JBT Field Notes Podcast

JBT
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Business

FIELD NOTES is a podcast where three friends talk about tech, family, faith, and the messiness of everyday life. Each episode explores the questions we are working through in real time — how to lead well, raise kids, build meaningful careers, stay grounded, and make sense of a world that keeps changing. With honest conversation, humor, and a willingness to admit we are all still figuring it out, Field Notes is part reflection, part hot take, and part invitation to pay closer attention to the life right in front of us.

Episodes

  1. 1d ago

    Field Notes on Personal Finance

    FIELD NOTES // Episode 2 Field Notes on Money: Saving, Spending, and Retirement DATE: August 3, 2026 LOCATION: Somewhere between financial independence and a life well spent OBSERVATIONS • Financial freedom is less about retiring early than having the freedom to choose. • The habits that help us build wealth can also make it difficult to enjoy what we have built. • Children learn about money from what families model, discuss, and leave unsaid. DISCUSSION Jarad, Brandon, and Travis take a wide-ranging look at money: how we earn it, save it, spend it, teach it, and eventually use it to shape the lives we want. The conversation moves through the FIRE movement, budgeting, real estate, debt, financial education, and the lessons inherited from parents. The hosts explore how to teach children about spending, saving, giving, and delayed gratification...and why openness about money may be one of the most valuable lessons a family can offer. They also reconsider the traditional idea of retirement. Rather than simply stopping work, what would it mean to build a life around purpose, relationships, meaningful contribution, and work that feels more like a calling? KEY TAKEAWAYS → Financial independence is ultimately about optionality, not idleness. → Knowing your numbers matters more than following a perfect financial system. → Saving is important, but being unable to spend can become its own form of scarcity. → Children benefit from practicing real financial decisions while the consequences are still small. → Retirement works best when we are retiring toward something, not merely away from work. → Money is most meaningful when it supports purpose, generosity, relationships, and time well spent. FOR FURTHER STUDY Ask yourself: Am I building wealth simply to have more? Or to create greater freedom, purpose, and connection? WHERE TO FIND US Brandon - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brmiddle/ Travis - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlzimbelman/ Jarad - www.myoldnotebooks.com END OF NOTES

  2. Jul 25

    Field Notes on Measuring Success

    FIELD NOTES // Episode 1 Field Notes on Measuring Success: What We Measure Shapes Us DATE: July 16, 2026 LOCATION: Somewhere between comparison and contentment OBSERVATIONS • The things we measure have a way of shaping the lives we build. • Lifestyle creep often starts as convenience before it becomes pressure. • Comparison is easier than ever, and rarely makes us more whole. DISCUSSION Jarad, Brandon, and Travis explore a deceptively simple question: what are we measuring in life, and how is that shaping who we become? The conversation moves from financial stress, lifestyle creep, and the pressure to keep up with others into bigger questions about social media, screen time, family habits, work, rest, and success. Along the way, the hosts wrestle with what happens when net worth becomes a scoreboard — and what better measures might look like instead. KEY TAKEAWAYS → Many of the easiest things to measure are not the things that matter most. → Convenience, comfort, and status all come with emotional tradeoffs. → Social media can turn comparison into a daily habit. → A better life may require better metrics: connection, purpose, presence, and peace. FOR FURTHER STUDY Ask yourself: What am I measuring right now that may be shaping me more than I realize? WHERE TO FIND US Brandon - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brmiddle/ Travis - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlzimbelman/ Jarad - www.myoldnotebooks.com END OF NOTES

  • 2 Episodes

About

FIELD NOTES is a podcast where three friends talk about tech, family, faith, and the messiness of everyday life. Each episode explores the questions we are working through in real time — how to lead well, raise kids, build meaningful careers, stay grounded, and make sense of a world that keeps changing. With honest conversation, humor, and a willingness to admit we are all still figuring it out, Field Notes is part reflection, part hot take, and part invitation to pay closer attention to the life right in front of us.

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