Elevating Everyday: Private Equity Pros Share Transformative Life Hacks

[00:00:00] Sean Mooney: Welcome to the Karma School of Business, a podcast about the private equity industry, business best practices, and real time trends. This is a very special episode where we compile guest takeaways from one of my most favorite topics on the podcast, life hacks, gizmos, and gadgets. Our listeners and I all have crazy lives.
And like most of us, we're constantly looking for that 25th hour in a day. With this perspective in mind, I've become a connoisseur of little things that just make life a little easier, a little more interesting, more fun. So today we're sharing some of the very best ideas. That you can use via our top PE business builder guests.
Enjoy.
First up is the one and only Erica Blob, founding partner at Brighton Park. Erica shares a life changing approach to help one of the things that evades me most when traveling. Sleep. I've battled sleep while traveling for way too many years, and I think Erica may have cracked the code.

[00:01:23] Erica Blob: I'd say cold plunging, but at this point that's become everyone's life hack, but I really do believe in it, and I've become a, a big proponent of it. But one of the things I do is I travel a lot. So, I'm always looking for anything that can make travel easier, changing time zones, sleeping in loud, noisy hotel rooms.
So one of the things I've done, I actually have a small pillow that I take with me everywhere. I guess it's a little bit like a teddy bear.

[00:01:54] Sean Mooney: Yeah.

[00:01:54] Erica Blob: But it's really comfortable, because if you have a bad pillow in a hotel room, overnight it's shot. So, I roll it up really small and I can stick it in a carry on bag.
But that's made a huge, huge difference. And there's a particular pillow. It's called sleep crown. There's a, it's a small business. Uh, I'm clicking buy on

[00:02:12] Sean Mooney: Amazon. Like as we speak,

[00:02:16] Erica Blob: she's got her own website, but it's a phenomenal pillow. It also, you can put it over your head and it, it drowns out noise. So highly recommend.
And then the other thing that I recently learned about that a lot of people have told me since that they didn't know about either, but, uh, You can turn your iPhone into a white noise machine. So I used to travel with a white noise machine too. That used to be, that would have been my life hack, but in the settings accessibility, part of the iPhone, you can now just have your own white noise machine.

[00:02:45] Sean Mooney: Those are great. Particularly when I'm staying in hotels in New York, which are not the quietest places, I'm going to find that feature. And I love your sleep life hacks. I'm going to buy that pillow and then find where I can get that white noise on my phone, because I am in the constant battle, probably like a lot of people in our industry for sleep.
And particularly when you travel, it was interesting, I went down this like, probably a lot of us do, this rabbit hole, like, why don't you sleep when you travel? And the rabbit hole that I went down informed me that it's basically a genetic latency from thousands of years ago when we are tribal species, when you would leave your village.
It's danger. And so your body never goes into full sleep. And this is just something that goes back. And so when you're traveling, you're not in your house, your body goes and it won't go into the deepest modes of sleep. So my hypothesis now is if you bring your pillow with you. Can you trick your body into thinking like, no, you're at home.
And so I'm going to try that out. I don't know if it'll work.

[00:03:45] Erica Blob: The only problem too, is now I was traveling recently. I ran the Chicago marathon and so sleep was very important that night before. So I brought the pillow and then I left it in the hotel. And so now I have this. Really big fear of leaving this pillow anywhere.
It's like the holy grail. It has to come with me everywhere I go or else, uh, it's stressful. Where's the pillow? Who has the pillow?

[00:04:10] Sean Mooney: You just have to get three of them.

[00:04:12] Erica Blob: Exactly. Exactly. No, that's true.

[00:04:16] Sean Mooney: Next up, we have Andrew Joy, partner with Hidden Harbor Capital Partners. Andrew shares a life principle that's bound to work.
We'll As much as I like gizmos and gadgets, Andrew does a great job of bringing us a foundational maxim.

[00:04:33] Andrew Joy: You're gonna hate this answer, but I'm gonna say it anyways. I think the more important message, there is so much Narrative out there about get rich quick, make life easier, a five hour work week, hustlers university, like our kids and young adults are just inundated, inundated, inundated with all this stuff.
in this social media and these advertisements to convince them that there's a hack or there's a shortcut to success. My life hack is just put your nose to the grindstone, work really, really hard, and maybe You'll be successful. And there's no shortcuts or hacks for that.

[00:05:33] Sean Mooney: I think that is very well said.
And it's, I love that answer because it's, because if it weren't for that, I would not have a roof over my head.
It doesn't mean I don't like the little 12 iPhone holder that I put on the back of the plane. I'm in the and versus or bucket on that. I get it. Up next, we have Dave Fierstein, co founder and managing partner with Ronin Equity Partners. Dave shares life hacks on two things that have confounded me for years.
How to decide what to wear, and how to combat shorter battery life on a device that I use every day with a fair bit of frustration. This one should resonate on many levels.

[00:06:21] Dave Feierstein: I'd say probably the main one that a lot of people will know me for is actually a very similar life hack to Mark Zuckerberg. And I did not actually know he did this as well until I read about it after the fact. I hate shopping. I think it's a huge waste of time. Going to stores, even shopping online.
Absolutely. Colors, sizes, trying things on. All these subscription services is like a massive time suck. I don't have time to do that. So I figured out what I like to wear. Once I figured that out, I bought 10 pairs of everything. And I just roll through that. So I have 10 pairs of the same exact shoes of the same belts of the same pants, 10 pairs of three different types of shirts.
Of three different types of blazers and even the socks. I've got about 40 different pairs of socks, all exactly the same and made it very easy. So I'm never the fashionista of the bunch because it's usually very. I usually will either be in dark blue or dark black, and I will look that entirely up to down.
So I'm never the fashionista with a bunch of unique fashion trends going on, but it definitely saves me a bunch of time. Probably hours and hours and hours of time.

[00:07:26] Sean Mooney: I 100 percent appreciate that. For mostly bad, I'll go to a store once a year. And I'm maybe less amplified version of that. So the socks, I realized like sorting socks is such a pain in the neck.
I can never find the different patterns. And so I would do gold toe for years. That's my sock. Yeah, they're the best. And my dogs will eat my socks too. So they just disappear. So I still have socks on auto delivery from Amazon. But I recently switched to Bombas, and so I think those are my next kind of upgrade.
And so now I'm trying to decide, because now I have two types of socks in my sock drawer, and it's driving me nuts a little bit. But that life hack, it's amazing how much it just simplifies things.

[00:08:04] Dave Feierstein: No, hey, I think the other thing that was important is like, I need to find a shoe. If you're gonna wear shoes, they're gonna start to degrade.
You need to find a shoe where they will repair your whole shoe for free or for a small cost every single time. So, uh, there's not a lot of stores that will do that anymore. So I invested in good shoes. I have Ferragamo's. Yeah. Go back to the store, resold the shoe, redo the whole shoe, send it back to me.
And so I got six pairs of the same shoe and I keep doing that every time one goes bad. I don't have time to go to a cobbler, a shoe guy, tell them what I want. They know what to do and you're done. And so very simple as well.

[00:08:39] Sean Mooney: I love it. No, that it's just those simple things in life that just make things a little easier.
And the shoe's a big one. I used to buy Allen Edmonds for the same reason, just because they would always fix them for you. But then they put metal shanks in there and I, they would always ding me going through security. So I said, okay, I'm like, all right, I'm done with these. Now I'm gonna have to figure out, so I might have to get Ferragamo's.
That's something I'll add back into my life is I'm going to replicate that. And so, and they're very comfortable shoes too. So that's great.

[00:09:05] Dave Feierstein: They're a little expensive, but they're comfortable and you can get them repaired whenever you want forever. So

[00:09:09] Sean Mooney: what about on the technology front, anything that you're doing there?

[00:09:12] Dave Feierstein: Technology front. So I'd say one of the best investments I've made. Technology wise is having two pairs of AirPods. You'd be surprised. A lot of people don't have two pairs of AirPods. They have one pair of AirPods. You're on the phone all day and what would happen is because you're on the phone all day, it would die on you.
And then you'd have to find another pair of headphones. So I always have two pairs while one's in my ears, one's charging, and then you just swap them out all the time. It's the best investment. They keep upgrading them. So every single time they upgrade them, I keep giving the old ones to my wife and keep having to buy new ones constantly.
So it's almost like disposable now at this point, AirPods, that was one of my best investments after I did it.

[00:09:52] Sean Mooney: Earlier last year I did have two sets of airpods. And that's only because I'm the world's hardest person to shop for. So I got a gift of the AirPods for like my birthday and they weren't the ones that I wanted.
So I secretly went and got the other one that I wanted. And then I recently got busted for it. So, so they're like, Hey, those aren't the ones we got. You're like, So yours is much more purposeful than my accidental version of that.
This episode is brought to you today by BlueWave. BlueWave is the go to expert of those with expertise. BlueWave connects proactive business builders, including hundreds of the world's leading private equity firms and thousands of leading companies to the very best BlueWave credentialed professional service providers, independent consultants, and interim executives for their critical, variable, on point, and on time business needs.
Now back to the episode. BlueWave. Moving on to Gabe Misanza, operating partner with Huron Capital. Gabe shares awesome advice on something that is near and dear to my head. An approach to remembering the flow of ideas, challenges, opportunities, and follow ups that occur each day. My leaky bucket has absolutely benefited from this one.

[00:11:08] Gabe Mesanza: Very recently, I have this mental quirk where I can't remember something that I don't handwrite. Maybe I'm just, I've always been an old man. I don't know. I just can't remember something that I can't, that I don't handwrite. But once I handwrite it, I almost have a photographic memory about it. And so it's just a weird quirk.
And so I've never been able to have, take notes on a laptop, for example. I also don't like being in a meeting. Everyone has their laptops in front of them. It's almost like a sheer area. It's a barrier, right? I don't like having that. To communicate with people. And so I used to carry a notebook everywhere and it was great because it got me what I needed, but I couldn't sort of refer back very easily.
Cause I would have sequential meetings of different topics and have to go chase it back to the remember what date it was. So I just switched over to everything on an iPad and I went through a couple of those e readers and figured out I didn't like how they work. And so I decided to just use my old trusty iPad and I got a cover for it.
That has a little bit more resistance. To it. So it feels more like handwriting. I use the Apple pen and I use an app called good notes that allows me to, when you write it down and then you can search against your handwriting. And so it's, I mean, I've probably maybe four months into this. Love it. Game changer.
Love it. Game changer. How good is your handwriting? Uh, yeah, it's pretty good. I do find myself again, being an engineer, I'll erase things that I write. Cause I just don't like the way it looked as I'm writing. I'll just look at it again. Just you're getting to learn about my quirks. I'll write something. I say, I just don't like the way that word looks, erase it and write it over again.
But also what it allows me to do is I'll go back after a meeting and I'll sometimes rewrite my notes to better reflect the actual point that was sort of my stream of consciousness. Notes, right? So it's been really interesting to sort of edit the past, if you will, and, and create something that gives me a little bit more longevity.
Later on, I'm a convert.

[00:12:57] Sean Mooney: That's great. I'm going to have to look into that because I certainly, I similarly like to write things down and I have hundreds of these like moleskin books somewhere. I can never find the notes when I need them. Yeah. It's really more about getting it into my head in a more efficient way, but I can

[00:13:11] Gabe Mesanza: never go back.
I started using this other app, Todoist, it's called, which is just a to do list, to be honest. And you can put classify, you can put dates to it. I'm probably using 10 percent of capabilities of the thing. But again, maybe as an engineer, I like the idea of checking things off. Yeah. Satisfaction. Yeah. There's very much a satisfaction.
I can check that off. Like it physically disappears from the things to do.

[00:13:32] Sean Mooney: Next up, we had David Hellyer, partner with Bertram Capital. For you coffee drinkers, this one will change the way you drink coffee at home. This one is deceptively a game changer.

[00:13:46] David Hellier: So one is like the stupidest thing, but I'm like so focused on it. I always put my cream in my coffee cup first. Because then I don't have to stir anything. I didn't have to wash a spoon and I'm like super more efficient. It's like cream goes in first, then the coffee, it's pre stirred. You're ready to go.
Like, it's like the simplest thing, but like, that's, that's simply brilliant. Actually, it's so easy. I never thought you had to stop again to do the stir. Then you'd throw it away or clean it off. Didn't cause any environment. Like, you know, no stirrers were harmed in the making of this coffee.

[00:14:20] Sean Mooney: That is simply and elegantly brilliant.

[00:14:24] David Hellier: I figured that one out a little while ago.

[00:14:26] Sean Mooney: That's because it's game. Superficial.

[00:14:28] David Hellier: I can get to the end of the coffee line pretty quick.

[00:14:30] Sean Mooney: That is amazing.

[00:14:31] David Hellier: Plus you're reversed too. So like you're hitting the cream and then you're like ready to go.

[00:14:35] Sean Mooney: Yeah. And do you guys use like a Keurig or an espresso or something like that?
So at

[00:14:39] David Hellier: home we're definitely a, you know, build a pot. Cause like it's constant. I just don't know. I just want it on demand. Yes. So we're brewing and let it, you know, percolate. And it's always there.

[00:14:49] Sean Mooney: Now, the question is, would you take it to even the next level and put it in the pot? Or would that get you in trouble with your significant other?

[00:14:56] David Hellier: Well, yeah, because she's definitely flavored. I'm, I am now an oat milk guy. So I will go half and half sometimes if I'm going to splurge. But, you know, you got to leave freedom of choice for the rest of the community. Yeah. But from an efficiency life hack standpoint, cream goes creamer or flavor goes first.

[00:15:13] Sean Mooney: That's brilliant. I'm going to use it today. For the next life hack, we speak with Charlie Gifford, senior partner with New Heritage Capital. Sticking on the theme of ways to get more out of our favorite beverages, Charlie shares a really good one for you, particularly for you vino drinkers out there. Give it a try.
It works.
Now, I understand that you have been a tremendous innovator on how to aerate wine. And it made the national stage. What can you share on that?

[00:15:46] Charlie Gifford: That's embarrassing. I guess we are going to go there. I, my grandfather was a big wine collector and he taught us at a young age, not a legal age, we all used to have a sip of his wine.
And he taught us how to aerate wine in your mouth. And it's basically, you. It's not dissimilar when you decant wine or you swirl a wine in a wine glass. It's, you're trying to aerate the wine as much as possible, not dissimilar to what you do with frothing using it. So it's just trying to introduce as much oxygen into the wine itself.
And so I used to do that with my, take a big slurp of wine in my mouth and just basically breathe in through your mouth without obviously getting, spilling the wine. I did it a couple of times. We got to know Kelly Ripa, who's a talk show host and been with them and her family and her husband on spring breaks a lot.
So I do that all the time when I drink wine and she's just fascinated by it to a point where she talked about it on air for like three minutes, a couple of years ago, I got all these emails. I'm like, what are you? People are saying that you're on Kelly Ripa's show. I'm like, what are you watching? Kelly Ripa's show for the middle of the day?
Well, I don't even think people would do that, but apparently they did anyway. 15 minutes of fame was more like 30 seconds of fame, but anyway, it's pretty amusing. I love it.

[00:17:03] Sean Mooney: You're very atypical in private equity in that you're an influencer. You've got a podcast, you're on a daytime talk show. So clearly a multifaceted faceted person here.

[00:17:13] Charlie Gifford: Uh, I'm not sure any of those are a benefit at all, but it's be that as it may, I'll continue to ride the horse that got me in here or whatever it is that they say.

[00:17:22] Sean Mooney: That's amazing. I'm sure our listeners can find it if they're clever with Google. So
Last up for this episode, but certainly not least, we have Doug Horn, Managing Director with Clairvest. Doug shares an approach to making flying at 35, 000 feet just a bit more peaceful. This one has made a huge difference during my planes, trains, and automobile jaunts.

[00:17:48] Doug Horn: Yeah, I mean, I haven't entered the affiliate marketing game just yet, but a couple months ago I bought these noise canceling earphones that you see me wearing today, and In many ways, we live probably half our lives on airplanes back and forth and it's my moment of zen. You know, you go in, it's loud, you throw these earphones on, you watch a show, you listen to music.
And it's been sort of a way to find some peace in the day when you're on those airplanes or even just at the end of the day watching a show or whatnot.

[00:18:17] Sean Mooney: I think that's a spot on one. I was recently given the same as a gift in what a difference it makes on the kind of the noisy rackety plane and just adding a little bit more peace, you know, and kind of a chaotic, You know, life and a chaotic experience too.
That's all for today. You can find links to the individual episodes in the notes. Please continue to look for the Karma School of Business podcast anywhere you find your favorite podcasts. We truly appreciate your support. If you like what you hear, please follow, rate, review, and share. It really helps us when you do this, so thank you in advance.
In the meantime, if you want to be connected with the world's best in class, private equity grade, professional service providers, independent consultants. Interim executives that are deployed by the best business builders in the world. Give us a call or visit our website at bluewave. net. That's B L U W A V E and we'll support your success.
Onward.

Private equity insights for and with top business builders, including investors, operators, executives and industry thought leaders. The Karma School of Business Podcast goes behind the scenes of PE, talking about business best practices and real-time industry trends. You'll learn from leading professionals and visionary business executives who will help you take action and enhance your life, whether you’re at a PE firm, a portco or a private or public company.

BluWave Founder & CEO Sean Mooney hosts the Private Equity Karma School of Business Podcast. BluWave is the business builders’ network for private equity grade due diligence and value creation needs.