Feb. 1, 2026
Episode 329: 2026 Is Your Year to Rise: Get Promoted, Invest Smarter, and Lead with Confidence
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What if 2026 is the year everything changes, not because your boss changes, not because the economy changes, but because you change?
Welcome to the Wealth Academy Podcast, where we talk about leadership, money, and the decisions that shape your future. I’m your host, Paul Lawrence Vann, and today’s episode is about one thing: momentum.
A new year doesn’t reward intentions, it rewards action.
And in 2026, the people who will win are those who:
- Lead themselves with discipline
- Position themselves for promotion
- Invest intentionally in the stock market
- And step into visibility and influence
In this episode, I’m going to show you how to lean into 2026 with clarity and confidence, and I’ll invite you into a few powerful opportunities I’ve created to help you do exactly that.
Let’s get into it.
Let me leave you with this:
2026 will reward those who are decisive.
Not perfect.
Not fearless.
Decisive.
If you want a different outcome this year, you need a different approach:
- Lead yourself before leading others
- Position yourself for promotion
- Invest with intention
- Step into visibility and influence
This is your season to rise.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wealth-academy-podcast-wealth-is-more-than-just-money/donations
WEBVTT
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[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Wealth the Academy podcast.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for tuning in to listen to this dynamic and insightful podcast with host Paul Lawrence Van.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Paul and his guests provide content rich information that will enhance your knowledge.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Enjoy this episode.
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[SPEAKER_01]: and welcome to January.
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[SPEAKER_01]: What an amazing month this is going to be.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It really have set things up.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We just have one of three years here in 2026.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm your host Paul Lines van and of course I host wealth Academy podcast and I've been doing it for five years now.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So October this October would be six years and one of the things I'm going to talk about right off the bat is to just wish you a happy
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[SPEAKER_02]: We made it through 2025 and here we are today.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We are really still standing because 2025 was a tough year, but I know this year is going to be amazing.
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[SPEAKER_02]: The things I'm going to talk about today again is about leadership, but I'm going to transition into the financial intelligence as well.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But when it comes to leadership, it really was a banner year for me and I came into the
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[SPEAKER_02]: and with the Global Speakers University, GSU and under that I was able to deliver a presentation that talked about self leadership and how it can help you to overcome some of life's adversities.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And as a result of that, it really opened up the door for much, much more and of course my book leadership is influenced and it up when it and award and it just ended up being just a wonderful wonderful year I came in under a lot and I mean a lot of mentors and coaches.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And it made all the difference in terms of how my year ended and how this year begins.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But let's talk about you.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We want to talk about that job market.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Of course, we know that we're losing jobs as fast as we can blink our eye.
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[SPEAKER_02]: In fact, last year, from 2024 to 2025, there were over 911,000 jobs that were lost.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And the U.S. in part of it did have to do with the trimming of federal government down,
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[SPEAKER_02]: In essence, what it is, is really a retrenching if you will of the major corporations and businesses and organizations throughout the United States.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And as a result of that, it really changed things.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We're in a very dynamic workforce and workplace, and we really want the position of ourselves to be the very best that we can do.
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[SPEAKER_02]: It's way to do that is through self leadership.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So what is self leadership?
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[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm getting ready to go into my bag now.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Self leadership is all about you.
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[SPEAKER_02]: One levels deeper in terms of your self awareness in terms of your self accountability, responsibility, community education, skills, your empathy, and also emotional intelligence, just to name a few.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And by becoming the very best leader that we can be,
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[SPEAKER_02]: such as you to lead others.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And that's really important.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But let's get back to this word influence really quick and influence is very important.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And the reason why influence is very important is because instead having that ability, you having that ability with your yes, with your knowledge skills and abilities to get people on a project, for example, to follow you without really just
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[SPEAKER_02]: pushing them but they want to do it because you're such an exceptional leader.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I want you to understand this too.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You were born for greatness.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I was born for greatness.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So we might as well be great.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And what does that mean?
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[SPEAKER_02]: All what that means is that we reach into an hour intelligence and into our gifts and we bring them to bear.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And as a result it really helps us to be the best
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[SPEAKER_02]: to excellence, everything that we do, we do it to excellence, and that makes all of the difference.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And the other thing that I'm going to talk to you about is that some goals for yourself, that some daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, and then you're annual goal.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You know what stated is that you've signed some change something like one day,
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[SPEAKER_02]: What do you think?
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[SPEAKER_02]: I think that's all about how you think really.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I think you'll start to make the results we're gonna get, the steps to reality.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And as I was mentioning before, I want you to really look forward to finding out exactly what your purpose is.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And we found out what our purpose is because we see ourselves continuously go to that thing that purpose all the time.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We wake up in the morning with thinking about it.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We go to bed at night with thinking about it in all times in between that we're thinking about what our purpose is.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And then we put just a dash of passion on top of it.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Then we have something that we can work with.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And I know all of you know this.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You know it.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm sharing this with you right now, but it all goes back to self leadership.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So let me share my story just a little bit, so I can give you a better understanding of what my keynote speech was all about.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And it was held at the American Film Institute, the FI and Silver Spring Maryland.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Our long was about 11 other of my cohurps.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We gave a keynote speaking front of a live audience.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And mine was really all about overcoming some adversities.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And me tapping into myself awareness to overcome it, but the story goes like this and I'm going to share it with you for just a few minutes and this is actually what happened to me.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I was a captain at the time at the Pentagon and there was a call that went out that stated, hey, we're looking for teams that will compete against 23 other countries in St. Martin in St.
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[SPEAKER_02]: St. Thomas.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And St. Thomas really was just a beautiful place, but the day after we arrived, we had had a long flight.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And we were just looking for the condo that we were going to stay in to get our rest to get ready for our practice session the next day before the competition the day after that.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Well, on the very first night, we got there, we will awaken in the early morning
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[SPEAKER_02]: And someone came in and apparently put something in vests because we had to air conditioner and they put us asleep.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And then they robbed us.
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[SPEAKER_02]: They robbed us about jewelry, our cash, credit cards, you name it, they took everything.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And what we ended up doing was to police arrived and we had done on us that they could have killed us, which they could have.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And as a result, the way I dealt with that,
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[SPEAKER_02]: adversity was I tapped into myself aware into my self leadership.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But of course I tapped into the aspect of myself awareness of the who am I to even be there because I'm one of many many people who were considered for this position but they're only together.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So I had two teammates.
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[SPEAKER_02]: One person would run the marathon on the bike.
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[SPEAKER_02]: One person would send a mile in
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[SPEAKER_02]: And the way it worked out, we had a decision to make.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Do we go for it and run and compete or don't we?
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[SPEAKER_02]: Well, we had worked very hard and must before that.
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[SPEAKER_02]: In fact, we were at optimum up to men, physical conditioning, mental conditioning, we were ready to roll.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So we decided that we would go forward.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But before we did that, we knew that the person who robbed of other people that robbed us was still out there.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But more than anything else, it really gave me an edge in terms of, and my teammates, the edge in terms of, we didn't come this far not to, we did because we represent the Pentagon again against 23 other countries and as a result, I tapped into my emotional intelligence, because I really needed to get an idea.
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[SPEAKER_02]: at that time of exactly what my mental state was and I had to be able to communicate what it happened but then moving beyond the quicksands of life if you will.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And then I also had to look at the different aspect of overcoming that particular challenge like my two cohorts that we had to overcome that.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And so my message to you is that we can all overcome adversities and I'm talking
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[SPEAKER_02]: This may bear with well-being one of the most pivotal years of life.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And if you want to really take advantage of it, and that's what I'm doing.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I'm doing different things this year to really make a difference because if we do this things that we've always done, we're going to get this same results.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And we need better results.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We know that this economy is changing, inflation is there, the price of goods, and services are there, you name it.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Healthcare, everything is going up, and then some people are going to lose their healthcare.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And so there's quite a dilemma.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And the job, again, the job aspect is really, really challenging for a lot of people now primarily because there's a lot of the unknown.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if you know this, but Amazon, it's releasing about 16,000 people.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And a lot of those in upper management.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And there were so many people because when COVID hit, they had to hire people when they hired people they had a remotely.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But now they want people to come back to the brick and mortar business.
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[SPEAKER_02]: out of it in Maryland, coastal Washington, D.C. And Amazon is actually building a headquarters too.
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[SPEAKER_02]: That's probably a five mile drive from where I'm at.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And so you have a lot of people that are coming to this area that others are in the Northwest.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And so you have a lot of dynamics, and that's just one organization.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So think about where you're at now, over 300,000 women have been released from the federal government throughout the United States.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, it's short.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And as I mentioned before, they're 900 and 11,000 people that were not employed this year.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We had a drop in terms of the hiring process.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And so how does things work?
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[SPEAKER_02]: And this information comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But they're people in that mid-career professional area, the area that I'm a specialist
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[SPEAKER_02]: but they have the experience, they have the training, and they really, in that position, where they can become a leader at their organization, maybe a supervisor, a manager, a vice president, or even president of the Corporation RSCEO.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, there are a lot of opportunities out there, and a lot of people who are not looking at that, but they may and core population when we look at,
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[SPEAKER_02]: mid-career professionals are people in that 35 to 54 age range and if they stay with the organization ultimately they're going to be promoted up into a leadership position.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Why?
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[SPEAKER_02]: Because those people who in those leadership positions now are either going to go to a new organization for new experiences or some are going to retire and so they're going to have to be replaced and the
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[SPEAKER_02]: have a position within the organization throughout all industries that are going to make the difference and receive that promotion at some times.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And that's what I work on on my webinar is how to get promoted in 30 days through self leadership.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And I host it every Thursday evening and I'll at 7 pm Eastern and I'll put it in the show notes so that you can learn more about that.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I'm also working on a new
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[SPEAKER_02]: And the new book should be coming out in about the Junetime frame and I'm ready to do that.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So I want to transition a little bit now to the financial side and what's been going on with that.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Well, when you get down to it, I've always met my particular expertise as a leadership.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I was in the Air Force for 22 years, I served 12 of those years in the Pentagon, and one year on Capitol Hill in the Capitol Hill fellowship program, and I worked for a member of Congress in the U.S. House of Representatives, and so I have extensive leadership skills and knowledge, and I work with organizations to provide them with our leadership core competence fees that help or he's all in leadership training.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And we do this because when everybody is on the same sheet of music being trained by the same organization, which is mine, which is wealth, well, in academy, I'll say, then they become more competitive than their peers in the industry, but when we look at from the financial side, that was my specialty in the United States, if was, I was a cost analyst, I've worked in an acquisition arena.
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[SPEAKER_02]: for several years that I was a budgeting officer.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And then I went back to the acquisition side, where we would select the contractor.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Let's say, for example, we might have had 12 contractors, and we would have to select once I worked in that field.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And then I went to a program called Education with Industry in Atlanta.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And I worked in the accounting department for this company called National Data Corporation in Atlanta.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And then I left there and went to Scott Air Force Base in the Illinois, the Air St. Louis, Illinois.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Missouri, but I was in station at Palanoi, and I worked for them doing more acquisitions and working with corporations.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And as a result, I ended up, after eight years, going to, and being recruited by a mobile or company, where I was a financial analyst for a company, so I have both the military expertise, the 4500 expertise.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And when you throw in my four years
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[SPEAKER_02]: There are some organizations there, really great organizations that have helped me over the course of my career.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And so I've attended every leadership training the Air Force had to offer and it's made a tremendous difference in my life.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And that of those that I've worked with.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And so when it comes down to the finance now what I'm working on, I'm really honoured in on the stock investing.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So that's something that I'll be talking more and more about.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And I've interviewed people from Wall Street before, but I'm actually doing it myself now.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm going through a program and I'm learning how to invest in stocks and in other different type of instruments.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And I can also share that information with you.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But I want you to understand as this and say, what time is the best time for you to get started in terms of what you want to do?
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[SPEAKER_02]: either today, I'm starting right now, but what you want to do if you want to have a great year, you're going to have to put some work into it, and work is not hard.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So the thing I want to say and wrap up this particular episode is just simply just let you know that all things are possible for those who believe.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And I want to end on this note self-belief and really what is going to take in self-belief means that you believe in what you're doing
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[SPEAKER_02]: and those people who are your coaches and mentors and they have programs that you have invested in yourself, you have to have self-belief in that program.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And then lastly, you have to have self-belief that you can get to the finish line in terms of what you're trying to achieve.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Now, I want to put you on the clock and the clock is this when the first quarter of the year, 2026.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And as a result of this, you had the opportunity to really do some serious work at this time.
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[SPEAKER_02]: order 2, 3, and 4, and you want to, of course, finish strong in the end of this year.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But I know for a fact that you'll capable of it, and I really want you to understand that process.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So learn more about me, just go to www.parvanspeaks.com, and then of course here on my podcast www.wealthacademypodcast.com.
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[SPEAKER_02]: and you'll be able to listen to over 300 episodes that I have here and go to Apple, Apple Podcasts, and you will see all of the episodes out there and you will learn just a lot.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Not only for me in solo episodes, but also for the experts that bring on from all over the world and throughout the United States, best selling authors, top speakers in the country.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You can also get it from experts in the financial field
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[SPEAKER_02]: and then at times, I've even interviewed nine people at the same time.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm doing a round robin interview, which I thought was really great last year, but I do that as well.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So again, the name is Paul Lawrence Van.
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[SPEAKER_02]: My time is up, and I thank you for yours, and I'll see you on the next episode of Wealth Academy Podcast.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Have a great day, everyone.
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[SPEAKER_02]: and enjoy your January.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to this episode with Paul and his guest.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I hope you enjoyed this episode and Paul requests that you rate and review this episode and others on Apple Podcasts and wherever you listen to podcasts.
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[SPEAKER_00]: View all wealth Academy podcast episodes at www.wealthacademypodcast.com
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[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Wealth the Academy podcast.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for tuning in to listen to this dynamic and insightful podcast with host Paul Lawrence Van.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Paul and his guests provide content rich information that will enhance your knowledge.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Enjoy this episode.
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[SPEAKER_01]: and welcome to January.
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[SPEAKER_01]: What an amazing month this is going to be.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It really have set things up.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We just have one of three years here in 2026.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm your host Paul Lines van and of course I host wealth Academy podcast and I've been doing it for five years now.
00:36.274 --> 00:44.365
[SPEAKER_02]: So October this October would be six years and one of the things I'm going to talk about right off the bat is to just wish you a happy
00:44.345 --> 00:48.030
[SPEAKER_02]: We made it through 2025 and here we are today.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We are really still standing because 2025 was a tough year, but I know this year is going to be amazing.
00:56.000 --> 01:03.309
[SPEAKER_02]: The things I'm going to talk about today again is about leadership, but I'm going to transition into the financial intelligence as well.
01:03.730 --> 01:11.820
[SPEAKER_02]: But when it comes to leadership, it really was a banner year for me and I came into the
01:12.138 --> 01:25.320
[SPEAKER_02]: and with the Global Speakers University, GSU and under that I was able to deliver a presentation that talked about self leadership and how it can help you to overcome some of life's adversities.
01:25.655 --> 01:43.798
[SPEAKER_02]: And as a result of that, it really opened up the door for much, much more and of course my book leadership is influenced and it up when it and award and it just ended up being just a wonderful wonderful year I came in under a lot and I mean a lot of mentors and coaches.
01:44.065 --> 01:49.152
[SPEAKER_02]: And it made all the difference in terms of how my year ended and how this year begins.
01:49.452 --> 01:50.714
[SPEAKER_02]: But let's talk about you.
01:51.034 --> 01:53.117
[SPEAKER_02]: We want to talk about that job market.
01:53.137 --> 01:57.764
[SPEAKER_02]: Of course, we know that we're losing jobs as fast as we can blink our eye.
01:57.984 --> 02:06.115
[SPEAKER_02]: In fact, last year, from 2024 to 2025, there were over 911,000 jobs that were lost.
02:06.195 --> 02:13.465
[SPEAKER_02]: And the U.S. in part of it did have to do with the trimming of federal government down,
02:13.630 --> 02:24.182
[SPEAKER_02]: In essence, what it is, is really a retrenching if you will of the major corporations and businesses and organizations throughout the United States.
02:24.883 --> 02:27.827
[SPEAKER_02]: And as a result of that, it really changed things.
02:28.167 --> 02:36.617
[SPEAKER_02]: We're in a very dynamic workforce and workplace, and we really want the position of ourselves to be the very best that we can do.
02:37.188 --> 02:39.771
[SPEAKER_02]: It's way to do that is through self leadership.
02:39.792 --> 02:41.253
[SPEAKER_02]: So what is self leadership?
02:41.654 --> 02:43.637
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm getting ready to go into my bag now.
02:43.677 --> 02:45.960
[SPEAKER_02]: Self leadership is all about you.
02:46.000 --> 02:59.618
[SPEAKER_02]: One levels deeper in terms of your self awareness in terms of your self accountability, responsibility, community education, skills, your empathy, and also emotional intelligence, just to name a few.
03:00.219 --> 03:05.406
[SPEAKER_02]: And by becoming the very best leader that we can be,
03:06.078 --> 03:08.862
[SPEAKER_02]: such as you to lead others.
03:09.183 --> 03:10.605
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's really important.
03:10.625 --> 03:14.771
[SPEAKER_02]: But let's get back to this word influence really quick and influence is very important.
03:14.791 --> 03:30.735
[SPEAKER_02]: And the reason why influence is very important is because instead having that ability, you having that ability with your yes, with your knowledge skills and abilities to get people on a project, for example, to follow you without really just
03:31.238 --> 03:35.703
[SPEAKER_02]: pushing them but they want to do it because you're such an exceptional leader.
03:36.103 --> 03:37.745
[SPEAKER_02]: I want you to understand this too.
03:38.486 --> 03:39.667
[SPEAKER_02]: You were born for greatness.
03:39.928 --> 03:40.989
[SPEAKER_02]: I was born for greatness.
03:41.189 --> 03:42.631
[SPEAKER_02]: So we might as well be great.
03:42.691 --> 03:43.632
[SPEAKER_02]: And what does that mean?
03:44.272 --> 03:54.404
[SPEAKER_02]: All what that means is that we reach into an hour intelligence and into our gifts and we bring them to bear.
03:54.444 --> 04:00.030
[SPEAKER_02]: And as a result it really helps us to be the best
04:00.382 --> 04:06.691
[SPEAKER_02]: to excellence, everything that we do, we do it to excellence, and that makes all of the difference.
04:06.711 --> 04:17.145
[SPEAKER_02]: And the other thing that I'm going to talk to you about is that some goals for yourself, that some daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, and then you're annual goal.
04:17.666 --> 04:24.195
[SPEAKER_02]: You know what stated is that you've signed some change something like one day,
04:30.031 --> 04:30.732
[SPEAKER_02]: What do you think?
04:30.752 --> 04:34.177
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that's all about how you think really.
04:35.619 --> 04:39.866
[SPEAKER_02]: I think you'll start to make the results we're gonna get, the steps to reality.
04:40.527 --> 04:48.699
[SPEAKER_02]: And as I was mentioning before, I want you to really look forward to finding out exactly what your purpose is.
04:49.100 --> 04:57.372
[SPEAKER_02]: And we found out what our purpose is because we see ourselves continuously go to that thing that purpose all the time.
04:57.655 --> 04:59.679
[SPEAKER_02]: We wake up in the morning with thinking about it.
04:59.799 --> 05:06.091
[SPEAKER_02]: We go to bed at night with thinking about it in all times in between that we're thinking about what our purpose is.
05:06.191 --> 05:11.120
[SPEAKER_02]: And then we put just a dash of passion on top of it.
05:11.601 --> 05:14.046
[SPEAKER_02]: Then we have something that we can work with.
05:14.066 --> 05:16.110
[SPEAKER_02]: And I know all of you know this.
05:16.691 --> 05:17.252
[SPEAKER_02]: You know it.
05:17.552 --> 05:21.199
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm sharing this with you right now, but it all goes back to self leadership.
05:21.398 --> 05:28.750
[SPEAKER_02]: So let me share my story just a little bit, so I can give you a better understanding of what my keynote speech was all about.
05:29.171 --> 05:34.239
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was held at the American Film Institute, the FI and Silver Spring Maryland.
05:34.700 --> 05:37.545
[SPEAKER_02]: Our long was about 11 other of my cohurps.
05:38.326 --> 05:42.313
[SPEAKER_02]: We gave a keynote speaking front of a live audience.
05:42.333 --> 05:46.680
[SPEAKER_02]: And mine was really all about overcoming some adversities.
05:46.981 --> 05:56.894
[SPEAKER_02]: And me tapping into myself awareness to overcome it, but the story goes like this and I'm going to share it with you for just a few minutes and this is actually what happened to me.
05:57.595 --> 06:10.272
[SPEAKER_02]: I was a captain at the time at the Pentagon and there was a call that went out that stated, hey, we're looking for teams that will compete against 23 other countries in St. Martin in St.
06:11.146 --> 06:11.867
[SPEAKER_02]: St. Thomas.
06:12.447 --> 06:19.195
[SPEAKER_02]: And St. Thomas really was just a beautiful place, but the day after we arrived, we had had a long flight.
06:19.935 --> 06:28.525
[SPEAKER_02]: And we were just looking for the condo that we were going to stay in to get our rest to get ready for our practice session the next day before the competition the day after that.
06:29.025 --> 06:36.293
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, on the very first night, we got there, we will awaken in the early morning
06:36.644 --> 06:42.593
[SPEAKER_02]: And someone came in and apparently put something in vests because we had to air conditioner and they put us asleep.
06:43.033 --> 06:44.135
[SPEAKER_02]: And then they robbed us.
06:44.936 --> 06:51.365
[SPEAKER_02]: They robbed us about jewelry, our cash, credit cards, you name it, they took everything.
06:52.146 --> 06:59.717
[SPEAKER_02]: And what we ended up doing was to police arrived and we had done on us that they could have killed us, which they could have.
07:00.678 --> 07:03.883
[SPEAKER_02]: And as a result, the way I dealt with that,
07:04.167 --> 07:09.856
[SPEAKER_02]: adversity was I tapped into myself aware into my self leadership.
07:10.577 --> 07:23.157
[SPEAKER_02]: But of course I tapped into the aspect of myself awareness of the who am I to even be there because I'm one of many many people who were considered for this position but they're only together.
07:23.197 --> 07:24.319
[SPEAKER_02]: So I had two teammates.
07:24.920 --> 07:29.227
[SPEAKER_02]: One person would run the marathon on the bike.
07:29.247 --> 07:32.031
[SPEAKER_02]: One person would send a mile in
07:32.585 --> 07:36.189
[SPEAKER_02]: And the way it worked out, we had a decision to make.
07:36.209 --> 07:39.853
[SPEAKER_02]: Do we go for it and run and compete or don't we?
07:40.253 --> 07:42.896
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, we had worked very hard and must before that.
07:42.936 --> 07:48.863
[SPEAKER_02]: In fact, we were at optimum up to men, physical conditioning, mental conditioning, we were ready to roll.
07:49.163 --> 07:51.245
[SPEAKER_02]: So we decided that we would go forward.
07:51.265 --> 07:57.512
[SPEAKER_02]: But before we did that, we knew that the person who robbed of other people that robbed us was still out there.
07:57.948 --> 08:18.842
[SPEAKER_02]: But more than anything else, it really gave me an edge in terms of, and my teammates, the edge in terms of, we didn't come this far not to, we did because we represent the Pentagon again against 23 other countries and as a result, I tapped into my emotional intelligence, because I really needed to get an idea.
08:19.126 --> 08:28.519
[SPEAKER_02]: at that time of exactly what my mental state was and I had to be able to communicate what it happened but then moving beyond the quicksands of life if you will.
08:29.020 --> 08:40.817
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I also had to look at the different aspect of overcoming that particular challenge like my two cohorts that we had to overcome that.
08:41.178 --> 08:48.508
[SPEAKER_02]: And so my message to you is that we can all overcome adversities and I'm talking
08:48.657 --> 08:53.021
[SPEAKER_02]: This may bear with well-being one of the most pivotal years of life.
08:53.442 --> 08:56.585
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you want to really take advantage of it, and that's what I'm doing.
08:56.625 --> 09:04.013
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm doing different things this year to really make a difference because if we do this things that we've always done, we're going to get this same results.
09:04.073 --> 09:05.354
[SPEAKER_02]: And we need better results.
09:05.715 --> 09:12.742
[SPEAKER_02]: We know that this economy is changing, inflation is there, the price of goods, and services are there, you name it.
09:12.902 --> 09:16.926
[SPEAKER_02]: Healthcare, everything is going up, and then some people are going to lose their healthcare.
09:17.378 --> 09:19.180
[SPEAKER_02]: And so there's quite a dilemma.
09:19.641 --> 09:27.572
[SPEAKER_02]: And the job, again, the job aspect is really, really challenging for a lot of people now primarily because there's a lot of the unknown.
09:27.972 --> 09:32.618
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if you know this, but Amazon, it's releasing about 16,000 people.
09:32.678 --> 09:34.421
[SPEAKER_02]: And a lot of those in upper management.
09:35.062 --> 09:41.791
[SPEAKER_02]: And there were so many people because when COVID hit, they had to hire people when they hired people they had a remotely.
09:42.191 --> 09:45.175
[SPEAKER_02]: But now they want people to come back to the brick and mortar business.
09:45.543 --> 09:51.970
[SPEAKER_02]: out of it in Maryland, coastal Washington, D.C. And Amazon is actually building a headquarters too.
09:52.330 --> 09:55.834
[SPEAKER_02]: That's probably a five mile drive from where I'm at.
09:55.854 --> 10:01.841
[SPEAKER_02]: And so you have a lot of people that are coming to this area that others are in the Northwest.
10:02.562 --> 10:06.326
[SPEAKER_02]: And so you have a lot of dynamics, and that's just one organization.
10:06.726 --> 10:15.516
[SPEAKER_02]: So think about where you're at now, over 300,000 women have been released from the federal government throughout the United States.
10:16.154 --> 10:17.215
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, it's short.
10:17.235 --> 10:26.645
[SPEAKER_02]: And as I mentioned before, they're 900 and 11,000 people that were not employed this year.
10:26.665 --> 10:29.828
[SPEAKER_02]: We had a drop in terms of the hiring process.
10:30.209 --> 10:32.030
[SPEAKER_02]: And so how does things work?
10:32.050 --> 10:34.693
[SPEAKER_02]: And this information comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
10:35.174 --> 10:44.203
[SPEAKER_02]: But they're people in that mid-career professional area, the area that I'm a specialist
10:44.420 --> 11:01.061
[SPEAKER_02]: but they have the experience, they have the training, and they really, in that position, where they can become a leader at their organization, maybe a supervisor, a manager, a vice president, or even president of the Corporation RSCEO.
11:01.462 --> 11:12.115
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, there are a lot of opportunities out there, and a lot of people who are not looking at that, but they may and core population when we look at,
11:12.736 --> 11:24.108
[SPEAKER_02]: mid-career professionals are people in that 35 to 54 age range and if they stay with the organization ultimately they're going to be promoted up into a leadership position.
11:24.589 --> 11:24.929
[SPEAKER_02]: Why?
11:25.369 --> 11:39.064
[SPEAKER_02]: Because those people who in those leadership positions now are either going to go to a new organization for new experiences or some are going to retire and so they're going to have to be replaced and the
11:40.040 --> 11:48.531
[SPEAKER_02]: have a position within the organization throughout all industries that are going to make the difference and receive that promotion at some times.
11:48.571 --> 11:55.220
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's what I work on on my webinar is how to get promoted in 30 days through self leadership.
11:55.240 --> 12:04.412
[SPEAKER_02]: And I host it every Thursday evening and I'll at 7 pm Eastern and I'll put it in the show notes so that you can learn more about that.
12:04.832 --> 12:06.975
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm also working on a new
12:07.327 --> 12:12.840
[SPEAKER_02]: And the new book should be coming out in about the Junetime frame and I'm ready to do that.
12:13.101 --> 12:18.213
[SPEAKER_02]: So I want to transition a little bit now to the financial side and what's been going on with that.
12:18.754 --> 12:25.690
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, when you get down to it, I've always met my particular expertise as a leadership.
12:26.176 --> 12:51.711
[SPEAKER_02]: I was in the Air Force for 22 years, I served 12 of those years in the Pentagon, and one year on Capitol Hill in the Capitol Hill fellowship program, and I worked for a member of Congress in the U.S. House of Representatives, and so I have extensive leadership skills and knowledge, and I work with organizations to provide them with our leadership core competence fees that help or he's all in leadership training.
12:52.552 --> 13:15.150
[SPEAKER_02]: And we do this because when everybody is on the same sheet of music being trained by the same organization, which is mine, which is wealth, well, in academy, I'll say, then they become more competitive than their peers in the industry, but when we look at from the financial side, that was my specialty in the United States, if was, I was a cost analyst, I've worked in an acquisition arena.
13:15.350 --> 13:18.473
[SPEAKER_02]: for several years that I was a budgeting officer.
13:18.533 --> 13:24.218
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I went back to the acquisition side, where we would select the contractor.
13:24.238 --> 13:30.183
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's say, for example, we might have had 12 contractors, and we would have to select once I worked in that field.
13:30.784 --> 13:34.107
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I went to a program called Education with Industry in Atlanta.
13:34.127 --> 13:39.271
[SPEAKER_02]: And I worked in the accounting department for this company called National Data Corporation in Atlanta.
13:39.612 --> 13:44.496
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I left there and went to Scott Air Force Base in the Illinois, the Air St. Louis, Illinois.
13:44.881 --> 13:53.954
[SPEAKER_02]: Missouri, but I was in station at Palanoi, and I worked for them doing more acquisitions and working with corporations.
13:54.775 --> 14:07.873
[SPEAKER_02]: And as a result, I ended up, after eight years, going to, and being recruited by a mobile or company, where I was a financial analyst for a company, so I have both the military expertise, the 4500 expertise.
14:07.893 --> 14:12.019
[SPEAKER_02]: And when you throw in my four years
14:12.252 --> 14:18.362
[SPEAKER_02]: There are some organizations there, really great organizations that have helped me over the course of my career.
14:18.783 --> 14:25.053
[SPEAKER_02]: And so I've attended every leadership training the Air Force had to offer and it's made a tremendous difference in my life.
14:25.193 --> 14:27.757
[SPEAKER_02]: And that of those that I've worked with.
14:28.478 --> 14:36.792
[SPEAKER_02]: And so when it comes down to the finance now what I'm working on, I'm really honoured in on the stock investing.
14:37.109 --> 14:40.053
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's something that I'll be talking more and more about.
14:40.293 --> 14:44.338
[SPEAKER_02]: And I've interviewed people from Wall Street before, but I'm actually doing it myself now.
14:44.899 --> 14:52.709
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm going through a program and I'm learning how to invest in stocks and in other different type of instruments.
14:53.490 --> 14:56.754
[SPEAKER_02]: And I can also share that information with you.
14:57.095 --> 15:05.766
[SPEAKER_02]: But I want you to understand as this and say, what time is the best time for you to get started in terms of what you want to do?
15:07.130 --> 15:16.638
[SPEAKER_02]: either today, I'm starting right now, but what you want to do if you want to have a great year, you're going to have to put some work into it, and work is not hard.
15:17.118 --> 15:26.626
[SPEAKER_02]: So the thing I want to say and wrap up this particular episode is just simply just let you know that all things are possible for those who believe.
15:27.227 --> 15:37.035
[SPEAKER_02]: And I want to end on this note self-belief and really what is going to take in self-belief means that you believe in what you're doing
15:37.252 --> 15:45.199
[SPEAKER_02]: and those people who are your coaches and mentors and they have programs that you have invested in yourself, you have to have self-belief in that program.
15:45.239 --> 15:52.565
[SPEAKER_02]: And then lastly, you have to have self-belief that you can get to the finish line in terms of what you're trying to achieve.
15:52.985 --> 15:58.049
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, I want to put you on the clock and the clock is this when the first quarter of the year, 2026.
15:59.310 --> 16:07.157
[SPEAKER_02]: And as a result of this, you had the opportunity to really do some serious work at this time.
16:08.639 --> 16:13.708
[SPEAKER_02]: order 2, 3, and 4, and you want to, of course, finish strong in the end of this year.
16:14.188 --> 16:20.920
[SPEAKER_02]: But I know for a fact that you'll capable of it, and I really want you to understand that process.
16:21.280 --> 16:34.883
[SPEAKER_02]: So learn more about me, just go to www.parvanspeaks.com, and then of course here on my podcast www.wealthacademypodcast.com.
16:35.268 --> 16:48.003
[SPEAKER_02]: and you'll be able to listen to over 300 episodes that I have here and go to Apple, Apple Podcasts, and you will see all of the episodes out there and you will learn just a lot.
16:48.043 --> 17:00.278
[SPEAKER_02]: Not only for me in solo episodes, but also for the experts that bring on from all over the world and throughout the United States, best selling authors, top speakers in the country.
17:00.999 --> 17:05.224
[SPEAKER_02]: You can also get it from experts in the financial field
17:05.390 --> 17:10.600
[SPEAKER_02]: and then at times, I've even interviewed nine people at the same time.
17:10.660 --> 17:17.353
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm doing a round robin interview, which I thought was really great last year, but I do that as well.
17:17.633 --> 17:19.657
[SPEAKER_02]: So again, the name is Paul Lawrence Van.
17:20.098 --> 17:27.692
[SPEAKER_02]: My time is up, and I thank you for yours, and I'll see you on the next episode of Wealth Academy Podcast.
17:27.712 --> 17:28.714
[SPEAKER_02]: Have a great day, everyone.
17:28.998 --> 17:30.701
[SPEAKER_02]: and enjoy your January.
17:30.941 --> 17:34.367
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to this episode with Paul and his guest.
17:34.768 --> 17:44.504
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope you enjoyed this episode and Paul requests that you rate and review this episode and others on Apple Podcasts and wherever you listen to podcasts.
17:44.524 --> 17:52.778
[SPEAKER_00]: View all wealth Academy podcast episodes at www.wealthacademypodcast.com
