Episode 039
Bonnie Treichel
Can you build a million-dollar business as a solopreneur without losing your mind? Join Alice Tang as she speaks with Bonnie Treichel, the founder of Endeavor Retirement and Endeavor Law. Bonnie reveals how she hit seven-figure revenue milestones in record time and why she is often her own “best cheerleader and worst enemy”. Learn the tactical importance of letting go of what you can’t control and why Bonnie believes “no” is just a step on the path to the right “yes”.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
"Having people in your partnership wheel, having people in your wolf pack where you can talk through some of these things, not feel so alone, make more thoughtful decisions."
00:00:00]
Welcome to Women’s Million Dollar Conversations with Alice Tang, where we share stories from successful business women who have saved, earn or sold over a million dollars and discuss how they build their success and insights to help you achieve your goals. Now let’s join the conversation.
[00:00:18]
Alice Tang: Good morning, everyone. I am sitting down with one of my favorite people, Bonnie Treichel. One of my young friends, I call her, but she has an old soul because she does all the things in communication and networking, just like the 60-year-old me.
[00:00:33]
Alice Tang: Bonnie is a very talented woman. She is the principal of Endeavor Law and Endeavor Retirement. She’s very active in the retirement arena, especially pertaining to the law about it.
[00:00:48]
Alice Tang: Bonnie, would you introduce yourself and share with us a little bit about yourself—how long you have owned your company—and any good things you would like to say about yourself?
[00:01:06]
Bonnie Treichel: Alice, thank you so much for having me and for pointing out so appropriately that I am an old soul, although I do appreciate you called me young. But yes, I am an old soul.
[00:01:18]
Bonnie Treichel: My name is Bonnie Treichel. I am the founder of Endeavor Retirement and Endeavor Law, and I’m so excited to be here today.
[00:01:28]
Bonnie Treichel: Endeavor Retirement is a consulting firm primarily for retirement plan advisors. Then we started Endeavor Law as a sister company as really an accommodation for those advisors—helping plan sponsors (employers offering retirement plans) support their employees in saving for retirement.
[00:01:50]
Bonnie Treichel: Endeavor Retirement turns three years old in February, and Endeavor Law is one year old as well. Really excited to share more about our journey and for others who are in that startup world too.
[00:02:05]
Alice Tang: As everybody knows and follows our Women’s Million Dollar Conversations, our guests have earned a million, made a million, or saved a million.
[00:02:15]
Alice Tang: With Bonnie’s traction, we decided we will focus on her company revenue—how do we do that with a three-year-old company and a one-year-old company?
[00:02:28]
Alice Tang: So first question, Bonnie—what’s the value of money, since this is a money conversation?
[00:02:38]
Bonnie Treichel: When we talk about the value of money and what it means to me, it’s an opportunity to have the ability to live and to feel safe, but also to have the opportunity to give generously in my community.
[00:02:54]
Bonnie Treichel: Growing up, I wanted to be able to give and give generously. I originally wanted to go into politics, and then decided instead I wanted to have my own company and be able to give back from the private sector perspective.
[00:03:12]
Bonnie Treichel: So for me, the value of money is the opportunity to give generously and to do so on my terms—not someone else’s.
[00:03:23]
Alice Tang: And I’m sure you’re an advocate for getting to a financial freedom stage. I don’t want to hear about somebody working until they die, and that’s not you. Thank you for making that statement.
[00:03:37]
Alice Tang: The follow-up question is—we’re all curious about that million dollars. It took you three years for the retirement company and one year for your law company.
[00:03:50]
Alice Tang: Tell us a little bit about the journey, and what are the biases when you’re running up to that million—if there is any?
[00:04:02]
Bonnie Treichel: As I think about the biases you face in running a small business, for me the biggest bias I run into is my own self.
[00:04:12]
Bonnie Treichel: I’m going to call it solopreneur—an entrepreneur where I own the business 100% by myself. That means I’m my best cheerleader and my worst enemy.
[00:04:25]
Bonnie Treichel: The highs feel really high and the lows feel really low. It can be lonely being a business owner all by yourself, and that’s where you find other small business owners to partner with—people like you, Alice—where you find your people, lift each other up, and do the journey together.
[00:04:45]
Bonnie Treichel: So in finding that first million of revenue, I was probably my own worst enemy—my own bias—but also my own best cheerleader.
[00:05:03]
Alice Tang: Can we go one step deeper? When you say you are your worst enemy, what do you mean? Could you give us a very simple example?
[00:05:16]
Bonnie Treichel: Yeah. It’s everything from being too hard on yourself when you put forward a proposal and you don’t get it—then you replay it: If I crafted the email differently… if I sent the proposal differently… if I lowered my fee…
[00:05:36]
Bonnie Treichel: Sometimes you realize they weren’t the right fit in the first place, and you have to move on and go get the five other clients who are.
[00:05:48]
Bonnie Treichel: So it’s learning not to dwell on missed opportunities. You feel those lows when you thought you had them at the finish line—down to the one-yard line—and didn’t get it. But then when you do close the deal, that’s a high too.
[00:06:07]
Alice Tang: That’s exactly what we needed to hear.
[00:06:12]
Alice Tang: I had the privilege to sit down with Bonnie—she no longer lives in Oregon, but visited recently—and we talked about letting go of what we can’t control so we have headspace to welcome the right people: clients, customers, and also our wolf pack.
[00:06:41]
Bonnie Treichel: Alice, you’re spot on. It’s letting go of the “no” so you can get to the right “yes.”
[00:06:53]
Alice Tang: I’m sure that in the last three years you’ve made a lot of decisions, and some were big, high-stakes decisions.
[00:07:03]
Alice Tang: Could you share how you make decisions when the stakes are high?
[00:07:14]
Bonnie Treichel: Great question. One of the things I’m learning is sometimes I make decisions too fast because I don’t want to sit in the discomfort.
[00:07:25]
Bonnie Treichel: This applies to business and personal decisions. I don’t like sitting in discomfort, so I push to make a decision too quickly. But if I sit in discomfort a little longer, I can often make a better decision.
[00:07:44]
Bonnie Treichel: I’m learning to be more patient with myself, be more patient with others, and sit in that discomfort because it helps me get to a better answer.
[00:08:02]
Alice Tang: Follow-up—how do you help yourself sit in discomfort? What do you do?
[00:08:12]
Bonnie Treichel: Part of it is surrounding myself with others—like our tea date, right? Having people like you, having a business coach, and having conversations that slow down the decision-making process.
[00:08:28]
Bonnie Treichel: I work with advisors and talk about the partnership wheel—your wolf pack—people you can talk through things with so you don’t feel alone and you make more thoughtful decisions.
[00:08:48]
Alice Tang: Very special answer. Thank you.
[00:08:53]
Alice Tang: Now in the last three years—no assumptions—but if there was any time you felt, “This is too much, should I polish my resume? I’m employable. Why do I need to do this?”
[00:09:06]
Alice Tang: What keeps you going and building the business?
[00:09:16]
Bonnie Treichel: Alice, every third Tuesday, that’s the feeling.
[00:09:22]
Bonnie Treichel: It’s lonely and scary when you have a business by yourself. When I started, I said: I have one client, I’m going to try this. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll go get a job.
[00:09:38]
Bonnie Treichel: Twelve months turned into eighteen, then twenty-four, then three years—and then we added a second business.
[00:09:50]
Bonnie Treichel: Along the way you think, “What am I doing this for?” But what keeps me going is: every time someone signs a contract, they’re investing in me. They’re putting their faith in me to solve a problem.
[00:10:08]
Bonnie Treichel: If they’re willing to put their faith in me, I’ve got to keep putting faith in myself too.
[00:10:17]
Alice Tang: Beautiful answer.
[00:10:22]
Alice Tang: Sometimes quieting our mind and listening matters—because the message is there, but we can’t pick it up.
[00:10:33]
Bonnie Treichel: My mom will tell me: procrastinate a little—the answer will come. Just sit in the peace. It takes practice.
[00:10:46]
Alice Tang: That reinforces sitting in discomfort.
[00:10:52]
Alice Tang: Now we have an audience looking up to you. You’re honest about those Tuesdays, and you’re still building bigger and stronger.
[00:11:05]
Alice Tang: What is one piece of advice you would give—female audience or male audience—who says, “I want to be her”?
[00:11:18]
Bonnie Treichel: Invest in yourself and invest in your relationships.
[00:11:26]
Bonnie Treichel: Relationships have carried me through. Even when some relationships didn’t show up how I wanted, other partnerships did.
[00:11:38]
Bonnie Treichel: Your wolf pack—family, friends, for some people children—those relationships carry you when you feel like you have nothing left.
[00:11:52]
Alice Tang: Beautiful. We’re winding down.
[00:12:00]
Alice Tang: What’s one piece of very good advice—or very bad advice—that has made the biggest impact in your life?
[00:12:12]
Bonnie Treichel: One thing was the book Radical Candor. Hard conversations used to stress me out.
[00:12:22]
Bonnie Treichel: The concept of being clear, direct, and kind in tough conversations helped me a lot—with employees, vendors, personal relationships—because it’s good for you and good for the other person.
[00:12:43]
Alice Tang: Awesome.
[00:12:47]
Alice Tang: Last question—what are you grateful for?
[00:12:55]
Bonnie Treichel: So many things, but again, relationships. I’m grateful for the relationships I’ve built and the people who carried me through when I didn’t think I had the strength.
[00:13:15]
Alice Tang: Beautiful. Bonnie shared about investing in yourself and investing in relationships. When the water rises, all the boats rise.
[00:13:28]
Alice Tang: Thank you, Bonnie, for a wonderful conversation. We’re grateful for you.
[00:13:35]
Bonnie Treichel: Alice, thank you for having me. Really appreciate it.
[00:15:07]
(End)
Bonnie Treichel is the Founder and Chief Solutions Officer of Endeavor Retirement, a consulting firm dedicated to solving problems for plan sponsors, advisors and service providers in the retirement plan industry. Her unique experience as an ERISA attorney and advisor helps her bring governance solutions for day-to-day issues that are an inevitable part of running a successful retirement plan. Bonnie is also a Partner at Endeavor Law, a firm dedicated to supporting the ecosystem of financial services with their retirement plan-related decisions, documentation, compliance, regulation and litigation.
As a thought leader on retirement plan governance issues, Bonnie has been quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, InvestmentNews, 401(k) Specialist, Ignites, PlanAdviser, NAPA Net Daily, and Journal of Pension Benefits. She is an active member of the American Retirement Association and has served in various leadership roles as well as the American Bar Association’s Tax Division where she is on the Lifetime Income Committee. She was awarded InvestmentNews 40 Under 40 in 2023, the ABA’s On the Rise – Top 40 Young Lawyers Award in 2022. She is also a member of the Women in Pensions Network, the State Bar of California, and is a current advisory board member of RISA, LLC.
When she isn’t working on retirement plan issues, Bonnie enjoys traveling, spending time with her golden retriever Sunny, running, riding her bike and volunteering for Make a Wish.