The William Hocking Podcast

If It's Meant To Be, It's Up To Me: What Money, Family, and Self-Reliance Taught Jason LaBarge

William Hocking — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 07:00:00 -0400

A financial advisor who manages nearly a billion dollars will tell you his real job has almost nothing to do with money.

William Hocking sits down with Jason LaBarge, founder of LaBarge Financial and author of If It's Meant To Be, It's Up To Me, for a back-porch conversation about money, family, and what it actually takes to build a life worth living.

Jason came to Maryland in 2013 with one wife, one kid, zero clients, and zero assets under management. Thirteen years later he has five kids and a firm managing just under a billion dollars. But the story he tells is not about the numbers. It is about his father, who led by example instead of lecturing, and his grandmother Marcella, who raised a family on Social Security after polio and a husband who died young, and who handed Jason the line that became his book title.

Bill and Jason get into the difference between green money and red money, why retirement scares people who have more than enough, what private equity is quietly doing to small businesses and communities, and why Jason chose to build something his own kids could one day walk into.

Tune in to hear a financial advisor explain why he cannot fake caring, and why he would not want to.

Chapters:

🤠 02:56 Meet Jason LaBarge: from Rapid City, South Dakota to Annapolis

📈 05:20 One wife, one kid, zero clients, and thirteen years to just under a billion

👀 08:37 The father who led by example instead of lecturing

🚲 14:18 Kicked out till dinner: growing up when the whole village raised you

💰 21:14 Green money and red money, and why the safety nets are a slow burn

🙏 25:18 Marcella, polio, and the line that became his book title

❤️ 28:15 Why you cannot fake genuinely caring, and people always know

👨‍👦 39:10 Building a firm his own kids can one day walk into

🏢 41:44 Private equity, small business, and who looks out for the community

Need Financial Advice? We Can Help. | LaBarge Financial

Connect with Bill: www.linkedin.com/in/bill-hocking-35165b
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Lessons from a Legal Lion Who Changed The System

William Hocking — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 07:00:00 -0400

Stephen Hanlon spent almost fifty years as a lawyer, with decades of experience running the largest pro-bono civil rights practice in the US. He will tell you that, in his opinion, our entire legal profession/system in the US is one of the main facilitators for mass incarceration in America.

William Hocking sits down with Stephen Hanlon, the lawyer who led a national movement to ‘fix’ the public defender ‘crisis’, for a conversation. For Stephen, going to all of this effort was, among other reasons, about doing the right thing- because it was and always is the right thing to do.

Steve learned law at his father's side in St. Louis, a man other lawyers called "a lawyer's lawyer." He ran the largest pro bono department in the country at Holland and Knight, then spent his seventies proving, state by state, how many cases is too many for one public defender to handle.

In 2012 he won a watershed case in the Missouri Supreme Court. By 2023 that work became the new national workload standards. Washington adopted them in 2025, and a new generation of public defenders is standing up and refusing to take it anymore.

Tune in to hear why Steve says a court without a real defender is not a court at all, and why, in his 80s, he is happy to sit back and watch the kids carry the fight.

🎙️ 00:06 For a podcast just like this one reach out to www.podcastsmatter.com or find more at www.podcaststhatmatter.org

⚖️ 00:34 Meet Stephen Hanlon and the line that frames his whole career

👨‍👦 05:38 Learning law at his father's side from a lawyer's lawyer in St. Louis

🏛️ 13:37 From Tampa litigation to the largest pro bono department in the country

🚔 19:00 How George Kendall pointed him toward public defense

⚖️ 22:41 The watershed 2012 Missouri case won four to three

🍸 24:13 Six guys at a bar in 1973 and the caseload numbers nobody could back up

📊 27:00 Working with RAND to build the 2023 national workload standards

🔒 33:38 Why 39 percent of the system does not belong behind bars

📚 38:45 Bill's friend Dr. Kent helped start this podcast, find him at www.talktokent.com

🔥 47:32 What he tells young public defenders just entering the fight

🪑 52:16 The three legged stool: why a court without a real defender is not legitimate

🎧 58:23 Find more podcasts that matter at www.podcaststhatmatter.org

Links:
Website: https://lawyerhanlon.com
X: https://x.com/LawyerHanlon
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawyerhanlon

Follow Stephen Hanlon's work on reshaping the nation's public defense system. After almost fifty years in the fight, he is still at it, and now he gets to watch a new generation carry it forward.

Hope in the Slums of Kolkata: Service and Resilience (feat. Connor Hocking & Shafkat Alam)

William Hocking — Wed, 20 May 2026 07:00:00 -0400

SUMMARY:
What happens when you travel across the world to serve some of the most vulnerable communities on earth? In this special episode, Bill is joined by his son, Connor Hocking, and Shafkat Alam from the incredible grass-roots non-profit, Tiljala SHED. They discuss Connor's recent week-long volunteer trip to Kolkata, India (Calcutta).
Walking the same streets where Mother Teresa built her legacy, Connor shares his experience working in the local slums, while Shafkat sheds light on the daily realities of the city's marginalized ragpicker communities. It's a powerful conversation about perspective, family, and the global call to serve others.

SUPPORT THE CAUSE:
To support the incredible work of Tiljala SHED, please consider donating to Connor's fundraising campaign : Here

SHOW NOTES & RESOURCES:
* Watch Connor's on-the-ground interviews with Tiljala SHED: [Video 1] & [Video 2]
* Read Connor's personal reflection on his trip: Here
* Dive deeper into Connor's experience with his more personal article: Here
* See the impact — MrBeast's video featuring Tiljala SHED: Here
* View Connor's photo and video journal from Kolkata: Here
* Learn more about the organization: Here
* Have questions for Connor? connorhocking1000@gmail.com

Chapters:
🌍 00:01 Meet an organization helping the poorest of the poor in Kolkata

🎙️ 00:29 For a podcast just like this one, check out www.podcastsmatter.com

👨‍💼 02:55 Why Connor took 10 days of personal leave to fly to India

🤝 10:41 No red tape: How one WhatsApp call set up the whole trip

📚 19:22 If you have a book inside of you, talk to Dr. Kent at www.talktokent.com

🏙️ 20:12 Meet Shafkat Alam and Tiljala SHED in Kolkata

🗑️ 22:48 What rag picking actually means: Children scavenging trash for three dollars a day

🔁 26:36 The vicious cycle: Loans, cheated weights, and getting locked in by the stockists

👨‍🏫 27:54 Shafkat's father: First law graduate from the slums, primary school teacher by choice

💵 29:23 The first grant from Trickle Up Foundation in New York: One hundred dollars and one condition

🎤 34:57 Make a bigger impact with your voice: Check out www.speakersthatmatter.com

👦 36:39 The 14-year-old who looked 10 and the mother who looked 40

🥋 43:00 Holistic education: Taekwondo, guitar, scouts, and water parks for slum kids

📊 50:03 By the numbers: 35,000 families reached and 22,000 children in school

💍 50:51 The average age of marriage moved from 12 to 19 in one generation

🎧 56:12 Find more podcasts that matter at www.podcaststhatmatter.org

Links:

Tiljala SHED: tished.org

Reach out to Shafkat Alam and Tiljala SHED to support thirty nine years of work pulling Kolkata's rag picker families out of poverty through education. You can donate, volunteer, or become an ambassador for the organization. Connor Hocking is also available to speak about his time on the ground in Kolkata.

If you feel moved to contribute to Tiljala SHED's efforts to empower slum communities in Kolkata, you can do so here.

Au revoir!

A Mile and a Half to School at Five: What Kids Lost When Parents Got Scared with Dave Stutzman

William Hocking — Wed, 06 May 2026 07:00:00 -0400

Bill's mom let him walk a mile and a half to school by himself at five years old. His six-year-old sister joined him a year later. No one called the police. No one called it neglect. That was 1960s Chillum, Maryland, and that was just how kids got to school.

In this episode of The William Hocking Podcast, William Hocking sits down with his closest friend of fifty-three years, Dave Stutzman, for a conversation about kids. The childhood they shared in 1960s Maryland looks nothing like childhood today, and they spend the hour trying to figure out what changed.

Bill and Dave both came up in a world where parents said, "Be home for dinner," and meant it. They get into why parents today seem so much more afraid, even though Bill's local police told him the statistics on child safety have not actually changed much in fifty years. What has changed is the fear, not the danger.

They talk about the phone as a parenting crutch and what it does to a kid who never has to figure out how to be bored. They get into the participation trophy generation and why letting a kid fall might be one of the most loving things a parent can do. And Dave, who never had kids of his own, makes the case that he still has every right to an opinion on how this generation is being raised.

Tune in to hear what two old friends from Maryland think kids today are missing and why.

Chapters:
🎙️ 01:55 For a podcast just like this one reach out to www.podcastsmatter.com

👋 02:46 Why Dave is back: this time the conversation is about kids

🚸 05:03 How not to sound like every other complaining generation

🚶 09:02 A mile and a half to school in 1960s Chillum, and the village that watched

📚 13:57 Find support for writing your impact-driven book at www.booksthatmatter.org

😨 15:40 What the local police actually told Bill about child safety

📱 23:32 The phone as a parenting crutch

📖 25:33 Bicycle, frisbee, book, kit: what a kid could do before the tablet

🌟 30:25 If you are a leader or changemaker looking for support, check out www.geniusdiscovery.org

🛡️ 32:33 Helicopter parents and the kids who never get to fall

🏆 34:43 Equal opportunity is not the same as equal outcome

🎧 43:30 Find more podcasts that matter at www.podcaststhatmatter.org

Links:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dave-stutzman-3b272116
Connect with Dave Stutzman on LinkedIn to continue this conversation.

Au revoir!

Three Friends, a Recruiting Station, and Twenty Two Years in Uniform: What Vinny Rojo Learned About the Guy Next to You

William Hocking — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 07:00:00 -0400

William Hocking sits down with his wife’s (Maria) uncle Vinny Rojo, an Air Force veteran of twenty two years, for a conversation about discipline, respect, and why the guy standing next to you might be the most important person in your life.

Vinny did not plan to enlist. He and two buddies were walking past a recruiting station at Borough Hall in Brooklyn when one of them said, let's go in and see what happens. The Air Force turned Vinny down that day. He rode along with his friend to Whitehall Street anyway, raised his right hand, and became the first of the three to serve.

He stayed in for twenty two years and came home a disabled veteran. In this episode he tells Bill what the Air Force actually taught him, not the version you read in a training manual but the real one. Why discipline is not about yelling. Why respect is something you show everyone, not just yourself. Why the guy standing next to you might be the whole point of the whole thing.

Bill grew up in the Vietnam era but never wore the uniform, and he says so. This conversation is his attempt to understand what he missed. Pull up a chair.

Tune in to hear what a lifetime of living and twenty two years in the Air Force taught Vinny Rojo about showing up for the person beside you.

Chapters:
🎙️ 00:17 For more podcasts like this, check out www.podcastsmatter.com.

👋 01:56 Meet Vinny Rojo

🇪🇸 02:55 Named after a general in Spain

✈️ 03:15 Twenty two years of service and a lot of good people

🤝 06:01 The guy next to you is the one whose life you trust

💪 09:02 You feel invincible until the service teaches you otherwise

📖 10:20 Find support for writing your impact-driven book at www.booksthatmatter.org

🙏 10:23 Respect is something you show everyone, not just yourself

🎖️ 11:05 No regrets and a family that served

🏙️ 13:11 Three friends, a recruiting station, and a walk to Whitehall Street

✌️ 15:06 Don't look down unless you drop something

Au revoir!

Two Books, a Frisbee, and Fifty Two Years: What Friendship Really Takes with Dave Stutzman

William Hocking — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 07:00:00 -0400

William Hocking and his closest friend of fifty two years, Dave Stutzman, kick off The William Hocking Podcast with a conversation about friendship and what it actually takes to keep one alive for half a century.

In this debut episode of The William Hocking Podcast, William welcomes Dave for a candid, unscripted conversation about why he thinks friendship is the whole point.

They met in August 1973 at the University of Maryland. The story involves a tie dyed shirt, a Fu Manchu mustache, and a Frisbee that nearly took Bill's head off. They have been talking almost every day since.

Fifty two years of friendship does not happen by accident. Bill and Dave get into what keeps it going and what almost broke it. They talk about why they never let a disagreement end something that took decades to build.

Tune in to hear what two guys from Maryland learned about loyalty and showing up over fifty two years of friendship.

Chapters:
🎙️ 00:17 For a podcast just like this one reach out to www.podcastsmatter.com or find more at www.podcaststhatmatter.org
👋 00:47 Meet Dave Stutzman: fifty two years and counting
🎓 03:39 Silver Spring, Laurel, and a fateful Monday at the University of Maryland
👕 07:59 Tie dyed shirt, Fu Manchu mustache, two books, and a Frisbee that almost hit Bill in the head
📚 11:56 Find support for writing your impact-driven book at www.booksthatmatter.org
💪 14:50 Why friendships take real work and why most people stop doing it
🤝 16:28 Disagreements that went too far and why they came back anyway
🌟 18:07 If you are a leader or changemaker looking for support, check out www.geniusdiscovery.org
🏛️ 19:50 Politics and friendship: knowing when to table it
😂 23:50 The NAD day: No Abuse Day and why it does not always work
🙏 25:19 Fifty two years of showing up and what comes next
🎧 28:29 Find more podcasts that matter at www.podcaststhatmatter.org

Links:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dave-stutzman-3b272116
Connect with Dave Stutzman on LinkedIn. He may not have had a class that morning in 1973, but fifty two years later he is still showing up.

Au revoir!