Rocking Your Time, Talent, and Treasures with Scott Maderer

Tim Melanson: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to today’s episode of the Work at Home Rockstar podcast. I’m very excited for today’s episode. We’re talking to a coach and fou- and founder of Inspired Stewardship, and what he does is he helps people to master their time, their talent, and their treasures so they can live out their calling.

So I’m really excited to be rocking out today with Scott Maderer. Hey, Scott, are you ready to rock?

Scott Maderer: Absolutely. Let’s go

Tim Melanson: Awesome. So we always start off here on a good note. So tell me a story of success that we can be inspired by

Scott Maderer: You know, I’ve been working from home since 2017. I’ve run my own business full time since 2017. And for me, the biggest successes that I’ve had across all of those years, and, and we can get more into the history and how I got there later, but is when I have those moments that I’m working with a client, I’m working with, uh, uh, somebody, and their life clicks in a way that makes the light [00:01:00] bulbs go on, and you can see it.

It- it’s those moments … I’ve looked at … Actually, last night, I had a, a client last night, a client couple, that they’re- they’re dealing with some money situations, you know, ch- job change recently, this, that, and the other thing. They’ve got a lot going on in their life. But what we talked about and what ended up clicking was on, you know, communication, and how do you make sure that you’re on the same page?

And, and it’s one of those things where he had done one thing and, and she was kind of mad about it, but the percep- It wasn’t really the reality. In other words, you know, the reason why he did it was a good reason, and the reason why she was worried was a good reason, but neither one of them was really hearing the other.

And so even though we’re talking about money, and it was a money-related coaching moment, it was like, "Oh, wait, we were just talking past each other," you know? And- and what actually helped is it helped the marriage, it helped the communication, it helped all of that stuff. So for me, all of my [00:02:00] good moments revolve around when I get to see things go past the tactical into the things that really change people’s lives i- in a, in a good way.

And so last night was a great example of one of those moments.

Tim Melanson: Wow. Isn’t that interesting that it, it, often the problem is not the problem, right? There’s

Scott Maderer: Almost never is the problem the problem.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, we have this sort of, like, masking ability of, like, going, "I don’t really wanna talk about the actual problem, so I’m gonna talk about this one instead," right?

Scott Maderer: Well, and it’s, it’s, it’s not even… It’s, it’s that, that’s absolutely part of it, but it’s also a lot of times we’re very unaware of our underlying choices that then reflect in results. You know? I- people talk about behavior y- and belief versus action, and, you know, which comes first, right? Belief or action?

And my answer to that question is always yes, because it’s a feedback loop. You know, what [00:03:00] happens is you begin to see the world a certain way, so therefore you act in a certain way, which then causes that to come back at you. You know? It, and it, it reinforces it. And that could be a positive experience, that could be a negative experience.

It’s not, this isn’t a value judgment. This isn’t a, that makes you a good person or a bad person or anything. It’s just literally how we see the world. It’s how our brain works. And when you realize that, you can’t ever see the label to the bottle that you’re in because you’re in the bottle, and the label’s on the outside.

You know? And, and this is where working with coaches and working with other people can be so valuable because, you know, I’m outside of the bottle. And so I’m out here going, "Well, the label says this," you know? And, and you’re in the bottle going, "I can’t read it." And it’s like, well yeah, of course not, ’cause you’re in there.

You’re, you’re inside your own limiting beliefs, your own biases, your own worldview, your own [00:04:00] history, your own whatever that’s created the situation that you’re in. It sometimes does take talking to somebody. It could be a good friend, it could be, you know, a spouse, it could be a coach, it could be a mentor or mastermind group, whatever.

Talking to those people that are kind of outside of the bottle, outside of the situation that can look at it and go, "Well, I can read it. This is what it says." You know? "It’s really obvious to me." You know, and you’re in the middle going, "It’s not obvious at all."

Tim Melanson: Yeah, yeah, totally. Well, and, uh, I mean, that’s why you need a wingman, right? That’s the whole

Scott Maderer: Yeah, you need somebody

Tim Melanson: So now sometimes things don’t go as planned though, right? And I know that it’s… I mean, the fear of failure is what keeps so many people from doing what it is that they really wanna be doing, right?

And so I like to talk about it on this show and get it out there and go, "Hey, listen. Look, we’ve made some mistakes, and here, we’re still here. Things are still going," right? So I’m wondering, can you share with me something, like a bad don- something that didn’t go as planned, and how you recovered from that?[00:05:00]

Scott Maderer: Uh, sure. Um, i- it’s kind of one of those I’ve got a list of those, right? Um, so I, I could go back in time to where I first started the business, but I’ll let, let me, let me give you something a little bit more recent just so it’s relevant to… ‘Cause people sometimes think, "Oh, you’ve been doing this for a long time.

You must not have any problems now." And it’s like, what are you talking about? I woke up yesterday. Of course I’ve got problems. Um, so one of our, one of the things that’s changed for my wife and I recently is we relocated. So we used to live kind of outside of San To- San Antonio, out in the middle of nowhere, and now we’ve located up to, uh, Bryan-College Station, Texas area, and we’re kind of more in a big community and, you know, kind of now more in the center of things than we used to be.

We used to be, like, two hours from the closest Walmart, Starbucks or McDonald’s, and now we’re, like, 15 minutes from four of those, you know, that kind of thing. So it’s, it’s really been a big change for us personally and, and it’s created some, you know, financial change, it’s created relational [00:06:00] change. We’ve moved to a different area of the country.

You know, we left people that we knew and friends, and we’d lived there for 26 years. So even though my business is portable and I can do it anywhere I have the internet, and I’ve done it anywhere I have the internet, it still affected my business. My, my personal life and having to uproot things and change things and repack things and rebuild networks.

So for instance, you’re working from home, finding ways to socialize and connect with people outside of my home, not just through a screen, you know, is important. Well, I left some of those connections, and so I’m having to create new ones and, and rebuild it. And so it doesn’t sound like a business problem at first.

People are like, "Well, isn’t that your personal life?" It’s like, yeah, but your personal life and your business life are intimately connected. And I would say that’s true, truer when you work from home too because, you know, literally we had to… When we were looking for a house, we had to take into consideration, well, Scott works from home.

Can he work from [00:07:00] home at this house? You know? It, it, it affects all of those decisions. And so for us it was really challenging. Um, it was really hard. Uh, it- we’ve been here a little over a year, and I would say we’re just now kind of getting things rebuilt and reconnected. So for over a year it disrupted everything I was doing, not just in my business but in my, my personal life.

And, and, and again, it’s not because it was a bad thing per se, but it was definitely a bad note in that it, it, it changed the way… You know, we had a tune that was playing all in harmony, and then it’s like, oh, you gotta change the time and the tempo and, uh, whatever, right? You know, the signature of the notes, and completely uprooted, completely changed it and now we’re kind of getting back into tune, I would say finally.

But it’s taken, it’s taken a long time, and it’s taken really deliberate action and planning by my wife and I of what are we gonna do to make [00:08:00] sure that we, you know, we make new connections? What are we gonna do to make sure that the business is still stable? What are we gonna do to make sure that we can continue to do the things that we want to do and feel called to do, but also maintain, you know, throughout, throughout all of that disruption.

Uh, you know, just as simple as scheduling client calls and things can be a challenge through that kind of, through that kind of change and uproot- uprooting.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Well, I think that this, uh, this topic is, is pretty relevant to someone who might be even considering to just start working from home, like right now, because that whole disruption, I mean, that’s a big challenge going from working a job and being pretty much told what to do to now being on your own at home with all those distractions.

And like you just said, I mean, s- you know, taking into account, you know, if you’re relocating, where your home office is gonna be. Well, m- m- some people [00:09:00] might not have the ability to even deal with that right now. They live where they live. So, you know, if they don’t have a dedicated office or something like that, what are they gonna do, right?

Scott Maderer: Mm-hmm.

A- and a lot of times, uh, you know, I do talk about, especially if you’re working from home, it, it, it’s creating a dedicated space. That doesn’t necessarily have to be a home office. It’s beautiful if you can get that, and, you know, I would say I’ve been blessed with that and it really helps. But you still need to create a dedicated space.

So even if it’s literally there’s a seat at your kitchen table that you never sit in except when you’re working, you know what I mean? That’s my work seat , you know? It, it can be as simple as that to create it. But what you’re trying to do is you’re trying to create triggers for your brain that when I’m in this place with this environment, I’m working, you know?

Because you get that naturally when you go to the office. You drive into the office and it’s like, "Oh, I’m at work." You [00:10:00] don’t get that naturally when you’re working from home. And so I actually think it’s a mistake to … You know, yeah, it’s beautiful, and yes, sometimes you can work from the couch or whatever and do things, you know, in other places, and that’s fine, and I do that too.

But I still have a dedicated time and place and schedule, and I show up to work, you know, and I put on … I even literally will wear a different shirt or … Now, you know, we’re on a Zoom call. You below, I’m wearing shorts and you know, and, and, and comfy shoes. But, but, you know, I’m gonna put on a nice shirt and, uh, because I’m, I’m at work, you know?

And so it’s creating those mental triggers, uh, with space or with environment or with behavior that, that lets your brain go, "Oh, yeah, I’m at work now. This is, this is work time. This is work space. I need to be focused on that." I, I found that to be really helpful for myself, and I’ve worked with several clients making that transition over the years, and it really helps them as [00:11:00] well.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, I agree. And when I started work from home, I didn’t have a whole lot of examples around me , right? It’s been quite a while now. Uh, however, if I were to look back, that would, that would’ve been something that I would definitely learn from because, I mean, I think, you know, 20 years in, okay, it’s not gonna really ruin my day if I work from the couch today

But when, when you’re, when you’re transitioning from a, from a job to a, to a business work from home, I, I think the more you can create this routine and, and this, uh, this new, you know, triggers for your brain, the easier that transition’s gonna be, right?

Scott Maderer: Yeah. It, it makes, it makes that transition easier. And, and again, it’s not a, like I said, it’s not about being, um, rigid about it where it’s like, oh, I can never work from the couch or whatever. But when I work from the couch, it’s more like, okay, I’m… It’s kinda like, uh, w- back when I worked corporate, you know, there would be days I got to work from home, [00:12:00] and they were always a little different than the days I got to work in the office.

You know, in terms of what I, my expectations were, my output was, my, you know, what, what meetings did I or not have, and that kind of thing. I kinda do the same thing. It’s like there, there’s, there’s kinds of work I can do on the back porch in the sunlight, you know, watching the chickens kinda thing, and then there’s other kinds of work that it’s like, no, that, that needs to be at the computer focused, intense, you know, at the right spot with, with the intention and the energy that it, it deserves.

So, but you don’t learn that until you do it, uh, if that makes sense. And that’s where I think the routines and the structure can help is then you kinda start to learn, oh yeah, this is work that I can, I can do in the afternoon or in the evening or do from the couch or, or whatever. That kind of, uh, less intense work for lack of a better, better word

Tim Melanson: Yeah, you know, you know that it’s work that you’re doing just on the side, right? I mean, you’re watching [00:13:00] TV, it’s a little bit distracted, but, you know, you’ve… There’s a couple things that you can just throw, like, you know, i- into whatever it is that you’re doing.

Scott Maderer: I can plow through some emails and just figure out whether I need to follow up on them tomorrow, and maybe I’m not even following up. I’m just flagging them and saying, "Yeah, I need to follow up on that one," or something. Yeah, I can do that while other stuff is going on. It’s not that big of a deal

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Now speaking about other influences, um, I’m wondering, like for you, do you hire coaches in your business, or do you have masterminds, or like w- where is it

Scott Maderer: A- all of the above.

Tim Melanson: Oh, you do?

Scott Maderer: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Um, I, I’ve been part of several masterminds over the years for different things. Uh, a- and always got benefit from ’em. E- uh, especially as a small business owner, being able to plug into groups where there’s other small business owners, especially if they’re in the same industry, but even if they’re not.

Um, if you’re working from home, same thing. Pe- there’s at least some people there that work from home, so you’ve [00:14:00] got that… I- it’s no longer, "I’m the only one doing this. I’m the weird one." You know, it’s kind of a, "Oh yeah, there’s other people that do this too. This isn’t as weird as everyone makes it out to be."

And I, you know, after COVID, I think working from home became a little less weird, but it’s still not that common, you know? And even running your own business and being an entrepreneur, you know, i- it’s sexy, and everyone likes to talk about it, but at the same time, there’s really not that many people doing it.

And so I’m part of a group called Coach Connections. We’re all financial coaches. We all work together. Uh, through that I’ve got masterminds, I’ve got, um, uh, i- individual coaches. I’ve hired individual coaches over the years. Uh, when I got started podcasting, as an example, I hired a podcast coach ’cause I’m going, "You know, I kinda know what a podcast is and how to do it, but why should I go beat my head against the wall for a year and a half not doing it well when I can hire somebody that’s great at it who can get me up to speed in a couple of months?"

You know, that kind of thing. So I’ve hired both for [00:15:00] specific situations like that, and then I’ve plugged into, you know, just general masterminds and coaches that help with business or particular challenges that I’m having, uh, over the years as well.

Tim Melanson: That’s awesome. So now, I… And now, when we spoke a little bit about this before the show even started, uh, but there’s a sort of a, a weird situation where I think some people when they’re thinking about a, a coach or when they’re thinking about somebody in that position, it’s like they’ve got their stuff all together and they’re perfect at what they do, and that’s why I’m hiring them, ’cause they’re the expert.

But in reality, everybody’s just people, and everybody has their strengths and their weaknesses. And like y- I like what you’d mentioned earlier, when you hire a coach, you’re like, "Okay, well, I’m hiring them for this specific thing because that’s their gift." But you wouldn’t necessarily go get other advice that they…

Like, i- it’s impossible for them to know everything, right?

Scott Maderer: Right, no. A- and, and really when you hire a coach, the goal, in [00:16:00] my opinion at least, a- and I’ll talk a little bit about the difference between coaching and consulting. You know, coaching has kind of become sexy where everyone wants to call themselves a coach even if they’re not actually coaching.

Tim Melanson: Yeah,

Scott Maderer: ‘Cause to me coaching, pure coaching in its purest form, and, and again, don’t hear this as a value statement.

I’m not saying this is better or worse. Everything has its value. But it’s, it’s when I’m coming in from outside of the situation and my job is to probe and to challenge and to ask questions to help raise the awareness of you, okay? In, in other words, I’m not there to provide a solution. I’m there to ask the right questions.

I’m there to challenge your thinking. I’m there … Now, all the way at the other end of this kind of continuum is consulting. Also very valuable in certain situations. This is when I have a specific problem and you have a [00:17:00] specific solution, and if I implement your specific solution, it will solve my specific problem Give you an example.

H- hiring someone to help me with Facebook ads, right? If I need somebody to help me with Facebook ads, I don’t want a coach. I don’t want someone to come in and go, "Well, Tim, what do you think about Fa-…" I want someone to tell me how to run the stupid ad , you know? It’s like… A- and again, that’s not because coaching’s bad or consulting’s bad or coach- coaching’s good and consulting’s good.

You know, it’s not the good or bad. It’s w- what am I trying to solve? But when it’s talking about things like when I was talking about whether I wanted to go into business for myself, when it’s talking about my career, when it’s talking about my family, when it’s talking about decisions I make around finances or my spiritual walk or those sorts of…

Those are very personal. I really don’t want Tim coming in and saying, "Well, Scott, here’s what you should do." You know? I, I, that’s not gonna be helpful to me. It doesn’t solve my problem. I need someone that can stand [00:18:00] beside me and go, "Okay, let’s, let’s think this through. What’s going on?" Now, truth is, usually, and this is definitely true for me, when I’m working with people with time or finances, there’s a little, there’s times that I’m consulting, and then there’s times that I’m taking that hat off and I’m putting on a coach hat, you know?

‘Cause usually I gotta put the coach hat on to actually get into diagnosis and figuring out what’s going on. But then I may get to a point where it’s like, "Ah, now I understand. You know what, Tim? I’ve got a tool that you can use and a simple… You know, this will help solve that problem. Now let’s implement that tool or that habit or that behavior or that way of thinking or that whatever it is."

But I’ve gotta wear the coaching hat long enough to find the right tool. If I come in as a coach and go, "I’ve got the one system that works for everybody," run, okay? That don’t, that doesn’t work , you know? And again, that doesn’t mean the coach is bad. It just means that’s really consulting. That’s no longer coaching.

And, and it could be valuable as long as you have the right [00:19:00] problem and that’s the right solution. But if, if not, it, it’s gonna frustrate you more than it’s gonna help you. A- and unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of coaches… I, like I said, I think since coaching’s kind of become sexy, a lot of people call themselves a coach, and what they’re really doing is consulting or advising or i- mentoring or, you know.

And again, all of these are good, all of these are valuable, but they’re different things , you know? And don’t hire an advisor if you want a coach. By the same token, don’t hire a coach if you want an advisor. You know, that, that’s two different behaviors.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, yeah. And I think it’s, uh, maybe just the way to, to figure this out is figure out what you want and then, and then you can decide whether it’s a, yeah, whether it’s a consultant or a coach they want. Uh, but you mentioned finances a few minutes ago, and I’d like to get into that a little bit because running a business, especially in the very beginning, and I, I mean, all businesses are different.

Some have inventory, some don’t have inventory, some are service, some… You know, but, but in the, in the end, I mean, they all have to make money, right? [00:20:00] And I find that, that, you know, making sure that the, the cash flow is positive tends to be a, a really difficult thing that we’re not necessarily taught in our, in our, you know, high school classes or whatever it happens to be.

So I’m wondering, you know, do you have any, any insight on that, on how we can make sure that, that we’re, we’re always in the, in the positive?

Scott Maderer: You know, a lot of it is setting up the, again, we’re back to habits and systems, um, you know, the habits into the systems. So what I see happen a lot that burns people is two things. One is they treat revenue the same as profit, and I’ll define that in a second. And two is when they treat business and personable, personal as kind of…

They, they don’t separate them. And, and I don’t just mean a physical separation, I mean a mental separation, you know? That, that my business is my business and my home life is my home life And I don’t treat the business like a piggy bank, uh, but I [00:21:00] also don’t treat it like it’s just part of my normal routine.

You know, it, you separate them. Um, so with profit and revenue, what I’ve seen happen a lot of times, especially when we first start out, you get that first check, you know, from somebody. They, they paid you, I don’t know, $1,000, right, for whatever you did. You know, you’re a freelancer, you’re doing X, Y, Z, I don’t care.

You get that $1,000 check and you’re like, "I made $1,000." No you didn’t, you know? Because your business has expenses, and there’s stuff that your business has to pay for before that money can come home. I mean, odds are really good there’s something, you know? If nothing else, there’s this little thing called taxes, you know?

And, and guess what? You know, if you work in the US, Uncle Sam wants their cut, you know? And you… But they’re not gonna come for it for months, so it’s real easy to be like, "Oh, I can just, I’ll deal with that later." And, or, "The, the electric bill’s not due till later. I’ll deal with that later." And so you [00:22:00] treat revenue, which is that $1,000, the same as profit, which is what’s left after expenses, right?

That’s kind of the definition of profit. And so when you do that, you’re setting yourself up for failure from the very beginning.

Tim Melanson: Yeah

Scott Maderer: And usually it leads to the second problem, which is you start treating your personal, and you may even have it all in one account, and sometimes your business pays a bill that maybe was really a personal bill, or sometimes you pay a bill for the business out of your personal account, and you just start, everything starts blending together until it’s like there’s no separation mentally, emotionally, financially between the two.

And that, again, always leads you towards problems, because you need to treat the business as its own business and, you know, I put on my business hat and I’m looking at my business finances. And guess what? That, that line item there that’s money going home to me, [00:23:00] that’s, I’m paying somebody, you know? I’m paying a 1099 or I’m paying an employee or I’m paying whatever, depending on how it’s set up, but I’m paying somebody.

And yes, it happens to be you, but as the business owner, you have to look at it just like that’s an employee or just a- another expense, and it just happens to be the money going home to your, your personal account. And then when you get on the personal side, you have to be able to look at that and go, "Okay, this is the money coming in and this is what I’ve got to spend, and what am I gonna do," you know, on my personal side, and not just immediately go, "Oh, the business can pay for it."

Uh, and I’ve seen so many people do that, and it always ends up in a bad place.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. I’ve, uh, so I- I’ve gotten into tax trouble actually, really serious problems. And it- it’s- it’s pretty much exactly what you just said. Like, it’s like you get this big paycheck, and you’re like, it- it feels like a paycheck like when you were working, like, for a job. Only the difference is that you probably already know that the company takes money [00:24:00] off of that for you to put into taxes.

Y- they don’t do that when you get a check from a client.

Scott Maderer: you still end up having to write a check, you know? That’s the other thing, you

Tim Melanson: Yeah. So, so it’s just, it’s just one of those things. But then the other thing that I, I have found, and, you know, m- maybe you’ve had a similar experience. So I’ve been self-employed for almost the entire time. It’s only since the beginning of 2025 that I actually incorporated my business and, and actually created an actual business business, and it’s so much cleaner, so much cleaner.

This whole separation between business and, and personal. Uh, but when you’re self-employed, everything’s all intermingling all the time, and including your taxes,

Scott Maderer: deliberate to separate it. Yeah. It, it’s… So if you’re a sole proprietorship, so there’s two– there’s business organization from a tax perspective, and then there’s business organization from a business licensing or structure perspective, [00:25:00] you know? And, and what’s interesting is we use exactly the same names, but they’re not the same.

So, you know, it, which is even more confusing for those of us that are s- coming into it. If you’re not a CPA, you don’t know all of this stuff. And again, I’m back to this is one of those times where a lot of times it’s good to hire somebody or, or work with somebody that knows. Or again, like my job sometimes as a coach is to be the quarterback and go, "Okay, I can’t solve that because I’m not a tax expert, but we need a tax expert for that.

Let’s go find one. Here’s the questions we need to ask. Here’s what you need to look for," that kind of thing. Because guess what? Not every CPA knows how to deal with home- work from home and small businesses. Um, and when you talk about incorporation… Uh, so are you a subchapter S?

Tim Melanson: Uh, I’m in Canada, so so we have all

Scott Maderer: okay.

Never mind. Different name. Uh, you know, same concept, but different name, yeah. Um, but yeah, in, in the US, um, we have LLCs, we have sole proprietorships LLCs, partnership LLCs, and then we have subchapter [00:26:00] Ses, which are technically still LLCs, and then we have C corps, right? But what it boils down to, that’s all just gobbledygook and, and it doesn’t matter.

You don’t need to know what all of that stuff is. The point is there comes a time where both organizational structure-wise, you may need to look at a different structure, and tax-wise, you may need a different structure. What I will say is I have– if you don’t have a good CPA, I have seen CPAs who encourage people to do it when it actually ends up being more expensive for them to do it that way, ’cause they can easily make the mistake that, oh, it, you know, we just need to…

‘Cause it makes their job easier. You know what I mean? And, and, and it’s like, so from their point of view, it’s like, "Hey, this’ll make my job easier. Let’s do it." And yet then it costs the, the, the person. So I will say it is one of those things where you do have to really understand and ask questions and work with people that know what’s going on and are good at what they [00:27:00] do and that you can trust.

And, you know, that again gets back to that, um, one of those times where I think it’s good if you have other business owners around you and other support staff or support people who can go, "Hey, let’s…" Don’t just make that as a knee-jerk decision. Let’s just put it that way. Spend some time and some energy on it.

Tim Melanson: No, yeah, exactly. But, but I mean, the, the bottom line I think is your initial point, which is do your best, like even if it’s in different spreadsheets or email accounts to, to have your, your personal

Scott Maderer: you have to create some separation. Yeah, absolutely. Um, mentally if nothing else

Tim Melanson: Yeah, absolutely. So it doesn’t necessarily ne- mean that you have to go incorporate, ’cause as you mentioned, there, there are some nuances with that, both in Canada and in, in the States, where you really should talk to somebody about that.

I know I did, right? And, and it, it took me… I mean, w- when I was even thinking about incorporating, it was, oh, it’s gotta be at least [00:28:00] six or seven or eight years between the time when I start, first started learning about it to when I actually did it. So I, I mean, it, it, it was just my business needed to be into a certain po- portion, or, um, I mean, um, uh, to get to a certain place before I was ready to move that.

And we were not gonna get

Scott Maderer: Yeah, sometimes there’s certain income y- limits before it makes sense. There’s all sorts of particulars, so that’s why, yeah, like you, I’m like, I’m not an expert of that. I’m not an expert. I’ve worked with clients in over 20 countries. There is no way I know this in 20 countries, you know? It’s like, I can’t,

Tim Melanson: But in all 20 countries, having a good clean separation between the two is always a good

Scott Maderer: in all 20 countries, the separation is the key. Absolutely

Tim Melanson: when you get to the point where it is time to, uh, to incorporate it, if, if you ever do, I mean, you might, might not, well, then having that separation’s gonna make it so much easier too.

Like, all of a sudden, you know, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a simple [00:29:00] transition. At this point, you’ve already got your personal on your personal and your business on your business, right?

Scott Maderer: Not to mention, it, you know, it, it, just to be 100% transparent, it helps you as the business owner 100%, but what I will also say, not to be… It, it helps everyone around you. Um, whether that’s either, you know, in an estate situation, whether that’s, uh, helping your CPA, you know, or somebody like that, whether it’s helping…

You know, what happens if you get sick? You know, and that kind of th- It’s all of those things that we don’t like to think about, but especially, again, when you work for yourself, you need to think about all of that stuff, you know? Because it could happen. Um, you know, and, and it’s, yeah, it makes everything cleaner for, for you and for everybody around you

Tim Melanson: Well, and I, I, I know it ’cause I, I thought about that at one point, like what happens… Oh, let’s just say that you, like you say, you get sick or you, you get hurt or something like that, and now all of a sudden someone [00:30:00] m- running your business for you or helping you with your business is now going to be all in, up in your personal stuff because it’s all together, right?

Now they’re seeing your credit card statement, which has literally everything that you’ve bought personally, when if you just had two different credit cards, I mean, it doesn’t have to be a, a business credit card. It can be two different personal credit cards. One’s used for business, one’s used for personal.

That would create that separation so that if someone was helping you, they wouldn’t necessarily need to see what you bought personally anymore, right? Yeah.

Scott Maderer: Yeah. It, it, it could just be as … Yeah, so there’s, there’s, it, there’s so much … And again, to your point, there’s a lot of particulars, but the concept of … It really goes back to what I was saying at the beginning about you need a separate space that, you know, when I sit down at this space, this is my business.

It, it really comes back to that mental outlook of this is my business and I’m treating it like a business, and then when I go over here, this is my personal life and I’m treating it like my [00:31:00] personal life. You know? It’s that mental separation, that financial separation, separation in time, separation in, in what you do.

And again, the beauty is you can have a lot of flexibility and it can look very different than everybody else

Tim Melanson: Mm-hmm.

Scott Maderer: because you’re creating it and you’re designing it. And that’s … Uh, the other piece I would put is be very intentional about how you design that and create that because I’ve seen people create a business that they hate because they just weren’t intentional about it and, and didn’t set it up.

You know, like I said, from day one I set my business up with the intent of I can do this from anywhere because that was important for me. That is a value for me. I want to be able to pick my business up … Because I knew even back then I may need to move up there one day and be a little closer to my mom to help take care of her as she’s getting older.

Uh, so I want a business that I could just pick up and go up there and be close to mom if I need to, you know, that kind of thing. That, those were values of mine and my wife, so we s- [00:32:00] we designed it from the very beginning.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. I, I love that. Like, that, that’s the kind of thing that I, I think is really, uh, the big advantage of running your own business, of being your own boss and, and doing this, is that you have… It’s not that you’re not… I mean, you’re probably working more, right? I mean, we joke about that all the time, about you’re probably working more than you would as a, as a, an employee.

But having that flexibility and that ability to just design what it is you want, you’re more proactive in the way that you build your life rather than reactive based on what somebody else says they need from you. Right now, it’s more or less, you know, if, if you don’t do what you want, then someone else is gonna try to get you to do what they want, right?

Because you’re not intentional about your life, right?

Scott Maderer: Yeah, absolutely. Um, and it, it, it’s this idea of, you know, and yes, actually, when you’re a W-2 employee, you have some things that you can do to help control your life and your input [00:33:00] and all of that. But to a very large extent, I like to tell people that when you’re a W-2 employee, you’re self-employed with one client,

Tim Melanson: Yes. Yep.

Scott Maderer: the company you work for,

Tim Melanson: Which is a good way to think about it

Scott Maderer: And if you think about it that way, it really does change the way you look at it because it’s kind of like, "Oh, wait a minute," you know? Because at the end of the day, you want a promotion, there’s things you need to do. You know, you want to get a raise, there’s things you need to do. You, you need to be a self-starter at some level, even in a company situation, if you want to change the situation,

Tim Melanson: Yeah.

Scott Maderer: okay?

And where now I’m self-employed with multiple clients, and in some ways that’s safer than being self-employed with one client. In other ways, it’s more challenging, you know? So it’s not really one is easy or one is good or one is bad, but for some of us, being self-employed gives us the ability to design a life and work from home and, [00:34:00] you know, spend time with our family or not…

You know, travel when we want to or do all sorts of things that would be much more difficult to do in a W-2 kind of work for somebody else kind of employee-employer situation. That being said, again, the key in both of those is creating a life you want is the intentionality piece. Because I, I think if you’re a passive WT employee, it stinks if, if…

You know, I’m using W-2 ’cause that’s the US term, but you, you get my point. You know, if you’re, if you’re working for somebody else and you’re passive about it, that’s much worse than when you’re working for someone else and you’re actively involved in your own career and growth. And then I think the same thing’s true for us as, as work from home folks or business owners, um, ’cause yeah, so often I’ve seen folks basically create a job instead of a business.

And it’s like, well, uh, that’s easy. I mean, I can create a job for [00:35:00] myself pretty easy, uh, and if I, if, if I don’t, my wife will, right? That’s the honey-do list, you know? But it’s, it’s much more difficult to intentionally create something that actually gives you more of the things that you want in life.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Wow. So let’s get into your guest solo a little bit. Tell me what’s exciting in your business

Scott Maderer: Oh, boy. Um, I’ve started a lot of kind of new things. So I work as a one-on-one coach with a lot of folks. Like I mentioned earlier, I worked with over 1,000 clients in 20 countries. I do work international. I, and I love that work, but I’ve started doing more speaking and more actual kind of personal appearance sort of things.

I had a book published a couple of years ago called Inspired Living. I’ve been talking on that topic, uh, as well as disc and, and time and money. Uh, those are kind of the big buckets that I tend to talk on. So I’ve been doing a lot more speaking and a lot more training and kind of [00:36:00] workshops, going in and doing, um, employee wellness, uh, where I go into a small business that maybe has five, seven, 10 employees and do work with all of the employees.

And the business owner, you know, wants that because it’s an employee benefit. Plus, honestly, if your employees are better with money, they work better, um, because, you know, they’re not worried about Visa calling them. They’re, they’re actually focused on the job. So I, I’ve been going in and doing a lot more of that.

Um, so those are all things that are kind of exciting for me right now. Obviously, I always… My, my bread and butter and the thing I love more than anything else is the one-on-one coaching, working with folks to, to… When they basically find themselves saying, "I make too much money to feel this broke," or,

Tim Melanson: Mm-hmm.

Scott Maderer: "I’ve got all this time, but I’m busy.

I’m not actually doing the things that matter to me. I’m just busy doing the stuff that I have to do," those are the language triggers that usually tell me somebody could work with me as a coach, and we can get [00:37:00] that straightened out and, and get you feeling… It’s not necessarily that you’re making more money, but you’ll feel richer.

And it’s not necessarily that you have more time, but you’ll feel like you have the time to spend on the, the things that actually matter because you’re making different decisions. That, that’s always the, the most exciting thing for me.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. And isn’t that so impactful? Uh, ’cause bec- I, I think a lot of people sort of think that the answer is something else. It’s, it’s like, uh, it’s somebody else’s problem, or it’s, I, if I just get a, this different job, everything would be good. Or if I had… Right? When,

Scott Maderer: Or if I could just download the right app, it would solve all my problems.

Tim Melanson: oftentimes, yeah, it’s just an accumulation of really small little decisions that you’re making in your own life that are accumulating up to big things that now you feel stuck, right?

And, and I, I love that you’re able to kinda like dig into that a little bit, right?

Scott Maderer: Yeah, yeah. Either way, um, y- where you’re at today is based on thousands and thousands and [00:38:00] thousands of decisions you’ve made over however long you’re alive, you know? Um, if, if you’re 40, 40 years. You know, if you’re, if you’re 90, 90 years. Whatever it is. And that also, though, the beauty of that is that means it’s also something that can change.

At any time you can begin to make different decisions. And will it fix everything overnight? Nope. Um, I ordered a magic wand. Unfortunately, it was from Temu, and it didn’t work, you know? It, it, it’s… It, I don’t have a magic wand, neither does anyone else, so it’s not gonna fix it overnight, but that’s not the point.

It will end up in a different place if you start making those different decisions and different actions and different behaviors and different habits and different… All of those things compound, and so it either compounds positively or it compounds negatively. It, it’s, it’s really like compound interest, right?

Compound interest as payments on a credit card, you know, interest payments, works against you. Compound interest when you’ve got an investment and it’s compounding in that way, it works for you. They’re [00:39:00] both compound interest, you know? It’s just which one is for you and which one’s against you. And, and, and against there meaning, you know, it’s gonna go backwards for you.

You, you owe more money with interest, or you earn more money with interest. So it’s, it’s the same kind of thing with behavior. It’s compound behavior. Behavior that’s intentional and goes in the right direction compounds over time. Behavior that’s unintentional or goes in the wrong direction compounds over time.

That’s all, that’s all we work on. So I talk about time, talent, and treasures, but my joke is people usually come to me ’cause they have, they think they have a time problem or they have a money problem. All we ever really work on is talent. Because you don’t manage time, you don’t manage money. What you manage is yourself, and how you manage yourself shows up in your time and money, and that’s the result, not the cause.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Wow. That’s, that’s really good. Yeah. And I mean, uh, I love that whole residual portion because I think a lot of people sort of think that, okay, today’s gonna be different, and they wake [00:40:00] up and they go, "I’m gonna make all these different decisions." And then things keep happening, but the things that are happening are not the result of today you making the change.

They’re a result of what you did yesterday, and it’s gonna sa- take some time before… Today’s change is only gonna have an impact in a few days now, only if you keep doing it, right? And, uh, people get discouraged ’cause they’re like, "Oh, this just doesn’t work. You know? Might as well not even

Scott Maderer: it’s, you know, health, the health realm is always an easy one for people to understand, you know? It’s like, it’s like dieting, right? You know, if you, if you want a beach body in June, you don’t change the way you’re eating on June 1st, you know? It, it’s not gonna work, um, because you’ve gotta… It, it’s gotta compound over time.

You’ve gotta change things about your exercise or your, your eat, your nutrition, or both, um, you know, those sorts of things to change what it looks like in June, and you, you don’t start in June. You start way before. [00:41:00] The same thing happens in our, our business life, our, our relationships, our, our spiritual walk.

I don’t care what part of your life you want to put it in, your career. Whatever it is, it’s the same formula. It, it’s just, it’s just kind of a different lens through which to look at it

Tim Melanson: Yeah. So how do we find out more about you then?

Scott Maderer: So I actually put together a page, uh, just for your podcast listeners. If you go over to my website, which is inspiredstewardship.com, and then just put in /workfromhomerockstar. No spaces or anything, just make it all one word. I know that’ll look weird, but it’s easier, uh, on the internet machine. So if you go to, uh, inspiredstewardship.com/workfromhomerockstar, what you’ll find there is I put together some free resources and free exercises around time and money.

So if that’s just an area you’ve been struggling with and you wanna check something out, uh, it, it is geared kind of towards both personal and business. And then as well, there’s information about my book I mentioned, [00:42:00] Inspired Living, and I have a podcast myself called Inspired Stewardship that’s linked on there as well.

And if you’d like to jump on a quick call, that link is there as well. So all of the resources in one place, so it’d be easy to find at inspiredstewardship.com/workfromhomerockstar

Tim Melanson: All right, love it. That’s awesome. Thank you so much. Okay, one more question. This one might be the hardest one though. So we’re gonna talk about music. Who is your favorite rock star or band?

Scott Maderer: Favorite band is probably Queen. Um, uh, that’s, uh, that, that’s definitely one that I could listen to. Aerosmith’s probably a close second, um, in part because my wife and I, that was like, I took her to an Aerosmith concert in, uh, Austin as our, it, it was our very first date. It, it technically wasn’t even a date, right?

You know, we were just going as friends, one of those things. Um, and obviously it, apparently it worked out. By the way, she had no idea who Aerosmith was I [00:43:00] think at the time, uh, ’cause she grew up on a different kind of music. So it was interesting. But, uh, yeah, so Queen and, and Aerosmith are probably my first and my second

Tim Melanson: Oh, bring a girl to a concert. You know, classic, classic. Always works, right?

Scott Maderer: Yeah, well, we kept moving up the hill ’cause, uh, let- let’s just say there was a, it was an outdoor venue and th- there were rather large clouds of smoke, let’s just put it that way. So we just kept moving up the hill. Uh, and then when it was time to leave at the night, you know, we, we basically were like, "We’re just gonna hang out on the truck for a while and, uh, let everybody else leave ’cause I, I have a feeling there might be some traffic accidents."

So,

Tim Melanson: it’s funny. It-

Scott Maderer: but it was … So we ended up spending a, a good amount of time together, so it was, it was, it was pleasant all around

Tim Melanson: I love that. Right on. Well, thank you so much, Scott, for rocking out with me today. This has been a lot of fun

Scott Maderer: Absolutely. Thank you for having me

Tim Melanson: Awesome. And to the listeners, make sure you go to workathomerockstar.com for more information. We’ll see you next time on the Work at Home Rockstar podcast Navigating Success: Mastering Time, Talent, and Treasures