Tom Kelly

Building a $100M Business and How To Avoid Entitled Kids - An Interview With Tom Kelly

December 10, 20245 min read
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Tom Kelly is the Founder of Charity Auctions Today, a technology company that has helped over 250,000 nonprofit organizations raise half a billion dollars for charitable causes. He is also the Co-founder of CompCorePro, an online platform that helps companies manage work-related injuries more efficiently. Through his entrepreneurial endeavors, Tom has amassed a portfolio valued at nearly $100 million. His passion for innovation crosses into philanthropy, where he pioneers the powerful concept of family foundations, which empowers entrepreneurs to create generational wealth. As host of the Million Dollar Nonprofit podcast, he offers strategies and insights for scaling nonprofit organizations.

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Here's a glimpse of what you'll learn:

  • [3:40] Tom Kelly on embracing your entrepreneurial identity 

  • [4:48] The mindset shift that led Tom to generate a $100 million portfolio

  • [8:24] Empowering others in leadership roles and releasing control

  • [19:29] How being adaptable to market trends and customer needs boosts business success

  • [23:29] Embracing advice from industry experts and how immediate implementation spurs growth

  • [38:20] The profound effect of involving children in philanthropic endeavors

  • [43:46] How to manifest your future goals and the mindset needed to transform visions into reality

In this episode...

What if you could transform your financial responsibilities into valuable opportunities for your children while positively impacting the world? Imagine a system that turns tax payments into charitable donations, empowering your kids to learn wealth management and cultivate a legacy of generosity. This innovative approach has the potential to enhance your family's financial future and increase your social impact.

Tom Kelly, a nonprofit expert and serial entrepreneur, shares his revolutionary approach to wealth management by creating a family foundation, a financial structure that effectively replaces traditional trusts. By setting up a family foundation, you can provide your children with a platform to learn how to manage money, invest wisely, and decide which charities to support with the foundation’s proceeds. This concept not only imparts financial literacy to your heirs but also instills a spirit of philanthropy. He also delves into his entrepreneurial journey, from his humble beginnings to building a business empire worth $100 million. With illustrations of critical moments that set the course for his ventures, Tom shares his experience with the bottom line in business, the art of letting go, hiring the right team, and the overarching importance of fulfilling one's vision.

In this episode of The Bottom Line, Nicholas Kusmich sits down with Tom Kelly, Founder of Charity Auctions Today, to discuss the transformative power of creating a family foundation. Tom delves into the mechanics of setting up a foundation, how to build a legacy of giving, and investing in community-benefiting assets. Tune in for insights on reshaping wealth’s role in the family dynamic.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

Special Mentions

Related Episodes

Quotable Moments

  • "If you're not willing to let go, you're preventing yourself from growing where you want to be."

  • "I can't work for other people. That's kind of what started me on my journey."

  • "Your safety net sometimes prevents you from making decisions that lead to greatness."

  • "Just trust that what they say will work, even if you don't think it will."

  •  "The hardest part of the journey was leaving the safety net behind to fight for my own path."

Action Steps

  1. Embrace an all-in mentality: Commit fully to your entrepreneurial ventures without fallback plans. This approach forces you to focus and find creative solutions, which can be crucial during challenging times, as Tom Kelly described when he left a stable job to pursue his own business.

  2. Join mastermind groups: Engage with industry-specific mastermind groups to gain valuable insights and frameworks from peers. Implementing these strategies, as Tom did, can significantly enhance business growth and provide support from those who have succeeded in your field.

  3. Create a family foundation: Consider setting up a family foundation to teach your children about financial responsibility, philanthropy, and managing wealth. This addresses the challenge of children feeling entitled and ensures your legacy is impactful, as Tom highlighted with his own family foundation experience.

  4. Focus on self-development and education: Invest in personal development and learning to stay ahead in your industry. As Tom mentioned, learning from others and applying those lessons without ego can lead to significant business advancements.

  5. Manifest your vision: Visualize and emotionally connect with your long-term goals, behaving as if you have already achieved them. Tom’s belief in manifestation emphasizes aligning your mindset with your ambitions, which can open up opportunities and attract the resources you need to succeed.

Sponsor for this episode...

This episode is brought to you by NicholasKusmich.com, where we specialize in helping coaches, consultants, experts, and agencies achieve extraordinary results through high-impact Facebook advertising.

To maximize your ROI and scale your business rapidly, you need a marketing strategy that is both precise and powerful. At NicholasKusmich.com, we combine cutting-edge techniques with deep market insights to deliver unmatched results for our clients.

To learn more, visit NicholasKusmich.com and discover how we can help you take your business to the next level.

Founder of the H2H Media group and nicholaskusmich.com, Nicholas has responsible for over 10B ad impressions, over 55M leads generated and $600M in collective revenue.

Nicholas Kusmich

Founder of the H2H Media group and nicholaskusmich.com, Nicholas has responsible for over 10B ad impressions, over 55M leads generated and $600M in collective revenue.

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