Garry F. Liday Corp. - July 2021

Garry F. Liday Corp. - July 2021

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JULY 2021

Garry F. Liday Corporat ion FINANCIAL COACH

RETIREMENT ASSET MANAGERS, INC. A Registered Investment Advisory Firm (RIA)

‘I Built It From Scratch!’ You Don’t Build 4 Businesses From Nothing Without Learning a Few Things

You may know that the newsletter you’re reading is for a company I began 26 years ago. But what you might not know is that this wasn’t the first company I ever ran or even built from scratch. Nor the second one. Nor the third. By the time I set up this financial advising firm, it was the fourth company I had founded and operated successfully. Now, I may not be a professional business coach — although sometimes I feel like one — but in that process, I learned a few things that work.

The next seven years were very different than the past ones had been. I didn’t move towns once, and if I needed more money (which had been a reason to seek a promotion), I just went out and got more clients. That job taught me that sometimes, simple is better — and simple makes money. One of my favorite tricks for getting those new clients? Open up the phone book and start calling names. I also learned about 100-hour workweeks, and toward the end there, I learned about burnout. I’m a hard worker, but it’s tough to spend the better part of a decade without relief or respite. I decided to go back to school, and I sold the State Farm agency back to the company. In that year — 1977 — it was one of the most successful branches in the state of Oregon. And I’d built it from scratch! That was a good feeling to leave with. Ending up in Ashland for college, I realized that it wasn’t as good a fit as I’d hoped. I thought perhaps it was just that the school and professors were left-leaning compared to myself or perhaps that I was so much older than the other students (at this point, I was much closer to 40 than I was to 18). But as I discovered when I transferred to Biola College in Los Angeles (you can thank the absolutely magnetic speaker Gary Collins, who told me it was a good

place to go learn psychology), it was really higher education in general that I didn’t mesh with.

In addition, I was stuck in LA, with traffic and smog. It was a pretty far cry from anywhere in Oregon, and I found myself missing home. I talked to one of Biola’s career counselors about it. After hearing me talk about State Farm, he said, “Don’t tell anybody I said this — I’d get fired — but it sounds like you really need to go back to Oregon and do what you’re really good at.”

And, arguably more importantly, I learned a few things that just don’t.

Three days later I was on the road back home.

My license was still valid, and I was back in the world I knew best, now with some ideas to avoid burnout. To be honest, it didn’t take much to find the right balance because I really do love to work! I spent 3 1/2 years in Roseburg, producing more business for an independent insurance agency than almost anybody at their company. It was here that I began to experiment with educating my clients as much as possible. It came from a few things, the biggest being that most people (although not all) want to have some idea of how their insurance policy works for them. To achieve this, I found seminars invaluable, and that’s another technique that I hold very close to my heart today.

When I founded my very first business, it was at the end of a seven-year period working for Sherwin Williams paint. I started that period in Coos Bay and ended it in Medford, and in between, I’d been moved to Eugene, Ontario, and Roseburg here in Oregon, as well as places in Washington and Idaho. Road warrior that I was, I still got tired of moving. I had a young family, and if I wanted a promotion, it meant uprooting them yet again. My insurance agent convinced me that State Farm would be a good fit for my personality as well as my drive. Of course, they were already the State Farm agent in town, so it meant I had to move yet again, this time landing in Klamath Falls.

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High on the slopes of Bristen, a mountain in the Glarus Alps in central Switzerland, a pair of skiers discovered something unexpected. At 4:30 a.m., the skiers climbed toward the summit of Bristen when they realized they weren’t alone. They were being followed by a cat — not a lynx or a wildcat, but a little mewling house cat. How does a house cat end up on the slopes of a snow-covered, 10,000-foot mountain? This was an answer the skiers wouldn’t get. They weren’t even sure what to do with a cat in general. It’s likely that it simply wandered away from one of the nearby towns or villages near the base of the mountain, but even for a human, that’s a major undertaking. Lost, the cat followed the only sign of civilization it could find: the skiers, Cyril and Erik Rohrer. “She started to shiver, and her paws began to bleed from the hard snow,” Cyril noted. “We picked her up and carried her when she was too exhausted to walk uphill anymore. We were definitely confused. I felt really sorry for the cat. She was really exhausted on the ridge underneath the summit.” The cat stayed with them for some time before they met up with another group of hikers who were headed down the mountain. The cat joined them for what would hopefully be a journey back home. And it was! Remarkably, the cat’s owners were found. They revealed that their cat had vanished four days earlier and apparently followed yet another group of hikers up Bristen. “Animals do weird things. And they are way tougher than humans. They’ll never give up. Even though they are hurting really, really bad,” Cyril said of his feline hiking companion. Hopefully, that will be the little feline’s last trip up for some time!

The Meow

at 10,000 Feet

The Humble Kickboard A Powerful Pool Workout Tool If the heat of the summer is zapping your energy and motivation to exercise, it’s probably time to head to the pool to cool down and get moving without breaking a sweat. While swimming laps is a great low-impact exercise, there are many other ways to work out in the water. And there’s one humble, versatile, and widely available piece of equipment that can provide a full-body water workout: a foam kickboard. That’s right, those colorful kickboards you often see lined up poolside are perfect for elevating your aquatic workout. High-quality kickboards are made from foam that is both long-lasting and hygienic, but if you’re taking extra safety precautions and don’t want to use shared boards, they are also inexpensive to buy.

Legs: Flutter Kicks This exercise is great to do in the lap lane at the pool and is probably one you’ve seen before. Grip the top of the board (the round end) with both hands and extend your arms in front of you with the board on the surface of the water. Lift your hips so your body is horizontal and be sure to slide your shoulders down and engage your core as you start performing small kicks with your legs. Engage your thighs to power the kick and keep your knees slightly bent while your ankles remain relaxed. Abs and Hip Flexors: L Sit In shallow water that still allows you to float, lean your chest and outstretched arms over your kickboard. Keep your back straight and your legs at a 90-degree angle to create the L-shape this exercise is named after. Engaging your core muscles and keeping your back long, move your legs in tandem up toward the kickboard, then return slowly to the starting position. Do 2–3 sets of 10 reps.

Here are three exercises to get you started!

Arms: Pushdowns Land lovers do pushups and water lovers do pushdowns. The principle behind both exercises is the same, but doing it in the water means less strain on your muscles. To perform the pushdown, stand in waist-deep water and hold your kickboard in front of you with your elbows bent and your hands shoulder- width apart. Keep your core muscles engaged as you push the board down into the water until your elbows are straight. Slowly bring the board back to the starting position. Do 2–3 cycles of 10 reps each.

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Get Your Train of Thought Back on Track

... continued from Cover

Next, I spent 13 years in Eugene as an independent agent before getting recruited to come to Portland. I moved into the house I live in today, right here in Tigard, and got to work. Until I didn’t, that is. The lesson I learned from that job was that when you aren’t your own boss, you’re vulnerable to the decisions of others. As good of a job as I did, it was all for naught when they brought in a guy with an MBA and no experience. He fired everyone on my team of 22 reps, then rehired a third of us. Not sure where he learned that managerial technique … but then, I already knew that book smarts weren’t everything!

I weathered it as long as I could, and then I went on vacation for two weeks in a 17th-century castle. For me, that’s like taking an entire summer off!

Recovery Hacks

And when I came back, I founded this business, with all the experience and knowledge of my past businesses to draw on. I used seminars (still do, when I can do them again!), contacted people the old-fashioned way, and focused on customer experience and satisfaction. It’s like anything in life: If you work hard, pay attention to the details, and put others before yourself, you usually come out ahead — and you’ll be successful. Now that’s something I can get behind!

– Garry Liday

Have you ever been in the middle of a conversation, presentation, or debate, stringing together thoughts in a way you hope is coherent and insightful when — poof! — you lose your train of thought? It’s frustrating. You just want to make yourself understood, but your brain has other plans. What if there were a way to keep your train of thought on track? Well, the good news is that recovering your train of thought is easy with the following hacks in mind. Repeat, repeat, repeat yourself. Paraphrasing your last few thoughts out loud can help you remember where you were going. Think of it as retracing your steps: You go back to the last words you remember saying, and more often than not, you’ll find your direction again. Take a short pause. Pausing briefly is a great way to make recovering your train of thought seem natural. This hack works really well if you’re answering a question and you need time to think, and you also don’t want to be bogged down by a chorus of “ums” escaping from your mouth. Write it all down. This hack works well when you know beforehand that you’ll be speaking with someone or in front of people. Even if you never refer to your notes while speaking, simply writing down a road map for your train of thought can help you recover from a detour and speak more confidently. Remember your overall point. The easiest way to drive your train of thought into the weeds is to forget your overall point — or not to have an overriding point at all. Always have a short, overarching point you can use to recenter yourself and get back on track. With these hacks, your brain will have to work a lot harder to make you lose your train of thought! Now you’ll be more prepared to tackle any subject matter, no matter how deep or technical, that comes your way.

Plant-Based Blueberry Muffins Inspired by MyDarlingVegan.com

It’s blueberry season! Whip up this simple muffin recipe to celebrate in style.

INGREDIENTS • 1 cup soy milk •

• • • • • •

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp canola oil

• • •

2 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp baking soda

Zest of 1 lemon

2 cups fresh blueberries

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease a muffin tin and set aside. 2. In a bowl, combine soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside. 3. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 4. In a third bowl, combine sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and lemon zest. Add milk mixture and stir, then add flour mixture. Stir to combine until well- incorporated but not smooth. Fold in the blueberries. 5. Spoon batter into muffin tin, filling each well 3/4 full. Bake 20–25 minutes, cool, and enjoy!

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Garry F. Liday Corp. Retirement Asset Managers, Inc. A Registered Investment Advisory Firm (RIA) 15405 SW 116th Ave., Suite 103A King City, OR 97224

Call Us: (503) 620-3531 www.garryliday.com

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Inside This Issue 4 Businesses — From Scratch — And What I Learned PAGE 1 The Miraculous Mountain Cat PAGE 2 Kickboard Pool Exercises PAGE 2 Life Hack: How to Recover Your Train of Thought PAGE 3 Plant-Based Blueberry Muffins PAGE 3 Avoid These Ingredients in Your Cooking! PAGE 4

3 INGREDIENTS THAT ARE A WASTE OF TIME, MONEY, AND TASTE BUDS!

Ground Black Pepper Many spices can actually fall under this category, but ground black pepper tends to be the most popular — and the most problematic. When spices, like pepper, are ground, they come into contact with air and begin to oxidize and lose flavor. Ground spices stored in sealed containers in a cool, dry place will lose flavor slowly, but ground pepper tends to be left out, which means it loses flavor faster. Instead, invest in a pepper mill and fill it with whole peppercorns. The flavor difference in your dishes will be noticeable!

There are several foods in just about every supermarket that aren’t what they seem. These are foods that may appear perfectly fine at a glance, but they are actually a waste of time, money, and pantry space. Here are three of those foods and their better alternatives! Beef Broth When you buy beef broth, you buy it with the expectation that it is, in fact, beef- based. However, many products that call themselves “beef broth” are actually yeast - based. All of their flavor comes from yeast and various spices, not beef, thanks to lax U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations on beef broth. The product may have just enough actual beef broth for it to be on the ingredient list and label. The next time you need beef broth for a recipe, replace it with the same amount of chicken or vegetable broth, both of which have more stringent USDA regulations. Cooking Wine This is one of the biggest scams in the culinary world. First, most products called “cooking wine” on their label are low-quality wines. Second, many manufacturers add salt to cooking wine. If you encounter a recipe that calls for cooking wine, in general, stick to regular wine that you would serve on its own. Use white wine for lighter-in-color dishes, such as risotto, and red wine for dark, richer dishes, including sauces and gravies.

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