August 5, 2025 • 64 mins
This episode is sponsored by Greenfi
In this episode of About That Wallet, host Anthony Weaver chats with Tim Newell, CEO of GreenFi, a cool fintech company that's all about green banking. They dive into how you can make a real difference for the planet just by moving your money around.
Tim breaks down what green banking is all about and how traditional banks often support fossil fuels, while GreenFi is all about funding eco-friendly projects. He shares tips on how you can grow your wealth while staying true to your values, like planting trees with every debit card swipe!
Listeners will pick up some handy strategies to align their finances with their principles and learn why financial literacy is key in tackling climate change. Tim’s journey from government to leading a climate-focused fintech is super inspiring, showing that your money choices can reflect your ethics.
💬 Question of the Day: How do you mix your values with your financial choices? Let us know in the comments!
🔗 Connect with Tim Newell:
Website: https://greenfi.com
LinkedIn: Tim Newell on LinkedIn
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✅ Subscribe to About That Wallet
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=|| 📚 Chapters ||=
(00:00) Intro
(03:21) 40% of US consumers
(22:34) Who to cut?
(25:41) Is it easier to acquire a business or start it from the ground up?
(27:42) Jeff Bezos
(39:26) Understanding people
(48:45) Financial Security
(53:58) Final Four
(01:02:47) Where could people find out more about Tim
🙏🏽 Thanks for tuning in! Your support helps more people develop solid financial habits and engage in important talks about money and sustainability.
📩 Join the About That Wallet Newsletter for budgeting tips, saving strategies, and more:
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Instagram: @AboutThatWallet
Twitter: @AboutThatWallet
Website: aboutthatwallet.com
⚠️ DISCLAIMER:
This content is for educational purposes only and is not financial advice. Always consult a licensed financial professional when needed.
#AboutThatWallet #GreenBanking #ClimateChange #SustainableFinance #FinancialLiteracy
Episode 305
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
>> Tim Newell (00:01):
Just that change is for most
consumers in the US is the biggest
impact that they can have on climate, that
it's bigger than putting solar on your house, though that's a good
thing to do. It's bigger than driving an EV though that's a good
thing to do. It's bigger than changing out your gas
appliances to be electric appliances. Also a good thing to
do. But the biggest impact most people can have
(00:24):
is just move their money. And that's where
what you'd call the green banking industry comes into play,
which is how to put your money to
work and do well for yourself, but have it be
consistent with your values. And there's different ways that
the different banks go about that, but that's the core.
>> Anthony Weaver (00:44):
Welcome everybody back to another exciting show of
the about that Wallet podcast, where we talk
about building wealth in so many different aspects
in different areas. And also we are focusing on the sandwich
generation, helping them build credit so that they can spend money, talk
about money, and enjoy their money in a
way that they have complete control and confidence.
(01:04):
So one of the things that I want to talk about today is
actually green banking. And I have one of the people
who is the CEO of
GreenFi, a climate focused fintech
company. I cannot hold this guy any further
back because he has so much information to bring to you.
Welcome to the show, Tim.
>> Tim Newell (01:22):
Thank you, Anthony. I really appreciate it. Love the show. I'm
really happy to be on and so I'm happy to
dive in with you.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:30):
Yeah. So for a lot of people who are
new to just fintech in
general, um, can you just talk about
a little bit about that?
>> Tim Newell (01:40):
So I guess the best way to start is
what we are. We're a financial technology company.
What that means is we're not a bank.
Um, we work with banks, we partner with
banks, um, but we really focus on
being able to pull together a series of products
to present to our customers.
(02:01):
And, and in doing that, we provide
the, the conduit to
banks, or it could be crypto
firms, or it could be, um, investment
firms who are the regulated entities.
Um, but we're, our focus is in pulling
together a financial experience
(02:22):
that matches the customers that we are
targeting. The banks
and investment companies are in the background and we're
working directly with customers. In our case,
our customers are climate conscious
consumers. Consumers, um,
who believe that the
(02:43):
climate is an important issue and they're working
in various ways in their own life to try to do
something about that. And if that for
your listeners, if that feels like that describes
them, they're in good company because there's about
100 million people in the United States
who qualify themselves that way. They think
(03:03):
that's something that's important to them, um, and
they want to try to do something about it. And my job is to,
and my company's job is to find easy,
effective ways for them to do that.
To do well with their money while doing good for the planet.
>> Anthony Weaver (03:20):
Wow, that is really good.
Because one of the things that I came across during my research
was that almost 40%
of US consumers say that they would rather
enroll in a climate linked financial product.
So can you talk a little bit more about what is
green banking?
>> Tim Newell (03:38):
Sure. So, uh, to do that, the best
way is to start with traditional banking
and to understand it. So if you are like most people
and your money, your deposits,
your cash is sitting in one of the 10 biggest
banks in the U.S. then
up to 30% of
(03:59):
um, your deposits are being used
to fund fossil fuels. That's just the
structure of our banking system. And that means
if you personally care about the climate and
you're trying to do what you can in your own life,
um, to do that, that as much as you do
behind the scenes, your bank account is undoing all
(04:20):
that you may try to
do. And so what we
focus on and what people who are in the
green banking focus on is how do you deliver
great financial products that meet the
financial goals of our customers, but do it in a way that is climate
friendly.
(04:40):
And we do that um, by
at the very beginning saying we give a pledge that
none of the deposits, none of the funds people put with us
will go to support the fossil fuels industry. And
it's a basic pledge up front. And
um, just that change
is for most consumers in the US is the
(05:01):
biggest impact that they can have on
climate. That it's bigger
than putting solar on your house though that's a good thing to do.
It's bigger than driving an EV though. That's a good thing to do.
It's bigger than changing out your gas appliances
to be electric appliances. Also a good thing to do.
Um, but the biggest impact most people can have is just move
(05:21):
their money. And that's where
you'd call the green banking industry comes into play,
which is how to put your money to
work and do well for yourself, but have
it be consistent with your values. And there's different ways
that the different banks go about that. But that's the core idea.
>> Anthony Weaver (05:40):
Yeah, because you mentioned values, um, what is the
values for GreenFi?
>> Tim Newell (05:46):
So we are climate
focused. Meaning, meaning our Our customers
are customers who, they may care about a lot of
things, um, but climate and
impacts on climate change are something that
is an important consideration for them and they try to take action
on that basis. And so we try to
(06:07):
natively build in climate, um,
protection into all of our products.
And so if you are depositing money
with us, you know that it's not going to be used to support
fossil fuels. And
you can sign up so that every time you swipe your card, every
time you swipe your debit card, that
(06:27):
we're planting trees in some of our projects around the world.
And so our customers fund
the planting of trees, a tree every about seven
seconds, 24, 7,
365. And um,
we're planting about two and a half football
fields of trees a day. When I say we, I mean our customers
(06:48):
are doing this. And last year
our customers, um, banded together
to plant four and a half million trees.
And that's reforesting, um,
areas that not only helps the climate because we're
pulling carbon out of the air, but it's also helping
ecosystems and it's helping the communities in which
those projects take place. And
(07:10):
we also offer programs like Planet
Protection, where not everyone's either
ready or able to drive an electric vehicle,
but we'll, um,
uh, offset the carbon when you pull up and have to fill
up the gas of your car if that's what you're driving, and
we'll go ahead and offset that for you
(07:30):
automatically. Um, and
so there's various,
uh, features, uh, that we
offer that are all designed to make
it easy and,
and simple to have climate impact
while just going about your business. We're not asking you to change
(07:50):
your life or go vegan or do something else.
Just go about, go about your life, deposit your money,
spend, invest, do what you need to do, but do it in a way
that you feel good about it, about being able to have an impact.
>> Anthony Weaver (08:02):
That is awesome. I like those core values, um,
because we had a prior
episode talking about ESG investing, uh,
and for the reminder for people that ESG
is environmental, social and governance.
Uh, just around your investing, make sure you're just doing something
that's good for the government, for the planet as
(08:22):
well as you can, you know as much as you
can and try to lower your footprint. So I
noticed on the website that it talks about different investment
tools and avenues. So does
Greenfire provide like education about the
ESG process and what things that you guys
are investing in?
>> Tim Newell (08:41):
So we do provide education around that. We offer
different investment funds, whether
it's a straightforward brokerage fund or it's a
retirement fund for you that will allow,
um, you to put money in a way that
is, um, consistent with what you said
with esg, with
(09:03):
a broader social benefit. Um,
uh, the Redwood Fund is our flagship fund.
Um, it's been performing very well this year, so
I'm really happy about it. Um,
uh, and it's one of the areas in which we
are most interested in
building out new products for and where
(09:23):
we're going is that. And it really
requires the use of AI. And so we're leaning heavily
into that to be able to do it, which is
as anyone looks at making investments
and is beginning to choose investments,
we want to be able to give a score for an investment
that they're looking at. And just seeing how climate
(09:43):
friendly is that how carbon intensive and what
are different alternatives that may meet the same
goal but are more climate friendly?
And that's uh, uh, some products that we're
actively working on right now.
>> Anthony Weaver (09:58):
Okay. And a lot of people, I have to say
that somebody just came to me recently
because I was, did a live episode talking about
utmas and Ugmas, uh,
for their children. And when it
came to high yield savings accounts, that came
up a lot. Now I noticed you guys offer a
(10:18):
3% APY high yield savings
account. Is this savings a little different
than your normal savings or all of your, uh,
banking is at high yield savings?
>> Tim Newell (10:28):
So all of our savings accounts, um,
have the same yield up to
3%. And uh, depending on a
couple factors, um, what I would say to
your, your listeners is,
um,
your, your money should be working for you every day.
(10:49):
And so wherever you have your money, it
should be sitting in some place that earns you 3%
or more. And why? Because you want to stay ahead of
inflation. And that's, that's how
you, that's how you, you don't see a, uh, declining
wealth as opposed to your money working for you and going
along. So, so you know, it's one, another one of those things.
(11:09):
If you're sitting in one of the big banks, you're probably
earning.01%.
>> Anthony Weaver (11:14):
Yeah.
>> Tim Newell (11:14):
On your savings. Right? Don't do that. Move your
money. Make your money work for you. Whether you put it with me or
whether you put it with someone else, make your money work for you. You deserve
it. Your money deserves it. Be nice to your money. Right?
>> Anthony Weaver (11:28):
Yeah. They need to make some friends. Make them make friends.
>> Tim Newell (11:31):
Well, they need to make more friends. That's
right.
>> Anthony Weaver (11:34):
I like the way you think so. But what got
you here, uh, in the first place, because you didn't just
think a green fire like out of thin air, did you?
>> Tim Newell (11:43):
Uh, you know, I'd like to say that I did, but
that will be a lot. Um, uh, it was
a long path here and, and I could walk all the way through that.
But. But I'll give you the
short edition, which is, um, I
actually started out in politics and government. And so
I spent the first part of my career,
(12:05):
uh, in Washington D.C. near you.
And, um, working mostly around
technology and the intersection between technology and
regulated industries
and large problems that we want to solve.
And, um, when I was
released from the government on good
(12:25):
behavior, um, I came out to California,
come out to Silicon Valley, and I
began working in startups, either
investing in startups or, um,
advising startups, or as a founder in
companies or working in startups, all
at this intersection between technology
(12:46):
and hard, um, problems.
And increasingly it was about climate. And
it was just, it was just the problem that I wanted to take on.
And it was, how do you put together financial
products and financial platforms that can help? And,
um, I had started
several companies, but I started the company
(13:08):
Common Assets with a partner of mine that
would allow individuals to invest in
the big portfolios of residential solar
assets that were being built. This was
when the solar industry was really taking off
major banks and hedge funds. Investment companies
were investing in these large portfolios of solar
(13:30):
assets. And I wanted to give individual investors
the chance to do the same thing. We built a platform to sell
solar bonds you just invest in and get returns
from solar. Uh, that company was
bought by the biggest solar company in the US at that
time, SolarCity. And I went on to
stay with them and build financial products for individuals to help
(13:51):
them buy solar systems.
And, um, uh, it was my first
introduction to working for Elon Musk,
uh, chairman of that company. And then SolarCity
was bought by another of his companies, Tesla,
that you may have heard of. And, uh,
I did the same that Tesla. I worked in
building the financial infrastructure to allow people to
(14:14):
buy cars.
And you, uh, know, I remember
sitting in the meeting and Elon looking
and saying, we want to sell a car
in one minute. And that includes the
financing. And so I'm thinking,
okay, think about your experience at the last car dealer you went
(14:35):
to and how long it took to get the financing done.
Was that more than one minute? Yes,
it was. Um,
and I thought to myself at that moment, wow,
that's not gonna happen. But I had learned a very important
rule in working for Elon, in particular,
which is never say no.
Right? Go away, figure it out, don't say no.
(14:59):
And that has been something that sort of has served me well,
which is don't say no and don't take no.
Um, uh, when I left Tesla,
I was relaxing for a while. Seven
years of working for Elon was enough for a while.
And, and a friend who was a
venture capitalist and was an
(15:20):
investor and chairman of a company, Aspiration
Partners asked me to come, come and take a look
at the, at the company. And it
was a social and
values based bank. Um, but they were
shifting to try to focus on investing in global
carbon markets. But they
had this bank that had been around for 10 years and they were trying to figure out, well,
(15:42):
what should we do with it? Like a
lot of companies at the time, fintech companies, companies
of finance, um, they had been trying to go
very rapidly to be able to do an IPO or SPAC
to try to get to the point public markets. And which means they're pouring
a lot of money in. And that was great when interest rates were
really low and investment capital was
(16:03):
pretty much free. And then one day it wasn't
and one day interest rates rates went up and investment
capital is no longer really available.
And they were losing a lot of money
and struggling with what to do. And
um, long story short, I ended up
proposing to them and working out with the chairman that
(16:25):
I buy the assets for that business
from them because I thought
that it could be restructured and I
saw value in it, but I didn't see it being
able to be done there. It needed to be done a
different way. And I
essentially acquired the business and then began
(16:45):
restructuring it. And
um, and that was a long, tough job. I
mean when, when I first took it over
there were about 400 people working there. Today
there are about 40. Wow.
And, and that's nothing to feel great about
because it felt really awful to go through that process.
(17:06):
M. But the challenge with, with
it's great to have a business that is values driven
and focused on climate and those things, but to
really have an impact, you have to be profitable and
grow. You really do. And you have to be able to
offer customers a great customer experience
and great products. And that's not what
(17:27):
I found when I started. And we spent the
better part of two years rebuilding the company
and leaned heavily into using AI.
Um, and that's why we can run but
10% of the
team that we once did and
we've cut the technology costs and the vendor
(17:47):
cost about 60%. Um,
and now we're moving forward to roll out a
whole series of new products. But that's how I got here.
I came in to look at a company. I decided that there was an
opportunity. I took the risk, I bought it out
and have been restructuring it to
build the next, what we believe will be the next great
(18:10):
consumer finance brand that's climate friendly.
Think Patagonia for your banking account.
>> Anthony Weaver (18:15):
I like that because one of the things that a lot of
banks either they overlook it, they probably see it,
but it's like there is no money in it to try to run
it sustainably. And I commend
you for just restructuring it and make it
environmentally safer, uh, than the
others in lowering that footprint and actually
(18:36):
provide meaning for your money.
>> Tim Newell (18:38):
Um, did your parents, is that
you don't have to compromise.
Um, you can have 3% yield on
your savings account and have,
and have your money have a great impact for the planet.
That's the thing is you have to, you don't have to choose between them
and, and that's the most important thing.
(18:59):
Which is, which is focus in focus with
your money on not only on how you're building it,
not only on the legacy of wealth
that you may leave to your children,
but how does that legacy of wealth fit the legacy
of your value system at the same time?
Because that's part of the wealth and part of
(19:19):
what you're leaving your children.
>> Anthony Weaver (19:21):
Now, will this 3%, um,
fluctuate as the market does, or this
is just a flat 3%.
>> Tim Newell (19:29):
All banks will fluctuate their interest rates
somewhat as the market. It'll rise as interest rates
as the Fed raises interest rates and they'll decline somewhat
as the Fed drops interest rates. Uh, the
difference is I might raise mine or lower
mine. But with the big banks you start
off at rock bottom. So
(19:49):
that's where you are until you.
>> Anthony Weaver (19:51):
Put like a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand into the.
>> Tim Newell (19:53):
Exactly. Yeah, exactly.
>> Anthony Weaver (19:55):
And then the only FDIC insured until like what,
20. Yeah. Was it 250,000?
>> Tim Newell (20:01):
FDIC insurance is 250,000 per account.
The way that we do that is that, is that we'll take
deposits and we'll spread them across a few banks
because we work with banks, um,
uh, to hold the FDIC
insured deposits. So we offer, right now we offer
our customers a million dollars worth of
(20:21):
uh, they can deposit up to a million dollars and have it BFDIC
insured.
>> Anthony Weaver (20:25):
Wow. Okay, now that is key. I did not
know that. Is a way like if there's a will,
there's a way like you said, don't say no. They gotta find a
way. I love that. Um, did your parents instill
that in you?
>> Tim Newell (20:39):
To my parents, uh, my
father was military, uh,
man, and he was in the army. And I
spent, you know, the first part of my life traveling around the
world and living in different places with there and living on
army bases. And really what was instilled was
a sense of service, which is,
(20:59):
which is you are, you need to dedicate
yourself to something bigger than yourself.
And um, it
was one of the values that was
clearly there throughout my upbringing was
that was that sense of service. And
the second thing that came out of that was that
(21:23):
working hard and personal integrity
were the. Sorry, I would say the values that definitely
he passed on, um, and
were part of all our upbringing. All of my siblings
eventually, um, went into the military
themselves and uh, served around the
world. And I, I took a slightly
(21:43):
different path and instead served, served
in Congress and you know, served in the congressional staff and served
the White House staff in Washington. But
it's all service. And I still think of
what we do today as a service. It's a service to our
customers. It's a service to the values that
we have.
>> Anthony Weaver (22:02):
Yeah, I could really
listen to like, your story for like hours because I have
so many more questions about like acquiring
the business, uh, dealing with the employees. How do you actually
hire and fire? What is that process?
I mean, how much time you got?
Keep going. Okay. Um, because
(22:25):
I do want to get to that point because it goes back to your
values of serving. Um, and like
you said earlier that it didn't feel good, but it was
a must need done.
So how do you determine on what to cut
or who to cut in that industry?
>> Tim Newell (22:42):
It's really tough. And um,
anytime you're affecting people's lives and families, it's
really, really tough. And,
um, and for the most part they're all good people.
And so that doesn't make it, make it easier. You know,
there are some people who, who
knowingly or unknowingly raise their hand and say, I don't really want
(23:02):
to be a part of this, either by their actions
or by what they say. And,
um, so those are easier. There were also
a group of the team who
they thought they were joining a big company that's about to go public.
And when they found what it really was going to be
was a startup with both
(23:24):
startup risk and startup speed and startup requirements,
then I encouraged all of
the, the employees to think hard about
did they want that environment? Because it's not right for everybody.
And everyone should know their own risk tolerance and
what they need. And if what you really needed at
that point in your life was just to have very
(23:45):
regular hours and regular job and
very steady and not much change, sometimes that's what
people need, but that's not what, uh, typically a
technology startup delivers. And so
there was a group of people who clearly that was their choice.
And then you have to really just dive in and start
digging into what are your requirements, what do
(24:05):
you really need to run the business? Because again, you have to be
able to run the business profitably or be heading toward
profitability, because that's the only way you can scale up.
And the only way you can really have impact on, on either
consumers or the, or the climate for us is to scale up.
And so we, we did a bottoms up analysis. What do we
need? What's, what's the. What do we really think
(24:26):
we can get away with what we need
for marketing and operations
and building products and compliance
and technology and engineering and those things.
And then I, uh, sat down with the
leaders and really
(24:46):
let them drive in each of their areas. Okay,
what do we think the best team from what we have
to that could go forward? And
you have a group of good people that you trust
or that you come to trust. You work together enough
and you trust them and you move forward.
(25:07):
So there's a group of seven or eight people
on the management team who feel like we've just been
through the wars together and we trust each other,
we know each other. And when you have
something hard to take on,
it's like a, it's like a sports team that has a tradition of
winning. You're used to taking on, um, hard problems and
(25:27):
solving them, and so you continue thinking that you're doing
that. And so when you have to do one of these,
you know, letting people go or working through that,
it's just part of the hard problems you need to solve. It's
heartbreaking, but you have to do it.
>> Anthony Weaver (25:41):
So is it easier to,
um, like acquire a business or start it from
the ground up? Because you hear a lot of people that want to, oh, I want to start
my own business, I want to start my own business
versus acquiring a business that's already
in your niche, something that you're proud of
and you can really run with.
>> Tim Newell (26:02):
Each has their pluses and minuses. Right. If
you're acquiring a business that is already up
and running, you've taken some of the risk out of it,
and you can grow faster from
there, but you're Also taking on um,
existing problems and maybe a
legacy way of doing business or thinking
that can be difficult to change
(26:24):
and it can be wrenching change. Whereas
uh, with a startup you're starting from zero
and so it takes a while,
uh, to get some momentum and some growth.
Um, but at the same time you get to build it exactly
the way you think it needs to be built and
um, without any legacy issues holding you back.
(26:47):
Um, so it's really a case by case. Which is the
better way to do it. Do you want to take on that
challenge? I'm going to start something with myself or one person or
another person and build it all,
um, uh, and grow it from there. Or
do you want to take on the challenge of taking something
that has some real value in it, but you're going to have to restructure it?
(27:08):
Um, restructuring is not for the faint of heart,
you know, um, because you're, you're,
you're in that proverbial car driving down the
highway at 60 miles an hour and you're
rebuilding the damn car while you're, while you're driving,
you know, and there's, you know,
it's different than having the car in a garage building a piece by piece
(27:28):
and then saying let's take it out and see how it drives.
>> Anthony Weaver (27:31):
Mhm, I like that analogy. Um,
we usually do the airplane model was like
we're flying a plane and trying to build the wings at the time.
Uh, because when you go into the hiring piece,
do you look for a, ah, students or just people that are like really
excited about one niche or they, they got like side
projects or they have like something they've proven
(27:54):
in a different job. Because the reason why
I asked is because a lot of people right now
are losing their jobs by
so many different means, especially from the government are
getting cut left or right and
sometimes they either did side projects or that
was their specialty at work. So when
(28:14):
you go to look at a resume or if your team looks at a resume,
what are you guys looking for specifically?
>> Tim Newell (28:21):
I'm looking for a few things. Um,
uh, one, um, I'm,
I'm looking for someone who
really has some knowledge in the area that
they're, that they're working in. And
especially as technology
drives businesses forward and as AI
(28:43):
really drives us all forward, that,
that you end up focusing on people who have some real
expertise. Um,
and we can talk about the challenge for young
people coming into the workforce and with that,
um, because I think that's real. Um,
but we're looking for someone who really Comes with some knowledge.
(29:03):
We're looking for people that, um, who
are player coaches. What that means is, is that,
is that we generally don't have managers.
We have, we have people who are getting in and doing the business
and then over time they have, they have people working with them to do
it, but, but they have the ability
to do it themselves and they are the primary
(29:24):
expert in their area. And
as opposed to managing people who manage people
who can do it, um, you,
we really look for people who, who can do it
themselves and move forward. So,
um, I also put a lot of
emphasis on, on whether
(29:45):
people have an
understanding of their risk profile.
Right. Which we talked about before, which is
you have to understand this is the right place for you.
And when you're in a business that by its nature is going to
pivot a lot, where you come in one day and your, your
job just changed and you come in the next day and
now you have two jobs that you didn't have before. Some
(30:08):
people thrive in that environment. And you're looking
for that.
>> Anthony Weaver (30:11):
Yeah, right.
>> Tim Newell (30:12):
You're looking for someone who wants to move fast and
break things and, and go. And who, you
can't really phase them. Right. You give them a
new problem, they solve a problem, they get a problem, they solve a problem.
Because that's what it's all about. Find a problem, fix a
problem. Find a problem, fix a problem. Um,
and they, they, they need a, a level
(30:32):
of resilience that
is, um, that is
something that you can't really replace,
that kind of resilience. And um,
it is, it is, it is such
a crucial part of this because almost the most important
thing about startups like this or
(30:54):
about, uh, building these businesses is don't quit.
Just don't quit. Because almost all of
these businesses, whether you're fundraising or whether you're building the
business or you're trying to sell or you're
looking for that job. It's all no,
no, no, no, no, no. Yes. Right.
So you have to realize no does not mean stop.
(31:15):
No is just one step closer to yes.
And, and you, you want to find people who just
don't quit. And, and I
would, I would take that over someone
who's the most brilliant person
any day of the week, any sick, any eight days of the week
to do that. Just don't quit.
>> Anthony Weaver (31:35):
So, okay, that is awesome.
So that. But also it's like, how do
you prove that within that first few moments of time that you have
with somebody, unless they share with you that story
of like, man, I was Just struggling with this. And I just
took me like, forever until I went home.
I was in the shower and I was like, ha, I got
(31:56):
it. Now I can actually solve it.
>> Tim Newell (31:58):
Like, you get to
the point where you can start to pick up the signals and
okay, you ask the right questions and you,
um, uh,
one of the great interviewers of this that I found was
when I was coming out of government, I, I.
One of the spots I considered going to work was Amazon
(32:19):
M. And I remember sitting in a meeting with
Jeff Bezos while he, while he walked through this, and
it was none of the normal questions.
It was all. He was testing how I thought he was testing how
fast I could think he was testing
how I did with the. With.
With questions that were. Basically had no answer,
(32:41):
but he expected an answer. Right.
Um, uh, and, and at one
point he said, you know, you came in to interview for this job,
I want you to do this job instead.
And he was looking for how would I react to that?
And, um. And so part
of it is just you get to learn how to, how to talk to people and how
(33:01):
to. How to dig in and, and then you can also just
be honest with them. Here's what it requires. Are you that person?
And do you think you're that person? Right, Because.
Because you quickly find out if they're that person
once they're on board. So trust me. And,
um. And if they're not that person, they'll be miserable. They won't
be effective. And you know, their, their peer, their
(33:22):
peers will see it pretty quickly.
>> Anthony Weaver (33:24):
And so like, they say they're a Braids wrong with their m. Abras.
>> Tim Newell (33:26):
Yeah. And I don't mean to say that you're either that person or you're not.
Right. Someone could, could
be that person for, you know, in
greenfi, because they love it. They have the ideas,
they have some experience put to work, and they just love that build.
But then another context, another business, another type of
job, they're just not right.
(33:47):
And so it doesn't mean you are or you aren't. It
just means find the place where, where you can put that to work.
The other thing is I always just look for people smarter than us,
you know, which some, some people would laugh and say, well, that's not hard, Tim.
But, um, uh,
you know, I mean, so, you know, the old, the old saw, which
(34:07):
is A players hire A players, B,
players are C players, right? You hire
A players all the time. The, the biggest
benefits you get in the business, the biggest
accelerant for your business is really Great people.
Right. The biggest drag is people who are, who are not
as good. So those are the most important decisions you make is who are
(34:28):
you bringing on.
My job as a CEO is relatively simple.
Not easy, but it's simple. Which is set a
vision for the business.
>> Anthony Weaver (34:36):
Mhm.
>> Tim Newell (34:37):
Um, hire a team to execute
against that vision, to work with them, to set the strategy and then give them
the resources to do their jobs. Right. That's what I
do. And ah, so the, the most important
part of that is hiring that team to get it done.
>> Anthony Weaver (34:52):
I like that because, you know,
when like working for teams and I used to
manage multiple teams is that I always
find the laziest person on the team and I'll
have them lead the projects. Mostly because they'll
find you're a cruel.
>> Tim Newell (35:07):
Man, just a cruel man.
>> Anthony Weaver (35:10):
Because I will have them lead it, mostly because
they have a, A, the most disgruntled and just
doesn't understand the process. But
they find things that are outside of the norm to
make it simpler, make it easy to use
and everybody winds up liking it. And I was like, I like
this. But it's a rotational thing, so I don't let them, um,
(35:31):
you know, obviously the projects come and go. So it's just kind of one
of.
>> Tim Newell (35:34):
Those, I think, I think laziness
can be a great personal strength.
M. Right. That's the person who's going to say, no, I
don't want to do it the way you've been doing it because there's an easier
way.
>> Anthony Weaver (35:46):
Yeah.
>> Tim Newell (35:47):
Right. And you want to encourage that about people.
Right. You know, you have to, you have to be
willing to hear no or hear do it different or
we don't want to do it that way.
>> Anthony Weaver (35:58):
Yeah. And um, I have to say that a lot of people coming
from the government that has
been in the government since like high school, work study, that there was like, I
don't, I don't understand, I don't compute. This is the way it's
been. This is the way we like to do it. I don't like to
take anything extra. You know, this is the
way it is and it irritates me a
(36:18):
lot. So that's one of the reasons why I had to move around.
>> Tim Newell (36:21):
You know, I felt really lucky, uh, in my time
in government because I got, I got to, I worked for some great
people. Norman, who's a fabulous member of
Congress from Silicon Valley, and
um, uh, and then Bill Clinton and
Al Gore in the White House.
Um, and I got to work on issues that were all
(36:42):
about growth and change. Because it was all about using
science and technology to address hard problems.
And, um, I would not have done very well
in an environment that was about doing something else.
Processing loan applications or doing something
else. You got to know yourself. You got to know.
Because everyone can be innovative. You just got to know where is the right place for you
(37:03):
to do that.
>> Anthony Weaver (37:04):
Yeah, I like that.
So, um, because we're talking about innovation, this brings
us up to the third segment, which is the features. Um,
what skills or habits that you feel they will
take you. Uh, you can either go personal, even
with your business, to that next level.
>> Tim Newell (37:22):
Okay, I'll do a mix.
So skills and habits. Um,
uh, I talked about one of them,
which is. Is. Which is in
all of these challenges. Don't quit.
It's resilience. And more
than being brilliant, more than
(37:42):
having the best idea. Ideas are
cheap. Yeah, uh, they
are, right? People who can execute ideas,
that's more often about showing up and just
grinding away at it because you're really
focused on getting it done. And you just don't
quit. No matter how many obstacles are thrown at you, you just don't
quit. So that's a really crucial
(38:05):
skill for people to have. The second
thing that I would say is that your
operating system in business, as it is in other
places, is people. In order to get
it. Again, ideas are cheap. But in order to get anything done, in
order to build something, you need to get
people to see your vision. You need to get people to work
(38:25):
with you and build that vision.
You need to get people to want to invest in that vision.
You need to get people willing to buy your products.
Right? That, that any success you
have with, with. With some exceptions,
but rarely is. Is going to come
because you figured out that,
that working with people was your
(38:47):
route to succeed. And,
um, in a sense, I was lucky. I started off in
politics and government where, where that was sort of
M90 of. It was understanding people's motivations,
their concerns, their interest, and trying to find ways
to, to. To be able to bridge those.
Um, and it is the same
(39:09):
thing. Same thing in business, same thing in startups. Your
operating system is people. And I would take someone
who's really, really good at
working with people to someone who is just an expert any
day of the week.
>> Anthony Weaver (39:23):
Interesting.
>> Tim Newell (39:23):
Is that helpful?
>> Anthony Weaver (39:24):
Yeah, that was really good.
So is there a book that you recommend that
you've read that kind of help you out understanding people?
>> Tim Newell (39:32):
So I'll, uh, answer this question
maybe in the way that you
don't think I would, or maybe Some of the guests don't, which is. I have always
been a reader. I read a lot of books and
I could pick out a business book or I could say something,
but I think that
I'd recommend something else. Two of my very favorite
(39:53):
authors were Samuel Clemens, Mark
Twain and George Bernard Shaw,
both satirists. Both spent most of their
careers looking at people and. And
dissecting us all. And
with Mark Twain,
(40:14):
the focus was on making us look
at ourselves and not take ourselves seriously and
question ourselves and question our
motivations. And, um,
he had the very famous quote that whenever you find yourself on the side of the
majority, it's time to pause and reflect.
Um, wow. Uh, which is. Which is a great quote
(40:35):
that I've loved from him. And. And,
um. And then the other that I wanted to bring up
was George Bernard Shaw, who was similar,
an English author who, um. But.
But what? His real lane
was focusing on looking at social systems
and how we exist in social systems and how ridiculous
(40:56):
it can be and. But how we get there. It's like
if Mark Twain focused on the nonsense that we are,
then Shaw focused
on how do we build that nonsense? Why do we
build it? Um, and if
you're trying to build things and if
you're trying to do something different,
(41:19):
then it really helps to
cultivate a sense of questioning.
Question yourself, question the structure, question
the practices or how it was done, because you're trying to change that
and you really need to be able to do it. And so,
um, uh, I recently
reread a bunch of works of both Samuel
(41:40):
Clemens and George Burn Shaw as I was going through this
building process. Um,
and it's a wonderful sort of witty way of
reteaching ourselves, that lesson. And,
um, one of the. One of the best quotes, if anybody's
thinking about starting a business or doing a startup
or anything else, was George Burton Shaw, who
said, very famously, the reasonable man adapts himself to the
(42:02):
world, and therefore all progress depends on the
unreasonable man.
>> Anthony Weaver (42:08):
Okay, it's going to take me. I'm going to have to
rewind it a little bit. I'm going to have to rewind it
myself and play that back because I
would definitely have to live in that
moment to figure out where am
I on that spectrum to
figure out my next move.
>> Tim Newell (42:27):
And all of us, all of us are
different points in the spectrum at different times. Right?
None of us are one thing or another. Right?
Um.
>> Anthony Weaver (42:36):
Uh, and like Walt Whitman said, uh, well,
we all contain multitudes.
>> Tim Newell (42:41):
We. We contain multitudes. And whose voice
do you listen to of that multitude at any moment
in time, and which sort of takes us
to. Often I get that the
question of how did I get here on this path?
And there was no path.
There were just challenges. And there
(43:02):
was a, uh, at each step, there was a challenge that
intrigued me, that excited me,
that I couldn't ignore, that I wanted to take on.
And that's it. And you take on that challenge,
and that challenge leads you to the next challenge,
and that challenge leads you to the next challenge.
And. And it is, it is. It is
(43:23):
very much
where most of us who are in the. Certainly in the business that I do,
that's how they get to where they got to, which is they.
They. They weren't afraid. They weren't
afraid to listen to their questions. They weren't afraid to.
To do something that was different. They weren't afraid to fail.
I failed. I've had businesses fail. I've been
(43:43):
fired. I've been. I mean, I've been through all those
things that, that all of your listeners have all been through
themselves. And you find yourself picking yourself up
and say, okay, what's the next challenge?
>> Anthony Weaver (43:55):
So, uh, what is your next challenge?
>> Tim Newell (43:57):
This one is taking. This is. This is my challenge right
now. I'm going to be building this one for a little while. And the
idea of, of building a
modern consumer finance
brand that is inherently
built to not only
provide great financial products and help people meet
(44:18):
their financial goals, but do it in a way that
is climate friendly and protects the planet, that
just feels like, to me, it's like I'm really excited about that
every day. It's a great thing to be doing right now.
Feels like. Feels like I've been leading through this for a while. It's sort of a
full circle for me. My first inside
job, my first job that was not just laboring somewhere.
(44:40):
M. I did enough of those. My first inside
job was one summer when I was in college.
I worked in a bank as a teller.
>> Anthony Weaver (44:48):
Wow.
>> Tim Newell (44:49):
And it was a little community bank on a
army base in Kansas, Fort Riley. And so I
worked as a teller at Fort Riley National Bank. And that was my first
job. First inside job. And. Right. And now
come full circle. I'm back. I'm back to the bank.
>> Anthony Weaver (45:04):
Have you decided to partner with them since then?
>> Tim Newell (45:07):
Uh, you know, they. That little bank was bought by another bank.
Was bought by another bank. And, you know.
Okay, on it goes.
>> Anthony Weaver (45:15):
Yeah. Um, man, this is awesome.
And thank you for sharing your story.
So is there anything that you want to do you, uh, want
to say to the audience, before we dive into the final four
questions.
>> Tim Newell (45:28):
Um, I think I've said a
lot of what I, I would pass on.
Um, there's one thing I would add which is,
uh, I'm on the board of a. Of an organization
that was originally started by my. By my. My
brother, Pete Newell. The, the. Um.
The. The organization, the. The. The
(45:49):
um. Common mission that is.
That is, that runs courses
in universities throughout the country.
And the purpose of those. Of
those courses is to teach
innovation to students. And
what they do is they take on hard problems
(46:10):
and they form a team and they take on a problem.
And the problems are usually problems that have some national
significance. They can be national security, they can
be other things. And they spend a
semester trying to come up with a solution to that problem
that could also be a business. And so
it's a great program. Um,
(46:31):
and hacking for
defense, hacking for diplomacy, hacking for their. Hacking for
classes. And one of the things
you watch those students go through is
they'll get the problem and they'll immediately think of a
solution to the problem. And then we say
to them is, you got to get out of the building. You got to go out and talk to
(46:51):
the people in there. You got to figure out what is real. And what
inevitably happens is that their initial
conclusion was wrong. And so they
start off on a big high saying, we got this great problem, we've
got a solution to it. And then they go through their first interviews
and they find out, no, it's not actually the
solution to it.
>> Anthony Weaver (47:10):
Right?
>> Tim Newell (47:10):
And. And what we see is them going through this up
and down and up and down as they
generate new MVPs, we call
them minimum viable products. And they do
it again and again until they. Until they really get to the
solution. But it takes a lot of.
It takes a lot of up and down. And what it
(47:30):
really takes is, is that you got to take that idea and you
got to get out of the building. You got to go talk to people
and ask your customers or potential customers, wherever they may
be, is this really a solution? Is this really
what you want? Forget what I want to do for what I'm interested
do you want this is. You want this enough to buy it,
right? And so, so get out of the building and go
(47:51):
ask questions. Because what you really want is you're looking for a problem. You're
trying to solve a problem. And the hardest thing is you got to understand that
problem first from your customer's perspective, which may
not be yours.
>> Anthony Weaver (48:01):
Yeah. And it brings up the book,
the dip. Um, I'M not sure if
you read that yet.
>> Tim Newell (48:08):
I haven't read it yet. I know of it, but I haven't read it yet.
>> Anthony Weaver (48:10):
Okay. It's exactly what you just said. Usually most
of those books you can just finish the first chapter, you kind of get the gist of
the rest of them is just stories. Um, but it's just talking
about going through that initial dip
of like, I'm wrong now, it's just kind of
like, what are you going to do to kind of get out of
that diploma and actually create a
(48:30):
moment for you to shine. And that's what it is.
It's amazing. Um, and it's a great. You
bringing back books that I haven't read in a while that I need to pick back
up again. So greatly appreciate this.
Um, so you ready for the final four?
>> Tim Newell (48:44):
Yes. Let's do it.
>> Anthony Weaver (48:45):
All righty.
Question one. What does
wealth mean to you?
>> Tim Newell (49:01):
Great question. Um,
I'm going to answer this in two ways. Wealth
means security and
freedom.
Security, um, in that we all need a
basic level of security. It's really
hard to be innovative and really hard
(49:24):
to be brave and really hard to
stick to things if you don't have a
basic level of financial security. Mhm.
And so however you get that, that is part of
getting to where you want to go, which is getting to a basic level
of financial security. And everybody defines that differently. Um,
but it doesn't have to be that much. But that
(49:46):
financial security, that's wealth.
And because it enables you
to take a little risk to try a different job,
to try startup, to try,
um, uh, a career
move that, that you might
not have done otherwise. Um,
(50:07):
and what I would definitely
counsel people is do whatever it takes. Have the
side job, what, work at something that's not exciting,
but, but build up that, that,
that basic financial security that
you need. Because, because that security is wealth.
It's not about the, the dollars that you have. It's just, do you,
(50:28):
do you have security? Does your family have
security? Because it's pretty hard to do things if you're
worried about where your family's going to be in a month
or, or in two months. Right. That takes up a lot of
bandwidth in your head, if that's what you're worried about.
Um, the second thing is that, is that wealth
is freedom and it's not freedom in
(50:49):
that you don't have to go by the rules. Though it seems to be
that there are a lot of people in our country who think that's what it
means. Um, that if you're
really wealthy, then the rules don't apply to you. When
I think about that, what I think of, it gives you the
freedom to try
things that you might not be able to try. It gives
you the freedom to extend yourself
(51:12):
and to take some risks that
you might not have been able to try. It also, very
importantly to me, it gives you the freedom
to live by your values.
And it can be tough
to live by your values when you are hand
to mouth and
(51:33):
you got bills and debts and everything else. And you got to put
that, you got to put that first for your family.
And so wealth is getting to the point where you
can start living according to your
values. And,
and I think that's just really, really important to
be able to have. And it means we have to think about what our
(51:53):
values are. But. Yes, but to be able to do that.
And that's not. Again, that's not about the total dollars.
That's about m. Am I, am I
feeling like I'm free enough to be able to do that?
Um, and that
living according to your values is, you know, was
drilled into me when I was growing up and has been part
(52:14):
of my career throughout. And it's something that's just important to me.
And, uh, I feel very lucky that I have,
that I've had some fortune as I built companies and done some other
things and that I can, can
indulge in, in really exploring
how to live according to my values. And it's
a constant challenge every day to try to do that.
(52:36):
And finally, people say that you can't,
that money can't buy time. And
it's right. We all have 24 hours in a day. But in a
way it can, it can. Because
having wealth enables you to engage
in more projects, to invest in things,
to participate and
(52:58):
support a community organization that's
doing something that you really think is important.
Um, to engage in activities,
whether you like biking or hiking or whatever it is,
and also to support companies and support endeavors.
It enables you to extend the, the, the
(53:19):
things that you can get involved in and
extend your range more than just the
hours in a day you have to work.
And so wealth, wealth, you can buy time,
but you can, you can buy an extension of your
time. In that sense, our days are
limited, but we can make those days more full.
>> Anthony Weaver (53:42):
Love it. Um, that's like. It's a
whole nother episode.
Uh, I love your questions, by the way.
>> Tim Newell (53:50):
They're great questions.
>> Anthony Weaver (53:51):
Oh, um, thank you. Uh, put a lot of
thought into these. Uh, take some time.
Uh, number two, what was your worst money
mistake?
>> Tim Newell (54:03):
Oh, my worst. Well, I could, you know, there are definitely times when
I put money, I made investments that didn't work out. Uh,
and some of them were really painful. There's definitely,
you know, some times where I invested my time
in something that, that, that
ultimately blew up, that didn't, that, that didn't come
back. And that's a mistake because I could have invested that time in something else
(54:23):
that had a better return. And so,
um, ah, and,
and there's, you know, there's definitely those people in my
life who, who I was standing alongside of
at one moment and now they're far, far ahead of
me in wealth and other things. So you wonder
what mistake did I make along the way? Um, and all of
us have those thoughts. And, um,
(54:46):
I think that the
biggest mistake, though, over time for me
was not always keeping in mind I
am my biggest risk because I'm a risk
taker. And so if I'm the
biggest risk, then my money should not be taking a lot
of risk. Right. Once. Because it's hard for me
(55:06):
to make money because I got to risk a lot and build a
lot to do it. So once I have that money, it
needs to stay conservative. I need to put it
to work. I need to just let it work and not play with
it, not focus, uh, on it. It just needs to be
safe and building and let time do its business.
And the biggest
(55:29):
pain I have taken is when I didn't follow that
advice when, when I, when
I wasn't careful and worked a plan
and put the money away and, and
let it work according to a quarter plan
and, and uh, keep my money safe while I,
while I roamed out in the world doing risky things.
>> Anthony Weaver (55:51):
I think.
>> Tim Newell (55:53):
And you can say, you know, that's what you get for leaving your money
in, in a savings account that don't pay you 0.1
0.01%. Don't do that. Put your money
somewhere where it can work for you because you work hard to get that
money.
>> Anthony Weaver (56:05):
Yeah, like greenfi.
>> Tim Newell (56:07):
Yeah, but put it somewhere.
>> Anthony Weaver (56:09):
Right, right.
>> Tim Newell (56:10):
And then keep building it. Keep, keep, you
know, invest a little bit every month. You know,
you don't notice it if they take the same amount out every month and put
it in, but it builds up and, and
time is your most valuable ally
in building wealth. If you're going to do it
according to a good plan that's conservative and then builds
(56:31):
it, you'll get there. But you've got to let
time work its magic
and be conservative and be Safe
and let it build up.
>> Anthony Weaver (56:43):
I like it.
All right, number three, is there a book that
inspired your journey or changed your
perspective?
>> Tim Newell (56:52):
We talked about that, we talked about, um,
there's a lot of books I could point to, but I think
the books most recently that I've been rereading is
Samuel Clemens and Mark Twain and George Burton Shaw
and um, you know, the
journey of. Well, it sounds crazy. The journey of Huck and Jim down
the river. And that
(57:12):
experience and what it taught us about ourselves
and um, or,
or Superman by um,
George Bernard Shaw, um,
is there's such great
looks at ourselves to dissect ourselves
and dissect the society that we're in
(57:35):
that, that it helps, it helps you put aside the,
the shackles that we all wear and
enables you to see things differently. And so, so
those are the authors that most recently old
authors that I love that I return to.
Uh, and at this point in my life, that's what I took from it
was reminding me of that.
>> Anthony Weaver (57:57):
And I like that you're constantly digging
back deeper into things that you were exposed before
to kind of see, like have a bit different perspective
now that you have some more life experience to
help you. I guess I want to
say, um, drive
that notion of like, hey, this isn't
(58:19):
all that cracked up to be. There has to be another
way. Mhm.
>> Tim Newell (58:23):
Well, and also things change.
>> Anthony Weaver (58:26):
Yeah, right.
>> Tim Newell (58:27):
So things that were older and new again in some way.
What's the, what's the saying is you can, you can never dip
your cup, um, into the same river
because the river has changed and so have you.
>> Anthony Weaver (58:40):
I'm like. And you pick full of quotes
and.
>> Tim Newell (58:44):
And, and, and that's life in a way, because you're, you've
changed and you're different. And so when you look at something and you're going to take something
different from it and, and it will, it will.
Ideally, if you're open to it, it will give you what you need at the
time. M. You know, and whether
you're, whether you're reading
a book of fiction you love or a religious text or,
(59:04):
or um,
a business book or
autobiographies or whatever it may be, it'll give
you what you need at the time if you open yourself to it.
>> Anthony Weaver (59:16):
I like that.
All right, this is the fourth question,
which is what is your favorite dish to make?
>> Tim Newell (59:24):
My favorite dish to make. Well, I'm
coming to you today on a farm up in Vermont
and um, the family farm up here. And
so the favorite dish to make here is definitely,
you know, pancakes and maple syrup and the
whole works because it's a maple farm.
And, um.
>> Anthony Weaver (59:43):
Oh, even better, right?
>> Tim Newell (59:44):
Even better, right? So best maple syrup in the world is, man
up here. Um, uh, when
I'm back in California, which is. Which is. Which is where
I'm. Where I'm from. Um,
favorite dishes, favorite dish to make.
Um, uh, lately
I've been. Been making
(01:00:05):
soup. That is, I love to
cook and I love doing different things, but lately m. We've
been really focused on making soup. And, and my partner's been.
Been teaching me, you know, how to
make soup differently, how to. How to bring in
different vegetables, how to bring in different spices, how to bring
in. How to bring in,
um, nutrients that will. That will help
(01:00:27):
heal. And it's been, it's been a. It's been an interesting
journey.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:00:31):
Is there like a particular soup or just all soup in
general?
>> Tim Newell (01:00:35):
Oh, it's, it's, um,
uh, it's. There are different
forms of vegetable soups that, okay, that, um,
uh, and it's taking. It's basically walk into your
refrigerator, start pulling stuff out
quickly, turn that into something really great.
But then. But then. Which seems easy. But then
her alchemy is in, Is in what are all the
(01:00:57):
things you add to it that, that,
that turn into something that really tastes great but also
gives your body what it needs? And
she's definitely been teaching me to pay much
more attention to. To how I live
and, and. And what I put in my body. And,
and um. And if I, If I don't pay more
attention, I'll never catch her on the bike. So.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:01:19):
Right. You got to
keep up. Gotta keep up.
>> Tim Newell (01:01:24):
Gotta keep up. In my case, I cheat. I, you know,
I use electricity.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:01:28):
Electric bike.
>> Tim Newell (01:01:29):
Yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:01:31):
Yeah. I, I commend a lot of people who haven't
converted yet. Um, I've been on the verge of converting,
but I just can't because the weight of the bike
to me is just. I need the. I
need to be a little lighter so I can carry up and down the steps.
>> Tim Newell (01:01:46):
Yeah, yeah, you know, it's, It's.
It's, um. Ah, one
of the first experiences I had
this, um, trip out here in Vermont was there's a. Ah,
there's. There's some great trails near here, the Kingdom Trails
that are. That are. That are
a large network of trails throughout the hills
(01:02:06):
and mountains here that you can take. Go mountain biking
on. And um.
And you know, for many people, they might say mountain
biking, that does not sound so fun. But
take a bike that has a battery and that you Can. You
can dial it up and you can use the.
You can use the battery to drive you up the hills, and it
(01:02:26):
becomes a whole different experience. So,
okay, try it sometime. You'll be hooked.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:02:31):
Yeah, I might have to rent one and try it out.
>> Tim Newell (01:02:33):
That's what I did. I rented one of your. And I was like, oh, this
is wonderful.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:02:39):
So take my money. But again, finding the problem
that, uh, that's right. They didn't know.
So, perfect.
Um, so this is the very last question of the show, which
is where could people find out more about you?
>> Tim Newell (01:02:54):
M. Find more about me. Go, um, to greenfi
and. And, um,
uh, see. See what it is
I'm doing. That's probably the best way to find out about me. I'm on
LinkedIn. Pretty easy to find me there, and it's
easy to figure out what my path has been. I'm always
happy to talk to people about the path that
(01:03:14):
I've been on and alternative paths, uh,
and talk to people about ideas. Um, uh,
so I'm pretty easy to reach, and they're pretty
easy to reach at greenfi as well. So t
newellgreenfi.com that's where I am.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:03:29):
Perfect. Love it. Tim,
thank you so much for sharing your story, sharing your
insights, and actually, how did you even get to where you
are today? It's been such an inspirational journey, for sure.
Um, learning to not say no,
no. It's just a start to getting to that. Yes.
Um, so I want to leave you, the listener who is listening right
(01:03:50):
now, please remember to always
put water in
your suit. I just want to leave that with you.
>> Tim Newell (01:04:00):
Anthony. This is great. I really enjoyed record.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:04:03):
There we go. There you go.
>> Tim Newell (01:04:05):
Sorry, Anthony. I really enjoyed the discussion.
We're very happy to be on and, um, happy
to join again sometime, uh, when you
circle back around. So thank you, man.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:04:16):
That's awesome. Thank you. I'll be out.
We'll be safe.
>> Tim Newell (01:04:20):
All right. All right. Does that work for you?
Just that change is for most
consumers in the US is the biggest
impact that they can have on climate, that
it's bigger than putting solar on your house, though that's a good
thing to do. It's bigger than driving an EV though that's a good
thing to do. It's bigger than changing out your gas
appliances to be electric appliances. Also a good thing to
do. But the biggest impact most people can have
(00:24):
is just move their money. And that's where
what you'd call the green banking industry comes into play,
which is how to put your money to
work and do well for yourself, but have it be
consistent with your values. And there's different ways that
the different banks go about that, but that's the core.
>> Anthony Weaver (00:44):
Welcome everybody back to another exciting show of
the about that Wallet podcast, where we talk
about building wealth in so many different aspects
in different areas. And also we are focusing on the sandwich
generation, helping them build credit so that they can spend money, talk
about money, and enjoy their money in a
way that they have complete control and confidence.
(01:04):
So one of the things that I want to talk about today is
actually green banking. And I have one of the people
who is the CEO of
GreenFi, a climate focused fintech
company. I cannot hold this guy any further
back because he has so much information to bring to you.
Welcome to the show, Tim.
>> Tim Newell (01:22):
Thank you, Anthony. I really appreciate it. Love the show. I'm
really happy to be on and so I'm happy to
dive in with you.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:30):
Yeah. So for a lot of people who are
new to just fintech in
general, um, can you just talk about
a little bit about that?
>> Tim Newell (01:40):
So I guess the best way to start is
what we are. We're a financial technology company.
What that means is we're not a bank.
Um, we work with banks, we partner with
banks, um, but we really focus on
being able to pull together a series of products
to present to our customers.
(02:01):
And, and in doing that, we provide
the, the conduit to
banks, or it could be crypto
firms, or it could be, um, investment
firms who are the regulated entities.
Um, but we're, our focus is in pulling
together a financial experience
(02:22):
that matches the customers that we are
targeting. The banks
and investment companies are in the background and we're
working directly with customers. In our case,
our customers are climate conscious
consumers. Consumers, um,
who believe that the
(02:43):
climate is an important issue and they're working
in various ways in their own life to try to do
something about that. And if that for
your listeners, if that feels like that describes
them, they're in good company because there's about
100 million people in the United States
who qualify themselves that way. They think
(03:03):
that's something that's important to them, um, and
they want to try to do something about it. And my job is to,
and my company's job is to find easy,
effective ways for them to do that.
To do well with their money while doing good for the planet.
>> Anthony Weaver (03:20):
Wow, that is really good.
Because one of the things that I came across during my research
was that almost 40%
of US consumers say that they would rather
enroll in a climate linked financial product.
So can you talk a little bit more about what is
green banking?
>> Tim Newell (03:38):
Sure. So, uh, to do that, the best
way is to start with traditional banking
and to understand it. So if you are like most people
and your money, your deposits,
your cash is sitting in one of the 10 biggest
banks in the U.S. then
up to 30% of
(03:59):
um, your deposits are being used
to fund fossil fuels. That's just the
structure of our banking system. And that means
if you personally care about the climate and
you're trying to do what you can in your own life,
um, to do that, that as much as you do
behind the scenes, your bank account is undoing all
(04:20):
that you may try to
do. And so what we
focus on and what people who are in the
green banking focus on is how do you deliver
great financial products that meet the
financial goals of our customers, but do it in a way that is climate
friendly.
(04:40):
And we do that um, by
at the very beginning saying we give a pledge that
none of the deposits, none of the funds people put with us
will go to support the fossil fuels industry. And
it's a basic pledge up front. And
um, just that change
is for most consumers in the US is the
(05:01):
biggest impact that they can have on
climate. That it's bigger
than putting solar on your house though that's a good thing to do.
It's bigger than driving an EV though. That's a good thing to do.
It's bigger than changing out your gas appliances
to be electric appliances. Also a good thing to do.
Um, but the biggest impact most people can have is just move
(05:21):
their money. And that's where
you'd call the green banking industry comes into play,
which is how to put your money to
work and do well for yourself, but have
it be consistent with your values. And there's different ways
that the different banks go about that. But that's the core idea.
>> Anthony Weaver (05:40):
Yeah, because you mentioned values, um, what is the
values for GreenFi?
>> Tim Newell (05:46):
So we are climate
focused. Meaning, meaning our Our customers
are customers who, they may care about a lot of
things, um, but climate and
impacts on climate change are something that
is an important consideration for them and they try to take action
on that basis. And so we try to
(06:07):
natively build in climate, um,
protection into all of our products.
And so if you are depositing money
with us, you know that it's not going to be used to support
fossil fuels. And
you can sign up so that every time you swipe your card, every
time you swipe your debit card, that
(06:27):
we're planting trees in some of our projects around the world.
And so our customers fund
the planting of trees, a tree every about seven
seconds, 24, 7,
365. And um,
we're planting about two and a half football
fields of trees a day. When I say we, I mean our customers
(06:48):
are doing this. And last year
our customers, um, banded together
to plant four and a half million trees.
And that's reforesting, um,
areas that not only helps the climate because we're
pulling carbon out of the air, but it's also helping
ecosystems and it's helping the communities in which
those projects take place. And
(07:10):
we also offer programs like Planet
Protection, where not everyone's either
ready or able to drive an electric vehicle,
but we'll, um,
uh, offset the carbon when you pull up and have to fill
up the gas of your car if that's what you're driving, and
we'll go ahead and offset that for you
(07:30):
automatically. Um, and
so there's various,
uh, features, uh, that we
offer that are all designed to make
it easy and,
and simple to have climate impact
while just going about your business. We're not asking you to change
(07:50):
your life or go vegan or do something else.
Just go about, go about your life, deposit your money,
spend, invest, do what you need to do, but do it in a way
that you feel good about it, about being able to have an impact.
>> Anthony Weaver (08:02):
That is awesome. I like those core values, um,
because we had a prior
episode talking about ESG investing, uh,
and for the reminder for people that ESG
is environmental, social and governance.
Uh, just around your investing, make sure you're just doing something
that's good for the government, for the planet as
(08:22):
well as you can, you know as much as you
can and try to lower your footprint. So I
noticed on the website that it talks about different investment
tools and avenues. So does
Greenfire provide like education about the
ESG process and what things that you guys
are investing in?
>> Tim Newell (08:41):
So we do provide education around that. We offer
different investment funds, whether
it's a straightforward brokerage fund or it's a
retirement fund for you that will allow,
um, you to put money in a way that
is, um, consistent with what you said
with esg, with
(09:03):
a broader social benefit. Um,
uh, the Redwood Fund is our flagship fund.
Um, it's been performing very well this year, so
I'm really happy about it. Um,
uh, and it's one of the areas in which we
are most interested in
building out new products for and where
(09:23):
we're going is that. And it really
requires the use of AI. And so we're leaning heavily
into that to be able to do it, which is
as anyone looks at making investments
and is beginning to choose investments,
we want to be able to give a score for an investment
that they're looking at. And just seeing how climate
(09:43):
friendly is that how carbon intensive and what
are different alternatives that may meet the same
goal but are more climate friendly?
And that's uh, uh, some products that we're
actively working on right now.
>> Anthony Weaver (09:58):
Okay. And a lot of people, I have to say
that somebody just came to me recently
because I was, did a live episode talking about
utmas and Ugmas, uh,
for their children. And when it
came to high yield savings accounts, that came
up a lot. Now I noticed you guys offer a
(10:18):
3% APY high yield savings
account. Is this savings a little different
than your normal savings or all of your, uh,
banking is at high yield savings?
>> Tim Newell (10:28):
So all of our savings accounts, um,
have the same yield up to
3%. And uh, depending on a
couple factors, um, what I would say to
your, your listeners is,
um,
your, your money should be working for you every day.
(10:49):
And so wherever you have your money, it
should be sitting in some place that earns you 3%
or more. And why? Because you want to stay ahead of
inflation. And that's, that's how
you, that's how you, you don't see a, uh, declining
wealth as opposed to your money working for you and going
along. So, so you know, it's one, another one of those things.
(11:09):
If you're sitting in one of the big banks, you're probably
earning.01%.
>> Anthony Weaver (11:14):
Yeah.
>> Tim Newell (11:14):
On your savings. Right? Don't do that. Move your
money. Make your money work for you. Whether you put it with me or
whether you put it with someone else, make your money work for you. You deserve
it. Your money deserves it. Be nice to your money. Right?
>> Anthony Weaver (11:28):
Yeah. They need to make some friends. Make them make friends.
>> Tim Newell (11:31):
Well, they need to make more friends. That's
right.
>> Anthony Weaver (11:34):
I like the way you think so. But what got
you here, uh, in the first place, because you didn't just
think a green fire like out of thin air, did you?
>> Tim Newell (11:43):
Uh, you know, I'd like to say that I did, but
that will be a lot. Um, uh, it was
a long path here and, and I could walk all the way through that.
But. But I'll give you the
short edition, which is, um, I
actually started out in politics and government. And so
I spent the first part of my career,
(12:05):
uh, in Washington D.C. near you.
And, um, working mostly around
technology and the intersection between technology and
regulated industries
and large problems that we want to solve.
And, um, when I was
released from the government on good
(12:25):
behavior, um, I came out to California,
come out to Silicon Valley, and I
began working in startups, either
investing in startups or, um,
advising startups, or as a founder in
companies or working in startups, all
at this intersection between technology
(12:46):
and hard, um, problems.
And increasingly it was about climate. And
it was just, it was just the problem that I wanted to take on.
And it was, how do you put together financial
products and financial platforms that can help? And,
um, I had started
several companies, but I started the company
(13:08):
Common Assets with a partner of mine that
would allow individuals to invest in
the big portfolios of residential solar
assets that were being built. This was
when the solar industry was really taking off
major banks and hedge funds. Investment companies
were investing in these large portfolios of solar
(13:30):
assets. And I wanted to give individual investors
the chance to do the same thing. We built a platform to sell
solar bonds you just invest in and get returns
from solar. Uh, that company was
bought by the biggest solar company in the US at that
time, SolarCity. And I went on to
stay with them and build financial products for individuals to help
(13:51):
them buy solar systems.
And, um, uh, it was my first
introduction to working for Elon Musk,
uh, chairman of that company. And then SolarCity
was bought by another of his companies, Tesla,
that you may have heard of. And, uh,
I did the same that Tesla. I worked in
building the financial infrastructure to allow people to
(14:14):
buy cars.
And you, uh, know, I remember
sitting in the meeting and Elon looking
and saying, we want to sell a car
in one minute. And that includes the
financing. And so I'm thinking,
okay, think about your experience at the last car dealer you went
(14:35):
to and how long it took to get the financing done.
Was that more than one minute? Yes,
it was. Um,
and I thought to myself at that moment, wow,
that's not gonna happen. But I had learned a very important
rule in working for Elon, in particular,
which is never say no.
Right? Go away, figure it out, don't say no.
(14:59):
And that has been something that sort of has served me well,
which is don't say no and don't take no.
Um, uh, when I left Tesla,
I was relaxing for a while. Seven
years of working for Elon was enough for a while.
And, and a friend who was a
venture capitalist and was an
(15:20):
investor and chairman of a company, Aspiration
Partners asked me to come, come and take a look
at the, at the company. And it
was a social and
values based bank. Um, but they were
shifting to try to focus on investing in global
carbon markets. But they
had this bank that had been around for 10 years and they were trying to figure out, well,
(15:42):
what should we do with it? Like a
lot of companies at the time, fintech companies, companies
of finance, um, they had been trying to go
very rapidly to be able to do an IPO or SPAC
to try to get to the point public markets. And which means they're pouring
a lot of money in. And that was great when interest rates were
really low and investment capital was
(16:03):
pretty much free. And then one day it wasn't
and one day interest rates rates went up and investment
capital is no longer really available.
And they were losing a lot of money
and struggling with what to do. And
um, long story short, I ended up
proposing to them and working out with the chairman that
(16:25):
I buy the assets for that business
from them because I thought
that it could be restructured and I
saw value in it, but I didn't see it being
able to be done there. It needed to be done a
different way. And I
essentially acquired the business and then began
(16:45):
restructuring it. And
um, and that was a long, tough job. I
mean when, when I first took it over
there were about 400 people working there. Today
there are about 40. Wow.
And, and that's nothing to feel great about
because it felt really awful to go through that process.
(17:06):
M. But the challenge with, with
it's great to have a business that is values driven
and focused on climate and those things, but to
really have an impact, you have to be profitable and
grow. You really do. And you have to be able to
offer customers a great customer experience
and great products. And that's not what
(17:27):
I found when I started. And we spent the
better part of two years rebuilding the company
and leaned heavily into using AI.
Um, and that's why we can run but
10% of the
team that we once did and
we've cut the technology costs and the vendor
(17:47):
cost about 60%. Um,
and now we're moving forward to roll out a
whole series of new products. But that's how I got here.
I came in to look at a company. I decided that there was an
opportunity. I took the risk, I bought it out
and have been restructuring it to
build the next, what we believe will be the next great
(18:10):
consumer finance brand that's climate friendly.
Think Patagonia for your banking account.
>> Anthony Weaver (18:15):
I like that because one of the things that a lot of
banks either they overlook it, they probably see it,
but it's like there is no money in it to try to run
it sustainably. And I commend
you for just restructuring it and make it
environmentally safer, uh, than the
others in lowering that footprint and actually
(18:36):
provide meaning for your money.
>> Tim Newell (18:38):
Um, did your parents, is that
you don't have to compromise.
Um, you can have 3% yield on
your savings account and have,
and have your money have a great impact for the planet.
That's the thing is you have to, you don't have to choose between them
and, and that's the most important thing.
(18:59):
Which is, which is focus in focus with
your money on not only on how you're building it,
not only on the legacy of wealth
that you may leave to your children,
but how does that legacy of wealth fit the legacy
of your value system at the same time?
Because that's part of the wealth and part of
(19:19):
what you're leaving your children.
>> Anthony Weaver (19:21):
Now, will this 3%, um,
fluctuate as the market does, or this
is just a flat 3%.
>> Tim Newell (19:29):
All banks will fluctuate their interest rates
somewhat as the market. It'll rise as interest rates
as the Fed raises interest rates and they'll decline somewhat
as the Fed drops interest rates. Uh, the
difference is I might raise mine or lower
mine. But with the big banks you start
off at rock bottom. So
(19:49):
that's where you are until you.
>> Anthony Weaver (19:51):
Put like a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand into the.
>> Tim Newell (19:53):
Exactly. Yeah, exactly.
>> Anthony Weaver (19:55):
And then the only FDIC insured until like what,
20. Yeah. Was it 250,000?
>> Tim Newell (20:01):
FDIC insurance is 250,000 per account.
The way that we do that is that, is that we'll take
deposits and we'll spread them across a few banks
because we work with banks, um,
uh, to hold the FDIC
insured deposits. So we offer, right now we offer
our customers a million dollars worth of
(20:21):
uh, they can deposit up to a million dollars and have it BFDIC
insured.
>> Anthony Weaver (20:25):
Wow. Okay, now that is key. I did not
know that. Is a way like if there's a will,
there's a way like you said, don't say no. They gotta find a
way. I love that. Um, did your parents instill
that in you?
>> Tim Newell (20:39):
To my parents, uh, my
father was military, uh,
man, and he was in the army. And I
spent, you know, the first part of my life traveling around the
world and living in different places with there and living on
army bases. And really what was instilled was
a sense of service, which is,
(20:59):
which is you are, you need to dedicate
yourself to something bigger than yourself.
And um, it
was one of the values that was
clearly there throughout my upbringing was
that was that sense of service. And
the second thing that came out of that was that
(21:23):
working hard and personal integrity
were the. Sorry, I would say the values that definitely
he passed on, um, and
were part of all our upbringing. All of my siblings
eventually, um, went into the military
themselves and uh, served around the
world. And I, I took a slightly
(21:43):
different path and instead served, served
in Congress and you know, served in the congressional staff and served
the White House staff in Washington. But
it's all service. And I still think of
what we do today as a service. It's a service to our
customers. It's a service to the values that
we have.
>> Anthony Weaver (22:02):
Yeah, I could really
listen to like, your story for like hours because I have
so many more questions about like acquiring
the business, uh, dealing with the employees. How do you actually
hire and fire? What is that process?
I mean, how much time you got?
Keep going. Okay. Um, because
(22:25):
I do want to get to that point because it goes back to your
values of serving. Um, and like
you said earlier that it didn't feel good, but it was
a must need done.
So how do you determine on what to cut
or who to cut in that industry?
>> Tim Newell (22:42):
It's really tough. And um,
anytime you're affecting people's lives and families, it's
really, really tough. And,
um, and for the most part they're all good people.
And so that doesn't make it, make it easier. You know,
there are some people who, who
knowingly or unknowingly raise their hand and say, I don't really want
(23:02):
to be a part of this, either by their actions
or by what they say. And,
um, so those are easier. There were also
a group of the team who
they thought they were joining a big company that's about to go public.
And when they found what it really was going to be
was a startup with both
(23:24):
startup risk and startup speed and startup requirements,
then I encouraged all of
the, the employees to think hard about
did they want that environment? Because it's not right for everybody.
And everyone should know their own risk tolerance and
what they need. And if what you really needed at
that point in your life was just to have very
(23:45):
regular hours and regular job and
very steady and not much change, sometimes that's what
people need, but that's not what, uh, typically a
technology startup delivers. And so
there was a group of people who clearly that was their choice.
And then you have to really just dive in and start
digging into what are your requirements, what do
(24:05):
you really need to run the business? Because again, you have to be
able to run the business profitably or be heading toward
profitability, because that's the only way you can scale up.
And the only way you can really have impact on, on either
consumers or the, or the climate for us is to scale up.
And so we, we did a bottoms up analysis. What do we
need? What's, what's the. What do we really think
(24:26):
we can get away with what we need
for marketing and operations
and building products and compliance
and technology and engineering and those things.
And then I, uh, sat down with the
leaders and really
(24:46):
let them drive in each of their areas. Okay,
what do we think the best team from what we have
to that could go forward? And
you have a group of good people that you trust
or that you come to trust. You work together enough
and you trust them and you move forward.
(25:07):
So there's a group of seven or eight people
on the management team who feel like we've just been
through the wars together and we trust each other,
we know each other. And when you have
something hard to take on,
it's like a, it's like a sports team that has a tradition of
winning. You're used to taking on, um, hard problems and
(25:27):
solving them, and so you continue thinking that you're doing
that. And so when you have to do one of these,
you know, letting people go or working through that,
it's just part of the hard problems you need to solve. It's
heartbreaking, but you have to do it.
>> Anthony Weaver (25:41):
So is it easier to,
um, like acquire a business or start it from
the ground up? Because you hear a lot of people that want to, oh, I want to start
my own business, I want to start my own business
versus acquiring a business that's already
in your niche, something that you're proud of
and you can really run with.
>> Tim Newell (26:02):
Each has their pluses and minuses. Right. If
you're acquiring a business that is already up
and running, you've taken some of the risk out of it,
and you can grow faster from
there, but you're Also taking on um,
existing problems and maybe a
legacy way of doing business or thinking
that can be difficult to change
(26:24):
and it can be wrenching change. Whereas
uh, with a startup you're starting from zero
and so it takes a while,
uh, to get some momentum and some growth.
Um, but at the same time you get to build it exactly
the way you think it needs to be built and
um, without any legacy issues holding you back.
(26:47):
Um, so it's really a case by case. Which is the
better way to do it. Do you want to take on that
challenge? I'm going to start something with myself or one person or
another person and build it all,
um, uh, and grow it from there. Or
do you want to take on the challenge of taking something
that has some real value in it, but you're going to have to restructure it?
(27:08):
Um, restructuring is not for the faint of heart,
you know, um, because you're, you're,
you're in that proverbial car driving down the
highway at 60 miles an hour and you're
rebuilding the damn car while you're, while you're driving,
you know, and there's, you know,
it's different than having the car in a garage building a piece by piece
(27:28):
and then saying let's take it out and see how it drives.
>> Anthony Weaver (27:31):
Mhm, I like that analogy. Um,
we usually do the airplane model was like
we're flying a plane and trying to build the wings at the time.
Uh, because when you go into the hiring piece,
do you look for a, ah, students or just people that are like really
excited about one niche or they, they got like side
projects or they have like something they've proven
(27:54):
in a different job. Because the reason why
I asked is because a lot of people right now
are losing their jobs by
so many different means, especially from the government are
getting cut left or right and
sometimes they either did side projects or that
was their specialty at work. So when
(28:14):
you go to look at a resume or if your team looks at a resume,
what are you guys looking for specifically?
>> Tim Newell (28:21):
I'm looking for a few things. Um,
uh, one, um, I'm,
I'm looking for someone who
really has some knowledge in the area that
they're, that they're working in. And
especially as technology
drives businesses forward and as AI
(28:43):
really drives us all forward, that,
that you end up focusing on people who have some real
expertise. Um,
and we can talk about the challenge for young
people coming into the workforce and with that,
um, because I think that's real. Um,
but we're looking for someone who really Comes with some knowledge.
(29:03):
We're looking for people that, um, who
are player coaches. What that means is, is that,
is that we generally don't have managers.
We have, we have people who are getting in and doing the business
and then over time they have, they have people working with them to do
it, but, but they have the ability
to do it themselves and they are the primary
(29:24):
expert in their area. And
as opposed to managing people who manage people
who can do it, um, you,
we really look for people who, who can do it
themselves and move forward. So,
um, I also put a lot of
emphasis on, on whether
(29:45):
people have an
understanding of their risk profile.
Right. Which we talked about before, which is
you have to understand this is the right place for you.
And when you're in a business that by its nature is going to
pivot a lot, where you come in one day and your, your
job just changed and you come in the next day and
now you have two jobs that you didn't have before. Some
(30:08):
people thrive in that environment. And you're looking
for that.
>> Anthony Weaver (30:11):
Yeah, right.
>> Tim Newell (30:12):
You're looking for someone who wants to move fast and
break things and, and go. And who, you
can't really phase them. Right. You give them a
new problem, they solve a problem, they get a problem, they solve a problem.
Because that's what it's all about. Find a problem, fix a
problem. Find a problem, fix a problem. Um,
and they, they, they need a, a level
(30:32):
of resilience that
is, um, that is
something that you can't really replace,
that kind of resilience. And um,
it is, it is, it is such
a crucial part of this because almost the most important
thing about startups like this or
(30:54):
about, uh, building these businesses is don't quit.
Just don't quit. Because almost all of
these businesses, whether you're fundraising or whether you're building the
business or you're trying to sell or you're
looking for that job. It's all no,
no, no, no, no, no. Yes. Right.
So you have to realize no does not mean stop.
(31:15):
No is just one step closer to yes.
And, and you, you want to find people who just
don't quit. And, and I
would, I would take that over someone
who's the most brilliant person
any day of the week, any sick, any eight days of the week
to do that. Just don't quit.
>> Anthony Weaver (31:35):
So, okay, that is awesome.
So that. But also it's like, how do
you prove that within that first few moments of time that you have
with somebody, unless they share with you that story
of like, man, I was Just struggling with this. And I just
took me like, forever until I went home.
I was in the shower and I was like, ha, I got
(31:56):
it. Now I can actually solve it.
>> Tim Newell (31:58):
Like, you get to
the point where you can start to pick up the signals and
okay, you ask the right questions and you,
um, uh,
one of the great interviewers of this that I found was
when I was coming out of government, I, I.
One of the spots I considered going to work was Amazon
(32:19):
M. And I remember sitting in a meeting with
Jeff Bezos while he, while he walked through this, and
it was none of the normal questions.
It was all. He was testing how I thought he was testing how
fast I could think he was testing
how I did with the. With.
With questions that were. Basically had no answer,
(32:41):
but he expected an answer. Right.
Um, uh, and, and at one
point he said, you know, you came in to interview for this job,
I want you to do this job instead.
And he was looking for how would I react to that?
And, um. And so part
of it is just you get to learn how to, how to talk to people and how
(33:01):
to. How to dig in and, and then you can also just
be honest with them. Here's what it requires. Are you that person?
And do you think you're that person? Right, Because.
Because you quickly find out if they're that person
once they're on board. So trust me. And,
um. And if they're not that person, they'll be miserable. They won't
be effective. And you know, their, their peer, their
(33:22):
peers will see it pretty quickly.
>> Anthony Weaver (33:24):
And so like, they say they're a Braids wrong with their m. Abras.
>> Tim Newell (33:26):
Yeah. And I don't mean to say that you're either that person or you're not.
Right. Someone could, could
be that person for, you know, in
greenfi, because they love it. They have the ideas,
they have some experience put to work, and they just love that build.
But then another context, another business, another type of
job, they're just not right.
(33:47):
And so it doesn't mean you are or you aren't. It
just means find the place where, where you can put that to work.
The other thing is I always just look for people smarter than us,
you know, which some, some people would laugh and say, well, that's not hard, Tim.
But, um, uh,
you know, I mean, so, you know, the old, the old saw, which
(34:07):
is A players hire A players, B,
players are C players, right? You hire
A players all the time. The, the biggest
benefits you get in the business, the biggest
accelerant for your business is really Great people.
Right. The biggest drag is people who are, who are not
as good. So those are the most important decisions you make is who are
(34:28):
you bringing on.
My job as a CEO is relatively simple.
Not easy, but it's simple. Which is set a
vision for the business.
>> Anthony Weaver (34:36):
Mhm.
>> Tim Newell (34:37):
Um, hire a team to execute
against that vision, to work with them, to set the strategy and then give them
the resources to do their jobs. Right. That's what I
do. And ah, so the, the most important
part of that is hiring that team to get it done.
>> Anthony Weaver (34:52):
I like that because, you know,
when like working for teams and I used to
manage multiple teams is that I always
find the laziest person on the team and I'll
have them lead the projects. Mostly because they'll
find you're a cruel.
>> Tim Newell (35:07):
Man, just a cruel man.
>> Anthony Weaver (35:10):
Because I will have them lead it, mostly because
they have a, A, the most disgruntled and just
doesn't understand the process. But
they find things that are outside of the norm to
make it simpler, make it easy to use
and everybody winds up liking it. And I was like, I like
this. But it's a rotational thing, so I don't let them, um,
(35:31):
you know, obviously the projects come and go. So it's just kind of one
of.
>> Tim Newell (35:34):
Those, I think, I think laziness
can be a great personal strength.
M. Right. That's the person who's going to say, no, I
don't want to do it the way you've been doing it because there's an easier
way.
>> Anthony Weaver (35:46):
Yeah.
>> Tim Newell (35:47):
Right. And you want to encourage that about people.
Right. You know, you have to, you have to be
willing to hear no or hear do it different or
we don't want to do it that way.
>> Anthony Weaver (35:58):
Yeah. And um, I have to say that a lot of people coming
from the government that has
been in the government since like high school, work study, that there was like, I
don't, I don't understand, I don't compute. This is the way it's
been. This is the way we like to do it. I don't like to
take anything extra. You know, this is the
way it is and it irritates me a
(36:18):
lot. So that's one of the reasons why I had to move around.
>> Tim Newell (36:21):
You know, I felt really lucky, uh, in my time
in government because I got, I got to, I worked for some great
people. Norman, who's a fabulous member of
Congress from Silicon Valley, and
um, uh, and then Bill Clinton and
Al Gore in the White House.
Um, and I got to work on issues that were all
(36:42):
about growth and change. Because it was all about using
science and technology to address hard problems.
And, um, I would not have done very well
in an environment that was about doing something else.
Processing loan applications or doing something
else. You got to know yourself. You got to know.
Because everyone can be innovative. You just got to know where is the right place for you
(37:03):
to do that.
>> Anthony Weaver (37:04):
Yeah, I like that.
So, um, because we're talking about innovation, this brings
us up to the third segment, which is the features. Um,
what skills or habits that you feel they will
take you. Uh, you can either go personal, even
with your business, to that next level.
>> Tim Newell (37:22):
Okay, I'll do a mix.
So skills and habits. Um,
uh, I talked about one of them,
which is. Is. Which is in
all of these challenges. Don't quit.
It's resilience. And more
than being brilliant, more than
(37:42):
having the best idea. Ideas are
cheap. Yeah, uh, they
are, right? People who can execute ideas,
that's more often about showing up and just
grinding away at it because you're really
focused on getting it done. And you just don't
quit. No matter how many obstacles are thrown at you, you just don't
quit. So that's a really crucial
(38:05):
skill for people to have. The second
thing that I would say is that your
operating system in business, as it is in other
places, is people. In order to get
it. Again, ideas are cheap. But in order to get anything done, in
order to build something, you need to get
people to see your vision. You need to get people to work
(38:25):
with you and build that vision.
You need to get people to want to invest in that vision.
You need to get people willing to buy your products.
Right? That, that any success you
have with, with. With some exceptions,
but rarely is. Is going to come
because you figured out that,
that working with people was your
(38:47):
route to succeed. And,
um, in a sense, I was lucky. I started off in
politics and government where, where that was sort of
M90 of. It was understanding people's motivations,
their concerns, their interest, and trying to find ways
to, to. To be able to bridge those.
Um, and it is the same
(39:09):
thing. Same thing in business, same thing in startups. Your
operating system is people. And I would take someone
who's really, really good at
working with people to someone who is just an expert any
day of the week.
>> Anthony Weaver (39:23):
Interesting.
>> Tim Newell (39:23):
Is that helpful?
>> Anthony Weaver (39:24):
Yeah, that was really good.
So is there a book that you recommend that
you've read that kind of help you out understanding people?
>> Tim Newell (39:32):
So I'll, uh, answer this question
maybe in the way that you
don't think I would, or maybe Some of the guests don't, which is. I have always
been a reader. I read a lot of books and
I could pick out a business book or I could say something,
but I think that
I'd recommend something else. Two of my very favorite
(39:53):
authors were Samuel Clemens, Mark
Twain and George Bernard Shaw,
both satirists. Both spent most of their
careers looking at people and. And
dissecting us all. And
with Mark Twain,
(40:14):
the focus was on making us look
at ourselves and not take ourselves seriously and
question ourselves and question our
motivations. And, um,
he had the very famous quote that whenever you find yourself on the side of the
majority, it's time to pause and reflect.
Um, wow. Uh, which is. Which is a great quote
(40:35):
that I've loved from him. And. And,
um. And then the other that I wanted to bring up
was George Bernard Shaw, who was similar,
an English author who, um. But.
But what? His real lane
was focusing on looking at social systems
and how we exist in social systems and how ridiculous
(40:56):
it can be and. But how we get there. It's like
if Mark Twain focused on the nonsense that we are,
then Shaw focused
on how do we build that nonsense? Why do we
build it? Um, and if
you're trying to build things and if
you're trying to do something different,
(41:19):
then it really helps to
cultivate a sense of questioning.
Question yourself, question the structure, question
the practices or how it was done, because you're trying to change that
and you really need to be able to do it. And so,
um, uh, I recently
reread a bunch of works of both Samuel
(41:40):
Clemens and George Burn Shaw as I was going through this
building process. Um,
and it's a wonderful sort of witty way of
reteaching ourselves, that lesson. And,
um, one of the. One of the best quotes, if anybody's
thinking about starting a business or doing a startup
or anything else, was George Burton Shaw, who
said, very famously, the reasonable man adapts himself to the
(42:02):
world, and therefore all progress depends on the
unreasonable man.
>> Anthony Weaver (42:08):
Okay, it's going to take me. I'm going to have to
rewind it a little bit. I'm going to have to rewind it
myself and play that back because I
would definitely have to live in that
moment to figure out where am
I on that spectrum to
figure out my next move.
>> Tim Newell (42:27):
And all of us, all of us are
different points in the spectrum at different times. Right?
None of us are one thing or another. Right?
Um.
>> Anthony Weaver (42:36):
Uh, and like Walt Whitman said, uh, well,
we all contain multitudes.
>> Tim Newell (42:41):
We. We contain multitudes. And whose voice
do you listen to of that multitude at any moment
in time, and which sort of takes us
to. Often I get that the
question of how did I get here on this path?
And there was no path.
There were just challenges. And there
(43:02):
was a, uh, at each step, there was a challenge that
intrigued me, that excited me,
that I couldn't ignore, that I wanted to take on.
And that's it. And you take on that challenge,
and that challenge leads you to the next challenge,
and that challenge leads you to the next challenge.
And. And it is, it is. It is
(43:23):
very much
where most of us who are in the. Certainly in the business that I do,
that's how they get to where they got to, which is they.
They. They weren't afraid. They weren't
afraid to listen to their questions. They weren't afraid to.
To do something that was different. They weren't afraid to fail.
I failed. I've had businesses fail. I've been
(43:43):
fired. I've been. I mean, I've been through all those
things that, that all of your listeners have all been through
themselves. And you find yourself picking yourself up
and say, okay, what's the next challenge?
>> Anthony Weaver (43:55):
So, uh, what is your next challenge?
>> Tim Newell (43:57):
This one is taking. This is. This is my challenge right
now. I'm going to be building this one for a little while. And the
idea of, of building a
modern consumer finance
brand that is inherently
built to not only
provide great financial products and help people meet
(44:18):
their financial goals, but do it in a way that
is climate friendly and protects the planet, that
just feels like, to me, it's like I'm really excited about that
every day. It's a great thing to be doing right now.
Feels like. Feels like I've been leading through this for a while. It's sort of a
full circle for me. My first inside
job, my first job that was not just laboring somewhere.
(44:40):
M. I did enough of those. My first inside
job was one summer when I was in college.
I worked in a bank as a teller.
>> Anthony Weaver (44:48):
Wow.
>> Tim Newell (44:49):
And it was a little community bank on a
army base in Kansas, Fort Riley. And so I
worked as a teller at Fort Riley National Bank. And that was my first
job. First inside job. And. Right. And now
come full circle. I'm back. I'm back to the bank.
>> Anthony Weaver (45:04):
Have you decided to partner with them since then?
>> Tim Newell (45:07):
Uh, you know, they. That little bank was bought by another bank.
Was bought by another bank. And, you know.
Okay, on it goes.
>> Anthony Weaver (45:15):
Yeah. Um, man, this is awesome.
And thank you for sharing your story.
So is there anything that you want to do you, uh, want
to say to the audience, before we dive into the final four
questions.
>> Tim Newell (45:28):
Um, I think I've said a
lot of what I, I would pass on.
Um, there's one thing I would add which is,
uh, I'm on the board of a. Of an organization
that was originally started by my. By my. My
brother, Pete Newell. The, the. Um.
The. The organization, the. The. The
(45:49):
um. Common mission that is.
That is, that runs courses
in universities throughout the country.
And the purpose of those. Of
those courses is to teach
innovation to students. And
what they do is they take on hard problems
(46:10):
and they form a team and they take on a problem.
And the problems are usually problems that have some national
significance. They can be national security, they can
be other things. And they spend a
semester trying to come up with a solution to that problem
that could also be a business. And so
it's a great program. Um,
(46:31):
and hacking for
defense, hacking for diplomacy, hacking for their. Hacking for
classes. And one of the things
you watch those students go through is
they'll get the problem and they'll immediately think of a
solution to the problem. And then we say
to them is, you got to get out of the building. You got to go out and talk to
(46:51):
the people in there. You got to figure out what is real. And what
inevitably happens is that their initial
conclusion was wrong. And so they
start off on a big high saying, we got this great problem, we've
got a solution to it. And then they go through their first interviews
and they find out, no, it's not actually the
solution to it.
>> Anthony Weaver (47:10):
Right?
>> Tim Newell (47:10):
And. And what we see is them going through this up
and down and up and down as they
generate new MVPs, we call
them minimum viable products. And they do
it again and again until they. Until they really get to the
solution. But it takes a lot of.
It takes a lot of up and down. And what it
(47:30):
really takes is, is that you got to take that idea and you
got to get out of the building. You got to go talk to people
and ask your customers or potential customers, wherever they may
be, is this really a solution? Is this really
what you want? Forget what I want to do for what I'm interested
do you want this is. You want this enough to buy it,
right? And so, so get out of the building and go
(47:51):
ask questions. Because what you really want is you're looking for a problem. You're
trying to solve a problem. And the hardest thing is you got to understand that
problem first from your customer's perspective, which may
not be yours.
>> Anthony Weaver (48:01):
Yeah. And it brings up the book,
the dip. Um, I'M not sure if
you read that yet.
>> Tim Newell (48:08):
I haven't read it yet. I know of it, but I haven't read it yet.
>> Anthony Weaver (48:10):
Okay. It's exactly what you just said. Usually most
of those books you can just finish the first chapter, you kind of get the gist of
the rest of them is just stories. Um, but it's just talking
about going through that initial dip
of like, I'm wrong now, it's just kind of
like, what are you going to do to kind of get out of
that diploma and actually create a
(48:30):
moment for you to shine. And that's what it is.
It's amazing. Um, and it's a great. You
bringing back books that I haven't read in a while that I need to pick back
up again. So greatly appreciate this.
Um, so you ready for the final four?
>> Tim Newell (48:44):
Yes. Let's do it.
>> Anthony Weaver (48:45):
All righty.
Question one. What does
wealth mean to you?
>> Tim Newell (49:01):
Great question. Um,
I'm going to answer this in two ways. Wealth
means security and
freedom.
Security, um, in that we all need a
basic level of security. It's really
hard to be innovative and really hard
(49:24):
to be brave and really hard to
stick to things if you don't have a
basic level of financial security. Mhm.
And so however you get that, that is part of
getting to where you want to go, which is getting to a basic level
of financial security. And everybody defines that differently. Um,
but it doesn't have to be that much. But that
(49:46):
financial security, that's wealth.
And because it enables you
to take a little risk to try a different job,
to try startup, to try,
um, uh, a career
move that, that you might
not have done otherwise. Um,
(50:07):
and what I would definitely
counsel people is do whatever it takes. Have the
side job, what, work at something that's not exciting,
but, but build up that, that,
that basic financial security that
you need. Because, because that security is wealth.
It's not about the, the dollars that you have. It's just, do you,
(50:28):
do you have security? Does your family have
security? Because it's pretty hard to do things if you're
worried about where your family's going to be in a month
or, or in two months. Right. That takes up a lot of
bandwidth in your head, if that's what you're worried about.
Um, the second thing is that, is that wealth
is freedom and it's not freedom in
(50:49):
that you don't have to go by the rules. Though it seems to be
that there are a lot of people in our country who think that's what it
means. Um, that if you're
really wealthy, then the rules don't apply to you. When
I think about that, what I think of, it gives you the
freedom to try
things that you might not be able to try. It gives
you the freedom to extend yourself
(51:12):
and to take some risks that
you might not have been able to try. It also, very
importantly to me, it gives you the freedom
to live by your values.
And it can be tough
to live by your values when you are hand
to mouth and
(51:33):
you got bills and debts and everything else. And you got to put
that, you got to put that first for your family.
And so wealth is getting to the point where you
can start living according to your
values. And,
and I think that's just really, really important to
be able to have. And it means we have to think about what our
(51:53):
values are. But. Yes, but to be able to do that.
And that's not. Again, that's not about the total dollars.
That's about m. Am I, am I
feeling like I'm free enough to be able to do that?
Um, and that
living according to your values is, you know, was
drilled into me when I was growing up and has been part
(52:14):
of my career throughout. And it's something that's just important to me.
And, uh, I feel very lucky that I have,
that I've had some fortune as I built companies and done some other
things and that I can, can
indulge in, in really exploring
how to live according to my values. And it's
a constant challenge every day to try to do that.
(52:36):
And finally, people say that you can't,
that money can't buy time. And
it's right. We all have 24 hours in a day. But in a
way it can, it can. Because
having wealth enables you to engage
in more projects, to invest in things,
to participate and
(52:58):
support a community organization that's
doing something that you really think is important.
Um, to engage in activities,
whether you like biking or hiking or whatever it is,
and also to support companies and support endeavors.
It enables you to extend the, the, the
(53:19):
things that you can get involved in and
extend your range more than just the
hours in a day you have to work.
And so wealth, wealth, you can buy time,
but you can, you can buy an extension of your
time. In that sense, our days are
limited, but we can make those days more full.
>> Anthony Weaver (53:42):
Love it. Um, that's like. It's a
whole nother episode.
Uh, I love your questions, by the way.
>> Tim Newell (53:50):
They're great questions.
>> Anthony Weaver (53:51):
Oh, um, thank you. Uh, put a lot of
thought into these. Uh, take some time.
Uh, number two, what was your worst money
mistake?
>> Tim Newell (54:03):
Oh, my worst. Well, I could, you know, there are definitely times when
I put money, I made investments that didn't work out. Uh,
and some of them were really painful. There's definitely,
you know, some times where I invested my time
in something that, that, that
ultimately blew up, that didn't, that, that didn't come
back. And that's a mistake because I could have invested that time in something else
(54:23):
that had a better return. And so,
um, ah, and,
and there's, you know, there's definitely those people in my
life who, who I was standing alongside of
at one moment and now they're far, far ahead of
me in wealth and other things. So you wonder
what mistake did I make along the way? Um, and all of
us have those thoughts. And, um,
(54:46):
I think that the
biggest mistake, though, over time for me
was not always keeping in mind I
am my biggest risk because I'm a risk
taker. And so if I'm the
biggest risk, then my money should not be taking a lot
of risk. Right. Once. Because it's hard for me
(55:06):
to make money because I got to risk a lot and build a
lot to do it. So once I have that money, it
needs to stay conservative. I need to put it
to work. I need to just let it work and not play with
it, not focus, uh, on it. It just needs to be
safe and building and let time do its business.
And the biggest
(55:29):
pain I have taken is when I didn't follow that
advice when, when I, when
I wasn't careful and worked a plan
and put the money away and, and
let it work according to a quarter plan
and, and uh, keep my money safe while I,
while I roamed out in the world doing risky things.
>> Anthony Weaver (55:51):
I think.
>> Tim Newell (55:53):
And you can say, you know, that's what you get for leaving your money
in, in a savings account that don't pay you 0.1
0.01%. Don't do that. Put your money
somewhere where it can work for you because you work hard to get that
money.
>> Anthony Weaver (56:05):
Yeah, like greenfi.
>> Tim Newell (56:07):
Yeah, but put it somewhere.
>> Anthony Weaver (56:09):
Right, right.
>> Tim Newell (56:10):
And then keep building it. Keep, keep, you
know, invest a little bit every month. You know,
you don't notice it if they take the same amount out every month and put
it in, but it builds up and, and
time is your most valuable ally
in building wealth. If you're going to do it
according to a good plan that's conservative and then builds
(56:31):
it, you'll get there. But you've got to let
time work its magic
and be conservative and be Safe
and let it build up.
>> Anthony Weaver (56:43):
I like it.
All right, number three, is there a book that
inspired your journey or changed your
perspective?
>> Tim Newell (56:52):
We talked about that, we talked about, um,
there's a lot of books I could point to, but I think
the books most recently that I've been rereading is
Samuel Clemens and Mark Twain and George Burton Shaw
and um, you know, the
journey of. Well, it sounds crazy. The journey of Huck and Jim down
the river. And that
(57:12):
experience and what it taught us about ourselves
and um, or,
or Superman by um,
George Bernard Shaw, um,
is there's such great
looks at ourselves to dissect ourselves
and dissect the society that we're in
(57:35):
that, that it helps, it helps you put aside the,
the shackles that we all wear and
enables you to see things differently. And so, so
those are the authors that most recently old
authors that I love that I return to.
Uh, and at this point in my life, that's what I took from it
was reminding me of that.
>> Anthony Weaver (57:57):
And I like that you're constantly digging
back deeper into things that you were exposed before
to kind of see, like have a bit different perspective
now that you have some more life experience to
help you. I guess I want to
say, um, drive
that notion of like, hey, this isn't
(58:19):
all that cracked up to be. There has to be another
way. Mhm.
>> Tim Newell (58:23):
Well, and also things change.
>> Anthony Weaver (58:26):
Yeah, right.
>> Tim Newell (58:27):
So things that were older and new again in some way.
What's the, what's the saying is you can, you can never dip
your cup, um, into the same river
because the river has changed and so have you.
>> Anthony Weaver (58:40):
I'm like. And you pick full of quotes
and.
>> Tim Newell (58:44):
And, and, and that's life in a way, because you're, you've
changed and you're different. And so when you look at something and you're going to take something
different from it and, and it will, it will.
Ideally, if you're open to it, it will give you what you need at the
time. M. You know, and whether
you're, whether you're reading
a book of fiction you love or a religious text or,
(59:04):
or um,
a business book or
autobiographies or whatever it may be, it'll give
you what you need at the time if you open yourself to it.
>> Anthony Weaver (59:16):
I like that.
All right, this is the fourth question,
which is what is your favorite dish to make?
>> Tim Newell (59:24):
My favorite dish to make. Well, I'm
coming to you today on a farm up in Vermont
and um, the family farm up here. And
so the favorite dish to make here is definitely,
you know, pancakes and maple syrup and the
whole works because it's a maple farm.
And, um.
>> Anthony Weaver (59:43):
Oh, even better, right?
>> Tim Newell (59:44):
Even better, right? So best maple syrup in the world is, man
up here. Um, uh, when
I'm back in California, which is. Which is. Which is where
I'm. Where I'm from. Um,
favorite dishes, favorite dish to make.
Um, uh, lately
I've been. Been making
(01:00:05):
soup. That is, I love to
cook and I love doing different things, but lately m. We've
been really focused on making soup. And, and my partner's been.
Been teaching me, you know, how to
make soup differently, how to. How to bring in
different vegetables, how to bring in different spices, how to bring
in. How to bring in,
um, nutrients that will. That will help
(01:00:27):
heal. And it's been, it's been a. It's been an interesting
journey.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:00:31):
Is there like a particular soup or just all soup in
general?
>> Tim Newell (01:00:35):
Oh, it's, it's, um,
uh, it's. There are different
forms of vegetable soups that, okay, that, um,
uh, and it's taking. It's basically walk into your
refrigerator, start pulling stuff out
quickly, turn that into something really great.
But then. But then. Which seems easy. But then
her alchemy is in, Is in what are all the
(01:00:57):
things you add to it that, that,
that turn into something that really tastes great but also
gives your body what it needs? And
she's definitely been teaching me to pay much
more attention to. To how I live
and, and. And what I put in my body. And,
and um. And if I, If I don't pay more
attention, I'll never catch her on the bike. So.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:01:19):
Right. You got to
keep up. Gotta keep up.
>> Tim Newell (01:01:24):
Gotta keep up. In my case, I cheat. I, you know,
I use electricity.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:01:28):
Electric bike.
>> Tim Newell (01:01:29):
Yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:01:31):
Yeah. I, I commend a lot of people who haven't
converted yet. Um, I've been on the verge of converting,
but I just can't because the weight of the bike
to me is just. I need the. I
need to be a little lighter so I can carry up and down the steps.
>> Tim Newell (01:01:46):
Yeah, yeah, you know, it's, It's.
It's, um. Ah, one
of the first experiences I had
this, um, trip out here in Vermont was there's a. Ah,
there's. There's some great trails near here, the Kingdom Trails
that are. That are. That are
a large network of trails throughout the hills
(01:02:06):
and mountains here that you can take. Go mountain biking
on. And um.
And you know, for many people, they might say mountain
biking, that does not sound so fun. But
take a bike that has a battery and that you Can. You
can dial it up and you can use the.
You can use the battery to drive you up the hills, and it
(01:02:26):
becomes a whole different experience. So,
okay, try it sometime. You'll be hooked.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:02:31):
Yeah, I might have to rent one and try it out.
>> Tim Newell (01:02:33):
That's what I did. I rented one of your. And I was like, oh, this
is wonderful.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:02:39):
So take my money. But again, finding the problem
that, uh, that's right. They didn't know.
So, perfect.
Um, so this is the very last question of the show, which
is where could people find out more about you?
>> Tim Newell (01:02:54):
M. Find more about me. Go, um, to greenfi
and. And, um,
uh, see. See what it is
I'm doing. That's probably the best way to find out about me. I'm on
LinkedIn. Pretty easy to find me there, and it's
easy to figure out what my path has been. I'm always
happy to talk to people about the path that
(01:03:14):
I've been on and alternative paths, uh,
and talk to people about ideas. Um, uh,
so I'm pretty easy to reach, and they're pretty
easy to reach at greenfi as well. So t
newellgreenfi.com that's where I am.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:03:29):
Perfect. Love it. Tim,
thank you so much for sharing your story, sharing your
insights, and actually, how did you even get to where you
are today? It's been such an inspirational journey, for sure.
Um, learning to not say no,
no. It's just a start to getting to that. Yes.
Um, so I want to leave you, the listener who is listening right
(01:03:50):
now, please remember to always
put water in
your suit. I just want to leave that with you.
>> Tim Newell (01:04:00):
Anthony. This is great. I really enjoyed record.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:04:03):
There we go. There you go.
>> Tim Newell (01:04:05):
Sorry, Anthony. I really enjoyed the discussion.
We're very happy to be on and, um, happy
to join again sometime, uh, when you
circle back around. So thank you, man.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:04:16):
That's awesome. Thank you. I'll be out.
We'll be safe.
>> Tim Newell (01:04:20):
All right. All right. Does that work for you?
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