Stay On Course: Ingredients for Success

From Zero to Trader: The Beginner's Blueprint for Financial Freedom
Guest: Mitch Abel, Founder of Investment Current Host: Julie Riga

What if losing $150,000 was the beginning of your greatest financial breakthrough?

Mitch Abel retired in 2015 and lost $150,000 in his first six months of trading. His partner Diana looked at him and said two words: "Keep going." Six months later, he made it all back. Today, over 250 students have come through his program at Investment Current. This episode walks you through exactly how a complete beginner gets started in trading the right way, from opening your first account to building the plan that protects you from yourself. If you have ever wanted to take control of your financial future but did not know where to start, this is your recipe.

From Zero to Trader: The Beginner's Blueprint for Financial Freedom

About This Episode

Julie Riga sits down with Mitch Abel, founder of Investment Current, a purpose-driven trading education platform that has helped over 250 students build financial freedom and generational wealth. Mitch is a living example of resilience and transformation. After retiring, he lost $150,000 in his first six months and came back stronger than ever. This episode is your step-by-step guide to starting your trading journey with clarity, confidence, and a strong foundation.

Guest Background

Mitch Abel is the founder of Investment Current, an options trading education community built for complete beginners. His platform includes a 100 percent interactive live trading room, a 12-week curriculum, weekly faculty office hours, and personal mentorship. No trader has to face this journey alone.

Fun Fact: Mitch loves a hot pastrami sandwich on rye with coleslaw, sauerkraut, and pickled tomatoes.

The Three Ingredients for Trading Success

Foundation: You can begin with as little as $2,000 to $10,000. The 10 percent portfolio rule means you never risk more than 10 percent of your total capital on a single trade. New government rules now allow pattern day trading inside self-directed IRAs and 401k accounts, making this journey accessible to almost anyone.

Education: Learn the language of the market before risking a single dollar. Investment Current offers a 6-week foundational program followed by a 12-week course with video lessons, written takeaways, quizzes, homework, and live faculty office hours. All beginners start with paper trading, simulated trading with no real money, for a minimum of six months before moving to live capital.

Strategy: Write your personal trading plan. Define your entry rules, exit rules, stop loss rules, and profit targets. Keep a trading journal to track your emotions, your decisions, and your growth. Tools like TraderSync allow you to capture and analyze every trade in one place.

Memorable Quotes

"If you have the right education and the right tools, it is not gambling. It becomes second nature."
"We do not want you to fail. The only way to win is to start off slowly."
"Trading will bring out every emotion you have ever had. You do not want to be alone on this journey."
Real Student Results
Students made $4,500 in a single day with a 40.63 percent return on capital. One student made $280 in 34 seconds. Five focused trades per day can generate over $1,000 in earnings within just a few hours.

Next Steps
Visit investmentcurrent.com and join the free 7-day trading room trial. See the strategy in action, experience the community, and decide whether this is the next chapter of your journey toward financial freedom and legacy building.

Connect with Mitch Abel Website: www.investmentcurrent.com

Connect with Julie Riga
Website: julieriga.com/lead
Stacklist: https://stacklist.app/julieriga

Subscribe to Stay On Course wherever you listen. Share with someone ready to take control of their financial future.

#StayOnCourse #Leadership #Transformation #LegacyBuilding #FinancialFreedom

Why Your Data Is Not the Star of the Show: The Human Science of Powerful Presentations
Guest: Anthony Greiter, Founder of Agent, Technical Translator and Presentation Coach Host: Julie Riga, Leadership Coach and Founder of the Stay On Course Podcast

📌 Visit the Episode Stack:stacklist.app/julieriga | All the links, resources, and key information from this episode in one easy place.

Overview

Most scientific experts believe their data is the main event. But Anthony Greiter, founder of Agent and self-described technical translator, is on a mission to flip that thinking. In this episode of the Stay On Course Podcast, Anthony joins host Julie Riga to reveal why your technical brilliance is just the foundation and how true transformation happens when you lead with your humanity. Whether you are a researcher or tech innovator, this episode will challenge you to step out of data mode and into your authentic leadership presence. Data informs. Human connection transforms.

Why Your Data Is Not the Star of the Show: The Human Science of Powerful Presentations

About This Episode

Anthony Greiter is on a mission to rescue scientific brilliance from the graveyard of boring, data-heavy presentations. In this conversation with host Julie Riga, he breaks down the three essential ingredients that transform a forgettable talk into a meaningful, lasting experience. If you are a researcher, healthcare professional, or tech innovator, this episode will shift the way you approach every future presentation.

Guest Background
Anthony Greiter is the founder of Agent, a coaching platform designed to help scientific and technical experts become powerful, purpose-driven communicators. A self-described technical translator, he holds a degree in French, a background that shaped his philosophy on invisible foundations and the art of communicating complex ideas with clarity and heart. He works with researchers, healthcare professionals, and innovators across the world.
Fun Fact: Anthony reaches for buffalo wings every time, but only with blue cheese dip.

The Three Ingredients for Presentation Success
1. The Mirepoix: Your Technical Foundation Your data and expertise are the essential base, much like the French culinary mirepoix of carrots, celery, and onion. This foundation earns you a seat at the table and builds your credibility with peers. But just as mirepoix is never served as the main course, your technical brilliance should support your message without stealing the spotlight.

2. The Main Course: Your Human Voice The real star of every presentation is you. Your perspective, your purpose, and your authentic leadership presence are what connect with audiences on a human level. When researchers lead with personality and speak to why their work matters, that is when true human connection and transformation happen.

3. The Plating: Visual Delivery Even the best content fails when delivered poorly. Slides are for the audience, not for the speaker. Avoid walls of text and do not use your slides as a script. Visuals should complement your message and elevate your presence on stage.

Key Insights
Scientific professionals are trained to prove their worth through data. But when you shift from proving to influencing, everything changes.
Half of any audience takes in information through stories and big-picture thinking. The other half processes through logic and data. The most impactful presentations speak to both.
Every presentation must have a clear call to action. If you have not moved your audience to do something, the talk is not yet complete.

Memorable Quote
"Data informs. Human connection transforms."

Connect with Anthony Greiter
LinkedIn: Anthony Greiter
Website: www.learnwithagent.com

Connect with Julie Riga
Podcast: Stay On Course, available wherever you listen to podcasts

#StayOnCourse #LeadershipMindset #AuthenticLeadership #BeforeISpeak #TransformativeLeadership

Stop Letting Your Business Own You: The Role Alignment Secret Behind an $18M Exit
Guest: Brandon Lee, Business Alignment Coach and Founder of Build By Design Host: Julie Riga Podcast: Stay On Course Podcast

📌 Visit the Episode Stack — All the links, resources, and key information from this episode in one easy place.

Overview

What if the real reason your business is not growing is not your strategy or your sales pitch? What if it is you, operating in the wrong role? In this episode of the Stay On Course Podcast, host Julie Riga sits down with entrepreneur Brandon Lee, who built a company to 18 million dollars and sold it to private equity. His secret was not hustle. It was one coaching question that changed how he showed up as a leader. Brandon now helps business owners stop letting their companies run them and start designing roles that fuel energy, ignite teams, and position them for profitable exits through his Build By Design system.

Stop Letting Your Business Own You: The Role Alignment Secret Behind an $18M Exit
About the Guest
Brandon Lee is a multi-exit entrepreneur and business alignment coach. He has sold three companies and shut down two. His defining success was scaling a company to 18 million dollars and exiting through private equity. He is the creator of Build By Design, a three-phase system centered on leadership, role alignment, and culture.
Fun Fact: Brandon loves Mexican food. His go-to is a carne asada street taco with cilantro, onions, and fresh salsa. Every day is taco day.

Key Topics Discussed
The Question That Started Everything
Brandon built his first company to 2 million dollars. On the outside, success. On the inside, exhaustion. A coach in his second company asked him one question: "Do you want to own the company, or do you want to let the company own you?" That question gave him words for what he had been carrying for years and became the foundation of everything he now teaches.
The Energy Ratio Framework
Write down everything you actually do in your business. Divide those tasks into two columns: Energy Gainers, the work that excites you, and Energy Drainers, the work you dread. Most burned-out owners discover 60 to 70 percent of their work is in the drain column. Brandon calls this a ratio problem, not a role problem.
The Gap and the Map
The Gap identifies what needs to leave the owner's plate. The Map is a phased plan to delegate or outsource those tasks while respecting cash flow. The goal is a clear vision executed with intention.

The Three Pillars of Build By Design
Alignment with Natural Wiring: Design your role around your strengths using tools like Myers-Briggs
Leadership and Team Design: Help your team write the job descriptions they actually want and build around those
Culture and Sustainable Growth: Create shared language, reduce conflict, and build a business that runs without you as the bottleneck

Key Quotes
"Do you want to own the company, or do you want to let the company own you?"
"You do not have a role problem. You have a ratio problem in your work."
"People first is not soft. It is the best business strategy you can make for growth."
"Work should be fun. If we find alignment, it should be fun."

Key Takeaways
Fix the role before optimizing the business model
Your calendar is your real job description, not your title
Role misalignment costs 7 to 15 percent of annual revenue per McKinsey
A business that runs without you as the bottleneck is more valuable and sellable
Leading from a full place transforms your team, your family, and your results

Free Resource
Brandon offers a free 15-minute assessment at brandonlee.me to help owners calculate their energy ratio. Most people experience immediate clarity upon completing it.

Connect to Brandon Lee
Website: brandonlee.me

Subscribe to Stay On Course wherever you listen to podcasts

Share this episode with every business owner ready to lead from alignment

#StayOnCourse #PurposeDrivenLeadership #BusinessAlignment #LeadershipM

Whole Health Wealth: The Money Mindset Shift That Changes Everything
Guest: Matt Paradise, Author, Financial Wellness Speaker and Liver Transplant Survivor Host: Julie Riga

📌 Visit the Episode Stack: stacklist.app/julieriga | All the links, resources, and key information from this episode in one easy place.

From homeless teenager to award-winning author, Matt Paradise has empowered over 100,000 people to transform their relationship with money. As a liver transplant survivor and author of Financially Capable, Matt brings lived experience and expertise to this essential conversation. Host Julie Riga and Matt explore the emotional roots of money stress, the power of mindset, and the three core ingredients every leader needs to build whole health wealth and stay on course.

Whole Health Wealth: The Money Mindset Shift That Changes Everything
About the Episode

Matt went from homeless teenager to Board of Directors member of the Forbes number one top credit counseling agency. He is a trusted voice at Fidelity, Harvard University, and Mass General Hospital. His message: your money story began long before your first paycheck. Guilt, shame, and scarcity are not signs of failure. They are signals that deserve to be understood. This episode is about purpose, clarity, and the mindset shift that makes real financial wellness possible.

Guest Background
Matt Paradise is a financial wellness speaker, award-winning author, and liver transplant survivor with over 25 years in financial education. He has spoken at Fidelity, Harvard University, and Mass General Hospital. His favorite food is unagi, roasted eel in teriyaki glaze, a choice shaped by life as a transplant survivor who cannot eat raw fish.

The Three Ingredients for Whole Health Wealth
1. Stability Before Strategy Secure the foundation before chasing growth. Financial stress costs employers 1.1 trillion dollars per year in lost productivity. Leaders plan for the future while the foundation beneath them is still unstable. Fixing foundations before outcomes is not a step backward. It is the only sustainable path forward.
2. Hope with Structure Hope is the engine of forward momentum. As a homeless teenager not certain he would see age twenty, Matt learned that hope alone is not a plan. Structure, mentorship, and action transform hope into real results. Hope without structure is fantasy. Structure without hope is burnout.
3. Reduce the Noise The world is overloaded with AI tools, subscriptions, and digital input. Mental clarity is one of the most powerful leadership advantages available. The clearer the mind, the stronger the decisions. Matt encourages listeners to audit what they consume, who they listen to, and what they pay for. Less noise means more aligned leadership.

Key Insights
First money memories shape financial behavior and leadership decisions into adulthood
Guilt and shame are the most common emotions tied to money at any income level
Scarcity is a mindset, not a bank balance
Financial stress reduces human capacity and increases risk across industries
Gratitude is rooted in contentment, not comparison

What Matt Is Working On
Matt is expanding his financial wellness work within the healthcare industry. As a cholangiocarcinoma survivor who received a life-saving liver transplant in 2019, he carries a personal commitment to the professionals who saved his life. He is dedicated to increasing human capacity and bringing hope to healthcare workers managing compassion and financial stress every day.

Connect with Matt Paradise Website: www.mattparadise.com | LinkedIn: Search Matt Paradise

Connect with Julie Riga Leadership coaching, transformation, and career fulfillment resources available through Julie Riga.
Stacklist: https://stacklist.app/julieriga

Subscribe to Stay On Course wherever you listen to podcasts and share this episode with a leader who needs to hear it.

#StayOnCourse #WholeHealthWealth #PurposeDriven #LeadershipMindset #FinancialWellness

📌 Visit the Episode Stack: stacklist.app/julieriga | All the links, resources, and key information from this episode in one easy place.

Go Tell Your Story: How Powerful Storytelling Transforms the Way You Connect, Communicate, and Grow Your Business
Guest: Ken Fay, Emmy Award-Winning Storyteller, Director and Creative Strategist Host: Julie Riga

What if the most powerful business tool you have is not a product, a pitch, or a platform? It is your story. In this episode, Emmy Award-winning storyteller Ken Fay joins Julie Riga to unpack the art and science of storytelling for purpose-driven leaders and entrepreneurs. Ken shares a cinematic framework that will change how you connect with your audience, lead your team, and grow your business with authenticity and lasting impact.

Go Tell Your Story: How Powerful Storytelling Transforms the Way You Connect, Communicate, and Grow Your Business

About This Episode
Ken Fay is an Emmy Award-winning storyteller, writer, and director who has spent his career helping brands, nonprofits, and leaders bring their most important ideas to life through compelling visual narratives. His work has earned numerous industry honors across the world. In this conversation, Ken shares the three essential ingredients of powerful storytelling and how purpose-driven leaders can use narrative to build authentic connections and accelerate meaningful business growth.

The Three Ingredients for Storytelling Success

The Setup is where you paint the picture. You introduce the faces, places, and spaces of your story. You tap into all the senses to build anticipation and presence. For business leaders, the setup reflects your mindset, your product, and your purpose-driven why. It is the foundation of every great narrative and the moment your audience leans in.

The Turn is the aha moment. It is the pivot where your audience shifts from intellectual understanding to emotional connection. This is the moment they say, "I get it. I want this." Teaching and storytelling share this same structure. Both lead an audience toward a shift in thinking, feeling, and belief. The turn is where hearts begin to open and minds begin to move.

The Transformation is when hearts and minds align. It is the moment your audience is changed by what they have experienced. In business, transformation creates raving fans and loyal clients who take action and tell others. In film, it is the tears, the laughter, and the deep feeling of wanting to return to that story again. This is the goal of every great narrative.

Key Insights
Ken shares the story behind his Emmy Award, a documentary about the healing that followed the Sandy Hook tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. Rather than focusing on the event itself, he turned his lens toward comfort dogs, community conversations, and the quiet courage of people holding one another through grief. The real reward was not the award on stage. It was the personal messages from people who felt seen and deeply moved.
Ken also explores how the same framework applies to nonprofit storytelling. His experience with houseless communities during COVID shows that even difficult stories follow the same structure: setup, turn, transformation. The goal is always to move people from awareness to action and from seeing to doing.

Memorable Quotes
"Transformation is that moment your audience's heart and mind align. You have used the science and art of storytelling to motivate and move them."
"You went from words to feeling. That is the turn in your story."
"Go tell your story."

Connect with Ken Fay
LinkedIn: Ken Fay | Instagram: @KenFay1 | Website: belastrega.co | Email: [email protected]

Connect with Julie Riga
Visit julieriga.com/lead to learn more about leadership coaching and transformation.

#StayOnCourse #Storytelling #PurposeDriven #LeadershipMindset #AuthenticGrowth

Subscribe to Stay On Course wherever you listen to podcasts and share this episode with every leader and storyteller in your world.