Sydney Mitchell:

Hi. My name is Sydney Mitchell.

Matthew Brickman:

Hi, I’m Matthew Brickman, Florida Supreme court mediator. Welcome to the Mediate This! Podcast where we discuss everything mediation and conflict resolution.

Matthew Brickman: 00:02
Hi, I’m Matthew Brickman, Florida Supreme Court mediator. Welcome to the Mediate This Podcast, where we discuss everything mediation and conflict resolution. So I’ve got a question. So are you meeting with the parties sometimes as their advocate doing the financial analysis? And then do you meet with them like again and sort of switch hats? It’s like, okay, now I’m the mediator. Like, okay, I went through Mary and showed you this is the finances, and Joe, this is the finances. Okay, now that you both do this, and then we’re going to come together, or are you just always under the mediator hat going, look, you know, I’m just explaining, showing you guys are in charge doing what you’re doing?

Ryan Finley: 00:57
I do, well, I put together the financials for both of them. So I I send them the document request list and they’ll send this work for most of mine. Um, because they’re not most of the time, they’re not represented by attorneys. It’s you know, not a lot of assets on some situations. And so they’re sending to me, I’m putting this together, and then you know, I’m val I’m sending emails to both of them. Does this work? You know, and when when we get into mediation, I’ve got a sentence on the top of the mayoral balance sheet that says, to the best of my knowledge, everything has been properly disclosed and fully disclosed. And they’ve got some date, you know, it’s just because you do get that one person sometimes that says, Well, I’m not gonna know about this, I’m not gonna put it on. And I’m like, if you don’t, that could void this whole thing because this is chart of good faith and everything is on the table. Okay. Um but yeah, yes, but I don’t I’m not one advocate and then the mediator. So I I take the role as a mediator very serious and try to be as impartial and independent as I can.

Matthew Brickman: 02:05
Okay.

Ryan Finley: 02:06
In other roles that I’m hired, if I’m hired by an individual, I do the many the litigation support and I’m acting, I’m on their side. Sure, sure, sure. During the mediation.

Matthew Brickman: 02:18
So yeah, is that yeah, yeah. I mean, I mean, yeah, when when you’re hired with counsel, then yes, you are advocating, say, for Mary, not for Joe. Um, but when you’ve got two pro se people, you’re going in there just neutral, showing them pros and cons on each side, going, all right, like Mary, you really, really, really want to hold on to your retirement account. All right, well, if we if you get that, just know that you’re gonna let go to balance us of the liquidity in the house. And so, and so you’re you’re you’re doing an analysis like that, but still neutral to both.

Ryan Finley: 02:55
Yes, let me let me explain, explain that a little more. So I we start out, like I said, I had this big television screen, I’ve got this marital balance sheet on there, and it’s it’s just got all their assets and everything, and I’ve got columns for husband and wife. Sure. When they come in, when I’m so I’ll meet with them together when they first come in, and then I meet with them um excuse me, one-on-one.

Matthew Brickman: 03:18
Caucus, yeah.

Ryan Finley: 03:19
In caucus, yes, thank you. So I’ll meet with them in caucus. So, like let’s say I meet with the wife first, and then I’ll I’ll copy that tab over and I’ll put her name in the bottom of it. I’ll say, Sally, how do you see this distribution of assets? And she’ll tell me, Well, I want to keep the house. Sally will go out, Bob will come in and we’ll I’ll do the same thing where they can’t see each other’s, but they can see it up there. So I think that may have the question.

Matthew Brickman: 03:44
Yeah, yeah, that absolutely does. Okay, yeah, yeah, that absolutely does. Um, so you’re doing primarily pro se with no attorneys involved, like primarily, is that primarily, yes, yes, yeah.

Ryan Finley: 04:01
So and the reason I I don’t is because the ones I’m doing typically they have a house, two cars, some investments, a few kids. So it doesn’t really, there’s not a lot of assets to divide. You know, if there’s a lot of assets, then most of the times there’s attorneys in there. But uh, you know, if it’s just a small estate, you know, then it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Now, the product that we do, since I’m not an attorney, we we have a memorandum of understanding at the end of it, and then one party will hire an attorney to file to take that and and and complete an MDA and file into court.

Matthew Brickman: 04:43
Okay, so so that was gonna be my next question. So good. Okay, I’m sorry. You’re you’re going right down that rabbit trail. So you’re meeting with them, you’re doing the you’re you’re getting all the intake, you’re figuring out the finances, but you’re not doing the agreement, then they would hire an attorney to then do the agreement. Is that right? Right.

Ryan Finley: 05:05
Well, we we do have an agreement, then we we have a memorandum of understanding, and I’ll go through and I’ll write up in detail everything that they’ve agreed upon. Okay, and then they’ll sign it.

Matthew Brickman: 05:16
Like Sally’s gonna get the home and he’s gonna take the 401k, and she’s gonna keep her car. And he’s so basically bullet point outline of what everything is, and then the attorney will then draft it all into then the settlement agreement that the party signed, the judge signs off on.

Matthew Brickman: 05:32
Yes, correct, correct.

Matthew Brickman: 05:34
Okay, okay. So I do everything. I like that. I do everything, so give it all to me. I’ll I’ll analyze it, we’ll negotiate it, and I’ll write it all up, submit it to the court. Judge signs off on everything. Um, so yeah, I like I’ve I like drafting everything. Um that way too. I know that nothing has slipped through the cracks, nothing has been forgotten, nothing has been changed. I’ve had, unfortunately, so I’ve worked to date, I think, with like 972, 82 attorneys or so. Um, I’ve had three, uh, which is an awful low number. That’s awesome. Like three out of almost a thousand, but I’ve had three that every time they’re draft, and then they’ll send it over, and they’ll be like, oh, we need a change, and then you get the draft with the change. They’re always tweaking other terms, and it’s like, stop, you know, and it’s just so shady. And I’m like, stop. And so, and and these three, surprisingly, they’re the only three that will not let anybody draft but them. They want full control so they can be sneaky and shady. The most of the attorneys are like, You’re gonna draft? I’m like, great. I just gotta sit here and advise my client, you’re gonna negotiate it, you’re gonna draft it, you’re gonna analyze it. They’re like, fine. And I’m like, Yeah, yeah, I want to draft it, make sure that everything is there. Um, so are you doing um well, okay. Actually, I’m gonna ask you a different question. So you’re you’re in Tennessee, you just opened an office, then in Florida. So are you and in Sarasota, you’re I mean, you you said in Tennessee, you’re in a pretty prominent, wealthy community. You go to Sarasota again, so are you you know, again, you are. So, so I mean, are you coming down to Florida to meet with clients? Is it virtual? Or do you spend some time in Florida, sometime in Tennessee? How is that working?

Ryan Finley: 07:38
I have a house logistically, yes. So uh there’s a couple airlines that I can fly back and forth of for $60 one way. So it’s you know awesome. Yeah, I I try to spend uh most of my time in Florida now, but I still have a big client base in in Nashville. Okay, and so um I live down in Florida full-time now. Uh but I’m up in Nashville probably a week, two weeks, a month, at least a week.

Sydney Mitchell: 08:05
Okay.

Matthew Brickman: 08:06
Okay. Um, and always meeting meeting them in person. And you’ve got, I guess, I guess you’ve got two offices. What you got two big screens.

Ryan Finley: 08:16
Yes, yes, I do, I do, I do. And I’ve got other employees that help me, so it’s you know, it’s not just me.

Matthew Brickman: 08:22
Okay. Um other in in the same area of I mean in the same area of practice of your employees. Uh they’re more um support staff or support staff is a better way to say, yes, yeah.

Ryan Finley: 08:36
Yeah, I’m the main guy and I have a some some support staff that helped me in. You know, they’re they’re very good at what they do. They lot do a lot of the pre-work that went then I do more of the in-depth analytical.

Matthew Brickman: 08:50
Yeah. So um so I I was looking it up uh yesterday. Okay, because I knew I knew we’d be talking today. So rule 31 mediator, rule 31 media, I was like, what’s a rule 31 media? That’s just what Tennessee, that that’s just the rule that governs mediation in Tennessee, correct?

Matthew Brickman: 09:09
Correct, correct.

Matthew Brickman: 09:10
All right, that was what I found, but I was like, is there something else I’m missing? Sort of like, you know, in Florida.

Matthew Brickman: 09:18
That’s it’s a secret club.

Matthew Brickman: 09:19
Yeah, I’m like, Rule 31 sound. It actually sounds pretty close. Like, yeah, I’m a rule 31. Well, I’m rule 32. You’re only a rule 31, right? It’s like you could think of rule 32, but that just makes you illegitimate because it’s only rule 31. Um, so so your rule 31 in Tennessee are um are you getting certified or are you certified also in Florida?

Ryan Finley: 09:45
As well, yes, yes. I haven’t done that yet, and I haven’t conducted any down here yet. So that’s what um I’m in the process of doing.

Matthew Brickman: 09:53
All right. When you need your mentorship, call me. I’ll do your mentorship.

Ryan Finley: 09:56
I would love that. I would love that.

Matthew Brickman: 09:58
Yeah. Yeah, I do I do about I think about eight to eight to eleven mentorships a year. Um, you know, people but it mentorship is one of the hardest things to get done for mediation because nobody wants to train up their competition. I’m like, my competition was 18 years ago when I started. Yeah, like somebody brand new is not my competition, and I’m not threatened by it. Plus, not to mention there’s a lot of work out there, there’s a lot of people. Um, and so I’m like, and I’m busy, so I’m like, absolutely. So I’m always like, hey, if you need certification, absolutely. Um, I do everything virtual, so I’m a hundred percent virtual. Um I went so so actually, I actually started doing virtual uh virtual mediation in 2009. So long, long I had I had an idea of like we need to go virtual. And you know, and of course, there was nothing. We had Skype, and we had, and I think FaceTime had just been invented. Um so Cisco, the platform we’re on, Cisco WebEx, they actually built me this platform in 2009. Um, and so I’ve been doing virtual since 09, but of course 2020 happened and I went a hundred percent virtual. I was at about, I don’t know, maybe seven percent virtual at the time, you know, leading up to that, but then went a hundred percent virtual and I’ve been virtual. And so what’s just like you, what I used to do is I used to take my iPad with me to mediation so that I could be working on my laptop and mirror it and turn it around so the clients could see it. Now, granted, I was I was always going to the attorney’s office or um, and so that way they could see it just like you’re using your big screen. But you know, I had a a large iPad. Then when I got an office um for my pro se, I had a big TV up on the wall that I would screen share like you so that they could see it. And of course, now being virtual, we just screen share, they get to see everything. Um, and I like that I I have found, just like we were talking earlier about building that level of trust, I have found that um so much is just in the education of this is the process, not even forget about what you want yet. Let’s like what does the law do? Let’s let’s let’s look there. Let me show you what the law says. So, a lot of times where I start, like even with something as simple as child support, right? I’ll go with all right, so let’s go in Florida, let’s go to chapter 61 and let’s look at what the law says for child support. Okay, now here’s the program that we run for child support. I use family law software. So I open it up, I’m like, okay, I’m gonna create an account. We’re just gonna go from scratch with you. And I get and I’m like, okay, we put their names in, okay, what’s your income? And I just show them, and then I’m like, okay, now see where it says net income and see this number, let’s go back and look at the statute. We pull the statute, I’m like, look, that number matches up. Okay, so that’s where they get that. And so as I lead them through the because otherwise, like if I just tell them, like, your child’s worth $61, they’re like, What? Why is it $61? I’m like, okay, you know, and then then I then it feels like I have to backpedal to explain it. So I’m like, from the beginning, let’s just look at how we even arrive at this, or sometimes like with equitable distribution, we’ll go to chapter 61. I’m like, equitable distribution, data marriage to data filing. This is how we value things. And we are a 50-50 state, unless, and let’s look through here, you know, marital dissipation and waste, you know, premarital, post-filing, like, you know, whatever these exceptions are. Once they understand the words and the concepts, then I can bring in the numbers and the numbers start to make sense. But I have loved being able, I found that one of the benefits of really the benefits of COVID was when everything went virtual, it really took the gauntlet down in between either you and the client, a mediator and the client, the attorney and the client, because now we get to see everything. Whereas before, like a lot of times, like when I would go to the law office, I would sit behind my computer, I’d ask them everything, and it might be three or four hours of negotiating before they get to see what everything looks like. Then we spend another two or three hours looking at the language, arguing over the language, tweaking the language, renegotiating now that they actually get to see it, because they forgot that they had said that. Whereas if I can show them in real time, we draft it in real time, we analyze it in real time, it actually saves the clients a ton of money.

Ryan Finley: 14:46
Yeah. A ton of money. I like that. Yeah, I mean, I would I I’ll take you up on that, man. I appreciate the offer for as far as the apprentice for Yeah, yeah, yeah. The mentorship. Yeah, mentorship.

Matthew Brickman: 15:02
Yeah, and it’s easy, you know, ever since ever since COVID, it’s been easy. I’ve done mentorships all over the state of Florida because you don’t have to be here. You don’t have to come over to the East Coast. I mean, you want to come over to the East Coast, you can come over to the East Coast, but you’re still not gonna be here because I’m in my house. So you can sit in your car, but you’re not coming inside. Um it’s not like you’re gonna sit at the desk and watch.

Matthew Brickman: 15:26
Yeah, yeah.

Matthew Brickman: 15:27
Um, but it’s but but it’s it’s you know, and it’s it’s always good seeing how other people do stuff, you know. You know, I love I love talking with you know other mediators or you know, and and you being a mediator. I had I interviewed recently a mediator attorney. That was interesting. He was not, he’s not really for attorneys. He’s like, I don’t really like attorneys, we get in the way. And I’m like, wow. And you know, but it’s interesting how becoming a mediator shifts your view, whether an attorney, an accountant, um, even former judges that have become mediators. It’s it it’s a whole new world sitting in the middle, not advocating, just needing to educate and explain.

Ryan Finley: 16:12
And I’ve had a judge as a mediator, and it’s very hard for them to take the judge how.

Matthew Brickman: 16:20
Yeah, well, because I would rule this way. Exactly. Exactly. You can’t do that. Exactly.

Matthew Brickman: 16:27
Yeah. So um, so typically when you would meet with a pro se client, um, how many sessions, how long are sessions? Um, is it I mean, like, what is average for you for like you know, how many sessions are we?

Ryan Finley: 16:45
We we do a lot of correspondence up to the day. We’ll set a mediation date, let’s say three weeks down the road. Three weeks, four weeks. Up until that time, we’re exchanging information back and forth. So there’s if there’s a direct meeting, it’s them bringing documents into me or me asking a question under trying to understand a bonus plan or a situation or this investment, um, or a pension. So I’m talking about need more information on the pension. And so once we get all that stuff together and I feel like I understand it, you know, then we’ll the only meeting I really have with them is the mediation day, and we schedule a full day for that. So they’ll come in at 9 or 9:30. You know, we’ll we’ll, like you said, we’ll meet together, then we’ll meet in caucus and then back and forth until we have an understanding. And then I’ll write it at the end of the day. If we come to an agreement, I’ll write it up. If not, we’ll continue to the next day. Okay, I usually schedule two days. Very rarely do I go into the second day because you know, once again, most of my client base is in a complicated financial situation.

Matthew Brickman: 17:48
Yeah, yeah. So well, and I and so on average, um, how so so on average you’ve got one mediation, maybe two, but I think a lot of it’s really as a mediator. Um, how much like, and especially with pro se, I tell them, I’m like, look, this can go as fast or slow as you want it, but if you get me everything, we can get everything done. If you don’t, well, that’s on you. And so I try to get it, you know, everything that I everything that I know about that they give me, right? So that I can help them. Um, but yeah, so so sometimes I’ve had, you know, whether with attorney, actually more with attorneys and pro se it is amazing. So I send out a letter of engagement that, you know, says, okay, I confirm you as my mediator. And it says, you know, here’s all the required documents. Here’s everything you’re gonna need. And it’s a whole paragraph of everything. Then in my email that I send out that has this attachment, that then has the links to login, I’m like, okay, and make sure that your financial discovery is done. Mediation is not the place to be looking at documents for the very first time. This is gonna waste time and money for you. I can’t tell you how many times with attorneys they come into mediation, and discovery is not done. We’re doing the mediate, we’re doing discovery in mediation for the very first time. And I’m going, you gotta be kidding me, right? Pro say, no, I’m like, get me your documents. They give me the documents, we can get this thing done in and out, one session, in and out, opposed to, I mean, and especially it was right around 20. I think I was doing my books the other day. I was looking back at, I think it was about 2018, was where all of a sudden there was not an impasse or a settlement, but adjournments. I’ve done so many adjournments where then they leave and they come back because discovery’s not done. And that’s with attorneys. Now, there are very few times that with pro se um we’ll do more than one session. We we I’ve I’ve been doing lately what I call a QA session.

Matthew Brickman: 19:58
Okay.

Matthew Brickman: 19:59
Um, where I give them one hour. One hour. So come to me, tell me what’s going on, and then I’m gonna give you homework based on what you told me. You need to get an appraisal, you need to go to Kelly Blue Book, you need to get the value of your cars, you need to get all your credit card statements, here’s everything that I’m gonna need. And okay, you want to know about the process? Here’s the process, here’s how it works, and then here’s the workflow. You know, you’re gonna need to do this, and you’re gonna need to do this. And so they just have their questions that we’re not mediating, we’re not negotiating. It is simply you QA. What do you want to know about this process, about me, and about what you need? And I’ll tell you, then they come and they come with everything. Then it’s a very productive meeting. But I you’re doing that with the with the communication back and forth, right? And you’re not going, I need this.

Ryan Finley: 20:52
And when I first meet with them, I’ll do it, I’ll do what you do. It’s like a free consultation. Here’s what the mediation process looks like, you know, and that’s kind of the QA then. And then I’ll give them my agreement, explain that to them, and then once they sign that, then we start to gather the documents.

Matthew Brickman: 21:08
Okay.

Ryan Finley: 21:09
Similar, yes.

Matthew Brickman: 21:10
Yeah, very similar. Very similar. So then, so then after you’re done with them, then you send this then to an attorney to draft. What usually like what is that turnaround time for the parties?

Ryan Finley: 21:24
Um usually I’ll send an introduction email. There’s there’s a couple of attorneys that I use, but you know, they are used to my template. They love what I send to them. They said, Ryan, I can do your stuff while I’m watching, you know, the television show while I’m watching Seinfeld, I can do yours and eat dinner and do that and still be sure. So, you know, I it’s pretty easy. I I send to them within two or three days, they get an email back from that attorney, you know, saying, Well, setting up a call to talk with them.

Matthew Brickman: 21:54
That’s great.

Ryan Finley: 21:55
And then, you know, they’re usually in the next week or two. So I’ve got a couple attorneys and are Click on it. And they, like I said, they know my process, they’re used to my template, my format. And so it doesn’t cost them a lot of money. You know, now if there’s a quadrille involved or something like that, then you know, then that’s an additional expense, and I explained that up front. But the attorneys are used to working with me, and so it’s it’s usually it’s more the delay in finalizing the divorce is more getting a date set at the court than it is.

Matthew Brickman: 22:27
Right. It’s it’s the judge’s calendar.

Ryan Finley: 22:29
Yeah, yeah.

Matthew Brickman: 22:30
Yeah, it’s not your calendar, it’s not the attorney’s calendar, it’s the judge’s calendar. So um, so do you do quadras? I don’t. No, I don’t okay. I was I was wondering, I’m like, you’re doing this. I’m like, oh, do I have someone new to send people for quadras? I’m like, okay, so you’ll value everything up to it, but you but you’re not doing quadras. Right, right, right. Okay, okay. So so like if someone’s coming to you paying filing fee, paying for mediation, you know, paying the attorney to draft, they’re getting out for what? Under 3,000, 5,000?

Ryan Finley: 23:07
Uh my fees usually range between, I would say, three and four thousand dollars. You know, some of them I’ve had a couple lately where I’ve really had to hold the hand, or they’ve asked a hundred questions, and you know, yeah. So I guess the most expensive one I’ve had was about six thousand dollars as far as whole mediation. Sure. And then the attorney on top of that’s probably another three. Okay. So my range could be between five and eight, or you know. Okay. But you know, you’re you’re a one-stop shop, you get to handle all that stuff, so you know that that’s that’s a bit that’s an advantage.

Matthew Brickman: 23:47
Yeah. Well, and if it’s and say, say, for example, it’s it’s a modification. So they, you know, I mean, we’re just modifying. Um, I’ll even do the filing. I’ll I’ll log on to the portal. So I mean, they’re coming like I’ve got I’ve got everything from A to Z where it’s like, okay, here’s your petitioner and respondent packets for modification. You come to me, we’ll analyze everything, negotiate everything, I’ll write everything up, we’ll do an agreed order, I’ll file it for you. Judge signs off on agreed order, no attorneys involved, no nothing. Um so you know, it depends on depends on the situation. Depends on the situation. Um so all right, so um I’ve got five, I’ve got five lightning round questions for you in conclusion. Ready for it? Uh all right, listen. All right, shoot, shoot, here we go. All right, so um, what’s your dream job?

Ryan Finley: 24:41
My dream job, um, I suppose the answer quick. I guess this, because uh, you know, I again, and I’m 60, so you know, I I want to work maybe four or five more years, but I love doing this. I love helping people. I love where somebody comes in and they have no clue or they’re scared, and then I’m gonna see if I’m not as a mediator, but as a as an advocate, to see their confidence build through the situation before they come in the door, they don’t have any idea what’s going on, they leave confidence, they’re gonna be okay, they’re gonna be financially secure.

Matthew Brickman: 25:16
So I’m gonna say this. This so what’s interesting, and um, I don’t know, I’ll just tell you about Florida. I know Florida. So most mediators in Florida are retired judges, lawyers, social workers, teachers, accountants, they’re already retired. So, you know, I mean, I’ve been doing this for 18 years. I just turned 51, and people have said, Matthew, like, what are you gonna do when you retire? I’m like, I’m already doing it, like I got a twittier jump on everybody, like you know, because because look, a lot of them like like when they retire from that, they love exactly like you said, they love helping people, they they like the camaraderie, the community, they like still, you know, using their brain and doing something, and it’s not physical labor, right? You know, but it’s empowering to people, and otherwise, like I you really can’t get some narcissistic, self-absorbed, hedonistic person is a mediator because you have to care about others to be a mediator. You can’t be so self-absorbed that well, I I have no empathy, I don’t care about people. Like, you can’t be like that. So so all right, so that’s so you’re doing your dream job. That’s awesome. All right, favorite type of music.

Ryan Finley: 26:33
Uh I’d say yacht rock is what I would like. I think the 80s was the best era of music, and so that I’m going with that. There you go. In that era, I I like yacht rock yacht rock. Plus, I like the country in that that era too. So that was my teenage and college years as well.

Matthew Brickman: 26:52
So yeah, good music. Um, all right. Favorite food pizza. Pizza.

Matthew Brickman: 27:01
I could eat pizza seven days ago. Any any type, any particular toppings?

Ryan Finley: 27:06
Like uh pepperoni’s, you know, to stand by, but I like I like hamburger sausage and green onions and things on it as well.

Matthew Brickman: 27:15
Just load it up.

Ryan Finley: 27:16
That’s right. Well, no mushrooms or onions or things that are good for you, you know.

Matthew Brickman: 27:21
Well, I don’t I don’t like mushrooms. I’ll take I’ll take onions, but I don’t I don’t like onions. I don’t I don’t like I don’t like my I don’t like mushrooms, period. My wife like my wife does a half, like we we do we do a half, and you know, I do my half, she does her half. She does my she does onions, mushrooms. I mean, everything that you’re talking to, she’s like, she’s like, no, I’m not doing I’m not doing the pepperoni, it’s too salty. I’m not doing the sausage, it’s too spicy. Yeah, so that’s my wife.

Ryan Finley: 27:47
My wife will order a supreme and she’ll say, put the veggies on one side and the meat on the other.

Matthew Brickman: 27:52
There you go. There you go. So it’s a win-win. All right. So still in the all right, so along the same path of food. If you could have one meal with one person living or dead, who would it be in why? One person living or dead.

Ryan Finley: 28:10
You know, this is probably not gonna be the what you’re expecting, but I lost my dad about 15 years ago. Okay. And I would give anything to have one more meal with him and just you know, have a have a beer and a steak and just laugh and just catch up and say, here’s what you’ve missed the last 15 years, Dad. You know? That’s awesome. Yes.

Matthew Brickman: 28:34
So I’d so I think one of the last that one of the last people I’d interviewed and asked them, they had said their grandfather, because now that they’re older, they had lost their grandfather many years ago. Now that they’re older and they’re experiencing things, they would like the wisdom of their grandfather to now apply. And I was like, that’s so just the same vein as you. It’s like, go and ask my dad and sit with my dad and and whatnot. So I have not had anyone famous recently. Everyone’s doing something similar like that. It’s yeah, so it’s not like, yeah, I’m gonna go have you know, breakfast with you know, Norman Rockwell and talk to him about his paintings or yeah, you know, or Jesus, or nobody, it’s it’s like, you know, family member. Make sense. Um, all right, last one. If you could live anywhere in the world with you uh with your family, where would you live and why?

Matthew Brickman: 29:30
Sarasota. Just no nearby.

Ryan Finley: 29:34
I love it here. It’s just there’s well, and it’s Florida in general. You know, it’s I I love Nashville. Uh this time of year it rains a lot and it’s cloudy and overcast, and it’s just here there’s sunshine. You know, Christmas, I think, was 80 degrees or close to 80 degrees. Yes, yes. You know, I I love we have a bike trail here that we that we can we’re right in the middle of the bike trail. We can go 15 miles this way, 15 miles that way, and play golf. I’ve bought a new set of clubs since I went to Florida, so okay. I want to get back into golf and play golf. I just I love it here. I love going to the beach. I love I like to scuba dive and snorkel, but you know, there’s not a lot of reefs on this side of the golf.

Matthew Brickman: 30:13
So find other things. Yeah, you have to come over the other side.

Ryan Finley: 30:17
Yeah. I want to trip over there. Yeah, in your driveway and do a virtual conference with you.

Matthew Brickman: 30:26
Yeah, yeah, you can you can come over. We got we’ve we’ve got plenty of reefs and ships and everything to go and dive in.

Ryan Finley: 30:32
I would like to do that. I would love to do that.

Matthew Brickman: 30:34
Yeah. Both my kids got certified in high school um multiple certifications in diving. And so uh yeah, I know I never I never took it up, but I was I was too busy working, too busy above the water. So anyway. Well, Ryan, I really appreciate uh talking with you today, and uh uh we’ll have to have you back on again. We talk about boards.

Ryan Finley: 30:59
It’s been a pleasure. I appreciate it. It seems like it’s two buddies having a beer, you know what I mean?

Matthew Brickman: 31:04
I know, right? All right, so Ryan, how can people find you?

Ryan Finley: 31:09
Well, the best way to reach me, Matthew, is through my website. It’s www.freedomfsg.com. And there’s a button on there to schedule a consultation, and they can click on that and it’ll give their information. Or if they want to reach me, my phone number is 941-945-2846.

Matthew Brickman: 31:29
Alrighty.

Matthew Brickman: 31:31
Thank you so much. Thank you.

Matthew Brickman:
Occasionally Sydney and I will be releasing Q&A bonus episodes where we’ll answer your questions and give you a personal shoutout.

Sydney Mitchell:
If you have a comment or question regarding anything that we discuss, email us at info@ichatmediation.com that’s info@ichatmediation.com and stay tuned to hear your shout out and have your question answered here on the show.

Matthew Brickman:

For more information about my services or to schedule your mediation with me, either in person or using my iChatMediation Virtual Platform built by Cisco Communications. Visit me online at www.iMediateInc.com. Call me at 561-262-9121, Toll-Free at 877-822-1479 or email me at MBrickman@iChatMediation.com.