The Billionaire Brain® Podcast

Ep 202: From Building Maintenance to Building Real Wealth: The Faith-Built Success Story of Giovanni SolanoWhat if real wealth isn’t about chasing money, but building something that creates freedom, purpose and impact?In this episode of Dawn of a New Era: The Billionaire Brain Podcast, Dawn McGruer is joined by Giovanni Solano, serial entrepreneur and founder of Geoism, to explore how faith, entrepreneurship, wealth and leadership can come together to create lasting success without sacrificing peace.Giovanni has spent more than 35 years building and scaling businesses across multiple industries, but one life-changing event completely transformed the way he saw success.After his wife survived a devastating three-storey fall, Giovanni says their lives changed completely. What had once been a life focused on business, money and achievement became a mission centred around faith, helping others and creating opportunities for people to build wealth of their own.Dawn and Giovanni explore why owning a business doesn’t automatically make you wealthy, the difference between creating a job for yourself and building true financial freedom, and why Giovanni believes success becomes more meaningful when it helps other people succeed too.In this episode, you’ll discover:• How Giovanni’s wife’s accident completely changed his perspective on life and business• Why he moved from calling himself “self-made” to “God-made”• Why owning a business doesn’t automatically create wealth• The difference between active income and building something that can generate income without you• Why Giovanni believes entrepreneurs should focus on helping others succeed• How faith transformed his approach to leadership and decision-making• Why being a leader is very different from being a boss• The lessons he has learned from spending time with successful entrepreneurs• How authenticity helped his Geoism YouTube channel grow rapidly• Why financial education and entrepreneurship should be taught earlier• How Giovanni wants to help create the next generation of entrepreneurs• Why lifelong learning remains important no matter how successful you becomeGiovanni explains that one of the biggest misconceptions entrepreneurs have is believing that simply owning a business means they are building wealth.For many founders, the business can become another hamster wheel. A bigger one, perhaps, but one that still depends entirely on their time and energy.For Giovanni, real wealth comes when you begin building systems, income streams and opportunities that can continue generating value without requiring you to be involved every minute of the day.A major theme throughout Giovanni’s journey is the shift from success being about himself to success being about other people.His philosophy is simple:Help other people succeed, and their success becomes part of your success.That thinking now sits behind his work creating what he calls “micro entrepreneurs”, helping people learn about business, finances and wealth creation rather than simply giving them a job.Giovanni also shares how his faith shaped his approach to leadership.Rather than being a boss who simply tells people what to do, he believes a leader should demonstrate the behaviour, values and actions they want others to follow.He also talks about the lessons he has learned from successful entrepreneurs and business leaders, including the importance of humility, service and never believing you have finished learning.The conversation also goes behind the scenes of one of Giovanni’s most entrepreneurial moments.During the COVID pandemic, a client asked whether his maintenance company offered electrostatic spraying.Giovanni said yes.There was just one problem.He didn’t know what electrostatic spraying was.After quickly researching the opportunity, sourcing equipment during a global shortage and finding a way to meet demand, Giovanni says the business generated around $150,000 in two weeks.It is a perfect example of the entrepreneurial mindset Dawn describes in the episode:Say yes, then find the solution.Today, Giovanni’s mission goes far beyond building companies.Through Geoism and his business ventures, he wants to help more people understand money, entrepreneurship, faith and purpose, with an ambitious goal of helping create 1,000 millionaires by 2027.Ultimately, this episode is about redefining what success really means.Not simply how much money you can make, but what you can build, who you can help and the legacy you leave behind.Connect with Giovanni SolanoWebsite: https://geoism.com/Visit Geoism.com to connect with Giovanni and find his social channels, business projects and latest content. 🎧 Subscribe to Dawn of a New Era: The Billionaire Brain Podcast for conversations around founder psychology, neuroscience, wealth, identity and the thinking behind extraordinary success.CHECK OUT THE PODCAST & APPLY TO BECOME A GUESThttps://dawnmcgruer.com/podcastFOLLOW DAWN MCGRUERInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dawnmcgruer/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnmcgruer/Think better. Feel richer. Live happier.#TheBillionaireBrain #GiovanniSolano #FaithBuiltSuccessThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podkite - https://podkite.com/privacy

Ep 201: How to Build Wealth and Feel Secure With Money with Roxy ZaluckyWhat if building wealth isn’t just about earning more money, but learning how to feel safe enough to actually use it?In this episode of Dawn of a New Era: The Billionaire Brain Podcast, Dawn McGruer is joined by Roxy Zalucky, founder of Zalucky Financial, who spent 15 years working across Wall Street and Bay Street before building a financial advisory business focused on helping women understand, manage and grow their wealth.Roxy’s fascination with money started early.Growing up without much financial education at home, she became determined to understand how money worked and eventually built a career inside some of the world’s biggest financial institutions.Early in that career, one brutally honest conversation with her boss changed everything. After asking for a pay rise, she was told she was replaceable.Rather than accepting that, Roxy went back to university, learned computer science and built a rare combination of financial, regulatory and technical expertise that ultimately helped her become the second female trader in the history of her hedge fund.But it was seeing how successful women were still being treated when asking for financial advice that pushed her into entrepreneurship.Dawn and Roxy explore why financial success does not automatically create financial confidence, how money trauma can continue influencing even high earners, and why women need to build both a financial strategy and a healthier relationship with wealth.In this episode, you’ll discover:• How Roxy went from an entry-level Wall Street salary to becoming a hedge fund trader• Why one comment from her boss completely changed the direction of her career• What led her to leave institutional finance and start Zalucky Financial• Why even highly successful women can still feel uncomfortable or unsafe around money• How financial trauma can quietly influence the decisions you make with wealth• Why some high earners keep huge amounts of cash sitting in current accounts• The hidden cost of doing nothing with your money• Why opportunity cost matters just as much as investment returns• How automation can make wealth building easier and less emotional• Why your personal financial team should grow as your business success grows• How to start investing when you have never done it before• Why starting with a small amount can help build confidence• The importance of diversification across property, investments, retirement funds and business equity• Why financial freedom comes from earning, keeping and enjoying wealth• How legacy can become a powerful motivation for building generational wealthRoxy explains that one of the biggest surprises in her work has been discovering just how common financial trauma really is.People may appear successful on the outside, but underneath the numbers can sit fear, guilt, scarcity and old beliefs that continue to shape every financial decision.And that is why, for Roxy, the first step is rarely the spreadsheet.It is creating enough safety for someone to talk honestly about their financial story.Because even the best strategy in the world is useless if every part of you is resisting it.One behaviour Roxy sees regularly among successful women is holding large amounts of cash simply because it feels safer when they can see it.She shares the example of a client with $350,000 sitting in a checking account because she was worried she might eventually need a new roof.Once the actual cost of that potential emergency was established, it became easier to separate genuine financial security from fear-driven behaviour.The conversation also explores the hidden cost of leaving money untouched.Beyond inflation, Roxy encourages people to consider opportunity cost. What could that money potentially be doing elsewhere?The goal is not to shame anyone into investing.It is to understand the full picture so you can make an informed and intentional decision about what feels right for you.Dawn and Roxy also talk about making wealth building more enjoyable.Whether it is automated investing, starting with $20 or $50, creating rituals around money or simply learning through curiosity, investing does not have to feel intimidating.Roxy’s advice is simple.Start somewhere.You were not born knowing how to drive a car or ride a bike, so why should you expect yourself to automatically understand investing?Start small, learn as you go and build the muscle.Roxy also highlights the importance of diversification.Rather than relying entirely on one asset class, one country or one strategy, she encourages people to think about a broader wealth picture that can include property, business equity, retirement savings, cash and diversified market investments.Ultimately, this conversation is about much more than numbers.It is about creating freedom, building confidence and changing the financial story that gets passed to the next generation.For Roxy, that legacy has become one of her greatest motivations.Because building wealth is not only about what it changes for you.It is also about what becomes possible for the people who come after you.Connect with Roxy ZaluckyInstagram: @ZaluckyFinancialVisit Zalucky Financial online to join Roxy’s free Monday newsletter, where she shares three key market updates to help make financial news easier to understand.🎧 Subscribe to Dawn of a New Era: The Billionaire Brain Podcast for conversations around founder psychology, neuroscience, wealth, identity and the thinking behind extraordinary success.CHECK OUT THE PODCAST & APPLY TO BECOME A GUESThttps://dawnmcgruer.com/podcastFOLLOW DAWN MCGRUERInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dawnmcgruer/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnmcgruer/Think better. Feel richer. Live happier.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podkite - https://podkite.com/privacy

Ep 200: The CFO Behind Multi-7-Figure Growth: Why Founders Must Learn to Think Like Finance CEOsWhat if growing your revenue is actually making your business poorer?In this episode of Dawn of a New Era: The Billionaire Brain Podcast, Dawn McGruer is joined by Pam Jordan, founder and CEO of Pivot Business Group, a multi-seven-figure financial strategy firm helping entrepreneurs understand their numbers, improve profitability and scale with greater financial clarity.Pam’s journey into finance began after the multi-million-dollar company she worked for went bankrupt. The business was growing, had 99 employees and appeared successful from the outside, but the numbers told a very different story.That experience led Pam to become a fractional CFO and ultimately build Pivot Business Group, where her team now supports growing businesses across bookkeeping, tax strategy, tax filing and financial strategy.Dawn and Pam explore one of the biggest mistakes founders make when scaling. Focusing on revenue while ignoring profit.Pam explains why more sales can actually make a business run out of money faster, how underpricing can quietly destroy profitability and why founders need to understand the true cost of delivering their products or services before chasing further growth.They also discuss the financial numbers every CEO should understand, why your bank balance does not tell you how healthy your business really is, and when it becomes time to bring a fractional CFO into your leadership team.In this episode, you’ll discover:• Why increasing sales can actually make an unprofitable business lose money faster• The importance of understanding your true cost of delivery before setting your prices• Why gross profit margin is one of the biggest warning signs to watch during growth• How rapidly increasing overheads can turn exciting growth into dangerous growth• Why a £10 million business can be less financially successful than a £2 million business• The key financial numbers every founder should know without asking their accountant• Why looking at your bank balance alone can give you a completely false sense of security• How forecasting helps founders stop managing their business through the rear-view mirror• When a growing company should consider hiring a fractional CFO• Why founders approaching the £1 million revenue mark need a different level of financial strategy• The three financial roles Pam believes growing founders need around them• How childhood experiences and money trauma can create a ceiling on business growth• Why the team that gets you to one stage of your business may not be the team that takes you to the nextPam shares the distinction between traditional accounting and CFO-level financial thinking.While bookkeeping and accounting often focus on what has already happened, a CFO looks forward.That means understanding forecasts, budgets, cash requirements, profitability, potential investment, lines of credit and the financial decisions required to take the business from where it is today to where the founder wants it to go.Pam believes that around the $1 million revenue mark, this forward-looking financial strategy becomes increasingly important.At that level, founders are no longer simply managing money coming in and going out. They are making bigger decisions about people, infrastructure, investment, tax, funding and the future value of the company.The conversation also goes deeper into the psychology behind money.Pam explains how beliefs formed in childhood around scarcity, financial instability or the idea that wanting money is somehow wrong can continue to influence founders decades later.Without recognising those beliefs, ambitious entrepreneurs can unintentionally create their own financial ceiling.Pam also shares one of the hardest lessons from scaling her own business.The people who get you here may not be the people who get you there.After remaining stuck at a particular revenue level, Pam made significant changes to her team. The result was a business that doubled year over year.Her lesson is not that the original team members were wrong or unsuccessful. They may have been exactly the right people for one season of the business, but scaling sometimes requires founders to recognise when the next stage needs different skills, leadership and experience.Ultimately, the conversation comes back to a simple financial principle that also forms the basis of Pam’s upcoming book:It’s not what you make. It’s what you keep that matters.Because impressive revenue means very little if the business is not creating profit, cash and ultimately wealth for the person who built it.Connect with Pam JordanWebsite: https://pamjordan.com/You can also find Pam on social media by searching Pam Jordan CFO.🎧 Subscribe to Dawn of a New Era: The Billionaire Brain Podcast for conversations around founder psychology, neuroscience, wealth, identity and the thinking behind extraordinary success.CHECK OUT THE PODCAST & APPLY TO BECOME A GUESThttps://dawnmcgruer.com/podcastFOLLOW DAWN MCGRUERInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dawnmcgruer/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnmcgruer/Think better. Feel richer. Live happier.#TheBillionaireBrain #PamJordan #BusinessProfitConnect with Dawn:Instagram @dawnmcgruer @dawnofanewerapodcastFacebook https://www.facebook.com/dawnamcgruerLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/businessconsort/Web www.dawnmcgruer.comThis podcast is in association with @HerPowerCommunity - The #1 Female Founders Global Community where connections flourish & growth is intentionalhttps://www.patreon.com/c/herpowercommunity This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podkite - https://podkite.com/privacy

Ep 199: The Power of Women Who Choose to Hype Each Other with Erin GallagherWhat changes when women stop seeing each other as competition and start recognising the power of building together?In this episode of Dawn of a New Era: The Billionaire Brain Podcast, Dawn McGruer is joined by Erin Gallagher, founder of HYPE WOMEN, author, speaker, strategist and community builder whose work centres around culture, communication, collective action and the systems that shape how women see themselves and each other.Erin has spent more than 20 years building communities, campaigns and movements. Today, through HYPE WOMEN, she is focused on helping women move away from individual competition and towards collective power.Dawn and Erin explore why another woman’s success can sometimes feel threatening, why so many high-achieving women are still operating from the identity of the “good girl”, and what happens when ambition quietly turns into performance rather than something that actually feels aligned.Erin explains how women can unconsciously outsource their worth to other people, why jealousy can sometimes reveal what we truly want, and how changing our behaviour towards other women can start to change the way we think.They also explore a much broader definition of wealth. One that goes beyond revenue and financial capital to include human, social, political and spiritual capital, and the relationships and communities that help people genuinely thrive.In this episode, you’ll discover:• Why women can be conditioned to see other women’s success as competition• How the “good girl” identity can cause even highly successful women to give their power away• Why constantly seeking approval can weaken your ability to trust yourself• The difference between jealousy, envy and inspiration• How another woman’s success can reveal something you secretly want for yourself• Why supporting other women has to go further than superficial encouragement• How HYPE WOMEN approaches the transfer of human, social, financial, political and spiritual capital• Why traditional measures of success can leave women disconnected from what they actually want• What happens when ambition becomes performance or self-abandonment• Why women have the right to renegotiate the roles and identities they have outgrown• How burning bridges can sometimes be an act of self-trust rather than failure• Why presence cannot be optimised• How stepping away from constant performance can help you reconnect with who you really areErin shares how many women have spent years performing identities such as ambitious founder, selfless mother, dutiful wife, loyal friend or tireless worker, only to reach a point where those identities no longer fit.Rather than believing everything has to be destroyed or abandoned, Erin introduces the idea of renegotiating the contract.The person who agreed to a particular role five, ten or twenty years ago may not be the same person today. Reclaiming your agency starts with asking what you actually consent to now, what needs to change, and where your boundaries need to be redrawn.She also challenges one of the lessons many women have been taught throughout their lives. Never burn bridges.Sometimes holding onto a relationship, opportunity or connection simply because you might need it one day means ignoring your own experience and continuing to carry situations that are no longer healthy.Learning to trust your own knowing can change everything.And perhaps one of the simplest lessons from the conversation is this:Presence cannot be optimised.When every area of life becomes something to improve, measure or maximise, we stop actually experiencing it. Erin encourages us to stop overriding our intuition and constantly searching for the next opportunity, conversation or achievement, and start paying attention to what is happening right in front of us.Because movements don’t begin when people simply hear a message.They begin when people can see themselves inside it.Connect with Erin GallagherWebsite: https://hypewomen.com/Discover Erin’s book Hype Women, her latest writing and more about the HYPE WOMEN movement at HypeWomen.com.🎧 Subscribe to Dawn of a New Era: The Billionaire Brain Podcast for conversations around founder psychology, neuroscience, wealth, identity and the thinking behind extraordinary success.CHECK OUT THE PODCAST & APPLY TO BECOME A GUESThttps://dawnmcgruer.com/podcastFOLLOW DAWN MCGRUERInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dawnmcgruer/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnmcgruer/Think better. Feel richer. Live happier.Connect with Dawn:Instagram @dawnmcgruer @dawnofanewerapodcastFacebook https://www.facebook.com/dawnamcgruerLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/businessconsort/Web www.dawnmcgruer.comThis podcast is in association with @HerPowerCommunity - The #1 Female Founders Global Community where connections flourish & growth is intentionalhttps://www.patreon.com/c/herpowercommunity This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podkite - https://podkite.com/privacy

Ep 198: The Billionaire Cab Driver: 50 Years of Wealth Wisdom, Real Estate and Financial Freedom with Jody TallalWhat if financial freedom isn’t about making more money, but knowing when you have enough?In this episode of Dawn of a New Era: The Billionaire Brain Podcast, Dawn McGruer is joined by Jody Tallal, financial adviser, educator and author of Billionaire Cab Driver, with more than five decades of experience helping people build, manage and protect their wealth.Jody shares an extraordinary journey. Having built a fortune he valued at $38 million and retired at 35, he lost everything following the Texas banking collapse and property downturn. After rebuilding his wealth and retiring a second time, he approached success very differently.Dawn and Jody explore the psychology of wealth, why high earnings don’t automatically create financial security, and how the constant pursuit of more can take you further away from the life you actually want.Jody explains why rising income often leads to rising spending, how professional success can create misplaced confidence around investing, and why knowing your personal financial summit matters just as much as knowing how to climb.In this episode, you’ll discover:• Why being successful in your career doesn’t automatically make you good with money• How lifestyle inflation can stop high earners from building lasting wealth• Why Jody moved away from product commissions to a fee-only financial advice model• What he learned by studying his clients’ investment successes and mistakes• How losing his fortune changed his approach to wealth, risk and happiness• Why even experienced investors cannot anticipate every market shock• How to think about your personal financial summit and what “enough” means to you• Why the need to keep achieving can be rooted in fear and identity• How Jody’s approach to mindset and goal-setting shaped his journey• Why he now defines wealth through peace of mind, family and freedomJody also shares the conversation with a therapist that challenged everything he believed about himself. Asked to explain who he was, he kept listing his achievements. Realising he couldn’t separate his identity from his accomplishments became a turning point.That experience helped him shift his focus towards being a husband, dad and grandfather, and building a life he no longer felt compelled to prove to anyone.His book, Billionaire Cab Driver, brings those financial and personal lessons together through a fictional story about a man who discovers that wealth gives him the freedom to do what he loves.His message is simple: understand what you’re building wealth for.Because if you never define your own summit, you may never know when to stop climbing.Connect with Jody TallalLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodytallalWebsite: https://billionairecabdriverlife.com/🎧 Subscribe to Dawn of a New Era: The Billionaire Brain Podcast for conversations around founder psychology, neuroscience, wealth, identity and the thinking behind extraordinary success.CHECK OUT THE PODCAST & APPLY TO BECOME A GUESThttps://dawnmcgruer.com/podcastFOLLOW DAWN MCGRUERInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dawnmcgruer/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnmcgruer/Think better. Feel richer. Live happier.Connect with Dawn:Instagram @dawnmcgruer @dawnofanewerapodcastFacebook https://www.facebook.com/dawnamcgruerLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/businessconsort/Web www.dawnmcgruer.comThis podcast is in association with @HerPowerCommunity - The #1 Female Founders Global Community where connections flourish & growth is intentionalhttps://www.patreon.com/c/herpowercommunity This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podkite - https://podkite.com/privacy