If Life Were Perfect artwork

If Life Were Perfect

20 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 463 ratings

Can you imagine if life were perfect? Where would you be living, what would you be doing, who would you surround yourself with? Imagine that you really could become who you were meant to be.

We’re Josh and Laura Meier, a married California couple who left our big law firm jobs behind to build our own successful business while raising four young kids. We’re here to cheer you on and help you build your ideal life with expert advice in career, finance, and family. We’re sharing easy steps you can take to follow your dreams like we did, and real-life success stories from our own lives and others, so you’ll know exactly how to move forward and get to where you want to be.

From turning hopes into achievable goals, to making a budget, to living your life with purpose, “listening to this inspirational couple is the next best thing to sitting down at the kitchen table with friends who can see the way ahead just a little better than you can.” You’ll love it!

Visit iflifewereperfect.com to subscribe to get our “quick-steps” in your inbox each week.

Follow Josh and Laura on Instagram @meetthemeiers. We would love to follow you back! 

Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast, and help us grow by sharing If Life Were Perfect with your friends, family, and co-workers.

Education Kids & Family
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Episodes

End-of-Year Financial Clean-Up

December 11, 2019 10:55 - 12 minutes - 11.1 MB

The end of the year is a great opportunity to take stock of our lives--the trials we've overcome and the triumphs we've enjoyed. It's also a moment to look at our family's financial health, figure out how circumstances have changed, and plan for the coming year. Join Laura on this week’s episode to learn how you can give your finances an end-of-the-year checkup and ensure that you leave bad financial habits behind. As always, please follow Josh and Laura on Instagram @meetthemeier...

5 Important Questions to Ask Beyond Planning the Holidays

December 04, 2019 10:05 - 17 minutes - 16.4 MB

Planning for the holidays requires so much coordination: Where will you spend the holidays? Who's hosting? Who else will be there? What will you be having? How can you afford it all? While many of us will take time to plan for our special celebrations with loved ones, we need to be asking these same questions of one another when it comes to planning for the bigger events in life. Join Laura on this week’s episode about asking the right questions to ensure your loved ones will alw...

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 27, 2019 08:30 - 22 seconds - 352 KB

Happy Thanksgiving from everyone at If Life Were Perfect! We're taking this week off to enjoy the time with family, but the show will be back next week with an all-new episode. Until then, enjoy the holiday!

Don't Sabotage Your Holidays; 6 Tips For a Stress-Free Celebration

November 20, 2019 10:00 - 20 minutes - 18.6 MB

Holidays can get overwhelming very quickly—where will you spend them, who will be there, what about time away from work, and how will you fund everything? In this episode, Josh and Laura share important tips you can use to make sure this holiday season is stress-free and full of cheer. Learn how to re-focus on what matters most and eliminate common problems that can steal your holiday joy. Happy holidays everyone! Visit iflifewereperfect.com to subscribe to get our “quick-steps” ...

Nailing the Job Interview: 10 Ways to Stand Out from the Crowd

November 13, 2019 10:27 - 26 minutes - 24.2 MB

Job interviews can be stressful, but with the right approach you can secure the job of your dreams and separate yourself from the pack.   In this week’s episode, we share our perspective as employers on what makes a job candidate stand out and how to handle that awkward conversation about pay. From preparation beforehand, the initial meet and greet, the interview itself, and the follow up, we’ve got you covered from beginning to end so you can nail that job interview. Follow Josh...

Healthy Competition: Your Competitor Is Not Your Enemy

November 06, 2019 11:00 - 21 minutes - 19.5 MB

Think there’s only room for one of you in your field, your school, or in your community? Unhealthy competition can very easily become toxic and keep us from growing our own talents and abilities.   Learn how a healthy view of competition can help you refocus your energy, reach new heights, and even turn your competitors into colleagues.    Plus, in this week’s mailbag segment, we talk to a young man feeling resentment over his brother’s success, and a website developer worried t...

Day Dates: The Best Escape From the Daily Grind

October 30, 2019 09:32 - 31 minutes - 28.4 MB

Isn’t it the best when you finally get some free time with your spouse and you aren’t bogged down with kids, jobs, housework and everyday life? When you remember how much you both like each other when you're not dealing with the daily grind? In this week's episode, we share how our standing day date is our free pass to enjoy life and each other. We'll tell you how a regular day date can benefit your career, your finances, and your family, some fun day date ideas, and the ground rul...

Blending Beliefs: Finding Unity Without Losing Your Core

October 23, 2019 09:02 - 25 minutes - 23 MB

Blending beliefs with someone you love can be a long, hard journey, but changing one’s perspective on those differences can lead to love and unity. In this week’s episode, we’re talking about how we had to find the common ground with each other when it came to blending different faith backgrounds, and the specific steps we took to find that path to unity. Whether you and your loved one are at odds over religion, politics, lifestyle choices, or other deeply held beliefs, learn how y...

Home Buying Made Possible: There's a Home Out There For You

October 16, 2019 16:00 - 25 minutes - 23.6 MB

Home buying in cities like NYC, DC, San Francisco, and Los Angeles can seem about as possible as climbing Mount Everest. High prices, low inventory, and cash buyers leave many of us feeling shut out and driven out. But did you know that despite these very real obstacles, there’s still a home out there meant just for you? In this week’s episode, we talk about how we had to overcome our own obstacles when buying our home here in Orange County, CA, along with our thought process and j...

The College M.U.S.T. List; College Essentials Beyond the Backpack

July 26, 2019 07:30 - 28 minutes - 25.7 MB

Turning 18 and heading off to college brings all sorts of new rules and responsibilities and we want to help you make the absolute best decisions for yourself and your future. From signing your first contract to making your own medical decisions, find out what you need to do to handle these new situations successfully and keep yourself on track. Even if college is now a distant memory for you, you’ll still want to listen in. The tips we are sharing in this episode are important for...

The Personal Benefits of Helping Others; Season Finale

June 26, 2019 13:00 - 28 minutes - 26.5 MB

Throughout this season, we’ve talked about the many ways that you can get organized and plan for success, but today in our season finale, we’re discussing how you can spread that prosperity around—and why you absolutely want to! Charity and philanthropy can reward us in so many ways: feelings of happiness and gratitude, deep personal relationships, a broader perspective on life and its many struggles—even tax breaks! We’ll share with you the personal benefits we have experienced f...

Safeguarding Your Future; Wills, Trusts & Peace of Mind

June 19, 2019 11:00 - 28 minutes - 25.9 MB

You are incredibly important and special to your loved ones. No one wants to think about getting seriously hurt or dying, but these are scenarios we must prepare for to protect ourselves, our family, and our money. We’ll show you step by step what you need to consider and how to formalize your wishes so you can have total peace of mind. We know it’s a tough subject, because we had to do this for our own family and for the families we help at our law firm. We’ll tell you all about h...

Starting a Business; One That Won’t Fail!

June 12, 2019 13:00 - 33 minutes - 30.4 MB

Starting a business may seem like an amazing dream in theory, but there’s a reason why few people do it, and do it successfully. We’ll tell you what to consider before starting a business, and specific steps you can take to build a successful, sustainable business that supports your personal life and brings you a lot of joy. When we started our business, we made all the first-time rookie mistakes that almost sunk us before we even began. We’ll tell you how we turned it around to cr...

Choosing or Changing Careers; How to Go After That Job You Really Want

June 05, 2019 13:00 - 32 minutes - 30.1 MB

How do you know that you’re in the right job or the best way to land the job you really want? No one wants to be stuck with unrewarding work, capped salaries, demanding bosses, or missing out on their kids or fun. We’ll show you simple steps you can follow to identify your ideal job and go after it, knowing it’s where you are meant to be. We had to change careers ourselves when we left our big law firm jobs behind to practice an entirely different field of law that’s more meaningfu...

Mid-Season Break

May 29, 2019 13:00 - 1 minute - 1.56 MB

"If Life Were Perfect" is off this week but we still have a Quick Step for you anyway! Laura and Josh return next Wednesday with an all-new episode on starting--or changing--your career.

Time Management; Even with a Busy Job and Carpool

May 22, 2019 13:00 - 30 minutes - 27.8 MB

Anyone else feel like calling in sick or banging their head against a wall when they think about their daily to do list? Jobs, kids, housework, traffic, plus all the other random stuff we’re supposed to be doing but can’t even get to. As law firm owners and parents of four kids, we know all about the balancing act. We’ll tell you how we went from total daily chaos, to having an awesome schedule with time for our clients, our kids, our charity work, and even each other! We’ll show y...

Making More Money; Without More Work!

May 15, 2019 13:00 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MB

How many times have we heard that all you have to do to make a ton of money is to work yourself to death and sacrifice your personal life. No thanks! We know that while most of us want money and security, we also want to enjoy our family and have some fun along the way. When we started our law firm and fell into debt, we knew we had to increase our income asap without adding more stress, hassle, and hours on top of our already long days. We’re sharing exactly what we did to increas...

Budgeting; Getting What You REALLY Want

May 08, 2019 13:00 - 27 minutes - 25.1 MB

Debt, fighting, anxiety, and shame- not being in control of your finances means not being in control of your life! And while the idea of setting up a budget may seem about as fun as going to the dentist or shutting down the party, we’ll show you why it’s the key to getting what you REALLY want and why it will give you peace and security. We had to set up our own budget after starting our business and realizing we were rapidly going broke AND constantly fighting over money. We’ll te...

Making Great Decisions; The Simple Technique for Changing Hopes into Attainable Goals

May 01, 2019 13:00 - 28 minutes - 26.4 MB

You have a lot of hopes for your future and great ideas going on in your head, so we’re going to show you a simple technique we follow, and have our clients follow, that will help you turn those hopes and great ideas into real, attainable goals. We use this simple technique all the time, like when we left our big law firm jobs to start our own business and to create a better life for our family. Laura even used it to meet Josh back in the single days! Even if you feel stuck right ...

Coming Soon: If Life Were Perfect

April 24, 2019 01:13 - 1 minute - 1.37 MB

Coming soon from married California law firm owners Laura and Josh Meier: If Life Were Perfect, a series that teaches you how to build your ideal life with expert advice on career, finances, and family.