Mike Germano on Planning Family Goals at Age 30

In Chapter 20 of 20 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, Carrot Creative social media agency CEO Mike Germano answers "What Steps Are You Taking to Do What is Best For Your Family and Your Future?"  Germano talks about the work he is doing to be a more attentive husband and to take better care of his own health.  He notes how this will become increasingly important as he and his wife have children and start a family. 

Mike Germano is co-founder and CEO of DUMBO Brooklyn-based social media agency Carrot Creative.  Previously, Germano ran for and was elected to public office in Connecticut.  He is a graduate of Quinnipiac University.

Phil McKenzie on Learning Work Ethic in an American Immigrant Family

In Chapter 3 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Phil McKenzie answers "Where Did You Learn Your Work Ethic?"  McKenzie learns his work ethic from his parents.  With both parents first generation American immigrants, McKenzie learns from his Mom, from Barbados, and his Dad, from Guyana, as they make sacrifices and do what it takes to raise a family in a new country.  This informs McKenzie's hard work ethic to outwork and outhustle competition and find internal motivation to compete against himself. 

Philip L. McKenzie is the Founder and Global Curator of Influencer Conference, a global content platform that brings together tastemakers in the arts, entrepreneurship, philanthropy and technology to discuss the current and future state of influencer culture. Prior to that, he was Managing Partner of influencer marketing agency FREE DMC and an equities trader at Goldman, Sachs & Co.  He earned an MBA from Duke University and a BBA from Howard University.

Phil McKenzie on How to Better Manage Your Meeting Commitments

In Chapter 5 of 18 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Phil McKenzie answers "How Are You Learning to Better Manage Your Time and Commitments?"  McKenzie learns to make meeting plans with a more restrictive start and stop times.  This helps him better focus on the conversation and allows him to have more meetings. 

Philip L. McKenzie is the Founder and Global Curator of Influencer Conference, a global content platform that brings together tastemakers in the arts, entrepreneurship, philanthropy and technology to discuss the current and future state of influencer culture. Prior to that, he was Managing Partner of influencer marketing agency FREE DMC and an equities trader at Goldman, Sachs & Co.  He earned an MBA from Duke University and a BBA from Howard University.

Cathy Erway on How Aspirations Change as Experience Grows

In Chapter 12 of 17 in her 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, writer and healthy food advocate Cathy Erway answers "How Are Your Aspirations Changing as Your Experience Grows?"  When she published her first book, Erway thought she would always be an author and travel the country speaking.  Over time she shifts her writing career aspirations to be more local and community driven around New York City. 

Cathy Erway is a Brooklyn-based author, part-time cook, freelance writer, radio host and teacher focused on healthy food advocacy.  Her first book, "The Art of Eating In" developed from her blog "Not Eating Out in New York".  She earned a BA in creative writing from Emerson College.

Andrew Epstein on Doing What is Best for Your Family and Future

In Chapter 23 of 23 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, charter school CFO Andrew Epstein answers "What Steps are You Taking to Do What is Best for Your Family and Your Future?"  Epstein shares the struggle of finding a balance between aspiring more in his career to provide more for his family and managing time at work to be present at home.  He shares how he asks for help as he continues to seek that equilibrium. 

Andrew Epstein is CFO of the Ascend Learning Charter School Network.  Previously, Epstein was a finance executive at Democracy Prep Public Schools and an operations executive at Universal Music Group's Island Def Jam Records.  He is a former Teach for America corps member and middle-school science teacher.  He holds a BA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Jullien Gordon on Consequences of Starting a Business With Friends

In Chapter 12 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business coach Jullien Gordon answers "What Challenges Did You Face Going Into Business With Friends and What Did the Experience Teach You?"  Gordon shares lessons learned from going into a business partnership with a friend and having it not work out as planned.  He details his expectations and how they contrasted with results and how they impacted the business and friendship.  Jullien Gordon is a high performance coach and consultant to organizations, individuals and teams who want to increase employee performance, motivation, engagement and retention.  He earned a BA from UCLA, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a Masters of Education from Stanford University.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: What challenges did you face going into business with friends and what did the experience teach you?

Jullien Gordon: I’m still processing that. This year, at the beginning of this year, I started a partnership with a friend and six months in, we realized that it wasn’t working out. Some of the challenges were that I was financing the business at the time, so he was coming on as a partner, and without necessarily bringing in equity to the table. And so there— I already felt like there was some unevenness though we were both committing the same amount of time and energy, with me being the primary investor into the new partnership that felt like there was an imbalance. And so if I could do it all over again, I would do it in such a way where it’s equally financed by both partners.

Second thing is that you tend to lose your friendship, tend to lose your friendship, because when you see each other, all the conversations are about the business and how do we grow the business, how do we grow the business, and we were able to carve out some friend-time. “We’re not talking about work, we’re just gonna go hang out and have fun together.” But that time became less and less and less, especially as the business got strapped. It’s like, no, we don’t have time to have fun. We need to grow the business.

Another thing that occurred was distance, the partnership started off being a long-distance partnership, and ultimately we ended up in the same city, but distance was a huge detractor from the partnership. What I know from working on larger teams before is that I vibe off the energy of another person, just like I told you about the energy in the room when I’m leading a training. And with that person being distant and you two working virtually, that added benefit of having that person at your back and you both going hard and being accountable to each other, it wasn’t there. And so I missed out on that even though there was a quote-unquote: partnership.

Our friendship is not in a good place right now. It sucks. And I don’t think it has to be that way for all partnerships. Wish I could do it over again, but those are lessons I’m learning and I’m still processing what went wrong as well as what went right.

Lulu Chen on How Personal Priorities Change With Age

In Chapter 1 of 16 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, art director Lulu Chen answers "How Are Your Personal Priorities Changing With Age?"  Chen notes how she has learned not always to be a people pleaser and to let go of guilt of not always helping others and put herself first sometimes.  By taking care of herself she is able to be more helpful to friends and family. 

Lulu Chen is a photo art director working in retail e-commerce in New York City.  Previously, Chen worked as a freelance stylist for leading fashion catalogs and magazines.  She earned a BFA in design and art history from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How are your personal priorities changing with age?

Lulu Chen: I definitely try to strive for a better work/life balance. And as I get older I prioritize my personal—my own needs more than everyone else’s.

Erik Michielsen: For example?

Lulu Chen: I was always a people pleaser and I always wanted to make everybody else happy, and I worked really hard, but sometimes, you know, you just keep going and you don’t actually step back and think about yourself. You’re just too busy accomplishing all the tasks or all the roles that you’re supposed to play, or just, you know, doing the right thing, or you just get busy, and you forget to think about yourself sometimes.

Erik Michielsen: What approach have you taken to create that time for yourself?

Lulu Chen: Well, I’ve learned how to say “no,” to every event, or any events that I don’t want to attend or can’t attend, or, you know, I’ve let go of a lot of guilt, you know. And I realize I’m putting my own mask on first, you know, like on the airplane, how they tell you, “You can’t really help anyone else if you can’t help yourself first.”

Erik Michielsen: Does that also involve getting more comfortable being in a quiet place?

Lulu Chen: Oh, literally and figuratively? Both? Yeah. I think you have to be more comfortable with yourself. I think maybe you kind of settle down as you get older too, and you’re not going out every night, or, you know, definitely in my 20s, I think I worked every day and probably went out a lot, you know, whether it be to see friends, or industry events, or just parties in general, you know. And I definitely think now I take more time for myself, and I try to carve out more time with close friends, family, and my boyfriend.

Small Business Owner Advice on Managing Personal Finances

In Chapter 13 of 19 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, female entrepreneur Hattie Grace Elliot answers "How Has Being a Business Owner Changed Your Perspective on Managing Your Personal Finances?"  Elliot notes how the unpredictability that comes with managing a small business - in her case an event planning and destination travel business - has forced her to be more frugal and creative to make ends meet as the business grows up and stabilizes. 

Hattie Grace Elliot is the founder and CEO of The Grace List, a social networking company that creates destination events and experiences to forge lasting personal and professional connections across its young professional members. Elliot graduated from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where she studied economics, philosophy, and politics.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How has being a business owner changed your perspective on managing your personal finances?

Hattie Elliot: Well, I think when you work for a company, and you get, you know, a paycheck every month and you have certain things covered, your health insurance, and there’s just kind of a level of to a certain extent, you know, transparency and predictability, monotony. Which I would say is not bad, I quite miss that sometimes. You know, you have a very strong sense of, you know, how much if you’re realistic about it, you know, what you can afford, what’s within your means. You know, the size of the apartment that you want, the amount of vacations you take a year, how much you spend going out to restaurants, all that stuff, you know. You just—you have a sense of that.

When you have your own business—and this really does vary from business to business, especially for the first few years, really there’s like, you know, great discrepancies, there’s, you know, my business is very seasonal for instance. So there are certain times—because it’s event and destination based, that people tend to, like around the holidays, right before the holidays, really wanna meet someone, and want that connection, so, you know, that’s a time that we’re really busy and that people are—we’ve got new members joining, we’re doing more things, so with not only is the business seasonal, so the amount of the cash that we bring in just kind of changes, but, you know, based on what happens with the company, with mine, you know, we have a great piece of press and all of a sudden there’s so much interest and we’ve got all these new members joining.

So it’s a little bit less predictable but as the business grows, you know, you get—gain more experience, I now know there’s gonna be certain months of the year that I’m not gonna make as much money, and it’s never perfect but you do have the more of a sense of, you know, cash flow. But because there isn’t a predictability, I think you have to be much more careful to pick and choose what you prioritize and like what you spend your money on.

And there has definitely been times I have been terrified because I’ve got, you know, my rent is due in 2 days, and I’m like, “uh, am I gonna pull this out of like a magic hat?” Like, what is gonna happen? As terrible as that situation is, and stressful, I’m just like, “oh,” you know, it gives me heart palpitations to think of that, it just forces you, you’ve got no choice, like, I’m not gonna live in a cardboard box. I’m an adult. I’ve worked really hard. I’m not gonna move back with my parents, so it forces you—it’s forced me to find ways to succeed, to make my business succeed.

And in an ideal world, as the years go on, and the, you know, the more experience you gain and the more your company is established, you figure out ways that you have to—less and less you have to deal with that kind of situation, you know what I mean? Because not only do you kind of know the cash flow, but you just—you strive to have that sustainability, you set to strive to be your own corporation, you know what I mean? You’re cutting the checks.

So, it’s made me very frugal in many ways. But I’m a girl with expensive taste, you know? I like my champagne. So I’ve had to figure ways and make compromises that you can’t—I have not been able to have everything, but I’m working towards, hopefully, you know, to be able to have that, but in the meantime, like, you know, you just have to prioritize what’s important. You know, what you’re gonna spend your money on.

And just come to terms with the fact that it’s a very—it’s—having your own business, especially in the early days, you know, most people take this risk ultimately, you know, big risk, big reward, because the ultimate payout and the benefits and pleasure you’ll get out of your business are so much more than, you know, that’s what we all of us entrepreneurs hope than when you’re working in the corporate world, but it is a big risk. And it might not be that way, so I just kind of try to own the fact that this is the life I chose. And not get too stressed out but—and not have a pity party for myself when I’m not making as much money as I have, but it’s the life I chose, and it’s been really extraordinary.

Adam Carter on Deciding Not to Grow a Nonprofit

In Chapter 8 of 13 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter answers "What Made You Decide Not to Expand the Scope of Your Micro-Philanthropy Efforts?"  As Carter gains experience, he finds it is not in his best interest to scale his non-profit in the funds it raises and the number of projects it completes.  Carter notes his struggle to do more good while staying true to his hands-on founding goals. 

Adam Carter is a micro-philanthropist currently living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He is the founder of the Cause and Affect Foundation, which raises small amounts of financing to provide direct-to-source project funding for individuals and communities in need across the globe.  To date, Carter has traveled to over 80 countries.  He earned an MA in International Development from George Washington University and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What made you decide not to expand the scope of your micro-philanthropy efforts?

Adam Carter: I think a lot of start-ups whether it’s a nonprofit or a business, they’re immediately thinking, okay, how big can I get? I think that’s kind of the instinct there. So when I started Cause & Affect, I was really excited to really create a model that could be ramped up in time. And so as I started the process, as I started to raise money, and then I started to distribute the funds to these projects around the world, I got to the point where I realized that there was a problem and that was that as I scaled up Cause & Affect, it would change the whole structure of what I had envisioned. You know, I created this so that I would be able to be out in the field personally overseeing all of these projects. I mean, Cause & Affect is based on the fact that I’m able to see exactly how every dollar is spent, and that I’m not just simply sending it over to organizations that look like they have a good website, or someone goes and visits and says, “Oh, it’s a good project. Okay, here’s a few thousand dollars.” That’s not how it works.

So what I realized is that for me to really scale this up, first of all it would require a lot more time. I mean, as it is I’m putting in a lot of my own time and money for traveling, and I’m content with that. That’s fine, but in order for me to do this really full time, you know, to that extent, I would have to get some income, and so then you just kind of work backwards. Well, what’s the minimum amount of income I would need to live my life and plan for a future, whatever? So, I mean, even if it was just, let’s say $50,000, from $50,000—If I’m gonna raise $50,000, that’s gonna go towards me, we have to be sure that’s only maybe 10% of what we’re raising. So then you’re looking at $500,000 that we’d have to bring in every year in order to justify a $50,000 salary for myself. And that’s obviously quite a challenge these days, and also once you—in order to bring in $500,000 a year, you might have to hire someone to help you with your marketing or your fundraising, and then you’ve got another salary to deal with, so that’s more money you need to bring in just to break even, and I felt like this was just setting up a lot of pressure for me personally, whereas what I’m really good at, I wasn’t born to be a CEO and to micro-manage four or five people working for me, and if I wanted to do that I probably would have set up a business or an NGO 15 years ago.

What I’m good at is the interpersonal relationships in the field and assessing each of these projects and finding the best way to help them, and finding out how to be the most effective with this small amount of money. Now, obviously, it would be wonderful to be able to distribute more money, and hopefully, down the road, we will find a way to do that, to ramp up these contributions in that there is still a way within this model to give a lot more money. I mean each of these projects that I’m assisting with, $1,000 or $2,000. I could easily add a zero to that if some other donors come on board that really share the vision, but I kind of realized that I needed to focus on the task at hand which was making sure that every dollar distributed goes directly to the people in need, instead of worrying about how big of a structure I could create and, instead of getting my ego in it of like, how big of an organization I could create.

Ken Rona: What It Means to Be a Leader Working in Management

In Chapter 12 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, digital media executive Ken Rona answers "What Does It Mean to Be a Leader in What You Do?"  As a leader of a team, Rona sees his role as less about thought leadership and more about helping his team solve problems, develop their own staff, and identify where and where not to decide what projects to pursue. 

Ken Rona is a Vice President at Turner Broadcasting, where he leads teams across advertising sales, big data software development and business strategy.  Rona earned a BA and MA in Political Science from Stony Brook University and a PhD in Behavioral Economics from Duke University.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What does it mean to be a leader in what you do?

Ken Rona: There are leaders in multiple elements of my job, right? There’s the leader of the teams. It’s my job to help them figure out what to work on. But my job isn’t really to be a thought leader in advanced statistics or operations research; it’s not my gig. My gig is more to help them solve prioritization problems, to solve conflict, to help them better develop their staff, to identify areas of the business where they might have impact—places that they can take ownership. I’ve also encouraged them on places where we’ve identified areas where we could take ownership; there are things where I have said we are not going to. 

So part of kind of leadership in the job, the product side of what we do is a good understanding of what to say no to. There’s this thing called multivariate testing that lets you, let’s say swap out different headlines and see which headlines are more attractive, that’s how you get these crazy headlines from Huffington Post, you know? See who’s vacationing at the Riviera. They didn’t write that, what they did was they wrote four different headlines and then saw which one led to most traffic, and that’s the one you’re seeing. So there was an opportunity to be more of an advocate at Turner for it and I said to the person who wanted to do this, like, you know, I don’t think that that is—I think we are fully engaged in the things we’re working on. And this is something that I agree would be good for Turner but what are we gonna give up? 

So I think part of what—part of what you have to do as a leader, you know, within my job is to say, what are we not going to do. So one of the things I really help the team do, I think is keep focus. 

And the other thing I do is I hold them accountable. So that’s another piece, right, where people have made commitments, and I try like any good manager, not leader but say—I try to say what day is something due. And if the thing isn’t due that day, “what’s up?” I ask, “What’s up?” And there’s always a reason, right, there’s always a reason. My direct reports don’t get to have excuses. They have to deliver. And what I tell them is if you don’t deliver, I mean the way I perceive that is, you know, either you are not—you know, you didn’t do a good job forecasting which I think you get like some passes on but at some point you should know that like some things always take longer than you think and you should be able to make that mental adjustment. But so, either you’ve done a bad job at forecasting, you need to get better at that, or you’re a liar. And that I think--but that’s my point about learning, I try to make it a little shocking so that they can—that they grab onto it. 

So I think part of that is you know the holding people accountable, and I say like you asked before about what happens in a big company, it’s a little harder to hold people strictly accountable in a big company, because you have to operate in a particular HR environment. But I think that’s an area where—and truthfully it’s an area where I would probably be more aggressive if I were in a smaller company. I’d have more freedom on it. I’d probably hold people even more accountable.

Mark Graham on What Marriage Teaches About Teamwork

In Chapter 1 of 17 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, digital media executive Mark Graham answers "What Has Marriage Taught You About Teamwork?"   Graham, married in 2011, finds work skills useful when setting and working toward goals with his wife.  From short term goals such as moving into a new apartment to long term goals such as raising a family, Graham and his wife learn to make decisions together as a team. 

Mark Graham is currently a managing editor at VH1, an MTV Networks company. Previously Graham worked in editing and writing roles at New York Magazine and Gawker Media.  He graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in English.  

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What has marriage taught you about teamwork?

Mark Graham: It dovetails sort of nicely into some of my new roles at work. Learning how to work together towards goals, really making sure that we take the time to sort of lay out our plan, our framework both in the near term with things like: How do you move? What stuff do you pack? In longer term goals like: Where are we gonna live? Where are we gonna—Are we gonna rent an apartment for a while? Are we gonna – are we looking to buy a house? Are we gonna hang out as a married couple for a while or are we gonna have children at some point? So, you know, really sort of working together as a team, and I think more than anything else, it’s about learning how to communicate. It’s taught me a lot about shared sacrifice and sharing responsibilities, and more than anything else, it’s been great to have someone who’s on your team, who’s on your side, who you’re building and growing a life together, who has similar goals with what they wanna do with themselves and, you know, it’s been an awesome—It’s been awesome so far.

Anatole Faykin on How Personal Priorities Change With Age

In Chapter 5 of 12 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Anatole Faykin answers "How Are Your Personal Priorities Changing as You Get Older?"  Faykin notes how not settling down in a marriage while he was in his 20s has him looking for love in his mid-30s.  As he looks for a long-term relationship that he hopes turns into marriage and starting a family, Faykin notes the challenge of having big conversations on early dates.  He also addresses challenges that come from society not encouraging waiting to get married as well as the challenge that comes with his jet setting international lifestyle. 

Anatole Faykin is an entrepreneur currently working on a new startup as part of the Startup Chile incubator program in Santiago, Chile.  Previously, Faykin founded Tuanpin, a Shanghai, China-based daily deals site he grew to 25 employees and sold in the fall of 2011. He has worked for British Telecom in London, Intel in Shanghai, American Express in New York, and Oracle in San Francisco as well as several startups. He holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BS in computer science and biology from the California Institute of Technology.

Anatole Faykin: How to Better Manage Project Time Commitments

In Chapter 9 of 12 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, entrepreneur Anatole Faykin answers "How Do You Balance Experimentation and Commitment in the Projects You Pursue?"  Faykin notes he does not make it a point to find balance between testing new ideas and working on larger projects.  He notes time is elastic and allows you to get things done as the come up.  Faykin notes the need to identify what you want to do and then how to get it done.  He does highlight the importance of having open, frank conversations and making sure to set expectations with your clients or teams. 

Anatole Faykin is an entrepreneur currently working on a new startup as part of the Startup Chile incubator program in Santiago, Chile.  Previously, Faykin founded Tuanpin, a Shanghai, China-based daily deals site he grew to 25 employees and sold in the fall of 2011. He has worked for British Telecom in London, Intel in Shanghai, American Express in New York, and Oracle in San Francisco as well as several startups. He holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BS in computer science and biology from the California Institute of Technology.

Matt Ruby on Blending Artistic and Financial Goals in a Creative Career

In Chapter 19 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, standup comedian Matt Ruby answers "What Part of What You Do is Art and What Part of What You Do is Commerce?"  Ruby notes how making art can become selfish if it does not have some tie back into how it pays the bills.  He notes the challenge lies in building a bridge between the artistic output and the commercial success. 

Matt Ruby is a standup comedian and comedy writer based in New York City.  He co-produces the weekly show "Hot Soup", co-hosts the monthly show "We're All Friends Here", and manages a comedy blog "Sandpaper Suit".  Ruby graduated from Northwestern University.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What part of what you do is art? And what part of what you do is commerce?

Matt Ruby: Sometimes the way I feel about it is like art is just sort of the selfish, you know, like, say whatever you wanna say, or make whatever you wanna make, and don’t even worry about whether it’s, you know, gonna make you money or you know, what’s the—how does it further your career or whatever else your agenda is. Whereas the commerce-side of things would be like, alright, how am I getting paid? Because you gotta do that too. 

So I think part of the challenge is figuring out how to bridge those two, you know, if you can. Like, you know, how can you get paid or you know have a career or produce something that is, you know, commercially viable to some extent and then also how can you be making art, how can you be making something that you’re proud of or that you think is, you know, part of your vision or something that you wanted to make or see in the world. What’s the—and then how do you overlap those two, and I think, you know, that’s a spectrum that everyone can kind of choose their own point on there, like I’m—I think you—I think sometimes the worst thing you can do is sell out and not sell anything, that’s like the worst option. But, you know, just being a complete artist and, you know, just being completely selfish and no one cares at all about it does pretty bad too. 

So, you know I think having, you know, a modest amount of commercial goals, you know, with what you’re making is, in my mind the right path of like—it’s also validation that like whatever you’re doing is worth something to someone, you know, that like, oh yeah, this is good enough to either you know get paid for or you know if you’re, you know, making a show that people sell ads on or you know someone’s gonna watch it or, you know, something like that is happening to sort of encourage you to do more of it.

When to Leave a Cruise Control Job and Change Careers

In Chapter 4 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business and personal coach Garren Katz answers "What Has Been Most Challenging About Changing Careers and Becoming a Coach?"  For Katz it is finances.  Working in sales for many years, Katz finds it easy to be on cruise control.  Moving into coaching, Katz starts from scratch not only from a financial perspective but also from a confidence perspective.  He talks about his experience building a new foundation in his new career. 

Garren Katz is a business and personal coach based in State College, PA and advises his national client base on small business management, entrepreneurship, relationships, and personal finances.  He is also an active angel investor in several business ventures.  He earned his BA from Western Michigan University. 

Garren Katz on Using Rewards to Achieve Personal Finance Goals

In Chapter 13 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business and personal coach Garren Katz answers "How Do You Set Personal Finance Goals?"  Katz talks about how he sends small amounts of money to his investments by playing games.  In short, he tries to match his spending on travel, restaurants, etc. with equal amounts to his investments.  He finds playing the game emotionally rewarding and also highly effective reaching his goals. 

Garren Katz is a business and personal coach based in State College, PA and advises his national client base on small business management, entrepreneurship, relationships, and personal finances.  He is also an active angel investor in several business ventures.  He earned his BA from Western Michigan University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen How do you set personal finance goals?

Garren Katz: I don’t necessarily like sending big chunks of money off to my investments. To me, emotionally, it feels like it just kind of disappears into my investments, so for me, I’ll play a game where say for every trip that I plan for a year, whatever the trip cost, I will put—I will send an equal amount off to my investment. So, if India was a $2500-trip, let’s say, I will send $2500 off to the investment, and so in essence, emotionally, it feels like I’ve taken a $5000-trip. I’m having the experience, I make a connection to that great experience with the $5000 and so sending that money off, it feels different emotionally, it works well for me.

Or even a purchase, even smaller things, you know. Anytime I go out to dinner, whatever the meal cost, I will send an equal amount to my investments, and in this day and age obviously with—it’s so easy to do, it’s not hard at all to hop online and send off $75, so that might not seem, you know, significant to someone, but I go out to dinner a lot so, you know, it adds up and all of a sudden it’s—it can be 3, 4, $500 a month that wouldn’t have happened otherwise, and so that’s a game I like to play. I like to connect something like investing to something that I can enjoy in the moment and meld them together. So it feels I’m excited to invest. I’m not looking out on that time horizon of 20 or 30 years before I’m going to reap those benefits. To me, it’s—I get that satisfaction, that reward instantly because, in essence, I’m playing a game with myself.

Stacie Bloom: How Working Parent Priorities Change

In Chapter 5 of 18 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Neuroscience Institute Executive Director Stacie Grossman Bloom answers "How Are Your Personal Priorities Changing as You Get Older?"  Bloom notes how she works to maintain balance around her ambitious career focus while raising three kids.  She notes the daily struggle she goes through being present both in the office and in the home and working through the emotions and decisions that play into finding that balance. 

Stacie Grossman Bloom is Executive Director for the Neuroscience Institute at the NYU Langone Medical Center.  Previously, she was VP and Scientific Director at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and, before that, held editorial roles at the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Nature Medicine.  She earned her BA in chemistry and psychology from the University of Delaware, her PhD in Neurobiology and Cell Biology at Georgetown University and did post-doctoral training in Paul Greengard's Nobel Laboratory of Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience at Rockefeller University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen:  How are your personal priorities changing as you get older?

Stacie Grossman Bloom:  My personal priorities have changed because I have a family. So, you know, I’ve always been a very ambitious career-focused person, and I still am, I still am. I think in that aspect, nothing has changed. But I can’t really stay at the office until 9:00 at night anymore. I can’t even stay at the office until 7:00 at night anymore. And so, you know, I just have to find the right balance. And I struggle with it every day. I’m always really self-conscious when I’m walking out the door at 5:00 and my whole team is still there working really hard, but on the other hand, my kids are really important, and they’re not going to be living in my house for a very long time, and I wanna have dinner with them every night, so my priorities have changed because, although I’ve always been very career focused, I now have another big major focus, and I wanna give as much of myself to each of those things as possible. 

Why to Choose a Self-Employed Career Path - Ross Floate

In Chapter 4 of 20 in his 2012 interview, branding and design strategist Ross Floate answers "What Role Has Family Played in Shaping Your Career Aspirations?"  Floate notes how his parents experience being self-employed influenced his own pursuit of autonomy and independence in his career.  He values that freedom highly and understands the trade-offs, in particular building wealth, that come with pursuing it.  Ross Floate is a principal at Melbourne, Australia-based Floate Design Partners.  Experienced in branding, design and both online and offline publishing, Floate and his team provide marketing services to clients seeking to better communicate business and culture goals via image, messaging, and story. He is a graduate of RMIT University.