Author: openjargon

• Chad Willardson left Merrill Lynch in 2011 to start Pacific Capital, a wealth management firm.
• Industry changes post-Great Recession and corporate bureaucracy drove him away from Wall Street.
• Now he runs multiple businesses and doesn't regret leaving the comforts of corporate life.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Chad Willardson, a 45-year-old entrepreneur, investor, and author in Orange County, California. It has been edited for length and clarity.

In 2011, I left my job at Merrill Lynch after nine years to start Pacific Capital, a wealth management firm for entrepreneurs with at least $10 million to invest.

It was not easy to leave the comfort of my corner office, corporate perks, and awards and recognition at a big Wall Street bank. I was a high performer and earned over $1 million a year by my late 20s.

However the changes in our industry after the Great Recession changed much of our day-to-day work. The bureaucracy and slow-moving corporate mothership eventually frustrated me to the point that I questioned how long I could keep working there.

At the time, I was being recruited by other top banks

I considered going somewhere like Morgan Stanley, UBS, or Goldman Sachs, which offered major signing bonuses. It would've been a lot of money for me at the time, but trading one corporate Wall Street uniform for another one across the street didn't feel like the right long-term move.

I was tired of wearing a suit and tie and being told what the big company wanted to push on us. It was time for a drastic change. I felt like I needed to take a bigger leap and start my own thing, but I had no idea how to start a business.

I packed up my stuff and walked out with my assistant on a Monday morning. It felt like a major risk as a married 32-year-old with a big mortgage and a growing family. I didn't know how I would make it — I was just determined that I eventually would. My wife was also very nervous, but she believed in me.

I was under a lot of pressure when I started my business

I signed a lease on an office, hired a few employees, and had many expenses with zero revenue. I used my savings, borrowed against my house, and opened up a business credit card — I scrambled to figure it all out.

I spent all my time contacting potential clients via phone calls, emails, and postcards, walking business to business, and posting on social media — just like I had done in 2003 when I started as a rookie at Merrill Lynch.

The big advantage I found of being on this side of the industry was I could completely design the services around my ideal clients rather than trying to find clients to fit into the box of what a big corporation wanted. I started by targeting entrepreneurs with at least $1 million to invest.

I was profitable by the middle of 2012. I now have a team of 20 full-time employees and four part-time employees. One major upside of entrepreneurship I underestimated was the opportunity to build a great culture and teamwork within the firm.

There's no such thing as an average workday for me anymore

I now have an entrepreneurial coaching business. I also cofounded a sports complex in Southern California in 2019 and a fintech company dedicated to helping kids and teens gain financial education in 2021.

Every day is unique. I travel a ton, both for work and pleasure, so I work from wherever my family is. I don't go to the office much anymore, though most of my team chooses to go into the office. My team and I also fly all over to see clients and potential clients.

Try to start your entrepreneurial journey as a side hustle before making the full leap

Starting Pacific Capital as a side hustle wasn't possible for me because the securities brokerage business is a very strict industry that almost allows zero other activities besides your full-time employment. But in most situations, starting your business as a side hustle is possible. This approach allows you to validate your business idea, understand your market, and build a customer base with less financial risk.

I also recommend you identify your niche and leverage your current skills and passions to solve a specific set of problems for that niche. My target market is a very small subset of the population, and specializing in this market gives us a very distinct advantage over most financial advisors who are generalists.

Once you have a target market, build your online presence. I've consistently engaged on LinkedIn for years, and it's paid off. I've hired more than a dozen people through LinkedIn and have attracted new business there, too.

Your people are your most important asset. One of my biggest mistakes was holding on to a toxic employee in a key position for too long because he was very intelligent. I tried to justify the damage to the team culture and chemistry because he was talented. Be very careful with who you hire because that will make or break your future.

I've grown my net worth to over $50 million by taking risks

One key trait of successful entrepreneurs is going all in on opportunities when most people are paralyzed by fear. For example, when real estate was in a downturn from 2007 to 2009, I aggressively borrowed to invest in underpriced properties.

My personal real-estate portfolio grew to include everything from duplexes and apartment complexes to skilled nursing facilities and car washes.

Follow the wise counsel of Warren Buffett: "Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful." My biggest leaps in net worth have always come when I took big chances while others stood still.

Entrepreneurship is not the only path to success

To become wealthy, you invest your income into assets that will grow in value over time and eventually pay you an income or a large lump sum. You don't have to be an entrepreneur.

What you don't see behind the scenes of entrepreneurship is a ton of failure, doubt, and hard times. There's a reason most businesses fail within the first five years. You must be fully invested and committed to succeed because it will likely take longer, require more sacrifice, and cost more money than expected.

I have zero regrets about leaving Merrill Lynch to become an entrepreneur. Had I stayed at a big Wall Street bank, I never would've been able to start my other businesses. I also don't wish I left sooner because I needed those nine years to learn and prepare. I believe I left at just the right time.

• Jon Stewart thinks Joe Biden may be underestimating the consequences of losing to Donald Trump.
• Biden said that he could accept defeat "as long as I gave it my all."
• "There are no participation trophies in endgame democracy," Stewart said.

President Joe Biden says he would be OK with losing to former President Donald Trump in their electoral rematch this November, and Jon Stewart thinks that's a huge problem.

In an interview with ABC News's George Stephanopoulos that aired Friday, Biden said he could accept defeat if he tried his best.

"I'll feel as long as I gave it my all, and I did as good a job as I know I can do, that's what this is about," Biden said.

"That's not what this is about!" Stewart said of Biden's remarks in the latest episode of "The Daily Show" that aired Monday. "There are no participation trophies in endgame democracy."

Stewart's remarks were part of a wider segment where he criticized Biden's disastrous performance during his June 27 presidential debate with Trump.

During the segment, Stewart highlighted what he thought were "obvious weaknesses" with Biden's campaign — particularly, the president's multiple verbal snafus — and emphasized that the November race has become an "existential fight for freedom and democracy" in the US.

Biden's gaffe-ridden responses last month have fueled calls for him to step aside as the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Stewart, for his part, clarified that he isn't advocating for Biden to drop out just yet. But the comedian said the current uncertainty over Biden's candidacy could yield an unprecedented opportunity for America.

"I am in no way saying Biden's got to drop out, but can't we stress-test this candidacy?" Stewart said on Monday. "Do you have any idea how thirsty Americans are for any hint of inspiration or leadership and a release from this choice of a megalomaniac and a suffocating gerontocracy?"

Stewart suggested that the Democratic Party could instead host an open convention so that candidates could challenge Biden for the party's nomination.

"I'm just workshopping here," Stewart said.

To be sure, Biden hasn't given up on seeking reelection just yet. The presumptive Democratic nominee has repeatedly brushed aside concerns over his age and mental acuity.

Biden also issued a letter to congressional Democrats on Monday, where he reiterated his intentions to stay in the race.

"We have 42 days to the Democratic Convention and 119 days to the general election," Biden wrote. "It's time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump."

That said, Biden does seem to welcome having an open convention if his latest interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe" is anything to go by.

"If any of these guys don't think I should run, run against me. Announce for president. Challenge me at the convention," Biden said when he called into the program on Monday.

Representatives for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

• A JetBlue passenger is suing the airline for $1.5 million.
• She says she was scalded by hot tea that was served during turbulence.
• It comes as some airlines have changed procedures due to a renewed focus on turbulence.

A JetBlue passenger who says she was scalded by hot tea is suing the airline for $1.5 million, according to court documents filed last Friday.

Tahjana Lewis was flying from Orlando to Hartford, Connecticut on May 15 when the plane encountered turbulence, the complaint says.

It alleges that the cabin crew was serving beverages despite the seatbelt sign being on.

A passenger next to Lewis ordered a tea which was then spilled over the plaintiff, resulting in "severe burns" to her chest, legs, and right arm, the suit says.

It adds that the burns have caused disfigurement and scarring, and accuses JetBlue of serving beverages "at a temperature that was unreasonably and dangerously hot."

JetBlue did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The lawsuit comes at a time when airline procedures during turbulence are coming under renewed focus, following the death of a Singapore Airlines passenger.

As a result of that incident, Singapore Airlines — one of just 10 carriers to be rated five stars by Skytrax — announced it would no longer serve meals when the seatbelt sign is on.

Korean Air followed suit in changing protocols, ending cabin service 20 minutes earlier than previously. It said the number of turbulence incidents had doubled between 2019 and 2024.

Guy Gratton, an associate professor of aviation and the environment at Cranfield University, told BI that turbulence is getting more frequent and more severe due to the climate crisis.

• I moved to the US to build my dream media career and then had three boys, ages 10, 8, and 3.
• Combining work and family is a struggle Finnish women don't have. 
• Parenting norms in the US are more all-consuming than in the Nordics.

I'm originally from Finland, and after a decade of ticking off my career goals in the US, I fell for an American man, my neighbor in our Brooklyn apartment building. It seemed like I had just about reached everything I had wished for when my life took a turn.

After I became pregnant with our first son, I was shocked to learn how much harder motherhood was in the US and how much more challenging it was to balance work with family compared to the Nordics.

Taking time off from work to have kids is encouraged in the Nordics

In the US, I was surprised to see and experience how rare paid parental leave was and how short it was: new moms — and dads — are quickly pushed back to work almost as if they hadn't had kids.

I tried that (even though my Nordic friends called me barbaric) and quickly burned out. My Finnish friends, on the other hand, were thriving instead of just surviving through motherhood. They first solely focused on family for the first 14 months due to long parental leaves and then seamlessly returned to their jobs, even at executive levels. They told me successful career arcs are waves rather than hockey sticks. Inspired, I looked for a family-friendly company in my industry to try to transition to but came up empty-handed.

I had to decide whether to be a stay-at-home mom or a working mom

Unlike in Finland, this is one of the biggest decisions new American mothers make. Due to the work culture in the US, choosing a career requires giving up most of the time with your child, and staying at home requires giving up work interests. In Finland, most women return back to work, as it doesn't require giving up too much family time with the 37.5-hour workweek, long vacations, and option for part-time schedules.

I understood I couldn't find that in the US, but I hadn't realized I would have to give up so much more than time with my kids just to return to work — I had to give up most of my salary. After we had had two kids, I was offered an exciting new job opportunity with fantastic pay. Yet, after I calculated the cost of two kids in nursery school along with a full time nanny, there was nothing much left — except my husband's salary — to live on. I still almost took the job, but in benefits negotiations, I was told there would be "no flexibility." That was it for me.

American parents do a lot for their kids

American parents around me tend to care for their children by doing a lot for them and by removing discomforts and obstacles, while in the Nordics, parents show care by both letting and pushing their kids to do what they are capable of to prepare them for the world.

I have accidentally baffled many American parents by raising my children like kids are raised in the Nordics, embracing all types of weather and encouraging them to be independent. We live within walking distance of their school, so, wearing the appropriate gear, we walk in rain, shine, snow, or sleet. I have let my boys race well past me on scooters, even as toddlers, and run around playgrounds as I sit on the sidelines.

At elementary age, I have them schedule their playdates so they call their friends' parents to organize them. And, after school, I suggest they skip homework to get that essential playtime outside after school instead (the American school day is two to three hours longer than the Finnish one, with less recess). And, if our elementary-age children don't want to join us when we run errands, we welcome them to stay home — alone.

They thrive with autonomy, and my husband and I do, too. However, finding opportunities for them to develop their independence is a challenge: I often get asked if my kids are indeed mine when I'm only a short distance away or asked to supervise them, even if I can see them but not hover over them.

I do less parenting in Finland

Back in the US, I have decided to consciously create more bandwidth by opting out of many voluntary but culturally encouraged American mom tasks, from participation in school activities during the daytime to scheduling — and attending — countless travel sports and choosing simpler commitments instead.

I also don't spend much time entertaining my kids, allowing them to take the lead in creating their own fun.

However, I help my kids master independence skills, like the autonomous morning routine, so I can drink my coffee hot, workout, and get ready — while they get themselves ready. And, to balance the load of the invisible work, I have outsourced things that can't not be done to my husband, such as school registrations and passport renewals because they have motivating natural consequences.

I came to the US for the American dream but found something else that led me to thrive: Nordic principles of balance, bandwidth, and autonomy — and the innovative spirit of American moms. In the US, I see massive amounts of brilliance hiding in plain sight: well-educated career women who are not able to use their talents because, after kids, it's simply too exhausting on all levels. So they decide to work outside the system, and completely reinvent themselves — and, so did I.

• Meghan Trainor said that her son sat on his potty while she sat on the toilet bowl. 
• The Grammy-winning singer shared her parenting method on Dax Shepard's podcast, "Armchair Expert".
• Experts say potty training methods should be tailored to each child's needs.

Meghan Trainor has a trick for potty training her son and it involves answering nature's call together.

In an interview with Dax Shepard on his podcast "Armchair Expert" on Monday, the "Made You Look" singer shared her potty training method while discussing anal fissures.

"We're potty training my kid, so don't attack me internet, but I pooped with him," Trainor, 30, told Shepard. "He was on his little potty, and I was over here. I know I can smell my poop, but we were like, 'We did it, buddy!'"

This is not the first time Trainor has brought up toilet talk. In 2021, she was interviewed with her brother Ryan Trainor on the "Why Won't You Date Me?" podcast hosted by Nicole Byer. "They poop together. She's pooping and Daryl's like, 'I'm going to go hang out with you now!'" Ryan said about his sister and her husband on the show.

Trainor told Byer that she and her husband, actor Daryl Sabara, had installed two toilet bowls side by side in their house. The setup has also helped ease nighttime parenting duties.

"Because we have young babies, so we're getting up every hour on the hour, and this dude pees like a girl. So I was like, get out of my way, I have to piss," she told Shepard. "So I solved this crime, and I was like, we're gonna pee at the same time."

She clarified, however, that their shared bathroom time was limited to peeing.

Trainor and Sabara married in December 2018 after dating for almost two years. They welcomed their son, Riley, in February 2021 and their second son, Barry Bruce, in July 2023.

Since then, Trainor has been open about motherhood and parenting, including developing post-traumatic stress disorder after the complicated birth of her first son.

Trainor is not the only celebrity sharing her potty training methods. In 2020, actor Kristen Bell said in her podcast "Momsplaining with Kristen Bell" that when her older daughter was 21 months, she and her husband, Dax Shepard, had simply suggested she use the toilet.

"We were lying in bed giggling about this, my husband and I, like, 'Why does everyone make a big deal out of this potty training? It's so easy. Just tell the kid to use the toilet,'" she said.

She went on to explain that it wasn't as easy with her younger daughter, who was still wearing diapers at 5.

While methods for potty training vary, Paul Patterson, MD, a board-certified pediatrician, told Business Insider that potty training should be tailored to each child's needs.

"Each child and family is unique and thus so must the approach be to potty training," he said.

• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has upped his style game dramatically since the pandemic.
• The billionaire has ditched his array of gray t-shirts for shearling brown jackets and gold chains.
• But Zuckerberg's transformation may have been part of a plan to appear more relatable.

Mark Zuckerberg has certainly stunned the world with his transformation from a hoodie-loving nerd to a chain-wearing tech bro.

However, the extreme makeover may have less to do with Zuckerberg's evolving taste in fashion than with a concerted plan to make the billionaire more relatable to people his age.

In January 2020, the Meta CEO exchanged a series of emails with his colleagues and then-board member Peter Thiel on how they could better sell Facebook to millennials.

But what's more interesting was the personal brand that Zuckerberg hoped to cultivate as part of Meta's plan to woo millennials, as outlined in one email exchange.

"While our company has a special role in the lives of this generation, this is likely particularly important for how I show up because I am the most well-known person of my generation," Zuckerberg wrote in an email on January 4, 2020.

Zuckerberg's emails, first reported by the newsletter Internal Tech Emails, were among the company documents and correspondence that the state of Tennessee filed as evidence in its lawsuit against Meta.

In October, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a lawsuit against the social media giant. The lawsuit, which was filed alongside 41 other states, accused the company's product Instagram of causing "mental health harms to its young users."

Interestingly, Zuckerberg wasn't the only one who saw himself as a youth icon.

In an email on December 31, 2019, Thiel said that the company's popularity among the young meant that Zuckerberg "has been cast as the spokesman for the Millennial generation."

Zuckerberg, Thiel said, is seen as "the single person who gives voice to the hopes and fears and the unique experiences of this generation, at least in the USA."

"I think this overall shift is something we should consider for how our company communicates and shows up more broadly, but it's something I'm definitely going to think about more in terms of how I communicate," Zuckerberg wrote in response several days later on January 4.

To be sure, Meta may no longer be the most popular social media platform for millennials. The company has seen increased competition from the likes of TikTok, which hooked users with its focus on short-form videos.

Zuckerberg, on the other hand, might've been able to stick to the plan. The billionaire has ditched his once-standard uniform of gray t-shirts for shearling brown jackets and gold chains.

The results speak for themselves. This year alone, Zuckerberg has gone viral every couple of weeks with his striking fashion choices.

Last week, Zuckerberg got some attention when he posted an Instagram video of himself hydrofoiling while wearing a tuxedo on Independence Day.

"Happy birthday, America!" Zuckerberg wrote in his post.

The image makeover has also delivered a huge PR boost for Zuckerberg, who wasn't always seen as the coolest guy in tech.

After all, Zuckerberg's reputation was tarnished during the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, when Facebook was accused of allowing the data of millions of users to be improperly accessed by the political analytics firm.

The Meta chief's image revamp did not go unnoticed by his fellow billionaires. Spotify founder Daniel Ek told Forbes in an interview last year that he thinks Zuckerberg's new public persona is "a lot more authentic."

"He's learned a lot over these past few years and he has a new fire in the belly," Ek, who has known Zuckerberg for years, told the outlet. "He's realized he needs to act responsibly because he's got this enormous platform."

Representatives for Zuckerberg didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

• Canva bans its AI tool from creating images of political candidates or medical terms.
• The decision aims to prevent harmful or inappropriate content, CEO Melanie Perkins told The Verge.
• Canva's AI policies appear more artist-friendly than Adobe and Meta, which faced backlash.

Design juggernaut Canva has drawn hard lines around what its AI tool can and can't make.

Canva's AI feature, called Magic Media, doesn't work with medical or political terms, because such content may be harmful or inappropriate, CEO Melanie Perkins said in an interview with The Verge published on Monday. Canva's software can be used to create anything from party invitations to social media content to presentation templates.

"Canva has been designed to be a platform where you can come in and take your idea and turn it into a design, but there are certain things we shouldn't be generating," Perkins, who cofounded the 11-year-old company, said.

For example, Perkins said that if the tool is prompted to create images of political candidates, it will simply tell the user: "You can't do that."

Users can still create designs with political or health content on the platform on their own.

Canva also does not allow AI to be used for generating contracts, legal or financial advice, spam, or adult content, according to its AI product terms.

The company also has a clear policy on AI scraping. Canva does not train its AI on creators' content without permission, and users can opt out of their designs being used for AI training any time, according to a company blog.

By default, all users are opted out of private design content from being used to train AI models, a Canva spokesperson told Business Insider.

Last year, the company created a $200 million fund to pay users who opt into AI training in the next three years.

Canva's stance on AI differs markedly from those of other content creation giants, Adobe and Meta, which have come under fire within the creative community in recent months.

Last month, Meta faced backlash from artists who were angered by Meta using their public photos on Instagram and Facebook to train its artificial intelligence models. Several artists told BI that they're moving to platforms like Cara that ban the use of AI. Meta did not respond to a request for comment at the time.

Around the same time, artists protested how Adobe sent users a re-acceptance of its "Terms of Use," which led some people to think AI would scrape their art and content. A wave of artists boycotted Adobe, boosting sign-ups for alternatives like Linearity, and Affinity, which Canva acquired earlier this year.

At the time, Adobe said in a blog post that content belongs to users and it would never be used to train generative AI tools.

A spokesperson for Adobe referred BI to the company's AI guidelines, which direct users not to create hateful or adult content and not seek medical advice from AI features. The guidelines do not mention whether such content can be generated in the first place.

• Russia's economy is boosting wealth for of oligarchs, some of whom are sanctioned.
• A dozen Russian tycoons pocketed $11.4 billion in dividends for all of 2023 up until the first quarter of 2024.
• The payouts illustrate how Russia's biggest companies are still raking it in despite the West's isolation of its economy.

Russia's wartime economy has not only made some poor people better off — some of Russia's oligarchs are getting richer, too.

At least 12 businesspeople received more than 1 trillion rubles, or $11.4 billion, in dividends for all of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, according to Bloomberg on Tuesday. The outlet based its calculations on publicly disclosed information.

Many of the tycoons who received the dividend windfall are closely tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the news outlet. Some of them have been sanctioned by the West.

The biggest winners from the dividend payouts were commodities exporters that have benefited from Russia's pivot of its trade eastward toward China, India, and other countries in the global south. Their key customers were previously from Europe.

The biggest winner was Vagit Alekperov, a key shareholder and former president of oil giant Lukoil, who received 186 billion rubles in dividends, per Bloomberg. He has been sanctioned by the UK and Australia.

Alexey Mordashov, chairman and a main shareholder of steel company Severstal, pocketed 148 billion rubles in dividends. The US, the UK, and the EU have sanctioned him.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Lisin, the chairman of Novolipetsk Steel, raked in 121 billion rubles in dividends.

The payouts illustrate how Russia's biggest companies are still profiting despite the West's isolation of the country's economy, which grew 5.4% in the first quarter of this year from a year ago.

Russia's war-driven economy is so hot that the World Bank upgraded it to a "high-income country" last week.

However, Russia's Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting — a key think tank — warned the country's economy could cool and slip into crisis in the second half of this year should the Bank of Russia hike interest rates, reported Kommersant, a business news outlet, on Monday.

Elvira Nabiullina, Russia's central bank chief, has signaled an interest-rate hike ahead due to higher-than-expected inflation.

Russia's key interest rate is already at 16% to cool price rises, but inflation hit 8.3% in May — well above the official 4% target.