Get ready to be challenged, inspired, and equipped to define your own version of success!

Welcome to another inspiring episode of Empowering Entrepreneurs! Today, hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith sit down with Mike Kelly, CFP, CPC, RLP—founder of Kelly Financial Planning, executive coach, and author of "Leaderfluence."

Mike’s journey is a testament to grit, curiosity, and principled leadership. Growing up as the eldest of four in a small South Carolina town, he witnessed firsthand the hustle and resourcefulness of his parents—a janitor father and a mother who was a seamstress and hairdresser. These early experiences shaped his values of discipline, generosity, and the importance of giving back.

Through basketball, Mike earned his way to college and developed vital skills in teamwork and perseverance. His impressive corporate career, spanning roles at Michelin and Macy’s, eventually led him to the realization that true success is defined by purpose, impact, and the freedom to serve others.

After a pivotal moment in his early 30s, Mike shifted his focus from climbing the corporate ladder to aligning his work with his mission and passions.

In this episode, Mike shares how his work as a financial planner and executive coach integrates his love for helping others lead themselves effectively, manage their finances wisely, and find clarity in their lives.

He also opens up about the powerful role of accountability, the transition from corporate America to entrepreneurship, and the importance of giving back to the community.

Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, seasoned business leader, or simply curious about personal growth, you’ll find wisdom and actionable insights in Mike’s story.

Brought to you by Harper & Company CPAs Plus

Here are 3 key takeaways entrepreneurs and leaders won’t want to miss:

1. Define Your Own Success: Mike reminds us that success isn’t one-size-fits-all. He encourages everyone to reflect deeply and define what success means personally, rather than chasing society’s “five Ps”—pleasure, prosperity, power, prestige, and position.
2. Prioritize Personal Growth & Accountability: One of Mike’s favorite quotes is, “Work harder on yourself than your job.” He stresses that humility and seeking honest feedback are critical for transformation, whether you’re a leader or an aspiring entrepreneur.
3. Building Community Makes All the Difference: From family, to mentors and coaches, Mike’s journey shows that surrounding yourself with supportive relationships and accountability partners is essential—especially when making big leaps, like leaving corporate life to pursue your passion.

Running a business doesn’t have to run your life.

Without a business partner who holds you accountable, it’s easy to be so busy ‘doing’ business that you don’t have the right strategy to grow your business.

Stop letting your business run you. At Harper & Co CPA Plus, we know that you want to be empowered to build the lifestyle you envision. In order to do that you need a clear path to follow for success

Our clients enjoy a proactive partnership with us. Schedule a consultation with us today.

Download our free guide - Entrepreneurial Success Formula: How to Avoid Managing Your Business From Your Bank Account.

Glenn Harper, CPA, is the Owner and Managing Partner of Harper & Company CPAs Plus, a top 10 Managing Partner in the country (Accounting Today's 2022 MP Elite). His firm won the 2021 Luca Award for Firm of the Year. 

An entrepreneur and speaker, Glenn transformed his firm into an advisory-focused practice, doubling revenue and profit in two years. He teaches entrepreneurs to build financial and operational excellence, speaks nationwide to CPA firm owners about running their businesses like entrepreneurs, and consults with firms across the country. Glenn enjoys golfing, fishing, hiking, cooking, and spending time with his family.

Julie Smith, MBA, is a serial entrepreneur in the public accounting space. She is the Founder of EmpowerCPA™, Founder of PureTax, LLC, COO for Harper & Company CPAs Plus, and Co-host of the Empowering Entrepreneurs podcast. 

Named CPA.com's 2021 Innovative Practitioner of Year, Julie led Harper & Company's transition to an advisory-focused firm, doubling revenue and profit in two years. She now empowers other CPA firm owners nationwide through consulting and speaking, teaching them how to run their businesses like entrepreneurs. Julie lives in Columbus, OH with her family and enjoys travel, coaching basketball, sporting events, and the occasional shopping spree.

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Copyright 2026 Glenn Harper

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Brought to you by Harper & Company CPAs Plus

Running a business takes vision, grit… and the right financial partner. At Harper & Company CPAs Plus, we don’t just crunch numbers—we empower entrepreneurs. From proactive tax strategy and accounting to business advisory services, our team helps you keep more of what you earn and scale with confidence. Whether you’re launching, growing, or preparing for exit, Harper & Company is in your corner with expert guidance built for business owners like you. Visit www.harpercpaplus.com to book a complimentary discovery call today - or call us at 614-456-7222.

Brought to you by Harper & Company CPAs Plus

Hello, everyone.

Welcome to another edition of the Empowering Entrepreneurs podcast.

I'm Glenn Harper.

Julie Smith.

What's going on, Julie?

Maybe we should switch it up someday.

And you should be Julie and I should be Glenn.

There's no way I want to know what's going on in the head anywhere near me.

There's no way.

Well, just saying.

It's just saying.

Could be a fun exercise for us.

We got a treat today.

I'd like to introduce a fellow entrepreneur, Mike Kelly, cfp, cpc, rlp founder and principal of Kelly Financial Planning, managing member of Right Path Enterprises, executive coach and author of Leader Fluence.

Which is interesting as the heart of the book is how to lead yourself first, then positively influence others.

Mike has had a corporate path that most would either envy or most would shirk from as it'd be too hard now, Mark, the harder the challenge, the more he digs in.

This is easy when you are grounded in principle of curiosity and being a thought leader.

This has enabled him to hold many positions at STREAM Leadership.

Mike sits on many a board as a wizard as his wisdom is sought after by companies around the world.

Setting up shop in Cincinnati, Ohio ensures that his values align with the center of midwestern values and ideals.

Mike wants to challenge you to master your influence that you exert, which is fueled by personal discipline and literacy.

Sounds like a snake oil salesman.

As a personal responsibility cannot be the elusive answer we all chasing.

Please sit back and enjoy the ride as we turn inward and ourselves to be the best version of ourselves that we each of us get to define and develop the.

Thanks, Mike for being on our show.

Glenn and Julie, thank you for having me.

And Glenn, thank you for that very generous introduction.

If my.

If my mother and father were here, my father probably would have enjoyed it.

My mother might have believed it.

Thank you.

Well, there's a little bit of truth in fiction, but I think it's all Stan's Christian because again, when the folks want to get on the show here, there's always something unique about them.

They have this thing that makes them special in their own way, and you definitely fit that profile.

And you know, we try to get to know each other as we start the podcast here and chat about things.

And I love the Internet.

I love the stock for obscure facts out there about you.

And the first thing I came up with is it says that you grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, where you caded at Cassie Country Club on Kiawah Island.

Is that true?

That is completely false.

Yeah.

It would have been fun.

It would have been Nice to have those advantages.

Yeah.

Yes, yes, we.

But I knew you grew up, I think you grew up in South Carolina, right?

Yes, I did.

I actually grew up in a small town called Cheryl, South Carolina Sherra.

And it's considered the home.

It is the home of Dizzy Gillespie.

That's what it's known for.

But it's not too far from Myrtle beach, that area.

But my wife actually grew up down near Charleston.

So there is a little bit of truth.

You know, part of me is from that area.

Gotcha.

Well, talk to me a little bit about growing up.

Was your, was your mom and dad, were they entrepreneurs?

They work for somebody.

How'd that go through?

Yes.

So I grew up the oldest of four kids.

There were actually six of us in a four room house.

So that was part of my journey.

The first in my family to get a driver's license, you know, the first to go to college.

But I had a wonderful childhood, great childhood.

My dad was a janitor for really about 40 years at a German manufacturing plant.

My mom, she actually stayed home with us.

And in many respects she was an entrepreneur.

She was sort of a.

What would I call her?

She was a seamstress.

So she actually sold clothes and made things for people in the neighborhood and in the community and also made a lot of our clothes, which was quite nice.

And my dad, he was a.

He raised, he had a garden, so he would sell vegetables and that sort of thing to supplement his income from his job.

And my mom was also.

She was someone who's a hairdresser.

So they made money and I got, I saw that.

I didn't think of it as entrepreneurship, but there was something nice about that for me.

I really didn't take on any jobs where I really didn't do anything entrepreneurial other than support them as best I could.

But also I worked every time I got an opportunity.

And I think the more I worked, the more I realized that there were a number of ways to earn.

But more importantly, once you earn, there were great opportunities to give and make a difference in the lives of other people, which inspires me even to this day.

And I saw that even in my parents.

Isn't that funny?

You know, your parents got to do what they got to do, right?

And they always got a hustle to make the end meet ends meet.

So as a kid, you don't know what's really going on.

As long as you got food and clothes, what more do you really need?

Right?

And some shelter.

But you don't realize until today what that took Back then, with those resources, what it took to raise a family, I don't know how you could do that today.

Right.

It seems impossible with those two salaries that Sally.

Yes, yes.

That is so, so true.

So true.

And again, I'll share one other thing along that line.

So I again, I was the first to get a driver's license.

My dad bought an old station wagon.

I drove the family around.

But when it comes to being able to give back, which I mentioned briefly, I just donated a car to an organization called Changing Gears.

They help people to get transportation to work themselves out of poverty, which for me is full circle.

I actually serve on that board as well.

So, I mean, I just think this whole entrepreneurship is a wonderful thing, but it can also allow you to serve other people in ways that you never would imagine.

It's a wonderful tool, is it not?

Well, I want to go back to all these siblings that you had.

So talk to me about living, growing up, having all those siblings in a four room house.

How did that shape you?

And then how did your siblings, where did they land?

Too?

Well, you learn to be patient, right?

You learn to be patient.

You learn to brush things off, you learn to support each other, you grow together.

And you also, you learn how to, when I think back to that time, you learn how to make do with very little.

And in some ways it actually turns into a lot of.

For all of us, we had great values because our parents, they modeled that they were people of faith who attended church, which was a good thing back then.

And they made sure that we attended church was a good thing, which was a good thing back then.

Academically, they forced us, encouraged us, inspired us to make sure that we were taking advantage of opportunities to learn.

I became a strong reader, love reading.

I became really good at math, enjoyed math.

Thus I'm doing some of the things that those times prepared me for.

My brothers and sisters, I've got a, actually I've got a sister who works in the same plant that my dad worked in.

She's been there for a long time.

It's been great for her.

She's been able to do really well there.

Got a brother who went off to the military.

He lived in Alaska for a while, in California.

He moved back near the beach, so he and his wife are living there.

I've got another brother who lived in New York a while, but he's in Charal, South Carolina, my hometown.

And he is really, really interesting life if you, if he was on this podcast, really interesting story.

But he was the person who, towards the end of my dad's life actually took care of him for the last three years of his life, which was a blessing.

I am the only one who had the opportunity to go to college.

But I will tell you, we've all grown, we've all achieved, and we're all making impacts in our own ways.

Did you play any sports while you were in high school?

I played actually basketball.

I was a basketball player in high school.

I had a great high school basketball career, which opened an opportunity for me to go to college on a basketball scholarship at Morris Hill University, small private university right outside of Asheville, North Carolina.

And I ended up being there four years, got an undergraduate degree in business from there, had a great basketball career, but academically it was even better.

And I actually went on later and got a master's in business from another university.

But I am on the board of Morris Hill University, my alma mater, past chair and trustee emeritus.

And I get to serve people the way that others served me when I was there.

And I love that.

Basketball opened a door that changed my life.

And apparently.

It was the reason what changed that university to want people wanted to come and emulate his style.

So you as a.

As a leader and thought person, I thought, okay, well, that'd be a reason to choose that school.

I had no idea it was just basketball.

Yeah, I had no idea when I was there either.

But I will tell you, I'll tell you this.

Glenn and Julie, the people who led us, administrators, staff, faculty, they modeled Those principles from Dr. Moore and many others.

And I look back on that now and even being a part of the university now, and I see that some of those types of values and characteristics are still embedded in who we are today as a university and in our leaders.

So it's a lot of those, A lot of the individuals like Dr. Moore, many others could have worked anywhere, but they chose that place.

And I can understand why now.

It was interesting, the history of that college.

This is how it was in turmoil with the Civil War and all the things.

And it Lost their way and.

And then now it's like.

It's world renowned.

Right?

I mean, it's the place to be.

And I've never heard of it.

Yeah, yeah, it's a wonderful university.

It's got a history.

Actually, you're speaking of the Civil War.

There's a dear friend of mine who recently passed away.

His name was o' Neil Shelton, and he was a man whose ancestors were involved in some of the Civil War challenges in that area.

And there's a place called Shelton Laurel that he used to talk about quite often.

Some of his ancestors were killed, involved in the Civil War.

So it's.

Yeah, there's a lot of history there, but there is.

I will tell you, faith plays a huge role in that university being what it is today and even still being around.

I was just down in Asheville, North Carolina, recently speaking at a Martin Luther King prayer breakfast.

And it was honoring the first African American to attend that university, a lady named Dr. Orlean Simmons.

But we had about a thousand people who were there.

All about pulling people together, uniting for good, making a difference in the lives of others, and living out and really inspiring others to live out some of those principles that Morris Hill University is all about.

You know, it's so hard, the progress we've made from just, you know, 140 years ago, what that looked like to today.

I don't even know how anybody could even go to college back then.

I don't know how anybody even knew what to do, could build anything.

Everybody was pissed off, for lack of a better term, at everybody.

Right?

And somehow it's staying.

And here we are, and here we are nailing it.

And we're all nailing it.

Life's good, is it not?

We're blessed people.

We're blessed people to whom much is given.

Much is required, in my opinion.

And that's why it's so great that you're doing your show, because it allows entrepreneurs then to learn from others.

And I think that's for entrepreneurs, for those speaking, to learn from those entrepreneurs that speak.

Because on your show, you had great guests on, you will have great guests on, and the work you're doing matters.

And it's going to help continue this journey of changing lives and impacting generations to come.

So hard pivot.

So talk to me about, you go through college, you get your master's.

How did basketball and your academics prep you for corporate.

In many respects, Julie, it was like growing up with four other siblings in my home.

Love is a big part of it.

You know, you love, you strive, you persist.

There's a level of discipline associated, there is a level of handling failure when things don't go right, but you have people who support you.

And for, for me, basketball gave me all of that.

So I had coaches who really supported me, encouraged me and really challenged me, especially at the college level.

They saw some potential in you, they challenged you, they encouraged you, they expected a lot out of you.

And you had to practice, you had to train, and when you lost, you had to pick yourself up and continue on.

And in my opinion, a lot of those types of character traits are very important when you step into corporate America or even as an entrepreneur.

Even more important as an entrepreneur, being able to be disciplined, self starter, being able to motivate, inspire others.

Being able, when you have an opportunity to, to go after something, you know, have a plan, develop it and move forward with intentionality, with purpose, being driven.

All of those things basketball taught me.

It also taught me how to lose.

There are sometimes you lose the deal, there are sometimes you don't get the promotion that you want it.

But that's not the end, you know that there's more.

If you continue to stay focused on your goal and live on purpose and be mission oriented, things do happen.

And that's what basketball, athletics really taught me.

It also taught me how to work together with others, a team.

No one does anything alone.

And I learned that being able to build relationships with other people, being more interested in them than being interesting, being able to get people inspired and focus on a cause much bigger than themselves, Basketball allowed me to do that.

And when you win together, you celebrate together, you lose, you all accept that and you move on.

What can we do better next time?

So I can go on and on and on?

Actually, in my book I get into some of that and I'm actually writing another book, but this one will be focused more on life and money.

But all the principles that apply there apply now.

And I'll tell you, the Olympics right now, watching the Olympics sort of brings some of that back to different sports, but very, very similar types of situations.

Well, you know, it's interesting.

And again, I never did the corporate America thing, so I'm.

I'm a fish out of water on that.

She loved it, you loved it.

It just seems like terrifying because it is a dog eat dog, you know, backstabbing.

We're winning no matter what, or to whatever it takes where you're playing a basketball team.

Once you get to trust your teammates, you.

You don't have to look over your back at your shoulder anymore.

You're going after the common enemy, which is the other team.

You can fight, and you can do what you need to do.

But having people that have your back to go into corporate America, where you don't know who's after you, that has to be very hard, I would think, But I don't know.

I've never had to do that.

Well, it can be hard.

And even on a basketball team, if you're a really good player, you got to look over your shoulder because there are people coming after your position or if you're playing soccer or any other sport.

So you got to be at your best.

But there's a quote that I shared with a number of people, and it's one of my favorites.

And whenever I led a team, I shared this quote.

We've got to work harder on ourselves than we do our jobs.

If we work hard on ourselves on our jobs, we'll learn a living.

If we work hard on ourselves, we'll earn a fortune.

And that could be joy, could be peace of mind, not just money.

That's a Jim Rohn quote.

And I find that that's certainly true in corporate America.

When you look in the mirror and you work really hard on being the best leader that you can possibly be, what others say, think, or do is less important to you because you're focused on what matters most to you.

And oftentimes when you do that and you do it well, you're going to have a positive impact on those around you and the organization at the end of the day.

And when I learned to take my eyes off other people and look in the mirror and become a better version of Mike, I became better.

So that whole lead yourself first, in my opinion, is very, very powerful.

And it can be transformational because when you start, when you're focusing on other people, you're distracted.

And as you think about it, in our world today, there's so many things to distract us.

It's very difficult to maintain our focus on anything.

And I see that even as a financial advisor, when I'm working with clients or prospective clients, a lot of the issues that they experience is because they are not focused, they are not intentional.

So that.

That is what I say to that.

But absolutely, it can be challenging because there are people who everyone wants to get to the top, but very few of us, and I'm sure Julie can identify with this, have defined what the top even means or meant well, I

think as you go through your life too, it depends on your age, your experience level, what you're after.

And all of that can kind of shape how you define that for sure.

It can, but it can.

And one of the things I've learned is defining success is probably one of the big parts of this biggest piece of this whole puzzle.

Because most of us define success based on, I guess the five P's is what I like to call them.

Pleasure, prosperity, power, prestige, position.

And I've learned that regardless of your age, Julie, we tend to get caught up in that.

Is that truly success?

Well, I will tell you, this is a.

You're looking at a young, a guy who almost burned out when he was 32, 33 years old, chasing those things.

And he had to find success.

And it caused me to really get on my knees and get to the point where I had to figure out what this whole journey meant for me.

And it changed my life.

But great point, but I think defining success for ourselves without having it defined for us can be a really nice thing.

So here's a question.

So at 32, you're obviously in corporate America.

You, you at your two stints, the most recent stints, you were at both places pretty long time, 10 years or so each.

Yeah.

Did you leave the one at 32 and do the another one?

Is that, what was the impetus of that change?

Well, the impetus of the change.

I'll give you a quick story on that.

I worked for Michelin, French owned tire company, had a great career, got experience in HR operations, did some sales work, some finance work, did a little project management work in Europe, actually got stuck In Europe, done 9, 11, great company.

I am a huge proponent of Michelin and Michelin Tires.

Loved working for them.

Actually got transferred to Cincinnati.

And that was after me hitting the wall almost again.

Working 16, 15 hours a day, thinking about work when I wasn't at work, gained 30 pounds, wasn't a very good husband, wasn't sleeping well, having headaches, and I thought my head was going to explode one day and I went to the doctor and I was like, hey, I can't take this anymore, I've been having headaches.

So he checked me out, gave me something for the headaches and to help me sleep.

Unfortunately, it didn't work.

So I kept running back, kept running back.

And then finally he said, we need to scan your brain to make sure you don't your head to make sure you don't have a tumor or anything going on.

So he did, and there was nothing there.

Medically and he looked at me and said, you're under severe stress, headed towards a pretty serious bout of depression.

You need to change your life.

And that sent me on the journey.

So as I got on that journey, I was probably 32, 30, 33, somewhere in there.

But that led me to step back and think about the whole success thing and then also what matters to me.

So I actually end up coming up with a mission statement which is to use my God given leadership, analytical financial skills to help my family and others go to become all they're designed to be.

So I got transferred to Cincinnati for a year, supposed to be a year or two, my wife and I are going to be here and then we'd go to the Carolinas or somewhere else.

Back to the Carolinas.

Well, getting here to Ohio, I started to develop relationships, liked it and I said the Michelin take me off the fast track.

And what that led to was me starting to think about what I really want in my life.

And Macy's opportunity at Macy's came up where I had an opportunity to come in and create a department that didn't exist because of all of my experience at Michelin.

I was prepared to do that.

And it also this opportunity aligned with my mission statement.

So it was easy to say yes and no to those things.

And I that in particular was easy to say yes to the opportunity that was before I got it.

So you leave this position that you're working like crazy and you're going to go to another company and start a brand new thing, didn't you have to put the same amount of time in?

I did not.

Because I learned to schedule my priorities.

When I went through that whole process of almost working myself to death and then this renewal, I learned about scheduling my priorities rather than prioritizing my schedule.

And I also became clear on the fact that you can get more money if you work hard enough, but you can't get more time.

So time became a precious commodity for me.

So I learned to use my time wisely.

The areas of say, the seven Fs faith, family, fitness, finances, fun, firm, friend.

How was I doing in those areas?

Where was I weak?

Where was I strong?

What needed to change and how would I prioritize those one to seven?

And once I did that and started populating my calendar with the things that mattered most to me and saying no to the things that didn't, it changed my life.

I realized I was wasting time.

I was at work all those hours, but I wasn't doing anything.

It was all mental it was all striving, but I wasn't getting the.

I had success, but I wasn't getting the results that I, that I started to get when I decided to leave Michelin.

Not because I hated the company, I love working for them.

But Macy's offered a new fresh opportunity to land with my mission.

But I actually stepped into the.

Macy's built the department.

We had over 100 people reporting to me from around the country and I wasn't working very hard.

That's a crazy time.

You were working hard.

It was quality, not quantity.

I suspect was smart, it was smarter.

I was able to delegate to people, empower people, develop people, trust them.

And that allowed me then to focus on more longer term thinking, related things, more strategy, more innovation and to build relationships with people that allowed us to get the work done that we did.

I was much smarter.

And that's why I say I wasn't working as hard.

I wasn't carrying everything as I did, had done in the past.

I trusted others.

So here you are, you're like, you're set it up, you're nailing it, you're hitting all the acronyms, all the letters you have.

What makes you decide to go, you know what, I'm done with this.

I want to hang up my shingle and be a financial advisor.

Well wait, before we get to that, I have a question.

We got more.

Okay, so while you're during your Michelin and Macy's careers, were you ever hustling or doing anything on the side or were you just straight employee?

I was an investor, entrepreneur in real estate.

I own and doing that.

And I was doing some executive coaching as well because I enjoyed coaching, executive coaching externally.

And I was also doing some financial coaching externally.

And I was also seen inside of Macy's as the guy who was the coach and the financial planner.

So a lot of people come to me with questions just because they knew I love that.

And that's where this whole thing started when it came to walking out.

And I got a number of signs that helped me understand it was time to walk out.

Actually I actually started to develop a plan for an exit probably six, seven years before I walked away.

You've got a very commanding presence about you.

I can see why people would want to be led by you.

And so when you were developing this plan, you're like, this is cool, but I got something not necessarily bigger, not something better, but just something different you wanted to do right.

But I want to know what inside of you made you strong start six or seven years before your exit, say, wait, I need a plan.

Like what?

There was definitely like an itch or something was happening inside that made you start that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So there is a. I went through a process and, and it's about improving performance and results at the end of the day.

That allowed me then to take more of a strategic approach to what I wanted in my life.

There are questions I asked myself, like, okay, you're 100 years old, you're reflecting back on your life.

What do you want to see?

Get a clear picture of that and begin building that today.

And the more I thought about those things, the more I got out of that whole short term thinking and the long term thinking.

It made my short term decisions actually a lot more meaningful for me because it started to align with something much bigger than what I saw.

So that started the journey.

And then as I looked around me and as I engaged people, I realized there was a much bigger need externally to do the things I was doing internally, sort of side hustle and informally.

And I also had a desire to serve more in my community.

I'm very involved in Rotary International.

Just got elected to a director nominee role where I'll be joining the International Board of Directors.

I'm on an opera board, Changing gears board, a small bank board.

But I saw opportunities.

When you get control of your time and you're clear on your passion, your mission, your purpose, there are so many things that you can do outside of the confines of a corporate job.

And I wanted more of that.

I wanted control of my time more than anything so I could really use my gifts to serve people in a different way, and that's that.

And create.

I'm a creator, I'm an innovator.

I love that.

And leaving that allowed me to create without restraints.

There were a number of restraints.

I spent a lot of time in corporate America advocating for resources, opportunities for my team.

I mean, doing things.

And that wears you down.

When you're the person making those decisions, it's a lot easier.

And that's why I actually started to set that plan and learn at every opportunity that I had while I was working that plan internally.

So that when I left, I was at a place where I could serve and give and create.

So when do you get married and do you have kids?

Because I feel like we skipped over some, some big hurdles there perhaps.

Yes, I got married in.

Oh, that's a very difficult question, Julie.

You got married, all you have to say is you got married.

Birthdays, dates, event.

That's terrible question.

Julie.

Terrible.

I wasn't setting you up for failure at all.

I could have just said yes.

I got married after college and had three.

Three kids.

Guys are specific.

We can't go general.

Oh, yes.

Met my wife and I married.

We got married six months later.

Melinda.

We've been married ever since, and we've got two kids.

One before I was married, a son in South Carolina.

Then we've got another son in Atlanta.

Both adults, both living their.

Living their lives.

Are they entrepreneurs?

I have to ask?

Neither is an entrepreneur, but I'm encouraging both to become entrepreneurs.

Not yet.

Hey, that was my curiosity.

Really.

You did great.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's a good question.

I mean, while you had to dig deep there to come up with that,

I'm sorry about that.

We're not supposed to put you on the spot.

It's supposed to be fun and not stressful.

Geez, I felt like it was important.

I mean, it is, but you got to give him a heads up.

But, you know, my wife would have had I not met.

I'm glad you asked the questions.

You aren't.

You and my wife Melinda will be glad, too.

Yes.

Well, now he's not going to forget.

He'll got to put it top of mind.

So, you know, the fun part about doing these chats and getting to know fellow entrepreneurs and just people all over the world is just how they got where they came from and what they had to go through to get there.

And it's just that never give up.

Never stop trying to always pivot and figure things out.

And then at some point, you got to take the chance and you got to say, okay, I'm leaving home.

I'm leaving my cushy corporate job, and I'm going to do something even harder, and I'm going to challenge myself.

What was that?

Was it the time thing?

You wanted to control your destiny of time.

That really was your impetus to do that.

And you're like, this is the only path for me.

I can't do that here working for the man.

I've got to go over here and do my own thing.

But you're going to do your own thing.

You're starting from zero, right?

You start up your financial service by just.

You're like, did you do it from your garage?

I'm making a joke in the garage.

But did you start doing it before you jumped, or how did you do it?

I actually started doing it, I'll tell you.

So Ella Fitzgerald said, it's not where you've been, it's where you're going to count.

Where we've been has made us who we are.

But there's so much ahead.

And part of my journey occurred because I got clear on my purpose, my why.

I think that for me, it's when I once I got clear on my why leaving was not that difficult.

The key then is, okay, what do you do to get there?

Certainly.

So starting with nothing, basically, when it came to starting a business, I'm a reader.

During the year of COVID I read 100 books.

I have learned and been taught by so many people I will never meet.

And I found that I learned things that I was able to apply once I had control of my time.

So I actually left Macy's during that that year to be district governor to lead the 52 Rotary clubs in southwest Ohio as a volunteer.

And I did that and freed me up, gave me time to do that.

But the other thing I'll say is being a Rotarian, in addition to giving and serving alongside a lot of other people, you're with a lot of entrepreneurs.

So I had the benefit of that.

Their wisdom and their models and their relationships.

In many respects that helped me step out and then plan something that I was able to really walk into as I served.

So it was a gradual transition.

I got with a network of people who wanted to operate, who were operating hourly fee only, which is what I do.

I don't sell product, I don't custody assets.

And that's the model that I wanted to make sure that I went to market with.

I got all that set up, did the LLC thing and some other things and was out for business.

And I started to get customers, started to get clients because more and more people looking for people who work hourly or project in a project way and not enough of us out there.

My wife and left her job and she was actually working in that business and I was able to devote more time to that.

So forgive me because I don't mean to set you up for failure again and I'm not good with numbers.

So prep yourself here.

Yes, yes.

2014 is like a soft launch.

2016 is the hard launch.

Was part of your why again, if I could do some math, like were your kids out of the house?

Did that give you a little Bit of that freedom of being able to be able to go do that or give me a little bit more thought process on the timing of that.

I could have left 10 years before that.

Kids didn't have none of that.

It was all Mike.

Corporate is not easy, not easy to walk away from.

And for me it was the people.

So building the team and having a group of people that you enjoy going to battle with, I guess you could call it, but showing up with every day, watching their growth and how they were or handling things and just that whole feeling of, okay, do I want to walk away from this?

And be.

In many respects, you're on your own because you don't have that type of community.

You got to recreate that.

So that was one of the things that held me back from walking away.

But there was a friend of mine, his name's Jonathan Sams.

Jonathan is a local attorney.

We've been friends for 20 something years.

Jonathan's been an entrepreneur practically all of his life.

And he was one who challenged me to walk away and help me get across the line.

And there was a coach that I hired to help me walk away from all that I had access to.

I mean, vice president at a Fortune 500 company, great role and all those things.

But Jonathan was a, he's a dear friend.

He's a guy who's a four time cancer survivor, one of the smartest guys I know.

He's a, he was a military officer in the Navy, linguist.

But he's just a good person, a guy of faith.

And he and I, we both, you know, we love the Lord, pray together, spent a lot of time together.

But he challenged me to walk away and I'm glad that he did.

And I was just with him last week, actually.

We're working on, potentially working on something together and it's just been, been wonderful.

But having community, having accountability in your life, something we haven't talked about, can make the journey a whole lot easier.

When I hit the wall, I did not have accountability.

I did not have relationships with other men where I could be real, be transparent, we can encourage each other.

But as I learned to build that over my life after that period, my life changed.

So I would say, Julie, it was more of having someone to hold you accountable.

And my wife was encouraging me, she was supporting me no matter what I did.

But having someone hold you accountable and letting you know that you could do this was very, very helpful to me.

Now I get to do that for a lot of other people who are in corporate and they want to get out.

Either they're not prepared financially or they just don't have the courage.

I have processes, tools, systems to help them do what I did.

And I can share my story.

And I love that part of what

I'm doing now, isn't it one.

It just takes one person to believe in you, to push you.

Because as a man going, you're just expected to go figure it out.

There's nobody mentoring, coaching you, teaching.

You just got to go figure it out.

And you're usually a tool for somebody else to achieve their goal.

Nobody tells you or can help you be your best.

You have to figure it out.

And then when somebody takes an interesting you and does a little great expectations on you and says, this is how you're going to do it, how great is that?

I mean, that's what it took to get you over the finish line.

Right?

That was the thing.

It sure did.

And Glenn and Julian, I will say in leaders, I find that some of the best leaders out there have that characteristic of humility.

And sometimes you have to be humble and say, hey, I can't do this on my own.

I need help.

And get help.

Be that hiring a coach, hiring a financial planner, finding someone in your circle who you trust and building that relationship with them and being humble enough to allow them to hold you accountable.

And that's even true with leaders.

If you're leading a team, asking people for feedback, being humble enough to allow your team to support you can change things in a huge way.

And that is something else I've learned.

Wasn't that funny, though?

Like, that's.

In today's society, that's a form of weakness.

You can't be weak.

You can't say that you don't know something, that you need help, like, well, you're not the man you're supposed to be.

It's so weird how society prevents us from that.

What's that?

Or woman.

Yeah, well, yeah, but it's the same on both sides, right?

But I can only speak from the male experience.

I can't speak from the female.

Not today anyway.

But yeah, it's just.

It's so hard to.

And when you can find your mentors, your people that have your back where you can be vulnerable, you can open up and you can get that support.

Every man that I know wants to help somebody else.

They really, truly do.

But it's scary to do that because if you do, somebody might be taking your stuff, Somebody's going to screw you over.

So you're always being very wary, right?

You have to have your guard up.

Once you find your group, it makes it a little easier to do.

But I think what we found throughout a lot of these interviews and talking to people like yourself, Mike, is you're in the position that Glenn just described, essentially.

And someone steps up to the plate.

And I don't know that I want to call that person a mentor to you, but someone who takes you and kind of pushes you off the cliff and says, okay, pull the parachute, you're going to be fine.

I think that's definitely something we see in a lot of people's journey and being able to find, but I also think it's being able to lean into that as well and not run from it.

Yeah, not run from.

I like what you just said there.

Not run from it.

A lot of leaders, I see that I get to coach one on one executive.

As an executive coach, high level leaders, they're alone, they're afraid.

Yep.

No one's telling them what they need to hear.

What the people around them are telling them is what they think they want to hear.

And when they get the truth, things change.

It is my process allows me to help them get that truth.

And once they get a feel for, okay, this is who people really say that I am, then you have what you need to start to change.

Right.

And I, I just find that there are many of us who are, we're tired, we're scared, but we've got a smile, we've got to show up and we gotta act like we got it all together.

And that's totally opposite of what people need.

People need humans.

They need people who are transparent, who are honest, who will ask for help and allow them to help them, but also be willing to help them.

Coming from a place of caring, even if you've got to be firm around some things, if you got the relationship, it makes it so much easier.

So I just feel like that whole.

There's a need for us as human beings, women or men, to help each other.

Collective care is a powerful thing.

So, Mike, I hope we can edit that and take that, because that's exactly why we started this podcast.

That's it, really.

You just put into all the words our mission, our vision, all of that is, is.

Is why we did this.

So I don't know if we've ever had someone define it.

No.

That's fantastic.

Thank you.

Yeah.

So question you, like you said, as when somebody believes you and helps you, take the chance to go do it as a man.

And again, I can only speak to the men on this part, I can't speak to it.

But if somebody believes in you, you have like this.

We have this pre programmed duty that we are going to have to go over the top because somebody's relying us or somebody trusted us.

As we try to do it better, like we can't fail, we have to make it work.

And as we're trying to do that, we may not know what to do.

Excuse me.

So when you find a candidate that you're going to coach or mentor and help with this, do you have to like strip them down from all these bad traits and then build them up or, or do you take them where they're at and just take them from there?

I mean like how far do you have to rip somebody down?

When I say rip somebody down, you

know, I mean like does it very kindly.

I know, but like, I'm just wondering on average where are they at?

Are they at their wits end?

Are they're like, oh, I got this going on or they're like just lost soul and you have to beat them down and then bring them up.

I bet they're desperate, curious and maybe a few other adjectives in there to describe where they're at when they get you.

And then what's he going to do?

Is he going to beat them down more or bring them up?

That's the question.

Yeah, yeah, I like the question because, you know, we all start somewhere.

But again, I'll go back to Ella Fitzgerald, quote, her quote, it's not where you've been, it's where you go on the accounts.

We don't just forget where they've been or where they are.

We certainly talk about it because it's made them who they are.

But we figure out, okay, where do you want to go?

That's where we need to get clear on.

And to do that, what I often do is I will take them through a series of assessments.

And this is the normal assessments that we hear about.

Disc 16 types, Strength Finders, Enneagram.

And I have a portal that I use through an organization called Cloverleaf, which is kind of nice because they take them all there and you can see the results.

It organizes all that.

Then I will do my own little 360, an informal 360.

I will ask them to give me a few names, the names of people that report to them, a few names, peers, and then direct reports.

And normally that will be a sponsor unless they're an entrepreneur and it'll be them.

But I asked those people three questions.

What are Glenn's strengths or his Gifts, in your opinion, what are his weaknesses or his soft spots?

Then I'll ask the question, what else would you want Glenn to know that you're afraid to tell him?

So I get them comfortable with me, we have this conversation, I let them know that whatever they share is going to be confidential and I'll summarize all that I've heard.

So we'll get together, I'll get together with the candidate and we will take a look at what the assessments online assessment tools tool, what that told us and then we will talk about how that actually is manifesting itself in these areas where you're showing up and how is it impacting people.

And when you put those two together and people really hear how they're impacting people.

I've had people sobbing like I didn't know, doing this and treating people this way, why wouldn't anyone tell me?

And on and on and on.

And then I'd say, I'll say to them, okay, again, that's where we are and that's where we've been.

Where do you want to go now?

What would you like for this feedback to sound like?

What would you like for it to be six months, a year, two years, five years from now?

And then we set some pretty, pretty aggressive goals.

We started to go after it.

And I use tools like I have something, a process called improving performance and results.

If they're individual contributors and I have another one and it's getting results through others.

If they have people reporting to them where they're reading some things, doing some exercises, doing some planning and that spatial repetition and listening to some things as well, that spatial repetition.

And then my coaching helps them move from where they are to where they want to go.

And we have check ins every so often to make sure that that progress is occurring.

So sometimes these assignments are certainly long term, but we know when it's time normally for me to let them go and them to let me go.

And that's often a beautiful thing.

And what's even more exciting is to hear from them a few years down the road or someone reaches out to me that I've never met because they heard from this person and this individual wants to talk to me about my coaching services.

It's just, it's been so wonderful to be on this journey that I'm on and then to be on it with people.

And again, you start wherever you are.

We're not going to, we're not going to beat you up for what you've done.

What you've done is Got you where you are, but there's so much more ahead.

So what, what role does your wife play in this?

You said she was working in the business?

Yeah, my wife likes curriculum.

She likes design, strategic planning and that sort of thing.

And she's got a doctorate degree in education, master's in business, undergraduate degree in education.

So she likes the educational, maybe the nonprofit and public sector side of things.

So she's basically focused on designing, developing curriculum and then facilitation.

She enjoys that as well.

But the whole strategic planning piece, she's really passionate about, so she enjoys that.

And I enjoy speaking and working one on one with top leaders and also working with groups from a learning standpoint on financial planning and also life and leadership.

So I'm going to guess that it sounds like all your priorities and what you like to do and don't like to do and all the things you're involved with, I'm going to guess you can't spend more than 10, 15% of your time a week on the financial planning side.

The rest of it, your time is spent on these other endeavors where you're leading and coaching and helping people.

Is that probably correct?

I would say it's probably flip.

My financial planning practice has, is really.

I'm getting a lot of people who want to talk to me about financial planning.

So that is, I would say it's probably more like 60% financial planning, 40% the other.

I'm also seeing a nice integration that is occurring because in every aspect of leadership, money often comes up and you find that a lot of leaders, they don't feel that they have enough, I gotta get more.

And they're driving, they're working hard and they've gotten more than they'll ever spend.

Some of them, some don't have enough and they're killing themselves to get more.

But for what?

What if you had it?

What would you.

How would you be different?

So bringing those two together in a different way is something that I'm focused even more on.

And I will tell you, Julie and Glenn, it is so much fun.

I love what I'm doing.

I can tell people find freedom, get clarity in their lives.

It changes everything.

So I would say it's financial planning is growing and there is nothing that we can't talk about where money is not a part of it.

Well, it's funny, the American experiment is we are just in nature, have this drive to be more than we think we are, and we're going to continue to be the best or drive for whatever the reason.

It's just.

It's in our DNA.

It's our culture.

I don't know.

We are just.

We are doers, and, yes, we are, but there is no, like, well, when do we stop or when do we slow down or when we pivot.

Right.

And you're obviously helping people figure that out, which is a huge plus.

It's so hard.

I know.

It is very difficult.

It is.

So many people are tired, and I'm running into more and more, especially men who are just tired, but they don't have anyone to talk to.

Nope.

So the need is.

It's only growing in a society that, you know, we've got a lot of blessings in this country, but a lot of us are tired.

So having this privilege is what I like to call it, to do the work I do.

I appreciate.

Don't take it lightly.

And what you're doing matters as well as we've talked about it, is very, very important.

So keep doing the work.

And for me, it's great to know that you are doing the work.

And anything I can do to be helpful, let me know.

Because there's so much of a need out there.

So much need.

Well, I'm inspired is all I know.

So I think we gotta.

I have one really important question, and then Julie's got two.

So, you know, you settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is a wonderful city in a pretty good state.

It's got all the things you probably want.

You meet the greatest people around there.

But it comes down to.

I was kind of blew up in Cleveland.

And really, is it.

Are you a Kings island guy or you're a Cedar Point guy?

Yeah.

Which is.

Which one do you like better?

Are you a Browns or.

Oh, he's definitely Bengals.

Bengals.

Definitely Bengals.

He's got to be.

We got to have an Ohio.

My, my.

You know, we got these really complicated questions, and it's just, which one is better, Cedar Point or Kings Island?

I mean, your office is only probably two miles away from Kings Island.

It's not far at all.

I could ride my bike to Kings island on a nice day.

So it has to be Kings Island, Glenn.

It has to be, man.

Well, okay.

We can still be friends.

I'm indifferent, so that's good.

Well, that was my big, serious question.

My question's a little bit more serious.

What is your end game, Mike?

My end game is to do what I'm doing as long as I possibly can.

I've got.

Had two mentors.

One passed away last year.

He's 93, 92.

And then I've got one still living, he's 93.

And those two people model what it means to finish well.

So as long as I can stay active, stay engaged, maybe not to the same level, I will do that.

So that's.

You got an A plus on the answer for that because for someone like yourself, there is no end game.

You can't stop.

You can't stop.

You know too much, you want to help too many people.

And this isn't.

I don't looking at you.

This is not work.

This is absolutely so rewarding and fun.

And again, you do things you love, the money will come.

If you have enough, great.

If you don't have enough, you're still going to get it.

It's just enjoy what you do.

Right.

That is so true.

And also help someone else, you know, help someone else especially invest in young leaders, you know, diverse leaders, women.

Invest in others and help others as well.

And that's where, that's where for me I get the joy because so many other people and my parents and many others have helped me.

We have the opportunity to help others.

Yeah.

To sit there and look at everything in the bank account, look at the new car in the driveway.

That's kind of cool.

But going out and helping somebody that is ready to just lose it and you can help them be their best person.

That's way better than all those other things.

Absolutely.

And when you talk to talk with people who have and I have clients and people that I engage with who have more money than they could ever spend in many lifetimes, you still doesn't make you rich.

Nope.

No, it doesn't.

Well, for our listeners, how would one get ahold of you to.

You've got a whole bunch of services you offer.

How would one get a hold of you to see if they can peruse that menu and see what they would like?

Well, I would encourage them to go first to certainly I'm on all the platforms, LinkedIn, I'm on Instagram for Right Path Enterprises, Facebook and then got a somewhat of a presence on.

On Twitter.

It's not called Twitter anymore.

It's called X.

So I've like dialed back X put X out there.

They can go to Kelly Financial Planning where you'll find a lot about me.

I've actually got some podcast interviews on that page.

There's an appearance page you can listen to me have.

I mean yours will be up there.

I'm going to put this one on there as well.

And so you can listen there and you can find out more about me.

Schedule some time to connect.

Also at Right Path Enterprises.

You can find me there, my wife and me on that side.

You can find out a little bit about our services from executive coaching, leadership training or learning and speaking standpoint.

And my book's there as well.

You can find it on Amazon.

But you can order that book from rightpath Enterprises.

And I also have a short course you can take that supplements the book.

All of this focused on transformation.

Well, I tell you, Mike, it has been an absolute joy having you on the show.

I have gleaned a lot of cool stuff that I'm going to use in my life, and I hope our listeners will as well.

We really appreciate you being on here.

And this is the Empowering Entrepreneurs Podcast.

I'm Glenn Harper.

Julie Smith.