If you’re a skill-built business owner — someone with real expertise, strong work ethic, and a desire to build security without blowing your life up — this episode was built for you.

Because here’s the trap most high-performers fall into:

We know how to work hard.
We don’t always know how to build wealth responsibly.

We trade time for money.
We add side hustles without systems.
We chase upside without protecting the downside.

And eventually, we look successful on paper… but feel stretched thin underneath.

This week’s conversation with Jordan DePuy offers a different model — one rooted in patience, preparation, and principle.

Jordan is a longtime banking professional in New York’s Hudson Valley who understands risk, lending, and financial structure from the inside out.

He didn’t grow up wealthy. Money was scarce. That shaped his mindset early.

While working full-time in banking, he began quietly building:

• An ATM business (grown from 7 machines to 80+)
• Real estate investments
• Multiple income streams
• All while keeping family at the center

No hype.
No reckless risk.
Just steady, ethical growth.

Jordan shared how August 2019 felt like a breakthrough month. Cash flow was strong. Confidence was high.

Then March 2020 hit.

COVID exposed a critical truth:

Wealth isn’t built in peak months.
It’s built in preparation before the peak.

Ask yourself:
If revenue stopped for 90 days, what breaks?

Quiet wealth is built on reserves, buffers, and discipline — not momentum spending.

As a banker, Jordan reviews financials daily. He’s developed the ability to spot:

• Real income vs paper income
• Sustainable growth vs fragile growth
• Signal vs noise

That skill didn’t come from motivation.
It came from reps and exposure.

Ask yourself:
Do you know your numbers cold?
Are decisions data-driven or emotional?

Hope isn’t a strategy.
Clarity is.

During COVID, Jordan lost his mother. At the same time, the world shut down and business slowed.

Life hit hard.

But he didn’t build recklessly.
He built purposefully.

Because purpose sustains effort when motivation disappears.

Ask yourself:
Why am I building this?
Who is this for?
What kind of life am I protecting?

If your “why” is clear, endurance follows.

Skill-built entrepreneurs often confuse effort with leverage.

You can grind endlessly…
Or you can build systems that protect you when life hits.

Jordan’s approach mirrors what we teach inside Prime Performance:

• Slow down
• Structure smarter
• Align effort with leverage
• Build without burnout

You’re not behind.
You’re not late.
You’re building something real.

And when you build patiently, prepare intentionally, and lead ethically — wealth compounds far beyond money.

As always:
Reflect honestly.
Choose intentionally.
Keep surviving the side hustle.

What if real success isn’t loud, flashy, or viral — but patient, disciplined, and built with family at the center?

That’s exactly what this week’s conversation with Jordan DePuy reveals. Jordan is a longtime banking professional in the Hudson Valley who has quietly built an impressive portfolio of side businesses while maintaining a full-time career, raising a family, and staying grounded in values that too often get lost in entrepreneurship.

Jordan’s story is a reminder that wealth doesn’t have to be rushed — and freedom doesn’t have to come from burning everything down.

Jordan didn’t grow up with money. In fact, he grew up hearing “we can’t afford that” more times than he can count. That experience sparked two lifelong interests: helping people and understanding money.

After realizing medicine wasn’t his path, Jordan studied finance and entered banking — learning the business from the inside out. Over the years, he noticed a pattern: the people who built real wealth weren’t just earning salaries… they owned businesses.

That realization planted the seed.

Jordan and his brother started an ATM business with just a handful of machines and a modest investment. They didn’t chase hype. They reinvested profits, built reserves, and planned for growth.

Today, that business has grown to over 80 machines, alongside real estate investments and other ventures — all while Jordan continues working full-time in banking.

The key wasn’t speed.
It was systems, patience, and preparation.

And when COVID hit, that preparation mattered. The downturn exposed gaps, reinforced the importance of reserves, and reshaped how Jordan thinks about risk — lessons he now brings into every business decision.

Because Jordan reviews business financials daily, he’s developed an eye for opportunity most people don’t have. He looks past surface-level excitement and focuses on fundamentals: cash flow, sustainability, risk, and margin.

That perspective also makes him a better advisor. Whether he’s underwriting loans, mentoring entrepreneurs, or helping a personal trainer land their first clients, Jordan approaches growth practically — not emotionally.

One powerful theme throughout the episode: opportunity favors preparation. Empty machines, poor systems, or lack of planning aren’t just mistakes — they’re missed chances.

The conversation takes a deeper turn when Jordan shares the loss of his mother during COVID. That experience reshaped his priorities and reinforced why he builds the way he does — not just for profit, but for people.

It also made him a more empathetic leader and banker. Jordan understands that numbers don’t always tell the full story — and that sometimes belief, integrity, and timing matter just as much as spreadsheets.

Jordan’s advice for anyone building something on the side is simple but powerful:

• Know why you’re building
• Plan for both failure and success
• Build reserves before you need them
• Learn business fundamentals early
• Find mentors who’ve lived it
• Don’t sacrifice integrity for speed

When asked what he hopes people say about the way he built his businesses, his answer was immediate:

Ethical.
Integrity.

What if the version of success you’ve been chasing your entire life was never actually yours?

That’s the question at the heart of this week’s conversation with Caroline Sangel, and it’s one every driven, capable, high-performing listener needs to sit with.

On paper, Caroline was the definition of success: high school valedictorian, PhD in polymer science, fellowship recipient, elite performer in both science and recruiting, and a top 2% pace-setter in a global firm. She did everything “right.”

But behind the titles was a familiar pattern — relentless pressure, external validation, and the quiet belief: “I’m only worthy if I achieve.”

That belief came at a cost.

Caroline’s story starts early. Growing up in a household where education and advancement were the language of love, she learned quickly how to hit targets. If an A was required, she got it. If the bar moved, she moved with it.

That pattern followed her into STEM, advanced chemistry, polymers, and PhD-level research. She could do the work — and did it well — but felt deeply misaligned. Still, she stayed. Because when achievement becomes identity, walking away feels like failure.

She described the early warning signs as “whispers.”
Ignored whispers eventually turn into wake-up calls.

Despite objective success — commercializing multimillion-dollar products and rising fast — her body began keeping receipts her mind tried to ignore.

Obesity. Multiple blood pressure medications. Resting heart rates over 200 BPM. A diagnosis of supraventricular tachycardia. A cardiac ablation. Then the sentence that changed everything:

“You’re holding the match. Either you make serious changes, or everything burns down.”

She kept pushing anyway — until her husband said the words that finally cut through:

“I’m afraid we won’t have another anniversary. Not because I’ll leave — but because you’re killing yourself.”

That moment forced the real question: Who am I if I’m not what I do?

Caroline didn’t quit impulsively. She planned. She waited. She built skills. She intentionally put herself in uncomfortable growth situations. And when the time was right, she left.

Instead of just pivoting, she studied the problem like a scientist:

Why are so many people externally successful but internally unfulfilled?

Why do only 20% of people reach their potential?

That work became the Next Success Method — a framework rooted in data-backed assessments, mental fitness, career alignment, values, and identity clarity. The results were real: after eight weeks of mental fitness work, her blood pressure dropped 20 points — and stayed there.

Caroline now works with professionals who are questioning their careers (a natural process every 7–10 years), high achievers considering pivots, and organizations trying to unlock real potential.

Her message is clear — and it aligns perfectly with Surviving the Side Hustle and Prime Performance:

• Achievement without alignment drains you faster
• Speed without direction becomes distraction
• Questioning your path isn’t failure — it’s development
• You’re not broken — you’re often just misaligned

When asked what kind of world we’d live in if people designed success aligned with who they are, her answer was simple:

An inspired world. A healthier world. A more connected world.

🎧 Listen to the full episode
🌐 Learn more at nextsuccesscareers.com
🎙️ Check out Caroline’s podcast, Your Next Success