Curated Pt. 8

A weekly roundup of cool stuff I hope you'll like

Jan 16, 2024

Morning,

I won’t ramble this week but I’ll touch on something I noticed.

I’ve taken a radical approach to personal finance in the past 6 months and ruthlessly cut out the fat that wasn’t producing an ROI.

I now spend money on 2 things:

A place to sleep
Food to survive

And I recently financed a car after months of Uber and weeks of price shopping.

Just me or are dealerships actual hell on earth?

To sum it up, I’ve put a consistent focus on cost.

This has led to more thoughtful spending in my personal life and my business.

In my personal life, I cannot necessarily control the income I make daily but I can control my costs.

By controlling costs, I can spend money I wouldn’t normally have on things that directly correlate to increasing my income.

And I had a moment with my mom last week.

We talk a lot about money and in this conversation, I got upset and shouted “I’m tired of being broke”.

We were both taken aback.

By cutting costs, I felt like I had less.

Which is defeating in the moment but it takes some getting used to.

But it made me realize how much I love the things I didn’t spend money on anymore.

Mostly travel and high-end restaurants.

So my mind is naturally revealing ways to make more money to help me afford the things I want.

Funny what the mind does when you give it direction.

Random thought, probably made no sense, but figured it’s worth sharing.

Let’s get into it.

Don’t forget to forward this to a friend, partner, colleague, or hater (if you’re into it).

Projects

Novel Ice Cream - expanding to our 3rd retail spot and our 1st mobile setup in the next 90 days.

New Concept - starting to order equipment and building the menu out in the next month to open my first ground-up concept in the next 90 days. Hopefully, we’ll have it open by mid-March. Location - Downtown Phoenix.

2nd Acquisition - in the works with a great partner, we might be stupid and buy a bar.

Food Hall - looking to bring on capital partners for a food hall out in Avondale, Arizona. If you’re interested in learning more about this, email me at sallard20@gmail.com.

Want to invest in, partner on, or operate an SMB? Let me know.

Upcoming Events

Small Business Social
Date: January 23rd
Time: 6-9 PM
Location: The Churchill
RSVP here
Austin Business Owners Private Workout and Dinner
Date:
Time: 5-9 PM
Location: Austin, Texas
Apply here
Should I host a weekly coffee meetup in Downtown Phoenix?

For real-time updates and to stay in touch:
Twitter/X: @shawnwallard
Linkedin: Shawn Allard
Instagram: @shawnallard

Book

Relentless by Tim Grover was given to me by my parents and I’m starting it this week.

Looking forward to this one.

I’ve heard good things and look up to Grover.

His toughness is unmatched.

Grab it here

Podcast

I got invited on a podcast recently and outlined a bit about my journey.

Sorry for the poor audio quality on my end.

Give it a listen (not in the car, sounds like I’m underwater).

Video

I’m either all in or out when it comes to just about everything in my life.

I’m actively trying not to be dogmatic about anything going forward.

So I gave the slow-carb diet a go.

It works.

It’s very simple and if you’re social one day of the week, it gives you the flexibility you probably like to have.

And after a good conversation on dieting over the weekend, I was reminded of this.

Tim walks you through it in this video:

Health

Half marathon - complete

Strong run for my first go but a lot of work to do going into my first full marathon.

I started slowing down at mile 10 but my endurance kept up through the whole race.

The challenge was pushing through lower body soreness and knee pain.

I finally understand what runners mean when they say volume and time on legs are everything.

Here’s what the next month or so of marathon prep looks like:

Running Split

Here’s the Google sheet outlining both my 5-week plan leading up to the Austin Marathon and a 19-week split I got from a dude on YouTube - @flobergruns

Check him out.

Full Body Split

Calves - calf raises (seated or standing)

Hamstrings - leg curls (seated or laying)

Quads - leg press

Chest - flat press (barbell or dumbbell)

Back - lat pulldown

Delts - reserve peck deck

Biceps - seated bicep curls

Triceps - tricep (pushdown or pulldown)

Abs - hanging leg raise & cable crunch

Still doing 4 sets of each lift for 12-15 reps.

I switch up the lift themselves but keep the same structure each week (I hope that makes sense).

I’m already seeing a change in my physique.

Community Supporters

Daniel Cheetham is the Founder and Principal of Captains Club and has been an incredible supporter of this community. He and his team help business owners find the highest quality successor when the time is right.

I highly recommend scheduling a call with him to learn more about his process here.

Elyse Gonzales is the Vice President of SBA Lending at Live Oak Bank and is supporting small business owners and buyers across the country in so many incredible ways. If you’re looking to purchase your first or next business or would like to learn more about the SBA and their lending process, right-click here to copy her email address.

Matthias Smith is the CEO/Founder of Pioneer Capital Advisory. He’s helping acquisition entrepreneurs through SBA7a lending and has been an incredible resource to me and hundreds of fellow business buyers in the space. Schedule some time to connect with him about working through an SBA 7a loan.

Curated