Todd Villarrubia with Wealth Planning Law Group

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress, industrial podcast, financial planning, wealth planning, estate planning, asset protection, succession planning, taxation, entrepreneurial beast mode, family office, virtual family office, business structures, risk mitigation, business advisory, industrial innovation.

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Welcome to the Industrial Talk podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting-edge, industry-focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots, and let's go! All right,

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once again, welcome to Industrial Talk. Thank you very much for joining the number one industrial-related podcast in the universe that has your back. Because you're bold, you're brave, you dare greatly, you innovate, you collaborate, you're solving problems each and every day, that's why we celebrate you on this platform. You are the heroes in this story. We here at Industrial Talk want you to succeed. How about that for emphasizing words? We do. We want you to succeed. We have a big heart for you and you, what you're doing, and how you're making lives better. That's that's what we're all about in the hot seat, Todd Villarrubia. I hope I got that right. There, right there, I have a stat card up there. I'm never going to claim that I'm a good reader, but there it is, Villarrubia. All right, Wealth Planning Law Group is the organization we're going to be talking a little bit about getting your financial house in order from an industrial perspective. Let's get cracking! Yeah, conversations like this are absolutely necessary, especially in this world where industry is is just going at it. I mean, it's fast. Things are happening. You need you need financial sherpas in your corner. You need individuals that that can help compress that time from where you're saying, "Hey, I'm out on. I'm doing my research. And tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Find people, Todd, absolutely incredible conversation. Before we get into it, before we have that conversation, yeah, we we have to talk about your success. I'm I'm I'm of the opinion, and and I see it all the time. You see it all the time. You do. You do. You're on social. You might not be active on social, but you're out there. You see it. You know what it's all about. It's not as if somebody's like, "What? What's this? People are putting things out on a what? The computer. You know, you're not doing that. You know what it is, and you know that attention is important. The reality is, is if you're not getting eyeballs on what you do, and if you're not coming across in a way that says, "Hey, check me out, right? It makes life tougher. It makes your solution your. You could have the you could have the cure for cancer, but if nobody's listening to you, well, it's it's just not going to happen. We are in a relationship game here in industry. To do that, just like me, I. I get approached all the time. I'll get emails. I'll get, and you do too. You get emails. You get pinged out on social if you're active, and you say, "Hey, you're this, that, and the other thing. But will I engage? No, I will not engage. I don't understand the strategy, quite frankly, because when I go out there and somebody's engaging, you know what I do? I'll do a little research. Nine times out of 10, if not more, the the individuals sort of questionable. We have to we have to build those relationships up. We have to demonstrate that we definitely are one real, and two that we do care about your success, and that comes through telling your story consistently. Again, I'm going to keep continue to harp on this. We want you to succeed, and to do that, people engage with people they know, like, and trust. That's the reality of it. And to do that, yeah, I'm not going to have any stranger come over to my house and drink my beer and then just starts talking to me. No, I'm not going to do that. The same thing exists in business. The same thing exists in the world of the social media. There's so many people that just saw pop out there, you become numb. How do you shift that? How do you change that? And so that at least you're being noticed. That's the key. That's telling your story. That's being vulnerable. That's being real. That means you're you're trying to solve problems. It's it's life. It's always going to be a human equation. Always. I mean, yeah, you have technology, but again, I'm not going to lock and load on a technology if I don't understand.

06:53

You know, I the technology you're talking, but if I don't trust that individual that's coming at me and chirping about why that technology is important, and I don't, I don't trust them. No, not going. Not going to lock and load on that. Even if it is a fantastic solution, I have to have me, and I do it all the time, and I know you do too. I have to have that individual that I trust that could be there for me, so it's just it's just really really important. It always gets down to the human game. It always gets down to knowing that individual, not from hey, what do you do? I do this. It's beyond that because we we want to know more about the individual. It becomes more of a heart conversation, and to do that, you have to have the conversation. You have to continue to go out there. It doesn't have to be an infomercial. It just has to be about you, about what you're doing. You know what? Another part of that is, I'll give you the next one. If you had a way of being able to tell stories, if you committed to that. If you're saying yes, I'm going to go. I'm going to feel uncomfortable. I'm going to put myself out there. All good, fine, dandy. Got it. The second thing is that you want your customers, your relationships to succeed. You know how you do that. You tell their story. They tell their story to you. You see how it compounds. You want them to succeed. They're doing great stuff. You don't want them to fail. They're your customer, right? You you want them to to to flourish and grow because then then you flourish and grow, right? It just makes sense. Do it. Just go out to industrial talk. Talk to me. I'll help you. We'll make it fun. But more importantly, you'll get the attention that is necessary. You'll get the eyeballs that are needed, and then you start that process of being able to do it consistently and make this telling the story, becoming vulnerable, showing that face, so that you can succeed. Resiliency, long term, got to happen. All right, there, you can tell. I've had a couple of cups of coffee. All right, Todd is in the hot seat. We're going to be talking about getting your financial house in order from an industrial perspective. You have a company. What are you doing? You're going to hand it off. What you going to sell it? What are you? What are you going to do with that? You need to. You've you've invested time, energy, and effort in that business. Sure, you want the max out of it. Sure, you want to be able to go off running into the sunset. I'm never going off into the sunset. Just FYI, you're gonna. You guys are stuck with me forever. But there are some that want to go off on the sunset. Anyway, Todd brings an absolute plethora of knowledge and experience. 31 years. And eight months-that's on his-that's on his LinkedIn stat card right there. That's a long time. It is. All right. Enjoy the conversation with Todd. Todd, welcome to Industrial Talk. Thank you very much, listener. I just want to let you know we had some technical challenges in the beginning, but you know what we did? We persevered. That's what we're all about. We're all about perseverance and continue to push on through because the story needs to be told. You need to succeed. That's why Todd's here. That's it. I can wrap it up now, Todd. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me, Scott. Oh yeah, absolutely. Are you staying cool in New Orleans because it's hot as ever?

10:38

It is hot, but thank goodness I have a good air conditioning. God's blessed me. So,

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boy, I gotta tell you, I have to mow my lawn because here's the deal, Todd. I'm not giving up. I, I, I might be looking a little aged, but I'm not. You know, I'm not gonna let up on my lawn mowing stuff. You

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go silently into the night.

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Man, it's brutal. It's brutal. But that keeps me in shape. Keeps me young. Keeps me energetic. Well, hey, I'm glad you're here. I'm glad we persevered. I'm glad we're sort of semi neighbors. Do you ever come over to Mandeville?

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I do.

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Yeah, we got to do a coffee. We got some coffee places now. They're starting to pop up. Yeah, well, let's do that.

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Let's do it.

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We'll make it a plan. All right. Before we get into the conversation about your company, about what you beast mode, which we'll expand upon it. By the way, listener, that's that's an acronym, so don't ask me to tell you what it is. Todd will ask you. Before we get going, give us a little background on who Todd is.

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that doesn't suck. That's good.

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I love doing what I do, and then I also founded Fountainhead Global, which is our fractional family office services for high net worth Families.

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Fountainhead Global. Yeah, it's on on the your yeah. There you go. Got it. Interesting.

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Also, the proud father of two daughters, age 22 and 19.

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You know, I'm a grandfather now.

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Oh, congratulations!

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Oh, it is the best. Yeah,

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why y'all get along so well, huh? It's because you have a common enemy.

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Oh, they are the best. Yeah, I. In fact, I'm going to be watching her tomorrow and Friday because I can because I have that flexibility and I want to do that. Well, congratulations! That's a fantastic. Girls are better than boys. I have a son. He knows how. Yeah. No. Outstanding. Well, I'm sort of glad that we're going to have this conversation. We're going to be talking a little bit about that. Fountainhead Global Entrepreneurial. That's and a part of that is that we're going to talk about Beast Mode. I see it here. It's on your form. Beast. Take us through the acronym of what that is.

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Well, first of all, we have a book, Entrepreneurial Beast Mode, that's now available on Amazon, as you can see here.

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Oh, hold on! Hold it! Hold it! Hold it, Todd. Let me look at my my bookshelf here. Just just one second. Let me look at my bookshelf.

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We got to get you. No, I

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don't even have

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one. No, we will. I will send you a signed copy. I'll get your address. Shut up,

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and I'll take it. I love reading. Wow. Okay, so so you have a book. That's cool. Beast mode. That expands. It looked like a thick book.

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It is. It's 550 pages, but it's chalked with tax and asset protection strategies that we've implemented that a lot of your listeners would benefit from.

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Shut up. Okay, talk to us about beast mode. What's that acronym?

14:15

So entrepreneurial beast mode. The beast is an acronym for business structures, estate planning, asset protection, succession, and taxation. Did you have to?

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Did you have to struggle with trying? Because it's great. It just sort of lines up with beast mode. It all just came

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together a couple years ago. Now we have the intellectual property around it, you know. I have a copy my copyrights and trademarks and all that. So, yeah,

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you know how to.

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Okay, so we've got this this model. We have this mode. We have this ability to be able to you come in and you look at where we're at. I work with a lot of people. I work with a lot of people that are entrepreneurs. Yep, they have manufacturing, they have industrial businesses. Take us through a scenario where, let's say, I, Scott Mackenzie manufacturer, come to you and I'm saying, "Hey, I need help. We're doing fine, I guess. I don't know, but we're just you know we're paying the bills and we're doing the things that we need to do. Take us through sort of an engagement process with Scott Baby Batchering.

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So the first thing we're going to do is a comprehensive intake process with you, whereby we ask you to fill out our online encrypted form that gives us a real clear picture of your family and your financial position. Secondly, we'll take you through our client information questionnaire that takes about 20 minutes. All of this is complimentary, by the way, and we uncut. your greatest priorities, and then determine a plan of action to implement strategies to address each of those priorities. And everything we do is our initial consultations are always on a complimentary basis, so that you're not worried about the clock ticking, and then we set flat fees for all the work we do, so that you're not sitting there wondering how many hours it's going to take to get something done.

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So I come to you and I go through that intake process. I got it. It's online. Thank you very much. I don't want to go in person. That's one, two, and then you you assess who I am and all that good stuff. Anyway, then you can develop a roadmap. You're saying, hey, these are good. This is not so good. This needs work. Whatever. You're able in that short period of time in that engagement be able to determine a roadmap that I need to follow. Now, with that roadmap, I'm still manufacturing a lot of stuff. I'm still neck deep in my obligations. How how do how do I find more time to be able to do this and then and then say, okay, I did it. I mean,

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well, we do all the heavy lifting. We're used to dealing with clients that are very busy CEO entrepreneurs. Yeah. So we value your time. We always have an agenda for every meeting that we have, and we execute because we're a flat fee Firm, it incentivizes us to get the work done, so we are very efficient in what we do, and then we utilize our clients' time wisely, so that we're not sitting there hemming and hawing. We have a plan of action, we get to business right away, and we knock it out. You know our longest engagements usually are only about six months on the transactional law firm side. Now on Fountainhead Global side, it's more of an ongoing relationship.

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So, so in that scenario, I can I can pretty much button things up with you in six months, saying, "All right, that's good. I feel better about myself. I can go to Cafe Dumont, and I'm happy.

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Yeah.

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Then, then the problem I or the the the next question I have is, how often do I have to go and revisit this thing.

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I would say every couple of years. You know, the law is always changing. Your family's dynamic. You know, we want to make. You know, you're getting new assets, selling assets. So I'd say every couple of years is a good. You know, cadence for us. Do you

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do you proactively? Let's say we have. We just had recently had a pretty sizable bill in D.C. and it had you know 3 million pages to it. And are you gonna say, hey, we just reviewed the 3 million pages, and we found that this might be beneficial to you with this? Oh yeah, we need to revisit.

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Talking about the new tax laws, like when Oba came out, you know, we were telling everybody about all the benefits. So absolutely,

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yeah, Scott, I, I, so you, so my relationship with you, Todd, goes on and on, and and I mean that's it's not one and done, and then that's just that doesn't make sense. It's like, like my pool outside. I I have to stay engaged.

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It's a relationship.

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It's a relationship, which I'm pretty tired of having that pool outside. Nevertheless, I I understand. But it's yeah, it's a relationship. Let's shift that beast mode, and because and and I can't answer this question, but you can because I know you're taught that you're down here in Louisiana. This whole beast mode, this book, this ability is not Napoleonic law. It's it's it can be pretty much anywhere, right? Correct.

20:57

Everything we talk about in this book can be done by any client in any state in the country.

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Yeah, so we have

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clients around the country. So

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good, good, good. So it's not. Hey, I would love to be not helping, but you're in Mississippi, and I can't help you. Yeah,

21:15

no, we can. We got clients all throughout the country.

21:18

So that's just interesting. So with that said, this this beast mode, this book, this this whole process has been. You've been in business for you know you've been around this business for 30 some odd years, but Fountainhead Global has been in business for a couple of years, right?

21:39

Correct. It's a new company.

21:41

So, take us through that thinking. All of a sudden, you're saying, "Hey, we're wealth planning law group. Then all of a sudden, I want Fountain. By the way, got the Fountainhead Global. That's good. But now, all of a sudden, we want to do this. What What was that impetus behind saying, "Hey, we need to do this.

22:02

It wasn't really all of a sudden. I've been wanting to set up a family office for over a decade, and I've been studying what other people were doing. I joined America's largest virtual family office a couple of years ago, and through them, we have over 80 experts in all sorts of different areas, from law to investments to tax to risk mitigation to business advisory, and we have all these experts in those areas that can help grow a business, can cut back on expenses and help with taxes. I mean, that's one of the big things we do is income tax reduction.

22:49

Yeah, no, I and and forgive me, Todd, for not being the sharpest tool in the shed. This group, this organization, you're saying, hey, I'm a part of this old virtual organization. Are you were you a part of that organization to be able to sort of glean more information to be able to help bolster your Fountainhead Global? What what was the I'm missing that connection.

23:13

Yeah, so they bring a team of experts and some software that we use to help facilitate our family office services. Oh,

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so the

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client doesn't have to get involved with it. They're not, you know, other than we introduce the clients to our specialists, obviously. Okay, let's

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let's take it. Okay, now I'm coming to Fountainhead, Fountainhead Global. Here you go. Now you have this relationship with this virtual sort of organization, right?

23:49

Virtual family office.

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Virtual fam.

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Family office.

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Virtual family office. What does that virtual family office bring to the table?

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Everything. So again, five primary areas: legal, so not just estate planning, but M and A, trademark, etc. buy sell agreements. Then you got financial planning, tax, risk mitigation, and business advisory.

24:21

So you're part of this organization. That do they come and and ping you for insights and all of that stuff? I'm still, or is this a this is a a service that you?

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These are 80 vetted professionals that are specialists in things like captive insurance companies and cost segregation and defined benefit plans, and we have a proactive facilitator and a proactive liaison. The liaison will put us and our clients in touch. With the appropriate expert, and then there's an engagement there where the client decides whether to invest in moving forward. Then

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that that from the the beast mode solution that just makes it even more robust.

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Yes,

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and and you're able to tap in and extract and get that information to ensure that you have all of those that wonderful vetted insights and knowledge.

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Correct.

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I got it. Okay, I'm just going. I'm I'm I'm working, baby. I'm working it. I want to make sure there's a lot of, lot of legs and arms on this particular thing, but the reality is, is that I don't see how anybody cannot be connected in a situation where where there's just too much going on. There's just let's let's let's dive into that. So some of the things that I've always I've always been sort of fascinated with is that in the world of industry, industry is going fast. It just is technology, people, all of the challenges. It it just is a rapid. It's just a rapid reality of what's taking place in the market today. What what is with your, you know, incredible thinking hat on? What do you see the challenges? What do you What do you sense out there in the marketplace? What do you think the

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biggest challenge is getting people to actually act on this. Nobody thinks they're going to die anytime soon, and it's easy to put this off. And that's the biggest challenge. You know, they say only 40% of Americans even have a will, much less a good updated will.

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Yeah. So, what what what do you think needs to? Because everybody's busy. Everybody, you know as well as I do. Yeah, you go and commit about

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three hours. I'd say. Yeah,

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yeah. You you got to commit an

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hour on the front end, an hour for the initial meeting, and an hour to sign. In three hours, you can get this done.

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See, you got to bring it down to the absurd. Three hours is not much,

27:26

right?

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Yeah. Now I agree with you on that. So with that, do do you see? Do you see outside of the fact that individuals are are and families or whatever companies, whatever you want to use, the what what outside of that, what are some of that that those roadblocks that you see in your head that that outside of the the human condition is it just is it just that I I don't want pain I don't want frustration I don't want you calling me. That's the reality of the that that's it. I'm just that's a

28:05

bunch of things. Number one, you know, nobody wants to talk about death and disability. Number two, you know, death is is a very difficult thing to talk about.

28:19

Yeah,

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and then three is that it can reveal some divisions between you and your spouse on how things should go if y'all do become disabled or die.

28:32

Yeah. Well, isn't that something?

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So it's fraught with potential problems, and that's why I think so many people don't ever get it done.

28:42

Yeah, no, I agree with you 100% But here's the here's the challenge, Seat. Things are changing so fast out in industry. They just they, you know as well as I do, AI is everything. Hey, you know, power. I need power. You know, I I I talk to everybody that that you know it's out there, but that that it's yeah I I can understand that challenge, but if it's just three hours, and you make it painless, please say you make it painless.

29:12

I make it painless,

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and then then I'm all in. And

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then in fact, after you get it done, you don't in fact, die right away. So that's a good, you know, it's a plus.

29:25

But I should feel warm and fuzzy and cuddly, knowing that everything is sort of, you know, in line. And whenever that does happen, when the Grim Reaper just says, "Hey, I'm here. I'll take it, and then and and that

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gives you a peace of mind.

29:40

Yeah, I am all in there. So if I was, if I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm touching on a lot of things. I've touched. What have, what, what have not? See, how about that? I need, I need English lessons. We talk all the time. What haven't we talked about that you want to get off your chest, Todd?

30:00

That for high net worth people above 30 million, you must be implementing a family limited partnership and dynasty trust. There are 10s of millions of dollars at stake, and we can eliminate that problem within six months.

30:21

Well, there you go. I wish I fell into that category, but I don't. So sorry. Maybe one day. Maybe one day. Yeah. Yes, that's my goal. All right. You were absolutely wonderful, Todd. How do people get a hold of you? What's the best way? You're not only dead. I know.

30:40

Direct email is Todd T O D d@lawealthplan.com. So l a w e a l t h p l a n.com, and our office number is 883 USA Wealth.

31:04

Yeah, I got it all here because you sent me an email and I see it. By the way, how old is that picture on your email?

31:12

Last couple years.

31:14

Check it out. You're very youthful.

31:17

Ah, well, thank you.

31:19

Well, you were absolutely wonderful, Todd. Thank you very much for being on Industrial Talk.

31:26

Thank you, Scott. I appreciate you having me. It was an honor.

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Outstanding. It was an honor all on this side. All right, we're going to have all the contact information for Todd out on Industrial Talk. Fear not. Reach out. Get your financial house in order. That's a must. We want you to succeed. Of course, we want you to succeed, but we also want you to succeed in the other end. You need to talk to Todd. We'll have it all out on Industrial Talk. Stay tuned. We will be right back.

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You're listening to the Industrial Talk Podcast Network.

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Hey, it's Scott Mackenzie, your industrial friend, and I want to bring your attention to a great company, elevotec. elevotec is transforming how businesses manage assets and operations with powerful ERP, EAM, and business intelligence solutions. They deliver streamlined processes, real ROI, and over 20 years of proven expertise. If you want technology that actually drives performance, not complexity, elevotec has you covered. Learn more at elevotec.com. elevotec empowering your digital transformation with clarity, expertise, and ROI. Check them out at elavotech.com. All right, that was Todd. Paper and pencil time, big time. Reach out to him. You know as well as I do. All his contact information is out on industrial talk, have at least a conversation and saying, "Hey, Todd, I've got this on my mind. All good. He's an. He is. He's a. He's just got an open door policy. There it is. Todd's the man. Reach out to him. So glad he was on industrial talk. All right, I've been harping on telling your story. Now here's here's the reason why. I go out to these social platforms and I see the same stuff. You know what's happening? They're taking people are taking the easy route. Not complaining about it. Well, sort of am, and they're posting stuff that is generated by AI. I was I was writing emails that are generated by, and I realized that part of my brain is going to die. And I said, nope, no more. So when you get an email from me, it's probably going to be written poorly just because I'm a poor writer. But nonetheless, it's me. It's me trying to think through it. I'm not going to die. My that part of my brain is not going to die. But anyway, becomes same. You see trends. It's like all of a sudden everything looks the same, and then somebody comes out, some AI thing comes out and says, "Hey, we're going to change it up. And then everybody else it's follow along. You need to be real. You need to be unique. You need to be able to tell that story. And that's why the story is so important because you'll create ongoing content. Keep in front of your targets, your prospects, your customers with fresh, real content that people can appreciate. It just is. If you're not doing that, well, I mean, I'm going to scroll by. I'm scrolling by, so nonetheless, you get it. You get the picture. We are here. Go out to Industrial Talk. Reach out. We're here to help. We want you to succeed. Again, we have a big heart. If you're out on video, I'm trying to create the heart on my. Hard, chest right there. Anyway, we do. We we think you're pretty special. You're the hero in this story. We want to be able to. I want to say thanks to Todd. Thank you for being on Industrial Talk. And you know what? Be bold. Be brave. Derek Greatley. Tell your story. We're going to have another great conversation shortly. And and and again, keep connected with industrial talk because it never stops. Because industry never stops. Because it's a people problem, a challenge, or opportunity.

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All right.