathe, think, and I think if you look at the old paradigm is that there was this model of feeling like I'm ashamed, I'm embarrassed. Like people say this to me all the time.

They're like, I'll go look for a new advisor once I get my act together. I gotta get my dexter. I'm like, wait a second. Would you say, I'm not feeling well. I think there's something wrong with me. I'm gonna wait till I feel better and then I'm gonna go to the doctor.

That's totally true. I need to get in shape. I'm gonna try to figure feel better and then I'm gonna go to the doctor. That's totally true. I need to get in shape. I'm gonna try to figure out how to get in shape by myself. Once I finally figured out to get in shape, then I'll go and I'll hire like a health coach or nutritionist or start working out with a trainer. I'm like, why is it that we think we need to get our acts together and understand everything

and teach ourselves everything and be on top of it and have our portfolio or money in the, before we will go and sit down with somebody who is supposed to be effectively the doctor to help me get there. And I think that this was the experience that the majority of certainly women and also it's not just about gender,

definitely younger investors felt this way that was like, wait a second, this person's making me feel like I don't have the answers, they're judging me. But that is, should not and cannot be the case because those people are supposed to be listening and coaching and guiding and helping us to get to where we wanna get to.

So I think that that is something that is critically important for me on this personal level, but then also for overall, I know so many people who quite frankly, like the time is now to be understanding because the things that you're struggling with, like I think at our bedrock, we understand it's been normalized that we need to take care of our physical health.

And thankfully now it's being normalized that we need to take care of our mental health. And thankfully, now it's being normalized that we need to take care of our mental health. But if it's a three-legged stool, your financial health is enabling, right? And that's, we know that finances are the top cause of stress for the majority of Americans that weigh into both your physical and your mental health. And if you're struggling with things like, I don't like my job, but I can't make a change because I don't have the money, the finances tie into that. I want to leave my marriage, but I can't leave my marriage because I don't have the financial independence or the ability to do that. So this is at the, it should just be a three-legged stool that from day one, we understand that

we, it's okay to not have all the answers. That is why there's an industry that's there to support you and professionals who are trained to be able to help and to guide you. We need to let go of the shame and we need to get the guidance that we need. I totally agree that there's some shame around. I think we see it in careers,

we see it in finance. There's a little bit of shame of, I should have figured this out on my own. And then the only question is, but how much faster and higher can you go with somebody that is walk the walk? But let me take you there. You mentioned a little bit for a second

about being a daughter of a Cuban refugee. My kids were born here, right? And they still don't know anything about finances. But I'm thinking, talk to me a little bit of what that changed, you know, in terms of money mindset or understanding financials and challenges. Like I think some of it is the debt part. To me, that sounds like a really big change

in how people look at things now. What else did you notice as far as differences? big change in how people look at things now. What else did you notice as far as differences? I think that there are, if you're talking about the misconception and then the reality of people's fears around finances and not understanding, first of all, most people think that they need more money to start doing the things that, pretty frankly, they need to start doing when they don't have a lot of money, right? To start putting money away for retirement,

to start investing. These are things that we should be doing from a very young age. But at the same time, if you're listening to this and you haven't started doing them, or you're like the majority of Gen X-ters or baby boomers or even millennials feel like we're behind, you're not behind, right?

Like today is the day to start. Today is the right time to start. Tomorrow is the right time to start. But I think that there's a lot of perceptions where we disconnect this and we think we have to get to a certain point. Like the goals are really clear and easy. Like get into a good school. The goals are really clear and easy. Get into a good school, get the right job.

You talked about your performance driven, you get here and you get here, but where are you then normalizing? Okay, start to actually put money away for retirement. I think that's changing, I think that's getting better than I think it's becoming more, we're seeing actually if you look at now the Gen Z population, they are actually, over 70% of them are already

investing, which is far more so. So I think that a lot of this is now we're starting to talk about it, but it has been, it's a seismic shift, right? It's a big shift and it's been overdue and is needed to happen. I mean, and on a personal level for me, I mean, I think that I didn't really understand the whole concept of why you need to put money away

from retirement. And it seems embarrassing to say that out loud, but the reality was I was thinking like, oh, you're always earning, you're always earning your this and your that, you're this and you're that, but not taking into fact what happens if you want to take time off on this, if you want to make a career change. And then what happens if you actually want to retire

at some point and get to do some of the things that you weren't able to do when you were working full-time. And that's something because I was always more focused on, okay, my short-term goals. I was looking at it from like, what am I trying to accomplish this year or in the next couple of years?

And kind of putting aside, oh, I'll get to that later. And then all of a sudden you realize if you have an unexpected event that drains you financially, and then you're struggling just to even figure out how you're going to deal with your short-term circumstances, let alone your medium term. And then you realize all of a sudden,

wait a second, I don't have a long-term plan. I don't have it. And I think that if you can embed at all times, you're thinking short, you're thinking medium, you're thinking longer term. Like you won't have to feel so panicked, right? And that's something that I've experienced. So there's all of a sudden like, oh my gosh, here I am.

How did I get in this position? How did I make these mistakes? But the reality is a lot of us are doing this, right? You've got to then take a breath. There was a panic mode of, oh my God, what have I been doing? I've been looking so short-term that I've never even bothered to really look. And me too, right?

Because when we're 20, 30s, who thinks retirement, right? Like you just don't even think about it. But you took it to a very extreme place, which is starting a company, which is extremely challenging, very risky. I'd love to hear a little more. What caused you to say, I'm going for this? When I was the head of marketing and I was pulled in to become an advisor, and that was this aha moment because I was like, wait a second, why am I? It was because the clients wanted to work with me.

The way in which I was interacting with my clients was that I was acting as a coach and an educator, and I was deeply connected to them on a personal level and cared about them. So they were choosing to work with me, right? And I'm like, okay, well, there's something here, right, in that, and then I, when I was looking for me to work with me, I couldn't find it, right? I couldn't find somebody who was, and a better version of me, somebody who actually

had like more longer investment experience and a lot of the things that I didn't think I had, right? I was sitting here, I'm like, why do you want to work with me? But I know that this worked for my client. Like, I think the reality is that I had seen that this model worked. I was working in the ultra-high network space with clients who had significant assets. But there was also, I think that I was somebody who did not fall into that category, certainly at the time. We call this mass affluent market. I was somebody who did not fall into that category, certainly at the time. And like, I was more in, we call this mass affluent market.

And I'm like, but I need this guidance even more so, right? Because I'm trying to make a lot more happen with less. And so I felt like, why shouldn't I get this? And in talking with friends and colleagues, peers, it's like, yeah, but wait a second, everybody else wants this too, and feels like we should be able to get it. And meanwhile, you're looking at the data and the industry, and at the time, it was like the majority of women and majority of

millennial investors were saying, I am dissatisfied. I am unhappy. I cannot find an advisor that I feel like cares about me, that I connect with on a personal level, who I can trust. This just doesn't make any sense because I've seen firsthand being able to be part of the solution for those investors as an advisor.

I knew that I'm like, I wanted the same thing, I felt like I deserved it, I had no idea how to get it. I was in the industry and I was trying to find like, I wanted the same thing. I felt like I deserved it. I had no idea how to get it. I was in the industry and I was trying to find it and I couldn't find it. And the other people needed it. And then meanwhile, there's also a market opportunity. There's like a real challenge.

So I think I was really lucky that I frankly, in many ways, you know, getting the opportunity to start Willow and TrustWillow.com has been my chance to sort of make lemonade out of the lemons in my life. But also, you realize when you're all of a sudden in a moment where you're like, all the stuff that's been so hard is suffering, and actually, wait a second, I'm not alone in this moment,

and there needs to be a solution for me, and there needs to be a solution for me, and there needs to be a solution for others, and quite frankly, it's time to do something about it. For years, I've just thought, as we've started with Willow, it's like, this is so needed, and it's been needed for years and years and years, and I always think what we're doing may seem like common sense, but it hasn't been common practice,

and it's about time that it happens. So I think in that sense, I just was listening. I was paying attention. I was listening. I was feeling my pain. I was trying to do something proactive about it. And then I realized that there was an opportunity for others. Like others were looking for the same solution that I was looking for. And quite frankly, also there was there was a business opportunity there as well that the market needed this opportunity. To some extent, one of your hardest moments actually became the biggest muscle you needed to build in order to create Lacey that we know today.

You raised an investment from BlackRock and they're very well known, et cetera, et cetera. So when I saw your son and you on, you know, NASDAQ, that was really cute. You're living a different life now and it's all because you were attentive. You listen to yourself. You were solving a problem you saw for yourself and you could

see that, you know what, if I had this, I'm probably not the only one, right? To me, that's really, really powerful because I think some of the best ideas we see are the ones that you feel firsthand. It's not necessarily made up. You're not necessarily gonna land on Mars, but it's things that you see for yourself

and you're saying, you know what, if I'm gonna solve this, I know it's gonna help other people. I just love that you went there. And I will say, because that's my founder experience. I've worked at other startups and I've been in and around entrepreneurship in different forms and then entrepreneurship and other forms of the entrepreneurship cycle.

I can say firsthand, I mean, I am the initial data point here. I'm the first customer and the first client. When people look at me and be like, that's great, that's nice, good luck. That seems really nice. But I was like, I'm like, no, no. No matter who said no, no matter what door was shut

or email at this COVID, right? Like emails not returned, like calls not responded to, the massive rejection. I knew firsthand, I was like, I know that what we're doing works. Maybe I've got to figure out how to communicate it better, position it better. But I'm like, I know deep down that the solution that we have here actually works.

So for my experience as an entrepreneur with all of the ups and downs, and all of the rejection, and all of the challenges because the highs are so high, the lows are low, it is lonely, it is challenging, it's wonderful, it's terrible, all those things. But at the core, I've never doubted the solution. We've certainly made updates, improvements, enhancements to the business model or the delivery method,

and you've got to do that. You've got to constantly be listening and looking at the data, and making decisions because of something in your head, the way it translates out to actually how it's coming together. It doesn't always connect, right? But I definitely think for me, the fact that I knew firsthand that this worked. We've done a lot of research.

We backed that up with our own firsthand market research, and clearly we have all the third-party data. But I think if you can say that, you truly are, you're authentic in it, you're passionate about it. You're doing this because you really believe in what you're doing. And that enables you to stay connected to it and push through. But it also enables others to get on board, to see and want to become part of the solution if they know how much you believe in it.

This is such key, right? Because you believed in the mission, because you knew firsthand that it helped you and it's exactly what you needed, and you fell in love with the problem, not necessarily the how. And that's where I think a lot of people make the mistakes of falling in love with their solution. But the solution may change a thousand times, you might morph it, you're gonna need to tweak it, etc. But when you fall in love with the actual problem, because you know without any doubt that it's needed, now it's just the details of, we're going to figure out the how, and it helps you with those.

I just talked to Naveen Jain about the near death experiences, right? When you go into ups and downs, from time to time, this will feel like a near death experiences. And now the only question is, will you get back up and take the next step? So is there a certain scenario or thing that you remember in the last few years, Liz Willow, that was hard?

Because I assume there is. It's in different places. There's at least one to four things, five things every night. No. I'm all in there. But share something that you feel like it was a big moment that you needed to figure out, but it became like a big lesson for you, Lacey.

There are so many, to your point. I think one of the things that really resonates has been the point about the problem, right? And I say solution, but to your point, the business model or the exact way in which we're delivering has had to evolve as the market and the environment from a customer or from a fundraising perspective from what's happened in financial services.

So I think what is challenging is that as an entrepreneur, as a founder, as a CEO, who is deeply passionate about everything you're doing, you're doing your best to make the right decisions and then you're going all in. Right, you're going all in until you have to not. But you have to go all in and you have to get people on board.

You know, I'm always saying, listen, we're gonna learn.. We're going to try this, we're going to do it. If it doesn't work, fail fast. We're going to pivot, we're going to take what we learned, and we're going to then come with the next solution. But that's hard, and that's hard, I think, with other members of the team, with employees, because startups have to continually evolve. They have to continually nimble, they have to continually evolve, they have to continually nimble,

they have to continually pivot. And that can be very challenging for other people who are really bought into something that you're doing or really wanna give it more time or really wanna see or really like, we can't. I think that's one of the hardest things is that it is not a straight path necessarily. Sometimes it is. And there are some companies out there, they nailed it is not a straight path necessarily. Sometimes it is.

And there are some companies out there, they nailed it. Ray Alligay, they had the right, there was a certain technology, something that came out and just revolutionized everything, right? But that is not the majority of the kind of longer term successful company story. And so it is that constant need to evaluate, to update, to pivot, to change directions. And the fact that there is a human element to that, which is really tricky.

I mean, I think it's one of the hardest things. When you're successfully running a company and making the best decisions for the business, they don't always necessarily feel like the best decisions sometimes for the people or the culture in the short term. That's a challenge, especially when you are running a mission-driven company, right? Where you really do care authentically

about everyone on your team. That's the reality. The amount of decisions you need to make in a day, it is overwhelming. And sometimes those decisions are small, like the color of the logo, which whatever. And sometimes or some people might say that it's big, but for me, not. But and sometimes it's like, this is massive. This could determine a lot of our direction, a lot of our market fit, a lot of our audience.

Like there are just so many decisions. And I feel one of the things that changed a little bit, I wonder if you see it as well, is that when we grow in corporate, a lot of the decisions come from almost like if then else, if I get to this, then I'll make this decision. If I do this, I will achieve this, right? You can do this like if then else thing.

And as a leader, you need to almost flip it on its head. I need to make the decisions first and I'll see the ROI later. Like I pay for ads first and I'll see the ROI later. I hire first. I'll see the ROI in a few months. There's almost like a shift that you need to do in terms of how you make decisions, which is not something that we learned anywhere, I guess. And it's really hard, right? Because in a startup or a fast growing company,

you are taking small data points and you're making decisions really, really quickly. And you're often, it's a combination of, you certainly have my co-founders, trusted advisors. I love to hire people who I think could replace me and do a better job than me. Like hire the smartest, most talented people, like let them rip and listen to them. You know, that's how you get to that next level is empowering these people to come and tell you,

share their opinion, share their feedback, share their solutions. But you're then at the end of the day, you're making the decision. You have more information than anybody else does have. But then you also, exactly as you said, you're making decisions in absence of the like backed up in a corporate way, the proof.

And again, many of us decision for these reasons, but it's not because of like, because we had that great two or three years, now we're deciding to do it. It's like, like, because we had that great two or three years, now we're deciding to do this. It's like, well, because we saw like positive indications in this way, then we are going this way. So it does. You have to make decisions in absence of like a full data set. And you're relying on your instincts and you're relying on your gut and you're relying on trying to as much as possible take in 360. but quite frankly, at the end of the day,

you are just, okay, gotta make a decision. I take a minute and I know sometimes I'm like, okay, I'm like my head and I just sit back, take a breath. Sometimes if you can sleep on it, I always say sleep on it if you can sleep on it, but a lot of times you can't sleep on it. But when you can sleep on it, sleep on it. I'm an early morning person.

I'm like, I feel like I fall apart at night and like, but I'm like, my best is like, everything crystallizes. So whatever it is, maybe you're a real night owl, but no, you've got to make those decisions. And you just, but I try to clear that space, like take a minute and just analyze the data, but then also go with your gut and then realize that you got own it no matter what. And you've got to own it. And the thing is, too, it's like, it could be wrong. And it's a week, a month, six months later, you're standing in front of your board and you're saying, Of course, correct. Exactly. If you're like, guess what? And you got to own it. But you know, when you're making

that decision, you're going to own the consequences of it. Because again, I do think there's a big difference between number one and anyone else in the company, right? But Lacey, I think a lot of our audiences, like if they go with entrepreneurship, they would love to get investment. That sounds like a great way to get started versus bootstrap your way all the way. What do you think caused

BlackRock to say yes? We are very fortunate to have a couple institutional investors. Certainly BlackRock is our lead investor and grateful for the amazing team that we've worked with at BlackRock. And I know what caused them to say yes is we actually started working with them. We had a three-year relationship with them or two had a three-year relationship with them or to a close to three-year relationship with them and first-hand data with their team prior to them. Seeing this as having applicability across the industry, you don't have to go and seek outside investment.

We'll talk a lot about side hustles or the self-funded and there's pros and there are cons to all of them. I mean if you are someone who's listening to this and you're thinking about this passion project that you want to turn into a full-time job and or you would turn into you know something that's supporting your lifestyle and maybe you want to grow it but you don't want to grow it that big I mean there's no reason if you can do it to seek external investment, to give up sort of your equity or whatever, unless you want to scale it.

And because there's outside capital comes with prices, right? It comes with less ownership, less autonomy. There certainly accelerates your ability to grow and scale for sure. So there's certain pros and there's cons. So I think it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. And depending upon where you are in your personal life, your personal finances, your goals for this venture, whether or not it's something that is going to be a passion project that grows and it's more of a lifestyle business, or if it's not, it's something that is going to be a passion project that grows and it's more

of a lifestyle business or if it's something that you're like, I really want to change an industry and I want to provide a really scalable solution, right? You got to think through first what your goals are and then what works for you on, I think it's the pillars, right? It's like, what are you trying to achieve from a business perspective? What are you willing to kind to give up to get? Then also realistically, what does that mean for you as a person?

If you're not just somebody who all you can do is work 24-7, but you have a family, you want some balance, what does it look like? Thinking through all those pieces of the puzzle, because there's pros and there's cons to all of them. You're making an incredible point, which you're absolutely right. Again, my first tech startup,

I did raise capital for Leap Academy, I decided not to, and we've been one of the fastest growing companies in America right now, right? So to me, I think there's also like, what do you think is possible? And is this really holding you back? I don't know what I would have done with a few millions right now.

You know what I'm saying? Like I would probably do more of the same. So I think there's also an element of that that you really want to think through. And again, there's some companies that can't grow without capital, but I think a lot of them can. So that's also an interesting element that you're saying, Lacey. No, very, very much.

And I'd say, because I think that I was raised in the old school entrepreneurship model where one of the things that was a success point was being able to raise external capital. So it was, of course, we're gonna go and we're gonna raise external capital and we're gonna, you know, and granted for what we were doing for the technology platform

that we built and we needed it. So it was appropriate and it's been totally worth it. But I look today at companies like Leap Academy and what you're doing. You don't have to raise external capital. I think that every startup, one thing that I wish I'd been more hyper-focused on from day one, and I tell every founder is forget everything else. If you're growing, starting a company and growing a company, figure out how you're making money.

Get paying clients. And especially if you're doing something that's mission driven and there's thought leadership and there's impact and there's all this, but the reality is at the end of the day, if you want your company to be around, whether it's self-funded or it's under your lifestyle, or you've got investors, figure out how you are,

you know, you are monetizing, you're driving revenue, you're proving out your business model. Put more focus and more emphasis on it sooner rather than later. Because I think startups were not looking to get to profitability. No, you're just getting to a milestone and then you're raising more money

and then you're getting to the next milestone. Scale, scale, scale. Yeah. I actually think every startup should be thinking about that from day one and making decisions within that because realistically at the end of the day, that will enable you to make better decisions and not raise unnecessary capital, not spend money on things you shouldn't be spending on, and then have more measured and more strategic growth. And I think that it doesn't have to be

that you need to go out the gates and raise capital. You can do it, you can self-fund it. There's other, obviously I wanna get into the other types of funding and the venture-backed debt, and there's other things that you can do, but I really do think it is something that it's also like a new way to look at it. Like it doesn't have to be that you're institutionally backed

to then turn it into one of the fastest growing companies. Your proof point of that. Yeah, it worked. But tell me Lacey, and maybe I'm sure there's like a lot of mistakes that you see that people make, but is there one really common mistake that you see repeatedly with people that are coming to you, the needs, the financial advice, and you're just saying,

oh my God, like, this is fundamental. Like, for all our audience that is listening to this, if you're doing this, you need to talk to us, right? Like, this is a mistake. Is there something like that that just pops for you? I mean, I think that the number one thing is most people are burying their heads in the sand a little bit on certain things and they just don't have all the answers.

The reality is there's so many smart financial planning, efficient tax planning vehicles out there. Like for instance, I say to people who are either have education, have dreams of their own or children. It's like, if you're not using a 529 plan, like you really should be, right? There's certain things like that, but most people don't know what an HSA is

or a health savings account is, but those are, or if you've got money in savings, but it's not in a high yield savings account. So there's some things like that that are just, you don't even realize that you could be growing more money, more tax efficiently, right? There's just money that you're giving up. I mean, I also say down to like people who are in corporate and have a 401k match. If you're not maxing it out, you're just giving up money.

And I'm one by somebody who didn't max out my 401k in my 20s, but I didn't do it. I didn't realize that. They've told the story of I didn't realize how important it was because I was more concerned with funding the next thing that I wanted in the next six months, the next year, and I'm like, that was really. There's things like that. But in general, I just think that putting anything

off, saying you're going to get to things in six months, you don't save, you don't grow or protect wealth if you put it off. And I think most everybody has some element to something that they're going to get to. And I've done that. It's like, oh, whenever I get through this and that, and then I'll go ahead and they'll finally go set up that 529 plan. It took me like an extra three years and it should have enough, right? It's like, I should have done it immediately because I have more money in it today.

So that's my number one thing is that anything that's like in the back of your head that you're trying to push down, that you're saying, I want to get to it like next year or this, just go, you know what, make the time. The biggest cost in your life is the money you're not making, right? Or just letting it slip through your fingers. And that is what's happening. And I think that that's the number one thing that I would say,

is that if you're like, I gotta get to that, I'm gonna put it off, just give yourself the gift of doing it now. Or at least looking into how you would do it, so you start to put together a plan, you start to put that first step, you start to put that first step, like start to put things in motion. Oh, I love this. Usually we end up with what's your advice to your younger self?

It sounds like this is it. Here's the reality is that there's so many, so like what, for instance, at Trust Below, you, you know, we are taking this hyper personalized approach where we're actually basically like a dating app for finding your financial advisor, because we're connecting you with somebody who you can connect with on a personal level, you know, who's been vetted, who's been certified by us. But it's a free service. And it's a free call. What is it? It's a 30 minutes investment of time, all in to like, fill out the survey, we do a quick little coaching call. And then if you like someone, go ahead and have a call with them.

I mean, you're going to learn. You're going to be creating forward momentum. Maybe you decide that you're going to, okay, that's not the right person. I want to do something different. But you have gained valuable information and knowledge. And it only took a little bit of your time and it didn't even require a financial investment. So to me, you might as well. Take advantage.

Take advantage. Exactly. I mean, the biggest thing is what you don't know, don't know. Just go, get the knowledge. And I do believe that financial literacy and financial planning, I wish my kids learned that in school. I wish I knew more about it,

but the best time was yesterday, but if not yesterday, then it's today, right? Like that's it. I was speaking openly a lot, honestly, because remember that majority, two thirds of Americans wish, I wish I don't, I wish I did better, I wish all this. Guess what?

You're the norm. Like that's it. Here we are. So talk about it today with your kids and be like, here's some things I wish I don't, I wish I did better, I wish all this. Guess what? You're the norm. Like that's what, here we are. So talk about it today with your kids and be like, here's some things I wish I'd done differently. I'm learning, I'm doing it now. And that helps them. And you should be thinking about it too, right? You don't have to have it all together. You're being open and talking about it in your process.

And that's gonna get them to be like, okay, I'm listening and I'm gonna be more proactive. So it's taking away that taboo and that's going to get them to be like, okay, I'm listening and I'm going to be more proactive. So it's taking away that taboo and that shame and instead just being like, hey, here we are. Here's where we all are and how do we get to where we really want to be. And I love that. So book that financial planning call. So they're all free calls. Just grab the information. You can make better decisions if you're more informed.

But again, Lacey, thank you for sharing all of that. It's just so beautiful. Well, thank you so much for what you're doing. It's amazing. And I'm so glad to see the success that you're having and how you're really enabling so many people to achieve their dreams, right? And to navigate this uncertainty, it is so necessary. And obviously, as all of us here are tuning in, thank you, please keep it up. Keep this great content and advice and guidance that you're providing, which is really, really amazing.

Oh, you're amazing, Lacey. Thank you.