Author archives for Erica Shaw
Blog
Ep. 114: Healing The Entrepreneur’s Shadow with Celinne Da Costa
Most of us think the hard part of entrepreneurship is strategy. Then we hit a moment where the tactics work, the money shows up, and we still feel restless, split, or oddly numb. That’s where this conversation goes. I’m joined by leadership coach and author Celine DaCosta to talk about shadow work, wholeness, and why the stories we tell about our past quietly shape our leadership, our relationships, and our financial decisions. We dig into Carl Jung’s idea of the shadow and what “integration” looks like in real life: noticing the parts we’ve pushed away, bringing them back into awareness,...read the full article
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Ep 113: Money Narratives That Shape Your Life And Work with Ben Laws
Money gets treated like a scoreboard, but it usually starts as a story. Ben Laws and I dig into the early moments that shape how we think about wealth, from childhood lessons about fairness and scarcity to the subtle ways comparison rewires our sense of “enough.” If you have ever hit a financial milestone and felt strangely unchanged, we name why: money is not a destination, it is a capability multiplier. It makes you more of what you already are, for better or worse. Then the conversation goes somewhere most investing podcasts never go. Ben shares the story of his...read the full article
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Ep. 112: The Biology of Better Relationships: A Conversation with John Gray, Author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus
We sit down with Dr John Gray to connect love, stress, and biology to the day-to-day communication problems couples face. We talk hormones, polarity, and practical ways to lower cortisol so relationships feel warmer, simpler, and more alive. • Dr Gray’s new “for women only” focus on being happy with or without a man • Why modern stress makes relationships harder than past generations • How gratitude and appreciation make a man feel like a hero • Adrenaline vs cortisol and what each does to mood, focus, and connection • Why men detach under stress and why women feel more...read the full article
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Ep. 111: Exit Your Business Smarter, a Conversation with Chad Williams
We talk with business law attorney Chad Williams about what really drives founders to sell and how to prepare before the first serious offer shows up. We dig into why the headline price can be misleading, how to protect your leverage, and what planning looks like after the wire hits. reasons founders exit, from succession gaps to market pressure and burnout why taking chips off the table can restore confidence and reduce risk building a company to sell, and starting exit planning earlier than feels necessary the uneven playing field between experienced buyers and first-time sellers what an LOI really...read the full article
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Ep. 110: CPA Attorney Bruce Willey Asks, What If Your Tax Return Is Costing You Wealth
Your tax return can feel like a verdict, but it doesn’t have to be. I sit down with Bruce Willey, a rare combo of CPA and attorney, to talk about what most high-earning business owners never get from “normal” tax prep: an actual tax plan. We start with Bruce’s Tactical Games journey, where accuracy matters even when your heart rate is spiking, and how rebuilding his health after a 2018 stroke sharpened his focus on recovery, discipline, and long-term performance. Then we get into the money. Bruce lays out the difference between tax compliance and tax strategy, why many CPAs...read the full article
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Ep. 109: How Self-Love Builds True Wealth and Well-Being with Dr. Margaret Paul
What if the richest life begins when you finally listen to your feelings? We sit down with Dr. Margaret Paul—best-selling author and co-creator of Inner Bonding—to rethink wealth as well-being and put love at the center of a life that feels good. Forget the myth that a bigger balance sheet guarantees joy. Dr. Paul has coached people with yachts, acclaim, and approval who still felt empty. Her insight is simple: happiness flows from how you treat yourself, especially under stress and in close relationships. We unpack the health, wealth, wisdom, and happiness framework and explore why control patterns—anger, blame, withdrawal,...read the full article
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Ep. 108: How A Wealth Team Beats The Tax Return Mindset with Ashley Sowers
If taxes are your biggest lifetime expense, why leave them to a once-a-year scramble? We zoom out and redesign how you plan, using strategies that compound savings over decades while improving cash flow and control today. With Ashley Sowers back in the studio, we explore how a wealth team sees the full picture—your goals, assets, timelines, and family dynamics—and turns today’s tax incentives into clear, defensible moves that simplify your life. We reframe the goal: stop chasing zero tax and start paying a fair, predictable rate when it buys freedom. Ashley explains why extended individual brackets and a high standard...read the full article
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Ep. 107: From Building A $3.5B Firm To Redefining A Life Well Lived with Scott Danner
What if the real competitive edge in wealth management isn’t alpha, but alignment—of money with meaning, and business with a life you actually want? Scott Ford sits down with Scott Danner to unpack how a door-knocking advisor grew Freedom Street Partners into a$3.5B firm, partnered to scale even further, and built a framework for living that keeps ego in check and energy on purpose. We dig into L.I.F.E.—Love, Impact, Faith, Energy—a simple, powerful compass for making decisions when life tilts out of balance. Love anchors the people who matter most. Impact moves beyond job titles into service and legacy. Faith...read the full article
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Ep. 106: Managing Commitments for Stress-Free Productivity with Bob Hendriksen
Feeling buried by work yet driven to do more? We sat down with operations leader Bob Hendrickson to explore a simple truth with big consequences: you can’t manage time, only commitments. From the factory floor to running multi-facility, make-to-order operations at Steelcase, Bob shows how lean principles and David Allen’s Getting Things Done combine into a trusted system that lowers stress and raises output—at work and at home. We trace Bob’s path through hypergrowth, crisis, and supply chain shocks, and unpack why systems outperform willpower. Bob shares his “compass” for action: start with self-mastery (a personal GTD setup that holds...read the full article
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Ep. 105: Taxes Made Simple For High Earners with Rob Cook
Stop letting your tax return tell the only story about your money. We invited Rob Cook—CPA, CFP, and seasoned advisor to executives, athletes, and families—to break down how real tax strategy starts with who you are, where you want to go, and the few moves that actually change your outcome. Instead of chasing every trick on the internet, Rob shows why stacking “base hits” creates immediate savings and flexibility, and how to choose one or two “home runs” that fit your strengths. We talk through the crucial difference between a historian CPA who files forms and a strategic partner who...read the full article
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