I stood on a muddy patch of yard staring at the skeleton of a deck and thought, This will be fine—until it wasn’t. That first week of timber and posts felt like a clean slate. By week three the crew had run into hidden drainage, a permit snag, and a supply shortage that pushed the…

Financial advisors often face a familiar challenge: clients arrive with several priorities at once, but not all of them can be solved at the same time. The most effective advisors know that progress usually begins by narrowing the conversation to the next best step. A useful example of this approach is explored in Cashflow Mike’s…