402 - Future Planning for Entrepreneurs with Special Needs Families (with Pro members Marc, Lisa & Ed) - Web Design Business with Josh Hall

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 4 (00:02):
Welcome to the Web Design Business Podcast with
your host, Josh Hall.
Helping you build a web designbusiness that gives you freedom
and a lifestyle you love.

Josh Hall (00:12):
Hello, my friend.
It's great to have you here.
This is another special editionepisode of the podcast.
As you may or may not haveheard, I'm currently away.
My daughter had an intensivesurgery.
At the time of publishing thisepisode, this would have been
last week.
And we have a very intenserecovery period that we're
helping her through right now.
So this was a conversation Ihad recently, which is really

(00:34):
timely because it's with a fewmembers of my community who also
have special needs kiddos, orin some cases, special needs
great grand kiddos.
And this is something that I'vetalked about with certain
members privately in pro aboutsome of the challenges as a
special needs parentpreneur.
All entrepreneurs who areparents have a certain set of

(00:56):
challenges.
And as somebody who has aspecial needs kiddo, or in some
cases multiple special needskiddos, the challenges are just,
you know, two, three, and 10xwith the amount of appointments
that we have, the amount offinancial challenges sometimes,
depending on what's covered,what's not, a slew of
challenges.
And it can feel very, verylonely.

(01:17):
But I've been fortunate, Ithink, because I've been public
about having a kiddo withspecial needs and being an
entrepreneur, it's brought somereally incredible people inside
of Web Center Pro who are insimilar positions.
And you're going to meet threeof them.
I want to say a big thanks toMark, Lisa, and Ed who are
joining me in this chat, whichwe would normally have privately
in pro, but I asked them ifthey would be open to talking

(01:38):
about planning for futureplanning for kiddos with special
needs as an entrepreneur.
And they were all open to comepublicly and talk about this.
So I really, really hope ithelps you.
Even if you don't have a kiddowith special needs, if you're a
parentpreneur, everything thatwe talk about is applicable to
you because it changes how yourun your day-to-day business and

(01:59):
it changes how you plan yourfuture.
So that's what we're going todive into.
Again, big thanks to Mark, Ed,and Lisa for joining me here and
being open to talking aboutthis publicly.
You can check all theirwebsites out by going to the
show notes for this episode.
Link is in the description.
And again, we're going to diveinto things that will help you
as a parentpreneur.
But if you are like us, andthere's other members of Pro who

(02:20):
are in this position too, theseare just three folks who I just
recently had conversations withabout this.
But if you're in this position,I really hope it helps because
it can feel you can feel lonelyin this, but uh you're not
alone.
And we're here together.
And thank God for freaking webdesign and entrepreneurship,
which allows us to have thisfreedom, schedule, and time

(02:40):
availability to be able to carefor our kiddos.
So, anywho, here's theconversation.
I hope you enjoy it.
And I hope to see you uh backon our regular rotation of
episodes and content here as mylittle sweetie Bria gets going
and we start the recoveryprocess.
So thank you all for yoursupport and messages and prayers
for her as we've gone through amajor surgery.
And uh I will, of course, keepyou updated.
Here's our conversation aboutfuture planning for kiddos with

(03:02):
special needs as anentrepreneur.
All right, guys.
Well, Mark, Lisa, thank youboth for taking some time to uh
to chat today about a um aspecial topic because we have
special needs kiddos.
And I was saying before we wentlive, hopefully Ed's able to

(03:24):
join us.
He he wasn't able to join outin the beginning, but uh we're
all Web Designer Pro members.
Uh we share a lot in common,and and again, we have special
needs kiddos, which means wehave a different skew on like
planning and vision and youknow, future planning for our
business and for our family.
It's something that uh Ed, whoI hoof, hoof is able to join us

(03:45):
here.
We met up in person recentlyand we just got to talking about
this.
And I've really just not talkedabout this with anyone.
So I thought, what better of away to talk about future
planning for our families, butalso through the lens of an
entrepreneur and as a webdesigner.
So I kind of figure that's whatwe focused on.
So we'll start off, uh ladiesfirst, with our our guest from

(04:05):
uh north of the border, Lisa.
Thank you for joining.
Uh, why don't you just justkind of share like your a little
bit about your business andwhere you're at as a web
designer?

Lisa Doiron (04:13):
I've been uh designing websites for about
five years full-time.
I probably in total abouteight, but originally I was
doing all the things for all myclients.
And then I decided to focus inon websites, and it's been a lot
of fun.
And um yeah, I I live in Canadaand I do my thing.

(04:34):
Yeah, it's it's been slowlygrowing, like it's been a slow
progression, but I'm getting toa point where um yeah, things
are going really well.

Josh Hall (04:42):
And I forget, Lisa, what what were you doing prior
to being a web designer?

Well, that's kind of a long, complicated story.

Josh Hall (04:49):
Okay.
I tell you what, let's get toMark and then we'll come back to
that because I think thatfactors in with our situations
with having special needs kiddosas well.
Um so, Mark, tell us about yourbusiness, man, for those who
didn't hear your podcast episodea while back.

Marc Hyde (05:01):
Yeah, definitely.
So I'm Mark, I'm the owner,founder, head honcho.
I always joked I'm the headbarista at Mark Hai Creative
too.
Um, but yeah, I've been doingit full-time now since 2020.
And this was not the goal, thiswas not the intention, but uh
COVID kind of forced my handwith jumping in full sale into
the entrepreneur life.
And and I will say that um, youknow, Lisa, I know you'll share

(05:22):
some of your story.
I I did not step into thisworld as a special needs parent.
But then after uh my wife Bethand I got married, um, she had
her five kids that she adoptedout of not adopted out of foster
care, she adopted her long-termfoster care placements, and
they came with special needs.
And then our one little guytogether has special needs as
well.
So I kind of went from the morelike low-key life where it's

(05:45):
just like, you know, marry twokids, work in a normal job to
holy crap, I gotta figure outwhat the heck is going on to
holy crap, I have eight kids,and six of them have some sort
of special needs.
So um, yeah, dude, it's aparty.

Wow.
I didn't realize you had eightkids.
That's crazy.

Josh Hall (06:00):
Not and how many are special needs, Mark, between the
eight six to varying degrees.
So, Lisa, with your background,yeah, just share.
I'm kind of curious because Idon't know too much about this
on my end.
Um, like leading up to, I guessmy question is like, did having
a special needs kiddo encourageyou to become an entrepreneur
and have more freedom?

(06:21):
What was the genesis of goingfrom your previous roles to
being a web designer?

So I started out as um, I worked in project
management and healthcare, andmy husband and I had to relocate
and whatever.
So I ended up going intoproject management for
telecommunications, which Ididn't like.
Um I so I ended up gettingpregnant with twins um right

(06:46):
before sorry, right after I gotlaid off from that position.
And I didn't really like itanyways, but it was just kind of
a a really scary time.
And so um fast forward a littlebit, like had my kids, I could
have found another job, like Ihad time to find another job or

(07:06):
whatever, but it was like, well,with twins, it doesn't make
sense for me.
So my husband and I decidedthat I would stay home with the
kids.
So I was a stay-at-home momsolely for seven years, well,
six years until they went intograde one.
And then um in when my son wasthree, we found out that he like
we didn't realize that he hadspecial needs in the beginning.

(07:29):
Um, he did have an incident atfive months where he was
hospitalized for uh three days.
He just lost all upper bodymobility uh well, all body
mobility.
He went from being afive-month-old busy baby to
almost like a newborn again.
He couldn't hold his head up,all that stuff.
So that was kind of terrifying.
But then um we fast forward abit to when they go to school,

(07:53):
and it was like, well, sorry,when he was three, we found out
he had a speech delay, and thenthen it was a gross motor, a
fine motor.
And then once he hit school andwe did the psychoed report, we
found out he had intellectualdisability as well.
And then we did genetic testingand found out he had a
chromosome deletion.
So when they started school, itwas just it just made sense.

(08:14):
So that it was more of anecessity than anything else.
I just didn't want to, I wasn'tready to go back to work and
not be available to them.
I wanted to volunteer at theschool, I wanted to make sure I
was around to help him however Ineeded to and do all the things
and take him to all thetherapies.
So it just made sense.
So it just kind of jumped in.

Josh Hall (08:35):
I mean, do you guys ever Mark and I were just
talking about this via DMs andpro, but it's like I can't
imagine working a nine to fivecorporate job and being able to
take care of special needs.
I don't know how people do it.

I don't either.

Speaker 4 (08:49):
And that's why I do what I do.
I mean, even after since beingmarried to Beth, I interviewed
at two other jobs in thecreative space.
One was at a local university,one was at uh just another
company.
And we got to the point wherethey offered me the job, and I'm
like, I just can't.
I can't give it up working fromhome.
Like, I mean, even today, likeI kept Lennox with me this

(09:11):
morning while Beth had to go doan uh not special news
appointment where a differentkid broke their glasses, so she
had to deal with that.
But it's like, you know, ableto just be there for either
taking my daughter three hoursaway for her specialty or just
to be home for the other kidswhen Beth takes a kid to do an
appointment.
We just couldn't do it.
Like it, I mean, no moneyaside, doesn't matter.

(09:32):
Like the availability is reallyjust unreal that we have to
have.

Yeah, 100%.
Just recently, like my my twinsjust started grade 10 and the
school board that they're in,they decided this year that the
um diverse learning kids umteachers needed additional
support.
So they would get off atlunchtime on every Wednesday,
every week.
And I was thinking, like, if Ihad a full-time job, how would I

(09:58):
how would I deal with that?
You know, like he's he's oldenough to come home on his own
and stuff like that, but gettinghome, like I have to go pick
him up, and yeah, so and there'salso something to be said too,
Josh, I'm sure, because we knowwe're we're both dads, and and
so we, you know, I have Beth,you have M to to help take care
of the kids when we're doing ourthing.

(10:19):
Dang, at least that's whoo! Alot of pressure you have to deal
with with that.
Full disclosure, my husband's afirefighter, so he works shift
work, so he is availablesometimes to help out with stuff
during the day or whatever.
So it's helpful.
But he also has a sidekick too.
So we're we're pretty busyfamily.

Josh Hall (10:38):
I mean, I'm just I often pinch myself thinking
about how grateful we are to beable to have a freedom-based
schedule that we can.
I mean, we're busy, we probablywork 24-7 in our minds, but we
can turn off, we can ramp up andramp down and turn on and turn
off calls and projects andeverything we need to, you know,
when needed.

(10:58):
Like I told you guys leading upto this, we're gearing up for a
season where Bria has a surgeryand it's going to be a very,
very intensive uh three to sixmonth daily therapy situation.
And yeah, it's one of thosewhere like I just don't know how
people can do it.
All to say, like it's justamazing the opportunities that
we have, particularly in a webdesign.

(11:18):
One thing though, as a webdesigner, as folks kind of learn
as they become a businessowner, is you I feel like you
get up to a point in yourbusiness where you stop going
from like hustling just to getclients and hustling just to
make revenue to really visioncasting and future planning.
And I'm really curious aboutthis because we're kind of in

(11:40):
the stage now where I'm thinkingabout, yeah, like, you know,
years down the road, what's thislook like?
I I again, I'm hoping Ed's ableto join us.
Ed is actually um retired fromthe post office, does web design
part-time, but he's a grandpa.
He has his granddaughter withspecial needs.
And so we had this conversationabout, you know, he's he's
really active with her, but um,you know, we're thinking about

(12:03):
the next 10, 15, 20 years.
So I guess I'm kind of curious,have you, Lisa, your kids are a
little bit older.
Have have you thought aboutthat?
So to eat to either of you,like how I guess how far have
you thought about you know,future planning and retirement
and what that looks like withwith special needs?

I have thought about that, but it's hard to
know.
Um, you have to be ready topivot.
Like, I think we're kind ofthinking through all the
scenarios, but really it's hardto know at even at 15 what his
future is gonna look like.
So it's kind of just umplanning as best you can and
with with the information thatyou have right now, knowing that

(12:43):
it's probably gonna changebecause through the course of
his life, we have pivoted somany times that yeah, it's just
one of those things that you canonly do what you can do.
So we've you know tried to getthe the disability savings
accounts and the tax credits andall that stuff set up, um and
are contributing to that as muchas we can.

(13:06):
And um, like I said, my husbandis finishing the basement right
now, and we're always kind ofhave that thought in mind that
this might be where he livessomeday, he might stay with us,
or he might end up moving outand being independent with with
support, or you know, there'sthere's a ton of different
things that that that could looklike.

(13:26):
So you just have to in in mycase, anyways, I just to kind of
try and be open to all thepossibilities.

Josh Hall (13:35):
How far do you look in the vision the the future
then, Lisa, especially with thatsituation?
Like you kind of have plans inplace or maybe a plan B, but how
far do you guys plan for thatsort of thing?
Because uh like you said, youyou don't quite know what the
long-term future is gonna looklike.
But how far is your vision?
How how far are you guys ableto plan accordingly?

I feel like we've looked as far as retirement.
And then after that, it kind ofgets a little hazy because it's
my daughter, they're twins,right?
The same age.
So um if something was tohappen to us, like at this age,
we do have um people in placethat would be their guardians or
whatever.
But when they're adults, Iwould imagine at this point she

(14:20):
would be the one who would kindof take over his care if
something was to happen to us.
So you have all those thoughtsin your head, but it's like we
don't know what kind of supportsystems he's gonna have at that
point.
He might be married, he mightum have kids of his own.
It's hard to say.

Josh Hall (14:37):
To you, Mark, times six.
Time six.
No prayers.

Marc Hyde (14:41):
Well, this is where it's hard though, bro.
Because like with and Lisa,I'll I you know, you can speak
in this better than I can.
You know, with special needs,there's so many different types
of special needs out there.
Like, you know, everything fromLennox with his congenital
heart defect, where most of hisneeds are corrected via surgery,
um, because they're justphysical on that side.
I mean, I mean, obviously, hehas to like get checkups and all
the different things the restof his life.

(15:02):
Um, to some of my other oneswho, you know, you I I'll I'll
make the joke because of thecommunity do.
You don't become a foster kidbecause of great situations and
great circumstances.
And so my kids, a lot of themhave different, um, they're
they're born with needle needlenatal abstinence syndrome, NAS.
And so a lot of that has moreto do with, you know, emotional

(15:23):
things or um outburst or um evenjust like controlling your your
body a little bit.
Um it's like, you know, are wenecessarily worried about what
this looks like for them in thefuture?
Not not necessarily.
Um, but Beth and I have hadsome real honest, gut-wrenching
conversations of what happens ifX, Y, and Z, in terms of what

(15:44):
happens if, you know, one of oneof our children who um, you
know, does does have some somemental handicap with um in terms
of of their IQ being extremelylow, um, almost at that that
that point.
Um, and then also with with thephysical disability that goes
alongside of her cereal palsydiagnosis, um, we've had had the
real conversations of what doesit mean if we have to manage

(16:07):
her finances the rest of herlife?
What would it mean if she doeshave to live with us for the
rest of her life?
What if, you know, this doeshappen?
What are we gonna do?
All these different things.
And, you know, we're we'reworking hard really now, like
really hard right now on notpreparing our kids to be
shielded from their problems,but what can we do to launch
them into the future?
And so we're we're reallytrying to set them up of like,

(16:29):
just because you were born withthis diagnosis or just because
you struggle with this, youstill got to go and be a
functioning human and contributeto society.
So, what can we do to set youup to launch you off into that?
And so those are the bigconversations we've been having
around that.
Um, and even for likeretirement, like, you know, we
we definitely contribute as muchas we can to our Roth IRAs.
Um, we got some big lifeinsurance policies because I

(16:51):
mean Beth has a bigger one thanI do.
Um, because we're like, ifsomething happens to one of us,
we got a button of kids we gottatake care of, man.
We got to make sure we'reprepared.
So we're doing all the thingswe can do.
Cause like, you know, um youyou know me, Josh, I was hitting
to bring it in, but like, youknow, even in the proverbs, it
says that the horse is preparedfor the day of battle, but you
know, you can't always determineyour safety because the safety
is of the Lord.
So we're gonna do the best wecan to prepare for these things

(17:12):
to happen, but we can't live infear of that too.
And so we we've been tryingreally hard to make sure
retirement was set up well.
Um, we, I mean, we have a fullensuite in our basement too that
I know Lisa, you're working on.
Um, so we're like, if one ofour kids has to live with us for
a time, we're like, we'reprepared for it.
Um, but it's just so hard withwith so many different diagnoses
of of kids that they're dealingwith their special needs.

Josh Hall (17:33):
That is what's tricky because Lisa, uh, your your
kiddo has a chromosome onedeletion, right?
Is that right?

No, it's um 16p 11.2.

Josh Hall (17:43):
Okay.
So wait, wait, wait, Lisa, whatwas that again?

16P11.2 chromosome.

Josh Hall (17:49):
Yeah, and Bria's, I believe, is 2025 Q through 31,
if I remember right, chromosomeone.
So there are just so many, youknow, little, little
differences.
And now our situation wasdifferent with Bria, at least to
where we we found out while shewas in Euro.
So we knew before she was bornthat it was going to be quite a

(18:09):
journey.
But to the to the futureplanning, it is uh for both of
these circumstances.
I think for anyone with specialneeds, they'll probably tell
you like there's just so manyunknowns.
But it doesn't mean that wecan't plan for probably a few
different scenarios.
That's actually probably a goodway to go, is just to plan for
like scenario A, maybe they livewith us forever or until we're
here, and then we need to have aplan for future care once we

(18:33):
pass, whether, you know,hopefully it's a long time from
now, what that looks like, who'sgoing to be the caregivers.
And then maybe a plan for like,yeah, different support if
they're able to be on their own.
So I'm just, you know, talkingideas out loud, but I feel like
that's probably a good rule ofthumb is to just have, you know,
just like in in the web designworld, we have like a few
different scenarios or a fewdifferent goals.
It's like you can almost dothat with future planning,

(18:55):
especially with special needs.
There's option A, option B,option C kind of thing.

unknown (18:59):
Yeah.

Marc Hyde (18:59):
But isn't that the way it is for all of life?
You know, where it's like, Imean, even if we weren't
entrepreneurs, like there'salways the the the what if of
like, well, what happens if Iget, you know, like least like
what happens if I get laid off?
What happens if my job's notthere anymore?
Um, what happens if this drivesup?
What happens if that drives up?
So obviously you got to be wiseand prudent with your your
finances.
And, you know, Beth and I, um,I mean, we both were blessed to

(19:21):
basically be debt free.
I mean, so that's that'sprobably been the biggest thing
for us now is we worked reallyhard to ensure that, you know,
we're not bogged down by debt.
So we're not trying to playcatch up, but that we're able to
plan it for the future.
And so I know that was a big,big thing for that.
That's a big thing for us isyou know, we're we're we still
have the mortgage, but otherthan that, yeah, we're debt

(19:41):
free.
So we're able to live in a lotof extra freedom because of
that.

That's no little thing with eight kids either.
Like that's a lot.
That's huge.
And then maybe how old are allyour kids?

Marc Hyde (19:54):
Oh gosh, put me on the spot.
Okay.
Um just turned 14, about toturn 12 in like two weeks, uh
three weeks, and then ten,eight, six, six, six.
Right, no, no, seven, six, six.
Six, six, six sounds a little Imean they're we call them the
littles, but man, they theytrouble me because um, but no,

(20:16):
we have three first graders allwithin five months of each
other.
So one just turned seven, theother two will turn seven here
in a little bit, and then ourlittle guy at two and a half.

They got, yeah.

Speaker 4 (20:23):
Yep.

unknown (20:24):
Yeah.

Marc Hyde (20:25):
And there is something to be said too.
Like, we have a lot ofdifferent things because our
kids are special needs, becausethey were adopted out of foster
care, um, because they were, youknow, they they basically were
um, you know, put under thestate's care.
Like, we do get a lot ofdifferent benefits that we are
able to be, I mean, way beyondblessed.
Like in terms of insurance forthem, they're covered, they're

(20:46):
fine.
Um, we still get it, like theythey call them um special needs
adoption.
We have tax credits that we getto apply.
We also have differentsubsidies that we get as if
they're still um kind of likefoster care, like foster care
parents actually do get incometo help take care of these kids.
And because they are specialneeds, that goes with them, the
life of the kid and the life ofmom.

(21:07):
And so, so we have a lot ofbenefits that are just beyond,
like, I mean, we're so blessedin that regard.
Um, and that's how I was ableto build the business.
And I Josh, you and I havetalked about it offline where
it's like Beth was the one wherewe were, we we could at least
pay most of the bills if Ididn't like if the business
wasn't going anywhere.
So that positioned me in aplace where I could build the
way we needed it to work for thefamily.

Josh Hall (21:28):
Is that again, yeah.
Is that mainly because of thefoster care situation that you
get those credits?
Because I don't I'm not awareof that's only because of the
foster care yet.
Foster, okay.

Speaker 4 (21:36):
Okay.

Josh Hall (21:37):
I was just thinking of like, yeah.

Marc Hyde (21:38):
There are some things with like uh, I mean, and just
adoption in general.
There's some like adoption taxsubsidies that that come
alongside of it.
If it's just even normaladoption, too, I believe.
I don't want to speak too muchinto it.
I'm not your tax professional,so please consider a
professional.
Make sure we get thatdisclaimer in there.
Um, but no, there are a lot ofthings that we are beyond
blessed with that have thosedifferent things.

(21:59):
Now, that being said, thesekids can eat.
So they still not cheat.
But um, but yeah, I mean, justwith all the different things, I
mean, that's how Beth was ableto do what she was able to do
because with all theappointments they had, they were
in the car for I think it wasat one point like three hours a
day per day during COVID withall of the appointments these
kids had to have betweentherapies and like physical

(22:20):
therapy, occupational therapy,emotional therapy, appointments,
um, specialist visits, youknow, all those different
things.

Josh Hall (22:27):
And this may be a little bit different with Lisa
being in Canada.
So there may be like, you know,different retirement expenses
and credits and stuff like that.
But Lisa, what do you guys haveset up?
You said you have like adisability um what what's your
setup look like as far as likefunding for the future?

So in Canada, you get an RDSP instead of an RESP,
which is a registered disabilitysavings plan, I think it stands
for.
Um so you put in um up to acertain amount.
I can't remember the theamounts, but the government puts
in a certain amount as well.
So you're able to like kind ofkind of compound your money in

(23:05):
there.
And then beyond that, it's justum your your whatever you put
in.
And then when you take it out,um I don't think you're taxed on
it.
And then you also are or youmight be taxed on it when you
take it out, just like an RSP.
I don't know if you guys havethose in the US.

Josh Hall (23:22):
Something similar.
Like I know we invest in a RothIRA.
It sounds like you do as well,Mark.
To where like, yeah, almostlike an entrepreneur savings
account, basically, retirementaccount.

Yeah.
And then we also have like atax credit that we get as well.
But that's about it, like fordisability really we we my
husband has really good benefitsbeing a firefighter too.
So we get um some support thereas well as there are um
supports like my my son is partof um FSCD, it's called Family

(23:56):
Supports for Children withDisabilities.
So they he has a specialservices plan where he gets like
um some speech um OTPT and um Ithink it's uh psychology with
that too.
So they take some some of thefinancial burden for that as

(24:17):
well.
That's cool.
That's awesome.

Josh Hall (24:25):
So it helps it it's obviously different for Mark and
I too, being in the Stateswhere uh whereas Canada with
socialized health care, like youknow, gosh, costs can be
outrageous for for a lot of themedical stuff in the states.
I mean, luckily, I don't know,maybe you have more, I want to
say perks, but you you with withthe foster care system, maybe

(24:46):
you have um, you know, somedifferent avenues there for you,
Mark.
But I know for us, like, thankgoodness our children's hospital
has a lot of financialassistance programs within it
that most people can qualifyfor.
Um, otherwise, it's like, Imean, I mean, it could be tens
of thousands, hundreds ofthousands.

Marc Hyde (25:05):
Yeah, that's it.
I've seen some of these bills.
Whoo! Yeah, it's nuts.
I mean, and with uh the mydaughters that were in foster
care.
I mean, thankfully they theyget Medicaid because of because
of that.
So that pays for all that.
So, and praise the Lord for OTsand PTs.
My goodness, they those peopleare the real heroes.
Um, and at least I do stufflike you where I sat and I'm
like, my first year of therapywith uh one of our youngest, I'm

(25:26):
like, I feel like it's moretherapy for me to make sure I
know how to take care of mydaughter better than she needs
it.
Um, because oh gosh, I neededthat.
But uh yeah, but so the kids,they at least have that.
And with Lennox, um, he stillgets a lot of support too um
from the state of Indiana.
And also that's the otherthing, too.
It's hard to be in the states,it's a lot state dependent too.
And so Indiana has a lot ofbenefits for that.

(25:48):
Um, and I mean, I also willcall a spade a spade.
It is nice to have a lot oflittle tax write-offs running
around.
And so that that helps bringbring bring some costs down too.

Speaker 3 (25:57):
Yeah.

Josh Hall (25:57):
So what are you at what are you investing in
currently, Mark, to prepare forthe future?
Do you have a a Roth IRA as afamily?
Do you have like separatesavings accounts or future funds
for the kiddos?
What's what's your currentsetup look like?
And then what you know, whatwould be ideal, you think?

Marc Hyde (26:14):
Yeah, definitely.
So we have a Roth IRA, so wejust have traditionals with
that.
Um, and we do we we max themout every single year.
So we we've been doing that forfor the last few years.
And I think they just raised itto like, is it like eight grand
a person now?
Seven grand?
I don't I don't remember whatit was.
They just ducked it again.
Um Beth keeps up with it.

(26:34):
She she really is the MVP ofthe house.
Um, and so we we do that.
And and this is where it'sinteresting though.
So so with the kids, we've hada lot of conversations around,
you know, we have eight kids.
That's a lot.
And so, what can we do to helpset them up for college and and
then for careers or things likethat?

(26:54):
Because some of our kids mightnot either want to go to
college, or let's just behonest, B might not be able to
do college.
Like we might have to figureout trades for them.
And so we've talked about, youknow, do we put aside savings
plans for them?
Do we just help them buy theirfirst car just so they can go
get a job or whatnot?
Um, and Beth and I both are arevery much self-made individuals

(27:17):
where, you know, we paid forcollege on our own.
We we had to do it on our own.
And there's something to besaid about that ownership that
that the kids are able to do.
Um, and you know, you don'thave to go to the $40,000 a year
school.
Live at home and go local.
It's still a great school.
And so we have not done a lotwith actual um, actually, I

(27:38):
should say we haven't doneanything with actually providing
like different funds for ourkids yet in in those regards.
Um, only because we know thatto make it count, we just can't
do it.
And so basically what we'vealso decided now is our kids are
also in private school.
And so we're like, we aresacrificing now to help set you
up for a great education, greatfuture.

(27:59):
It includes trade schools anduh pre-enrollment credits, all
these different things whereit's like, we're doing a lot
that we can now to set you upfor that next step.
Um, but we're we're gonna getyou to that next step, we're
gonna guide you through, butyou're gonna have to do a lot on
your own.
And so um, and that's where Iknow that's a lot different than
other folks because we aren'tdealing with some severe special

(28:21):
needs um that that people have,you know, severe mental,
emotional, cognitivedisabilities.
We we we have that, but notenough where, you know, it would
completely jeopardize thesekids' futures.
Yeah.

Josh Hall (28:33):
Yeah, it is that's I know for us personally, like
we're with with Bria, she'llshe'll be with us um, you know,
long term.
So it is kind of we're thinkinginstead of like a college fund,
we our idea is to have futurefunds for all the kiddos up to a
certain amount, whatever theywant to do, college or you know,
janitor school, whatever.
But the idea, I think thatwe're really talking about more

(28:56):
now is like for her, she's goingto have a lot more needs.
So I don't want to seem unfair,but obviously we're going to
make sure she is set up.
Maybe there's a certain amountthat is equal and some sort of
fun for her, but maybe havesomething separate for ongoing
care.
I mean, one thing I've thoughtabout is it might be different

(29:17):
for us too, because we have noearning cap as entrepreneurs and
as web designers.
Whereas if you're in acorporate job, the goal is to
save money and to move moneythat is cap.
Like you make 90,000.
So that's what you have to workwith.
You only have that.
And unless you get some raises,it may go up a little bit, but
it's probably unlikely you'regoing to be able to make too
many drastic decisions.

(29:38):
Mark, we don't need to talknumbers, but your business has
grown like wild.
Lisa, you're primed and readyto get your productized stuff
going.
I foresee a lot of growth foryou.
Like, do you guys think aboutdo you almost feel like less
worried about the futureplanning when you're like, I can
just make more.
I might be making way more in10 years.

No.

Josh Hall (29:56):
Okay, all right.
Love it.
Tell me about it, Lisa.

Honestly, like, well, I'm just a worrier, right?
That's the way I'm built.
So I'm inclined to Oh, there wego.
There's Ed.
I'm inclined to worry.
It's just Hey.

Josh Hall (30:11):
Hey Ed.

Hi Ed.

Josh Hall (30:12):
Did I get Did I get the wrong time zone?
It was in the calendar, butthat's all right.
We're only halfway through.
We're rockin' and rollin', man.

Speaker 3 (30:20):
What's up, Ed?

Ed Gomes (30:21):
How are y'all doing?
Doing it.
I apologize for my tardiness.
I thought it was two o'clockcentral time we were starting.

Josh Hall (30:29):
Ah, gotcha.
I should have made that clear.
I I thought the the uh calendarinvite would adjust
automatically, but that's allright.
We got plenty to talk about.
Ed, are we able are we able tosee you or are we just gonna
hear you today?
No, you can see me as soon as Ifigure out how to get the
camera going.
Oh, nice.
All right.
We'll have Ed do a little introhere.
But no, I appreciate that,Lisa.

(30:50):
You saying that, and again,maybe that's more of a personal
thing, but um I don't know.
Maybe your tune will changeafter the next little while
after you've seen you know somerevenue boosts, just because I
that's just kind of how I'vefelt is like I don't want to not
plan, but I also have faith inmyself that it's like, you know,
in 10 years, we may be at thepoint where it's like it's

(31:11):
hopefully it's not an issue.
Like whatever feeds, she yougot it.

Marc Hyde (31:15):
And that's how we feel too over here at the Hide
House, where it's like, youknow, we're trying to do things
to give these kids a great liferight now, and turn and then
we're trying to like, you know,pay off the house.
We're trying to do this.
We want to go on vacations.
And like Beth even sent me thewe're we're hopefully well, we
are, uh, we're gonna go down toSmokies, which is where Beth and
the kids, you know, came fromwith East Tennessee.
Uh, but we're going down therefor vacation.

(31:36):
And I'm like, that's anexpensive, expensive rental for
the the week.
And then I'm like, I giggled atPanera and went, I'll just go
get one more client, they'll payit off, it'll be fine.
Like, that's just like that'sthe freedom we have, where it's
like, if I see that number ofwhat it's going to cost, and if
it really is like, oh, I'll goget one client and then we're
fine.
Like, that's a whole differentmind shift than where I was at

(31:59):
when Josh, when I first jumpedin with you, man.

Josh Hall (32:01):
Yeah.
And has it like, has havingspecial needs in particular in
our families, has that changedyou guys as entrepreneurs with
confidence or how you feel aboutyour business?
Mark's shaking his head, but Iwant to hear you, Lisa.
What um, you know, how has thatchanged has that changed how
you've thought about buildingand running your business?

(32:21):
Whether it's schedule orrevenue or whatever?

I think maybe my situation's a bit different just
because um from what it seemslike, from what you guys have
said, like I can't be completelyfull-time doing this business.
I don't have unlimited time.
Uh my husband works a lot, so Ihave to pick up the slack on
the other end with the kids inthe household and all the stuff.

(32:45):
So trying to get traction in mybusiness sometimes has been
difficult, or trying to findthat work work-life balance too
has been challenging as well.
So um, yeah, I don't know ifthat did that answer your
question.
I can't really remember whatyou're talking about.

Josh Hall (33:00):
Yeah, no, I was just kind of curious like how you
know the mindset of building abusiness basically around
special needs and how you thinkbecause it's it's just so
different for us with the amountof therapies we have,
especially for you know, Markwith that many.
But uh I I'm really I mean,I've always been a freedom first
entrepreneur, but even more soas a special special needs

(33:20):
parent, we're really like it'sall about the schedule, it's all
about freedom and very fewcalls, and nothing will encroach
on that just to account for andprepare, especially like with
the season we have coming upwith RIA.
So real quick, Ed, are you ableto get the camera working?
Or hey, all right, there he is.

Ed Gomes (33:42):
I've I figured it out.
I had tried to log in throughFirefox first and it wouldn't
let me, but I didn't logcompletely out, so it was
confusing the camera.
Good to know.
So you had two differentbrowsers.
Yeah, so I'm back, and noweveryone can see how old I
really am.

Josh Hall (33:58):
All right, we've got Ed in the house.
Ed, I'm so glad you joined usbecause we were joking.
You're the one uh, you know,you and myself met up a few
months ago at first and kind ofprompted the idea of this chat.
So um we did intros early on,so Ed, we'll get you caught up
and have some fun here.
Why don't you, if you want tojust share, you know, you have
an interesting pathway into webdesign as somebody who's

(34:19):
retired.
Yeah.
Um, just share us a little bitabout your business, kind of
where you're at with your webpurpose.

Ed Gomes (34:23):
Sure.
I am uh right at 69, so I'mprobably one of the oldest
people in the group.
I've got four grown kids, fivegrown grandkids, and and they've
figured out how to replacethemselves.
So I've got five great or fourgreat grandkids, and one of
those is the special needs childthat I spend a lot of time.

(34:47):
In fact, that's what I've beendoing all day today, up until
when I got here.
So yeah, it's between that andyou know, over the past few
years, my wife's had breastcancer, then lung cancer.
So you you know the drill,Josh.
It's one one doctor afteranother and and uh yeah, so my s

(35:11):
you know, my story's a littlebit different because the the
special needs child is a youknow, a few generations away.
But um she's still the love ofmy life.
So and and you know, of courseit it's you know, like I shared
with you when we met a whileback, Josh, you know, it's it's

(35:32):
yeah, it's it's really I'veallowed it, I should say, to
slow me down in businessdevelopment.
And uh I've made the commitmentto push forward.
My my site is live.
I'm just about done setting upMoxie thanks to Lisa the Moxie
Maven.
And uh, you know, moving on.
So of course, uh you know, thetherapies continue, the doctor

(35:57):
visits continue.
I mean, I'm on every school,field trip, you you you name it,
I'm I'm there.
So yeah, it it does have animpact.
And it does make make planningdifficult as well, as as we all
know.

Josh Hall (36:12):
Well, you're an inspiration in like every
category, Ed.
First off, I'll have what Ed'shaving because 69, I didn't
realize I I see 48-year-oldswho, you know, they couldn't
hold a candle that.
So yeah, I mean, it isinteresting, Ed.
You are in a in a positionwhere, like you said, you know,
retired, your web designbusiness is something on the

(36:32):
side, but I like that what yousaid there, where it's like it
does slow you down.
I know we were just talkingabout how having special needs
changes us as a business ownerand how we plan.
And I've found that too.
And I don't know if you guysfeel like this, but I am very,
very driven.
And it is very hard for mesometimes.
I have to be very careful aboutfollowing people on social

(36:54):
media because I've I have toremind myself they don't have
the same, I don't want to saylimitations, but they don't have
the same variables that I haveand and and we have.
Um, it's easy for somebody tosay, like, get up at five
o'clock and do an ice bath anddo a cold plunge and you know,
work 10 hours and then do thisand this and do yoga and then a
hot sauna and breath work.
I'm like, I'm betting you'renot taking a kid to two or

(37:16):
three, four appointments a week.
So then wake up at 4 a.m.

Marc Hyde (37:20):
with night terrors, and then then once they fall
asleep, the next kid wakes up,and then the next kid, then the
dog wakes up.
I mean, yeah, bro.

Josh Hall (37:28):
Right.
So I all that to say yes, Ed, Itotally, yeah, it's just you're
you're you're a really greatexample of um being at that
stage in life where you were,whether you wanted it or not,
you were called uh you know tosome higher duties.

Ed Gomes (37:44):
I thought I was done.
But yeah, she she was bornperfectly healthy.
And this she was born February15th, 2020, right at the onset
of COVID.
At three weeks old, shedeveloped bacterial meningitis.
Wound up in the hospital.
While she was in the hospital,she had a stroke, then came the

(38:06):
Caesars, then came the brainsurgery, and then came the VP
shot.
Yeah, I I've learned so manymedical terms.
You she had a left partialcraniotomy.
I can say that now real well.
But uh yeah, so she'snonverbal.
Uh you know, at therapy we'reworking on getting her to stand.
We are working hard on gettingher to be able to stand, at

(38:30):
least for transference.
Because I'm not, yeah, I'm fivefoot six, I'm not a large man.
My granddaughter, the child'smother, is even smaller than I
am.
So we're trying to get her towhere she can assist more before
it does any damage to us.

Josh Hall (38:53):
Because if she gets hurt, she's grouped.
That's a good point.
There's like financialplanning, but then there's
physical planning too, right?
Just like health, healthplanning.
Yes.
Um, Ed, we were talking alittle bit ago about
specifically future planningwith like what we have in place.
Something you and I started to,you know, we kind of opened up
the can of worms on this, butwhat does that look like for you
guys so far?

(39:14):
Um, you know, have you thoughtabout on your end or your your
family's in, your daughter's in,with creating like a future
fund for your granddaughter?
Is is anything like that inplace?
Or is it something you'vetalked about or thought about?

Ed Gomes (39:26):
Yes, we do talk about it.
My my daughter, who is thechild's grandmother and her
husband, my son-in-law.
People ask me if having greatgrandchildren makes me feel old.
I always tell them, no, havingkids that are grandparents, that
makes me feel old.
My granddaughter and herfiance, one of the biggest
problems we have, and one of thedriving forces behind my

(39:48):
extensive involvement is neitherone of them drive.
They don't have a car.
He Ubers to work, and I take,you know, my granddaughter and
the baby everywhere they need togo.
So, yeah, that's that's thetopic of conversation.
Um because if if if she can getthat mobility, that can help.
What they really need is is isa a van with a wheelchair

(40:10):
capability and all that nineyards, because the wheelchair is
heavy too.

Josh Hall (40:17):
Does that give you more drive, Ed?
You know, starting yourbusiness at this age?
Or are you, you know, you'vealready kind of gotten going
with it, but uh you've been inpro for what, two and a half,
three years now?

Ed Gomes (40:26):
Yeah, a couple of years, yeah.

Josh Hall (40:28):
Does that uh I I don't know what I'd do without
it.
Well, you are, I mean, you'reyou're a key member of the
weekly hangouts, and you've justbeen you've been a rock for a
lot of people in pro, Ed.

Ed Gomes (40:39):
So the hangouts the hangouts are the best kept
secret in pro.
I swear I don't understand whythere are not more people that
are, yeah.
We should be having four orfive screens of people.
Uh Mark, you've been on them.
Actually, I've been on one.
What have been on one?

Marc Hyde (40:57):
I thought you were calling me out right now.

Josh Hall (40:59):
I just remember I remember the time you were
there.
Well, that is a topic ofconversation.
I could do a better job ofpromoting um, but I I also the
the UK folks were talking aboutdoing two to have a call for the
UK folks to join.
Um, but yeah, I mean, like uh Ido appreciate you, Ed.
You're always one of the firstpeople to respond when a new
member joins.
And you know, you're not a apaid spokesperson for pro.

(41:21):
You're just you know, you'vebeen a huge member, but I I'm
kind of curious, like, yeah, howhas that um has has the
community and just web design ingeneral given you drive at this
stage in life to be able towhere you're at?

Ed Gomes (41:37):
My plan when I retired was to focus on, you know,
that's all I wanted to do.
I enjoyed building websites, Ijust wanted to focus on that,
you know, build the business.
I discovered you, I discoveredpro, and then she got sick.
So the drive is still there,and the biggest thing that I

(41:57):
need to focus on personally istime management.
When I get some free time, youknow, when I finally bring her
home, my 68-year-old self wantsto sit down and just take a
break.
So what I need to do is takethat time, you know, refocus
that drive and use that timemore efficiently.

Josh Hall (42:21):
Do you um because we just talked about the financial
side of planning?
Uh it might be tough becauseyou are a couple generations
removed, but like, do you haveany personal goals or
aspirations to help financiallywith your great-granddaughter?

Ed Gomes (42:34):
Um I haven't had to yet.
They're, you know, they'repretty yeah, he works at a bank.
Um, you know, they've gotMedicaid for her Medicare exp
her medical expenses.
Um so they're real they'rereally doing okay in that
respect.
Um I'd like to see them focuson getting transportation so

(42:55):
that you know, because right nowit's either me, if if for
whatever reason I cannot,because you know if if my wife
has an appointment at the sametime, my great granddaughter has
an appointment, yeah.
I gotta take mama.
And then there's my son-in-law,he'll have to leave work and
and fill in for me, but there'sno one else.
And uh yeah, she she's up to 50pounds.

(43:17):
The heavier she gets, the olderI get.
You know, sooner or later thetwain shall meet, and uh yeah,
it's it's it's just not gonna besafe for me to do anything but
drive.

Josh Hall (43:35):
Is that a business goal, maybe, to like help out
with transportation?
That could be a fun that yeah.

Ed Gomes (43:40):
That could that could be too.
In fact, after I get done heretoday, I'm going to pick up a
car for my other son.
But uh yeah, I would definitelybe willing to you know set that
as a goal.

Josh Hall (43:54):
Be a fun little pro challenge.
Yeah.
As far as time management, Ifigured we'd talk about this
inevitably.
Lisa shared a little bit aboutthis a little bit ago, um, with
managing you know her schedulewith her teenage kiddos.
Mark, how do you do timemanagement?
I have a Beth.
Mr.
8 is enough.

Marc Hyde (44:14):
I I and then we put a dog on top of it.
No, I I I have a Beth.
I mean, my wife is a saint.
She's a freaking superstar.
Um, there are a lot of thingsthat I do in my schedule that um
I'm still I struggle coming outof summer and into fall um
because my summer schedule looksvery different than it does for
the fall.
Um, like this summer we didn'tdo any vacations, but we did day

(44:37):
trips.
So I was able to take day tripswith the family.
It was awesome.
Or get to work late becauseheck, I could.
Um but when it comes toactually now scheduling a lot of
things, um, you know, we ourcalendar is full every single
day from top up to top down.
And so Beth and I pretty muchhave meetings every night to

(44:57):
walk through the calendar.
And then we do them before thewhole week and then day before
to make sure we're good to makesure um who know who's going
what, where, when, all thedifferent appointments.
Now we got kids in sports nowfor school, so we're dealing
with that with scheduling too.
Um, but gosh, this is this iswhy I do what I do, man.
And like it hasn't slowed downmy productivity.
Um, in some regards, I thinkit's boosted it because it's

(45:19):
like I my computer, I mean,doesn't always, but like now the
goal is four o'clock, so youbetter get your butt moving.
Like, that's where it's at.
And thankfully Beth was verygracious where she's like, if
you need to work at night, doit.
Like, it's fine.
Um, but I'm I'm a very drivenperson.
I'm also one where um if mynose gets pointed in the right
direction, I start working, Icould work nonstop till I fall

(45:42):
asleep.
Um, and so sometimes it's hardfor me to pull away when it
comes comes to work.
But but with the schedule, thethe beauty with my schedule and
with my clients who I mean I'vealways led with you're gonna be
on a first name basis with withme.
My clients know my schedule.
Like in terms of like two weeksago, I said, Hey, these are my
out of office dates.
We have an appointment for onekid here.
I'm gonna be gone for the wholeday.

(46:03):
I mean, heck, I even ran ajunior high retreat for our
school, like as part of that acouple weeks ago.
Um, and so generally my clientsknow what's going on or if I'm
gonna be out of office.
Um, but I work a prettystandard schedule from I take
the kids to school, I get backhome, um, might chat with Beth a
little bit, might have a littlebit, like, you know, have like
a quick lunch with her or two.

(46:23):
Um, but thankfully that thekids are all in school besides
Lennox, that makes life a loteasier.
It was very, very, verydifferent when the three littles
were not in school.
And we were doing at-hometherapy plus on-the-road
therapy.
Um, but no, my schedule ispretty, pretty tight when it
comes to, I would say nine tofour on most days.
Um, but I still have freedom togo teach at Chapels.

(46:45):
I still have freedom to go onas many field trips as I
possibly can, still have freedomto go to Indianapolis or like,
you know, for any surgery.
I have a mobile rig where ifLinux needs surgery and we're
gone for five weeks, don'tmatter.
My productivity doesn't change.
And so um, but again, a lot ofit goes back to I have a Beth
and she's she's she's a saint.

Josh Hall (47:05):
When I love too that you mentioned being upfront with
your clients about yourschedule.
I actually I think as a specialneeds entrepreneur, you have to
clients have to know you don'thave a normal schedule.
Um, Lisa, have you I don't knowhow often the appointments are
and the ongoing therapies arefor you, but have you had that

(47:26):
issue or have you thought aboutthat?
Or how do you handle that withletting clients know?
Because I know you'repersonable with your clients.
How yeah, do you know, do theyknow your life story and and the
situations with your kids, orwhat's that look like for you
with like, you know, lettingyour clients know that you know
may not have a differentschedule?

I'm pretty upfront with them and let them know like
I've got 15-year-old twins.
Well, they're 15 now.
Um, my son has special needs,like I I'm not always available,
but I will get back to you assoon as I can, kind of thing.
I'm not um yeah, like like nowwe do we do appointments during
the day, we do appointmentsafter school.
It just depends on the week,right?

(48:06):
And who's who's available when.
So it's yeah.

Josh Hall (48:10):
Do you have particular call days, Lisa?
Like do you do you onlyschedule calls for a couple days
a week kind of thing, or how doyou manage ongoing?

It was Tuesdays and Wednesdays before, and now I've
I've got it down to mostly justTuesdays.
I try to keep it to the oneday.
Um, but I am pretty flexibletoo.
Like if someone's doesn't haveavailability, I'll fit them in
somewhere.
So yeah.
And and as I need to connectwith clients, it just depends,
right?

Marc Hyde (48:40):
But here's the thing too though, Josh, and Lisa if
you don't mind me asking, is alot of times, at least my
clients, like I'm I'm not aslave to their needs.
They're my clients.
And so that's kind of thebeauty of us being freelancers
too.
Uh I can see an email and say,Yeah, I'll hit them back up
tomorrow.
Like it's fine.
Like that's that's gotta besome beauty in that.
Um, and I mean, I don't I don'tknow if people do this for you

(49:01):
too, Lisa.
For me or or Ed, people for meare like, hey, I know you're
really busy with all the kids,but if you get a chance, can you
do this?
And I'm like, dude, you'repaying me.
Of course I'm gonna do that foryou.

Yeah.
Yeah, I find um my clients areall awesome.
Like they a lot of themunderstand they're really
easygoing, and yeah, we have ummost of most of my clients I
have a close relationship with.
So um, yeah, it's easy to toadjust, and I don't feel like I
need to I've kind of set the thestandard where I don't need to

(49:34):
be on top of all the things allthe time.
So, like you, Mark, I it'slike, well, I'll get to that
when I get to it.
Yeah.

Josh Hall (49:41):
And I feel like we're all we're all our own worst
critics, especially when itcomes to like a timely response.
Like most clients, if they sendsomething over, if you even get
back to them in 24 hours,they're probably gonna be blown
away.
Whereas I'm like, oh my God,I'm so sorry.
It's been 24 hours, I didn'tget to you.

Marc Hyde (49:58):
You mean the email I just wrote?
Yeah.
Like, I am so sorry.
It I got that email 18 hoursago.
Like yeah.

But my schedule is it varies.
Like I'll work in even uh inthe evening if I have the
ability, if I'm busy during theday with like a therapy or
taking my son somewhere, or mydaughter even, like she's in in
basketball now, so she doesschool basketball and um
community basketball.
So there's that too, right?
Like you have that other kidthat you have to make sure gets

(50:28):
gets as much attention.
So yeah.
So if I have to, I'll work inthe evening or do whatever.
And my husband's prettyunderstanding about that.

Josh Hall (50:36):
So Ed, we were saying early on, we couldn't imagine
being having a nine to five joband taking care of special
needs.
Uh, you are, I mean, let's justcall us, you know, in Mark's
words, call a spade a spade.
What would your family dowithout you?
Like, I don't know.
I don't know what to ask or sayother than like uh thank

(50:56):
goodness for the freedom we haveas entrepreneurs and web
designers to be able to managethis and have the freedom.
And then if not, you need tohave family support or some sort
of support system there.

Ed Gomes (51:06):
That was partly why I retired so that I could be
available.
That's cool.
Yeah, that is cool.
Yeah, unfortunately.
My kids were having two ed.
Yeah.
But but thank God I, you know,I was at a place where I could
retire, you know, and and andyou know, being a government
job, you know, the retirement isenough where I you know I don't

(51:27):
miss a meal.
So I have that flexibility.

Josh Hall (51:30):
That's uh for you did you what I'm actually kind of
curious that what was it aboutweb design?

Ed Gomes (51:36):
I've always I've always yeah, the first website I
built was about 27, 28 yearsago in in in I don't know if you
remember AOL Press.

Josh Hall (51:50):
That may be uh that's before front page.

Marc Hyde (51:54):
Yeah, yeah.
I guess if you're adreamweaver, not yeah, right.

Ed Gomes (51:58):
I gotta look this up, AOL Press.
Huh.
I'm sure it's it's it's youknow gone the way of Netscape
Navigator and all those oldplatform.
How many years ago was that in?
It was discontinued in 2000.

Josh Hall (52:14):
So I mean look, Ed already alluded to his age, so
you know, we're not giving anythoughts.

Marc Hyde (52:20):
That was the but the age of your great-granddaughter
when you started buildingwebsites.

Ed Gomes (52:24):
Whoo! Yeah, so I always enjoyed it, and you know,
and I knew once once I retired,I just wanted to be able to do
that for you know for you knowsmall businesses, you know,
whoever.
And uh you know, I knew I wasgonna be in a place where I
didn't need I didn't wouldn'thave the pressure of I need that

(52:45):
to eat.
Yeah, it was because I want toand I enjoy it.

So did you retire from it?

Ed Gomes (52:54):
I was a a manager with the Postal Service for 38
years.
Before that I was army for sixyears.
And a web designer through itall.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's cool.
Mark, you you you're some ofyour kids are adopted, aren't
they?

Marc Hyde (53:12):
Yep, five of them.

Ed Gomes (53:13):
Five of them.
Yeah.
I my two younger are adopted,myself, my brother, and my
sister are adopted, my nephewsadopted.
I've got a family picture withmy parents and my sisters and
brothers, and some of my kids,and there aren't any two people
in the picture that aregenetically connected.
Wow.

Marc Hyde (53:31):
That's cool.
That's a story in and ofitself.

Josh Hall (53:34):
I want to read when you're coming out with your
book, Ed, because I'll be yourfirst customer.

Ed Gomes (53:38):
I've got a one of my websites, it's it's
adoptionsandoptions.com.
And my story, my adoption storyis on that site.
With pictures.
And that picture that I'madoptionsandoptions.com.
Gotcha.
I built that one and WordPresswith a newspaper theme.

Josh Hall (54:00):
Well, we're gonna link that in the show notes.
Check that out because I wantto read that whole story.
But oh found it.

Marc Hyde (54:05):
My adoption story.

Josh Hall (54:07):
There it is.
Well, I'm excited to read this.
Well, we're still recording, soI'll make sure I don't read
this right now.
But um that's fascinating.
And you know what?
I have to say, there'ssomething to there's something
to being open and transparentonline.
I totally understand people notwanting to put their family and
personal things online.
I I totally understand.

(54:28):
I'm completely opposite in theway of like, but honestly, you
guys would not be here.
I don't know.
We would may not be having thisconversation, or at least we
wouldn't have a sense of um likeuh unity in the in the in what
we kind of go through as parentsof special needs or you know,
great grandparents' specialneeds without I mean all to say,

(54:48):
your vibe attracts your tribe.
I've found sharing my familystory and what we continue to go
through with having a specialneeds kiddo and Bria, like it
just brings amazing people.
Lisa, Ed, Mark, you guys arejust three of a more web
designer pro members who havespecial needs in their family
and have have talked about this.
So it is kind of for mepersonally, all I can say is

(55:11):
it's nice to not feel alone inthat because when you're in
entrepreneurial circles, again,going back to like the who you
follow, it can be very easy tofeel like, well, I would love to
do that, but I can't.
I've got you know these amountof appointments or this going on
or or future planning that isdifferent than you know, some
people may be thinking aboutretirement and how much how many
travels they can do.

(55:32):
That's not really in the cardsfor us unless Free is able to
come.

Marc Hyde (55:36):
So Right and if you don't mind me giving a soundbite
for you, Josh.
I mean, that's why I subscribeto your stuff.
Like, I mean, the the you know,freedom and the lifestyle you
want.
And then I'm like, okay, that'swhat I want.
And you're like, hey, hey, youcan make monthly recurring
revenue doing this.
Bet, okay, we're gonna do that.
And my business would not bewhat it is without your stuff.
And then there's also thatlevel of, you know, in yours and

(55:59):
mine DMs at least, like, sure,we're talking about coaching
stuff too, but I would sayprobably half of it are good
conversations because our kidsare dealing special needs stuff
that we're we're going through.
Like, you know, like my kid, myyoungest is now a tube, and you
guys are a tubi family.
Like, that's that's nuts.
Like, that's just stupid cool.
It's the same idea of likepeople who have gone through
different stages of life.
Like, you know, like I wasnever a foster parent.

(56:20):
I'm never gonna say I am.
Beth was the foster parent.
But when we meet people who arefoster parents in public, you
should see Beth's face light upbecause she's like, you know
what it's like to go through thecrap of dealing with DCS and
her parent visits and all thesedifferent things.
And I'm I'm sitting here like,I don't know what that's like,
but I know what it's like, youknow, dealing with all the the
actual trauma that we're dealingwith.

(56:41):
Like, there's just I don'tknow, there's there's a lot of
beauty in the unity that you canfind.

unknown (56:45):
Yeah.

Josh Hall (56:46):
That's so yeah.
Oh, go, go, Lisa.
Go feel free, Lisa.

I was just I was disagreeing.
I I liked what he said, beautyand the unity.
That's cool.

Josh Hall (56:53):
Beauty and the unity.
That is a great that is a soundbite.
Mark delivered.
Those catchy headlines havebeen paying off.

Marc Hyde (57:01):
All that pastor headlines have been all the
pasture stuff has been payingoff.
That mixed with your dad funds,bro.
We got this.

Josh Hall (57:06):
You know, it's funny, like we were at a pizza shop,
it's probably a few months ago,and there was a little girl who
was about Bria's age who wecould tell was a similar uh some
sort of deletion or some sortof delay or developmental
something.
And she kept on looking over atour table, and then, you know,
as as just like Bria, busy, busybody, got places to go, stuff
to do.

(57:26):
And um, when I got up withBria, the mom saw her and then
changed immediately.
And then she came over toEmily, my wife, and and then
they were talking, and it waslike, yeah, there's just
immediate unity.
She was like, I was gonnaapologize for my daughter.
I I see, you know, yourdaughter's got something
similar.
And it was just like, yeah, wejust talk about it.
And it was just, you know,there's a sense of um, I guess

(57:48):
it's like anything, if whetherit's a sports team fan or
whether it's a season of life orwhether it's a special needs
parent, there is a sense ofunity that is is just hard to
articulate.

Ed Gomes (57:57):
Yeah.
My great-granddaughter has a Gtube as well.
She's had it since she was sixmonths, and uh last week she had
a dentist appointment.
And the dentist is raping abouthow clean her teeth are.
There's no plaque at all.
And I'm like, well, hell yeah,it's bypassed the don't go in
that way.

Josh Hall (58:15):
Yeah.

Ed Gomes (58:16):
Club Tubi.
Yep.
I I still remember when when wemet Josh and little Bria comes
running up, she smiles and liftsup her shirt.
Proud of the tubies.

Marc Hyde (58:29):
Hey, where's your button, buddy?
Yeah, every time.
They are proud of the tubies.

Ed Gomes (58:35):
But that's good though.
I mean, that that's a good,good mindset to pass on to that.
Yeah, yeah.

Josh Hall (58:40):
And it is um, yeah, I say all that to say it's very,
it's it's gratifying andrewarding to know that like
being open about you know havingspecial needs has not deterred
people.
Yeah, it's brought awesomepeople like you guys into my,
you know, into where I hang outevery day, into the crew, into
the club.

Ed Gomes (58:59):
I loved meeting Bria.
That would that was so fun.

Josh Hall (59:03):
Oh, you guys should have seen Ed was like immediate
grandpa.
I mean, she just went up tohim, he held her.
It was like, yeah.
Because a lot of people, youknow, like with the kiddo with
the tube, or if there wasanything else, you're you're a
little leery, like they'reafraid to break him.
Uh-huh.
But yeah, Ed, you rocked it.
It was all I did.
That was one of my favoritethings was seeing her with in
person, and she gave you alittle drawing and everything.

(59:24):
Yeah, I've still got it.

Marc Hyde (59:25):
All right, Josh.
You've asked us a lot ofquestions.
Can I ask you one?
Sure, yeah.
All right, dude.
So I I know Lisa Ed will allagree there's something to be
said about the emotional tollthat it takes with being a
special needs kid.
With um, for me, that'sprobably the biggest struggle is
the emotional tool that comesinto my work and then leaves
with my work.
For you, with running an entirecommunity plus having to raise

(59:48):
Bria, and then you got, I mean,yes, Bria is like the celebrity
in the group, but you also haveother kids too, and you have a
wife guy take care of.
How do you balance theemotional, gosh, gosh, you're
about to go through hell with.
With with the the surgery withBria and the recovery, like just
calling calling it what it is.
How do you handle the emotionalside with that with still
showing up to the group andbeing our coach every day?

Lisa Doiron (01:00:10):
Good question.

Josh Hall (01:00:10):
Probably three things.
It's uh Miller Light.
And then also I do enjoy MillerLight.
I do enjoy Miller Light.
There's better stuff out there.
How dare you, Mark?
I'll turn you.
Uh a lot of it is, I mean, Iit's so true.
Like there are, you know, thereare seasons.
And it depends too, like whenthere have been emergencies.

(01:00:33):
That's very, very differentbecause when emergency happens,
depending on what the recoverylooks like, I mean, thank
goodness I have a team that canstep in when needed.
And Mark, you've offered tohelp up ahead here to do like a
QA for pro.
I mean, that's huge.
Like a lot of pro members havebecome kind of like, you know,
like semi-coaches and minicoaches in a lot of ways.

(01:00:54):
So building up a professionalsupport system has helped
dramatically.
So that's probably the bestterm I could put on that is like
a professional support system,whether that's actual team
members or whether it is, youknow, just community members
like yourselves who I could relyon.
And I know like Lisa, Ed, Mark,great people.
They, you know, they got it ifif need be.

(01:01:16):
So that's been huge becauseit's not all completely on my
shoulders.
That's also a benefit of havinga community, is you know, like
I obviously I'm there every day,I'm active, but it isn't to
this point, like absolutely 100%reliant on me.
I could not show up in pro fora few days and it would be fine.
So getting to that point hashelped because and there are

(01:01:37):
ebbs and flows, you know, justemotionally with certain things
and and to gear up for it, likelike I said this fall, you know,
next month is gonna be a bigdeal.
So that's been huge, quitehonestly, is yeah, professional
support network.
The other thing is I just loveit.
I just love what I do.
And when you love what you do,I mean, there's times where I'll

(01:01:57):
be at the hospital and I loginto pro, not because I feel
like I need to or because it'swork, because it's where I want
to hang out.
Like they're my you guys are mypeople.
So that's what I want to hangout with.
So that helps.

Marc Hyde (01:02:09):
And let the record stand, we've told you to
disappear for a few days andwe'll be okay.

Josh Hall (01:02:12):
Like got some time off.
You heard it here.
So if somebody said, Where didJosh go?
I'll say, Mark said I couldbail for a little while.
No.

Marc Hyde (01:02:19):
I'll blame Jen.
Jen said you can go.

Josh Hall (01:02:22):
Yeah, right.
It is, you know, that is truethough.
It's like we we do deal asspecial needs parents with and
probably need to prepare fordifferent emotional swings that,
you know, just quite frankly, alot of kids or a lot of parents
don't have to go through unlessthere's a traumatic event or
unless there's an injury orsomething.
Yeah.
Whereas like it's it's weird.
I experienced this a couplemonths ago, Bria.
Actually, it was the day thatuh Ed and I met in person.

(01:02:44):
It was that night.
It was right after we met.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Bria had a seizure and um endedup in the we we couldn't get
her out of it, ended up in thehospital.
And I remember being in theambulance and just feeling like
you know, it's weird, but itdidn't feel super weird in a
weird way.
It was like the third time I'vebeen in the ambulance with her,

(01:03:06):
rushing up, and I didn't feelit.
I guess I I don't want to, Idon't dare um you know, likeness
to being a vet or or some sortof a combat veteran, but I do
think there's something towhere, and you guys probably
have experienced this when yougo through episodes or
hardships, you just kind of getused to just doing it and just

(01:03:26):
sucking it up, and you just youdo it.
What else are you gonna do?
A lot of my family and peoplearound us are like, I don't know
how you do it.
And M and I have both talkedabout like, well, what up the
hell else are you gonna do?

Marc Hyde (01:03:35):
Yeah, you just do I have a choice, you gotta do it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You just gotta show up.

Josh Hall (01:03:40):
Mm-hmm.
So I think that has helped too.
And honestly, there's abusiness lesson in there too,
because even on a on a differentlevel, like when your numbers
are down and stuff, something'snot going right, you still gotta
show up.
You still gotta do it.
So a lot of different answersthere, Mark.
I appreciate that question andthat prompt, but those are all
things that have just yeah, keptit going.

It's great that you can share like what you're
going with through like whatyou're going through with your
community as well.
Like you don't have to pretendyou're like on top of the world
all the time.
You can be honest with what'sgoing on with your family.

Josh Hall (01:04:13):
Well, and that's a testament to to the community
too, Lisa.
I mean, you're so right.
It's I honestly it's amazingthat I feel comfortable to do
so.
And I think that goes back tolike, you know, being really
honest about where I'm at inlife and as an entrepreneur, it
brings people who are like that.
You know, there's a douchey,hustling seven-figure
entrepreneur who just wants tomake millions of dollars as

(01:04:34):
quickly as possible.
They just don't fit in in WebDesigner Pro.
You know, like if I talk about,you know, appointments with a
special needs kiddo, I don'tknow what their level of empathy
is.
They're probably like, oh,that's nice, but let's go.
It's you know, it's it's alittle different.
So it is a testament to thepeople.

Marc Hyde (01:04:50):
Everyone that I've met within the community has
their priorities and I thinkthat goes back to even like with
this last uh pro call you hadwith Carol with her just coming
back and sharing where she's at.
Like that's the beauty of thepro calls, is we like I know
what's going on with Carol.
Like, I know what's going onwith Michelle.
I know what's going on withBen.
Like it, I don't know.
It's it's a cool place.
You've made a really dopeplace.

I don't attend as much as I'd like to in person.
Like I can never quite make itfor some reason.
So I always listen to thereplays, but I should try and
make a more of a point.

Josh Hall (01:05:24):
Yeah, you've been on a sum, Lisa.
Yeah, I I know we do them onthe same day that you do your
client calls, so maybe alwaysend up having issues.

Ed Gomes (01:05:32):
But uh switch that up.
Yeah.
I have to watch most of theQA's on the replays because
guess why?

Josh Hall (01:05:38):
There beah, it's so true.
But no, I really appreciatethat, guys.
It is it's wonderful to have asupport system that is.
I mean, we have some greatfamily and great friends around
us, but it's it's certainly inon a work perspective, I think
it's almost even more importantbecause you know they're not in
Web Presenter Pro day to day.

(01:05:59):
They're not building a businesswith the same um you know
circumstances and variables.
So yeah, no, I reallyappreciate it.
Yeah, just a pre we can wrapthis up here and get and get
ready to sign off.
But yeah, I just appreciate youguys.
That's we appreciate you.

Ed Gomes (01:06:15):
Uh-oh.
There goes the landline.
Yeah.
Well, we're gonna do it.

Josh Hall (01:06:22):
Christian always gives me a hard time.
You got it.
That's that was the cue.
Um, well, let's wrap this uphere.
Let's just do like um I'dalmost like to hear like a
closing thought or like atakeaway from you guys if
interested.
Um, you know, especially ifthere's there's other
entrepreneurs, business ownerswho have special needs in their
family, either directly or a fewgenerations below, like in Ed's

(01:06:42):
case.
I'm almost wondering like whatwould be your guys' um what
would be a note of inspirationor a or a takeaway?
Uh Ed's got something it lookslike on the tip of his tongue.

Ed Gomes (01:06:53):
Yeah, keep your priorities in order.
That's uh you know, thebusiness will always be there
tomorrow, but the kids need youtoday.

Yeah, 100%.

Ed Gomes (01:07:01):
That's great.

Josh Hall (01:07:02):
I'm still learning that one.
Sorry guys, follow up.
Good luck following.
We can't follow that one.

I know, right?
Yeah.
Mine is just to find like uh Ihave my tribe of web designers
and stuff like that, but yeah,like finding my tribe of special
needs entrepreneurs, it youknow, like it really makes a
difference having people whoknow what you're going through
and what you're where you'recoming from.
So now I have to do that.

Josh Hall (01:07:25):
And even to go even niche, you know, niche apart
from that, it's like specialneeds entrepreneurs, web
designers, which is what wehave, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:07:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:07:34):
You know, the the only thing that's popping in my
head is making sure you're onthe same page with your spouse.
Like I'm still still stillworking through that one because
Beth gets Beth gets mad at mewhen I don't set my expectations
clear of I have a busy week,here's all the clients I got
going on.
Instead of me trying to sneakin little hours here or there,

(01:07:55):
she goes, just have aconversation with me, Mark.
Like you can work at night,like it's totally fine.
And so, you know, the biggestthing for us is just communicate
and over-communicate becauseman, clarity is kindness.
And if if if you're gonna gothrough this, I don't know.
There's there's something aboutwhen not saying our kids are
war, but when you go to battleand you go to war and you're in

(01:08:15):
locked up with somebody else,you can do a lot more.
And so for us, you know, wealways say same team, like we go
same team high fives almostevery day.
Because it's not us against thediagnosises, it's not us
against the calendar, it's notus against the kids, even though
sometimes it feels like it.
It's a it's a no, we're thesame team, we're going for the
same mission, we're gonna loveour kids, let's communicate

(01:08:37):
well, and it's gonna be okay.
It's gonna be fine.
Thank you.

Josh Hall (01:08:40):
That is beautifully said.
Yeah, I I'll just echo kind ofwhat Ed said earlier about not
feeling the the need or thepressure to like you know,
basically hustle and hit acertain goal, like you can slow
down.
Um, that's certainly one thingI've learned with with Briya, as
much as I am competitive andhyper-driven.
It's like, you know what?
I don't need to do that rightnow.

(01:09:02):
Or, you know, this is why I'mnot doing podcast interviews
right now or doing certainthings, like kind of going to
that point.
This is where I'm needed isthis.
And I'm gonna make sure my workdays and my calendar and the
projects I have in front of meline up with this, which is you
know a certain level of support.
So, yeah, that's great, guys.
Well, great takeaways, guys.
Thank you so much for your timetoday.
This is so much fun.

(01:09:23):
Really appreciate it, guys.
Good stuff covered.
Hopefully, this helps somepeople in similar situations,
and uh, we'll see you guys allon pro and we'll just keep on
doing what we do.
See you guys, guys.

Thank you.

Josh Hall (01:09:35):
See y'all later.
So, again, big thanks to Mark,Lisa, and Ed for coming on and
having this conversationpublicly.
Hope you got a lot from it.
You can go check out all oftheir websites to connect with
them and see what they're up to.
If you go to joshall.co slash401.
That link will be in the shownotes as well or in the
description below.
The show notes page also hasmore links from what we talked

(01:09:56):
about in this conversation.
So again, I hope it helps you.
Regardless if you have a kiddowith special needs as an
entrepreneur, um for parents asentrepreneurs, and even folks
who are about to become parentsor want to become parents
someday, and you want to knowhow you balance your business
and do it all.
I hope this helps.
I've got some takeaway itself.
Thank you again for joining.
Thanks to Mark, Lisa, and Ed.
And I'll see you on the shownotes.

(01:10:17):
Stay subscribed because we'vegot some killer episodes ahead.
So I will see you on the nextone.

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402 - Future Planning for Entrepreneurs with Special Needs Families (with Pro members Marc, Lisa & Ed)

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}402 - Future Planning for Entrepreneurs with Special Needs Families (with Pro members Marc, Lisa & Ed)