April 21, 2025 • 45 mins
What happens when your successful business becomes physically impossible to continue? Alex Castronakis joins Matt Brooks to share his compelling journey through multiple career transitions that ultimately led him to find his professional sweet spot.
Starting with the family electronics business, Pittsfield Radio, Alex describes how his first business served as a community hub where transactions were secondary to relationships. When market forces and changing consumer habits made that business model unsustainable, he pivoted to home entertainment systems, successfully scaling the operation to high-end installations in luxury homes. But success came with a price – the physical demands destroyed his shoulders, requiring replacements and making continuation impossible.
Alex candidly discusses the psychological and financial challenges of his transitions, including periods without income and the struggle to find his authentic professional identity. His story illuminates the difference between selling products and educating clients – a distinction that ultimately led him to financial planning where his natural teaching abilities could shine. Now running Shire Wealth Management, Alex specializes in helping the small business owners whose challenges he intimately understands.
This conversation delivers powerful insights about career reinvention, including why knowing yourself is crucial before making any significant change. Alex emphasizes that commitment and resilience are non-negotiable when pivoting careers, as rejection and setbacks are inevitable parts of the journey. For anyone facing a forced career transition or considering a professional pivot, this episode offers both practical wisdom and the reassurance that multiple reinventions can lead to finding your true calling.
Ready to explore your own career transition? Visit mattbrookscoachingcom to book a free discovery session and begin charting your path forward.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Are you feeling stuck ?
Is something holding you back?
Are there obstacles in your way?
Well, let's smash through thoseobstacles so that you can live
your best life.
Hi, I'm Matt Brooks, founder ofMatt Brooks Coaching, and I'm
fascinated with how peopleovercome barriers and achieve
success.
Join me for insights,strategies and inspiring stories
(00:34):
as we explore practical tipsand powerful tools to unlock
your full potential.
This is the Barrier BustingPodcast.
Well, welcome back to theBarrier Busting Podcast.
(00:55):
This is a part of a series thatI'm doing on pivoting career
pivoting, pivoting in life ingeneral and, if you recall, if
you've been listening, if youhaven't, I did a show on
pivoting in life in general and,if you recall, if you've been
listening, if you haven't, did afew show.
I did a show on pivoting ingeneral.
I did a show on pivoting inyour 50s and ageism, and I've
had a guest on already who was aschool librarian for 20 years,
(01:16):
who's now gone into her ownsmall business.
I have a couple more guestscoming on and then in a few
weeks I'm going to have a jobrecruiter coming on for a couple
episodes.
So I think this is a prettyinteresting series and today I
have someone who's, I will admit, I've known a long time.
He's a great guy and he's beenthrough a few interesting pivots
, both with his prior businessand with his career, and I find
(01:39):
his story particularlyinteresting.
My guest today is AlexCastronakis, who is a financial
planner for LPL Financial, wherehe focuses on helping families
and small businesses pursuefinancial balance.
For 30 years, Alex owned andoperated several small
businesses, including PittsfieldRadio, Electronic Entertainment
Solutions and Superior Wireless, until he first transitioned
(02:03):
into the insurance business andthen, ultimately, financial
planning in 2016, making themove to open his own financial
planning business, Shire WealthManagement LLC, in 2022.
You can learn more about himand his business by visiting
wwwshirewealthcom.
That's S-H-I-R-E wealthcom.
(02:24):
Alex, it's so awesome to haveyou on the show.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Great to be here, Matt.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Well, I really appreciate it because I think
you have done some interestingpivoting in your life and you
didn't study how to pivot, soyou just kind of went about it
right and you figured it outvery well.
You were very successful.
So we want to pick your brain alittle bit.
Let's talk first about the 30years you were owning and
operating a business.
Tell us first about PittsfieldRadio.
(02:50):
What kind of business was it?
This is in Pittsfield,massachusetts I'm speaking of
and what kind of business was it?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, so when I went to work with my dad at
Pittsfield Radio in 1986 or 7.
It was electronics parts,distribution and some
peripherals that went along withthat.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
And it was particularly successful because
Pittsfield at the time was whereGE was right.
There was a huge business fromGE, wasn't there?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, we sold into GE and then we sold to anybody
that really fixed anything thathad to do with electronics,
which in that day and time was apretty big business as well.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I remember, I remember the TV repairman and
all that.
Now we just buy stuff and throwit out when we're done with it.
Right, that is true.
I mean, you should see, I livein New Jersey and we all have
these town dumps with recyclingcenters in them and there's this
big, enormous you know, I don'tknow what the hell it is.
It's enormous that you putelectronics in and I went down
(03:54):
there with a printer that diedand I walked in and there must
have been 300 flat-screentelevisions in there right, Yep
same in our town, and I imagineevery other one out there as
well.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
So that that was the end of a Pittsfield radio when
that age started to come up,right.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
When we started to build things that we didn't
repair right.
That was a big part of it.
And then G?
Uh downsized in the Pittsfieldarea as well.
Uh, sometime in the nineties, Ithink.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
And, um, that we took a big hit at that moment as
well.
Yeah, yeah, um.
But first let's go back to thebusiness itself, cause I
remember you really enjoyed it,right?
What was the experience ofowning your own business like
for you?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Uh, it was fun.
Um wasn't always profitable,but it was a lot of fun and a
lot of feel good moments.
Um you know, we knew all ourcustomers.
They all came in or we went andvisited with them and it was
really enjoyable.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
I remember your store was kind of a hangout right.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Oh yeah, we made I don't know how many pots of
coffee in a day.
People would just come in Backwhen smoking was legal, they'd
come in and smoke.
I inevitably changed thatbecause they were killing me,
but it was kind of like Iremember it.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
It was kind of like barbershop.
When I saw the movie barbershopI was like, oh my God, that's
Pittsfield radio right, it wasvery much barbershop.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
No one ever just came in, bought something and walked
out the door it was.
It was always a an episode, soto speak, when people came by
and it was great.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
That had to be fun, right?
Yeah, it was a blast, yeah, andyou, so you were in the store
all the time, right?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Till I first changed it.
Yes, right.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Right, okay, okay.
So at some point that's what Iwant to talk about now At some
point you see the writing on thewall for, for that type of
business, things were changingand you begin to think that your
business was becoming lessviable, right?
So what made you first startthinking this way?
And then take us through theprogression of your thinking to
the point where you decided tomake a fundamental change to
(05:58):
your business.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Sure, I mean it's probably going to sound a little
bit simple, right?
Um, sales were down, uh, waydown, and continuing to decline,
um, so you try to reach forfurther or more market share.
Uh, but that was limited aswell because it was declining
nationwide.
Um, when GE downsized, uh, Imean there was no coming back
(06:25):
from that.
The population of Pittsfieldstarted to decrease, the repair
industry was decreasing, soeverything was, I mean, really
starting to fall apart, and itbecame very apparent very
quickly, because your sales aredown.
You know, being a businessowner, you start to not have any
money as well as a result of it.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Were you freaking out at this point?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Not freaking out, Uh, but it was pretty uncomfortable
.
Um, and you know you face hardchoices, you know you do, you do
what most people do is they'rerunning out of money.
You start cutting back in thebusiness and cutting back and
this and that, and of coursecutting back still typically
leads to less sales and lowerreturn.
So we tried promoting thingswhich worked somewhat, but again
(07:14):
you're promoting, so lowerreturns.
But it was really clear thatnationwide, that industry, over
the next period of time, whetherit be five years or 10 years or
even 15 years, that business,the repair business, was going
away at the level we were at,the small electronics, the
televisions, the audio, thevideo.
(07:35):
We were in the distribution ofthe antenna business.
So people would install theantennas and at that point, you
know, cable was paramount butnot in all areas.
But then there started to bethe introduction of the
satellite dish and all theseother things and it just started
to erode pretty much everybusiness we were in.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Quite frankly, yeah, so you know, you're sitting
there and you're seeing thisright on the wall.
I mean, I'm sure you'rethinking what the fuck am I
going to do now?
Right and right, and so youknow how.
Did you talk about the processof the wheel spinning in your
brain to come up with the nextsolution, which which was a good
solution, as I recall.
(08:15):
So tell us all about that.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, it was so kind of staying with what I knew,
which was electronics, I decidedto look at a couple different
paths within that business,obviously not parts.
One of the things that alsohappened in Pittsfield was a
very well-known audio videostore.
(08:38):
That was quite large, mainlyaudio store, I should say.
He decided to call it quitswhen this downturn happened as
well.
So I saw a little opportunitythere not to beat him but to
maybe fill that void a littlebit.
So I looked at a coupledifferent things.
Two specifically I looked atfirst I actually looked at the
(09:00):
ham radio business as a wholebecause although we never sold
ham radio equipment, all theparts and pieces we sold did go
to a lot of the ham peoplebecause they built their own
equipment, they fixed their ownequipment, so on and so forth.
Um, that quickly I quickly havemany roadblocks with that, which
(09:20):
were, um, the cost ofacquisition, the minimum
ordering system and the yearlysales volume that they wanted
were astronomically high forsomebody that was really just
starting out, kind of likeyou're getting out of a flailing
business, so it's not likeyou're cash rich to just go
start something new.
(09:42):
So it didn't take long torealize that was not the space I
could occupy or our businesscould occupy.
So that was when I said, geez,you know, the audio video thing
might be kind of neat.
Um, back then it was still kindof stereo, uh, and the start of
the home theater was happening,but, uh, it was still pretty
(10:05):
simplistic back then.
So I jumped on that and I madea bunch of calls and talked to
different companies anddifferent people and looked at
different brands and that was amuch easier financial transition
for us to get going in and,almost natural Cause, again, we
sold all the people that fixedthat stuff and then we had the
(10:25):
retail people that would come in, because in the 80s and early
90s people actually did fixtheir own stuff as well.
Um, so we chose that route andwhich was let me cut you off
there to be clear.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
That was you started with stereos it was very much
stereo.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
yeah, speakers, speakers, amplifiers, cassette
decks.
Cd was out at that point.
Dvd didn't come out until yearslater.
But yeah, we sold just somecomponents and then, as you know
, that business is very liquid,so as things change, you are
changing with them.
Whether it was every yearseemed like in the beginning it
(11:02):
was every year and then itturned into every six months and
then it turned into every monthand then it turned into every
day.
But it did, it evolved veryquickly.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
That business grew kind of quickly as it evolved
out of the stereo business whenother things came down the road,
right, I gotta, I gotta justcut in because I'm going to tell
the listeners I've known Alexfor so long that he actually
gave me my first CD player.
I remember it, I'm the first CDplayer.
That was like oh shit, now Igot to throw it on my records,
(11:33):
but it was great, it was awesome.
So you moved you, you evolvedout of stereos into
entertainment systems, right,and you were selling them first.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Correct.
So the, the Berkshiresobviously became uh, I don't
recall which year it was a verypredominant second home area.
Right, and construction.
We had some really bigconstruction booms and, um, as I
was selling, you know it turnedinto, hey, can you come hook
that up?
And you know it was, yeah, youdrive over and you'd hook it up
(12:04):
or whatever.
And and it just kept growingand growing and growing.
It also was the start of whenthe home movie theater, the home
theater, really started toblossom and people started to
dedicate a room to a movietheater.
Uh, and the vcr, you jumped onthat though yeah, we were all
over it.
(12:24):
Yeah, oh, we were all over it.
Yeah, you know, it started withthe VCR at a low level and then
I can't recall which year nowthe DVD player was introduced,
somewhere in the 90s or 2000s.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
I remember walking into Pittsfield Radio one day, a
place that was kind of real oldschool.
It always felt like it was outof the 30s, you know, and you're
drinking coffee and everybody'ssmoking.
And then one day I walk in andit's completely different, looks
completely different, andthere's this massive TV screen
and like home entertainment area.
(12:54):
You really did a huge overhaul,not just the business, but how
it looked, how it seemed topeople, right.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yeah, I had to.
We had to.
You're right, it was.
You know, the building wasdirty and dingy.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah, but dirty and dingy in the best way.
I mean, come on, I love it, itwas great.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
No, for the business we were in.
It was like walking into whatwas it?
Cheers, right.
It was like walking into thebar, right.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Warm.
I mean, it was, it was, it wasa fun place.
You know, when you're whenyou're stopped selling resistors
, diodes, capacitors and tubesand now you're taking real money
from people and uh, you knowyou, yeah, you know we did the
floors, we redid the store, weput a ceiling in and instead of
the one that was 14 feet highthat was falling on you as it
(13:36):
rained and stuff and things likethat, and you know, we did the
best we could with the space wehad.
And, yeah, that business reallyevolved really year over year
over year, until it evolved intothat age old saying, there, you
know, be careful what you wishfor, because you might get it.
Which was it got?
(13:56):
It started to grow so much thatI couldn't really do it anymore
.
Um, I couldn't really do itanymore and, uh, I sustained
some injuries along that rideinstalling, cause things were
getting bigger and bigger andheavier and heavier.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
And uh, so you were doing the installs yourself too.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
I was doing it myself .
We, you know you hired peoplewhen you could.
Um was a very skilled laborfield, an unusual skilled labor,
um, and it was also skilledwith, uh, what you call a high
level of care, cause you'rewalking into homes that are
whatever a million or five or$15 million and you're you're
(14:37):
the last guy in, you're goinginto the finished home to hang
the television or put thespeakers in the ceiling or the
walls or the control panels,hang the television or put the
speakers in the ceiling or thewalls or the control panels.
So it's not a job for everybody, because not everybody
remembers to wash their handsand not everybody is neat when
they're doing things.
And you know you got a brandnew, freshly white painted wall
and then someone goes over andputs their hand and leans on it
and leaves a you know a niceblack handprint on the wall.
(14:58):
Um, so it was very detailoriented and and um, and they're
just, I don't know.
Today even, I think maybethere's more people skilled in
that field, but I still don'tthink it's robust.
Um, I think all those fields,all those blue collar uh, uh,
skilled labor fields are, aresuffering and need help every
day.
(15:18):
I mean, especially when youlook at plumbing, electrical,
all of those, those fields, um,and this is, I would say,
actually a little morespecialized.
So, yeah, so not breaking thenews here what we're talking
about but when your businessgrew and now you're having
trouble staying with it, plusyou're not feeling great and you
(15:40):
know you need some shouldersfixed and this is failing and
that's failing, and you come tothat realization like, huh, what
am I gonna do the rest of mylife?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
because probably not doing this oh yeah, I mean, I
think so you.
You suddenly, you know,basically throughout your
shoulders doing this, and I meanit was from a lifelong of you
know, you were used to do a lotof karate, other things and yeah
you know, and finally kicked inand you had to have your
shoulders replaced at a prettyyoung age, by the way.
And so you come to this verysobering moment where you've
(16:12):
pivoted your business.
It's kicking ass, but you'vegot to make a change for you
right Correct For longevitypurposes of being able to work.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Yes, there is a.
There's a serious hurdle now infront of me, because I think a
lot of people said I'll justhire five guys.
Right, I just, you know, thereweren't five guys to hire, right
, that was the issue.
Right, if I could have juststepped back and stayed
management, that would have beena great solution, but that
solution wasn't there,unfortunately wasn't there,
(16:45):
unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
So you're saying really there wasn't the people
in the workforce that you couldattract, correct, at that time,
because it was that specialized.
So, without getting into whatyou then pivoted to, because
we're going to talk about thatafter the break, I'm going to
take a quick break in a secondhere.
But you know, I'm just curiousbecause I work with people about
how to break through theirbarriers and in part of that is
(17:05):
also how to handle theirdifficulties and when they face
a rough spot, when they face anobstacle like this, you know
people handle it in variousdifferent ways.
How did you handle itpsychologically?
I mean, here you were, youpivoted this business it's
really doing well, but youphysically can't do it anymore
and you can't find people thatreally you're comfortable hiring
(17:26):
to do it.
What effect did that have on,without going too deep, what
effect did that have on you andhow did you, you know, keep
yourself going through thatperiod?
Speaker 2 (17:35):
So I it's funny, I'm going to bounce back and talk
about the original pivot as well, as this is the pivot I'm
facing right.
So I think the one I was facingwhen my body was giving me
issues and you kind of come tothis realization like, probably
can't stay in this career, atthis level anyway, um, I gotta
(18:00):
be honest with you, that wasn'thorrible for me.
Um, I, I realized that I scaledback the installation.
I stuck with the service.
Um, so I, I, you know, you're,you're leaning on the customers
you have and maintaining them,and you maintain them quite at a
higher level that way, becauseyou're omitting another portion
(18:23):
of the business.
Right, and, um, I kind ofrolled with that.
I can't remember how long,maybe a year or two, um, and it
was fine.
Uh, I missed the larger scopeof work.
But the larger scope of workgot so large I'd actually lost a
(18:43):
lot of fun in the work.
Um, you know, when you weredoing a four or $5,000 job and
you could do that maybe a day ormaybe two, that was fulfilling.
You know, you went to the house, you met the people, you blah,
blah, blah.
You just do this, you do that,you go back the next day
tutorial.
They love you, you love them.
(19:04):
You walk out the door, youshake hands.
Well, you know, the 5,000 turnedinto the 50,000, turned into
the 100,000, turned into the150,000.
And it just kept going.
And now you're talking a sixmonth project, a year project, a
two year project and, um, youknow it's, it's all at a higher
level.
And you know it's all at ahigher level and it's what
(19:26):
everybody wishes for.
And then most people probablywant it still, when they get it,
some people probably don't,because the responsibility level
and the demands justcontinuously get higher along
with it.
And when the labor pool wasn'tthere to support that, that was
(19:46):
very difficult.
The business failing yearsearlier that led me to that
career was mentally harder,because the business having no
money led to me having no money.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
So you know that can put you in some odd places.
Well, but also I I correct meif I'm wrong, but there was
something personal aboutPittsfield radio to you.
I mean it'd been in the familybut also there was.
You had a you know you reallyhad a love for that and that
business the way it was Right.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, yeah, and it was, it was.
You know my father was stillthere, obviously, but it was his
.
Yeah, yeah, and it was, it was.
You know my father was stillthere, obviously, but it was his
.
So you, you, you try topreserve it and then come to the
realization you cannot preserveit and your father, who wants
to preserve it, cause it's theonly thing he's ever known, and
you know you're trying to breakthat news to him.
And hey, by the way, you knowwe're going into another
(20:40):
business, you know because, andbut but I found that that was,
that was grueling and that wasmentally challenging.
And I don't want to say I was,you would, I would hide, but
there were far less things Icould do because of financial
(21:01):
constraints and just thebusiness failing type of thing.
So you, you know, you, I'm notgoing to say you're depressed
and hiding in a corner, but it'snot comfortable and it's very,
very difficult.
And you do take it verypersonal, even though you, I
would, you know, we were keenlyaware had nothing to do with us,
Right, it was just sheereconomics or the marketplace at
(21:23):
the time.
But you take it exceptionallypersonal when it's your business
.
Yeah, and that was a very thatwas a difficult time.
I mean no joke, I don't know.
Anybody that knows me probablydoesn't know that, because it
wasn't something I walked aroundand talked to people with and
told them, but that was a verydifficult time.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Well, I appreciate you sharing that with us because
I know it was a difficult timefor you, but I think it's
important for people tounderstand you can face those
difficult times and and pullthrough what you did pretty
quickly.
You found a really goodsolution for that business
pretty quickly and it didn't.
It didn't take off more rapidlythan a lot of businesses would.
So you know, you were able tosort of see the writing on the
(22:05):
wall, make a turn, make like aleft turn or a right turn,
whatever you want to call it andfind a solution.
Unfortunately, that solutiondidn't last forever because of
these physical problems, and weare going to talk about those
and what your next pivot wasright after this quick break.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
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(22:48):
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Visit mattbrookscoachingcom tobook your free discovery session
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Speaker 1 (23:11):
Okay, back with Alex.
So we just you revealed to usthis the challenges that you
faced in pivoting your businessand then coming to the point
where your new pivot was verysuccessful, but it was affecting
your health to the point whereyou couldn't continue.
You also were unable to find aqualified labor force to help
(23:33):
you with that business, so youhad to make a fundamental change
.
Now you had to essentially shutthat business down and do
something else.
All right, walk us through yourprocess here.
What did you?
I mean first of all, when wasit?
What was it that made yousuddenly say I got to do
something different?
Now, I mean that's a stupid wayto say it because we already
(23:56):
know what it is, but was there aspecific moment where you just
knew?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
When you go to bed at night and you roll over and
you're in tears because you'rein so much pain and you can't
sleep, and you can't sleepbecause both your shoulders are
just trashed.
Yeah, I mean no joke.
I mean I say it laughingly nowbecause I can laugh at it as I
look back.
Right, it's kind of comical,but it wasn't funny at the time,
(24:25):
was it?
Oh no, no, it was.
I mean it was excruciating.
And then to get up and go towork, at some level, you know,
you couldn't lift your handsabove the height of your arms,
above the height of yourshoulders.
And yeah, you, you know, andthat, just you, just you know.
(24:46):
For for me it was just like I'mdone.
I mean, I gotta tell you therewasn't a lot of thought.
It was like this has run itscourse.
Even if I take the year,because they both needed to be
fixed, they take a year, a yearand a half off to do it.
How can I come back andcontinue to do what led me where
I am Right?
I mean, it's not like it stops,it's, you're just going to do
it again and again, and again.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
But of course you're, you're too young to retire at
this point, so you've got to dosomething else, right?
And so what are you doing inyour brain?
You're going Holy shit, I gotto.
This is all I know.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
What am I going to do now?
Right, talk us, talk us throughthat process.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I stillfirmly believe the pivot I made.
The only one that gets it stillis me.
I don't know if anybody elsereally gets it, including my
wife and family.
I mean, they support me.
But, yeah, I had to findsomething that was no longer
(25:45):
physically physical, laborintensive, right, and?
And I looked at a few things andI had a wonderful, wonderful
friend of mine who has sincepassed.
He was actually a friend of mydad's and older than both myself
and my dad, my friend Cy, andhe just kept saying to me you
know, I want you to go see myfriend Cy.
And he just kept saying to meyou know, I want you to go see
my friend, I want you to go seemy friend.
(26:06):
And he was telling me this forlike maybe six months to a year
and I was going yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, whatever, I'm gonna
look at this and the servicething is working well for me
right now.
I don't have to kill myself andand eventually, one day, I, you
know, I had my surgeries, I hadmy shoulders fixed and, um, I
(26:29):
called Cy up and I said you knowwhat?
I want to go see your friendLike do you want to tell me what
it's about?
He goes no.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
So you had no idea at this point who the friend is
really, what the business isNothing.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
No, no, the only thing I knew is that you, sy,
was uh, a retired seniorexecutive in the insurance
business.
Okay, so you kind of know thatif it's his friend, it's
probably an associate of someform, right, but I had no, no
idea.
I mean, honestly, I got my car,I, from you know where
(27:00):
pittsfield or I don't where did.
Did I live at the time?
Um, I was living in my house,hancock, williamstown area.
You know, get my car and driveto Wellesley, mass, right, yeah,
not not a hop, skip and a jumpfrom the Berkshires here.
And and I meet, uh, this justwonderful man, um, named Dick,
(27:21):
just this amazing guy.
And to this day I don't know ifI even liked the business, but
I sure liked him and he was justsuch a such a wonderful,
wonderful guy, very similarpersonality to my friend Cy and
and very short story of that'show I ended up in the start of
(27:44):
the business I'm kind ofcurrently in, now, right, but it
still was different.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
So you went into the insurance business from that and
you did that for a while, butyou realized that something
about it wasn't a perfect fit,and I think it's.
I want to bring this up becausein my episodes on pivoting I
talked about.
You know how when you decide tomake a pivot, you decide which
direction you're going.
Don't assume that thatdirection is where you're going
to end up.
That direction, more often thannot, is a road to where you're
(28:11):
going to end up.
So as you're going down thatroad, you're going to learn more
, you're going to experiencemore and it may take you in
different directions, which iskind of what happened to you.
So you go into insurance, you'rethere for a while, but you
realize it's not quite a perfectfit.
So how did you decide totransition from that to
financial planning, which I knowis your happy place?
You finally found the sweetspot.
(28:32):
You're really happy doing it.
I want the listeners to knowthat right up front.
But how did you know?
I mean, you told me once thatit's kind of a natural
progression to go from sellinginsurance to financial planning,
but I don't think most peoplewould know that.
So what happened that made yougo.
Okay, this isn't really right.
I want to move to somethingelse.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Well, yeah, I mean quick, funny story, I guess, and
it goes back to everybody thatgot me involved.
That got me involved.
You know, cy, who saw me run anelectronics business for many
years, assumed I was a greatsales guy and clearly, dick that
(29:15):
I met hired me because Cythought I was a great sales guy.
And I take a lot of pride insaying this.
I ran that electronics businessfor I don't know how many years
.
I mean it was 30 total, but theretail side of it was probably
closer to 15, 20.
But I take a lot of pride insaying I never sold anybody
anything.
People would come in.
(29:36):
You would educate them onspeakers and quality and let
them listen to them.
Whether it was a, if it was atv, you explained to them the
differences and whatever tvsthey were looking at, and then
they would watch them and youcould make adjustments and and,
um, you know, they would make apurchase.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I, I don't sell anything to this.
No, I think back.
I think back in PittsfieldRadio.
It was the coffee and the hangthat did more to sell things
than anything else the coffee,the worst damn coffee ever too.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
But it did, it did sell.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
It was awesome.
So you discovered that sales isnot your thing.
Is that what you're saying?
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Well, I discovered that the way I sold through
education wasn't selling Right,discovered that the way I sold
through education wasn't sellingright.
Because the one thing you learnquickly when you're learning
the insurance business, um, isthat you, you actually have to
sell.
I mean, sell the product, nothard sell the product, but you
have to sell the product.
Um, not a lot of people justknock on your door and say, hey,
(30:40):
man, I need life and disabilitypolicy.
I mean, it rarely does happen.
Um, so, granted, also, I have ajob now that doesn't pay me
until you sell something Right.
So there's, there's, there's noincome.
Um, so explain that to yourwife.
Um, so, uh, and, of course,anybody that does do this, like
(31:06):
I did.
Um, clearly, no matter howgenius your idea is because we
all think we're geniuses when wemake these thought processes
and come to a conclusion that,hey, this is where I'm going
right, this is a smart move forme.
Please make sure, if you'remarried, you have your spouse's
consent to go take a job thatdoesn't pay.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
All right, we are not going there.
People, I'm sorry I'm going tokeep you off of that yeah, but I
mean, you know, it's whenyou're going to jump off make
sure you're you know.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
so you know and I knew that.
But it was through that processof you know.
You go through all yourtraining and the educational
aspects and the product aspectsand you learn everything and
you're like, hey, this is kindof cool, I get this, okay.
And then you start going totalk to people and you know
they're looking at you like, Idon't know, your ears fell off
(31:57):
or your eyes are glued in thecenter of your forehead or
something you know.
I mean it's like wow, I mean,am I that bad at this?
Or or, or what?
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I can relate.
I got the same problem.
You know I have to sell myselfas a coach, you know my coaching
business and you know I'm veryinto helping people, but sales
is not something I'm great at.
So you know, uh, I get it.
It's a challenge, it's a, it'sa different world, right.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Yeah, yeah, so, um, so, yeah, I mean in in, in the
environment I was in which I waswhat they call the captured
insurance agent, right, I wasdirectly under a major insurance
company.
Okay, Um, so in that business,you, you do start by selling
insurance, whether it's life ordisability or long-term care or
(32:44):
any of those peripheral products.
They allow you to do healthcareand stuff, even though it's not
their product, um, you know,and they want you to do that for
whatever, a few years, and thento round that process out as
you're moving forward in yourcareer.
Then you're moving forward withgetting some securities
licenses, not necessarily anadvisory license, but there's
(33:09):
different licenses as you movethrough FINRA.
If that's the path you'retaking and you know you get your
securities licenses, so maybeyou can do mutual funds and 401k
plans and things like that.
And then the next level, abovethat, of course, is moving to
the advisory license, a fee forservice, which is a little
different than the other Um anduh, and for me that made a lot
(33:36):
of sense because to me thatagain, not selling, it was
educating and people could makethe right decision Right on
track with my thing.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Sorry to interrupt, but right on track with my thing
about pivoting is you take yourexperiences and you frame them
in the broadest sense possible,like I used an example in one of
my shows of you know, if youwere in management, then you've
dealt with a lot of differentkinds of people in your life, so
you know something.
If you were in management, thenyou've dealt with a lot of
different kinds of people inyour life, so you know something
about human behavior.
So see your skills in a broaderperspective and use them in
your next pivot, which isexactly what you're talking
(34:11):
about right here.
Right, yes, yeah, yeah.
So you go into financialplanning and of course, in both
these endeavors you know it.
As you were going to go back towhat you said a minute ago, I
(34:34):
don't want to get into the howdo you tell your wife part, but
you know you're not making muchmoney and it's a long slog at
first to get it going, to getyour name out there, to bring in
clients, to have people.
I know what that long slog islike.
It's tough.
It's tough and it's hard tostay focused at times.
It's hard to keep believing inyourself because at first,
you're not getting a lot of goodfeedback good feedback being
clients showing up right.
So what did you do to keepyourself focused and also to
(34:55):
keep your spirits up during thatperiod?
Speaker 2 (34:59):
I got.
To be honest, I don't know howI did it, because there were so
many bad days.
Um, you know where you, you,you know you line up meetings
and then every meeting cancels.
Um, you have people fill outthe paperwork and you get them
approved, and then that wechanged our minds.
(35:20):
Yeah, I mean it.
It it's a, it's a gruelingbusiness, um, um and uh.
And then you have your successes, which, you know, in my case,
carried me a long way.
So, you know, when you, whenyou did the right thing and the
client got it, understood it, um, those were, those were the
(35:42):
moments.
I guess that would carry youforward through the one, two or
five or 10 bad experiences.
At least, at least you hope.
I mean, I can tell you now, I,10 or 12 years, I've been doing
this, um, and a few years back,when I was still with that major
insurer, uh, four or five yearsago, we had two or three kids
come in right out of college.
(36:03):
Uh, smart, smart kids, master'sdegree, one of them bachelor's.
Smart, smart kids, master'sdegree, one of them bachelor's,
the other one bright kids.
And, um, you know anothergeneration, they're younger,
they couldn't take the nose.
All of them left within 30 to60 days.
That's tough.
They could not understandpeople saying no to them.
(36:24):
It wasn't that they weren'tdoing a good job.
They were doing a great job,right Um.
But you know, I think the agewe're at right.
We got known a lot more.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
We have scars and thicker skin right.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Yeah, yeah, you know we ate some dirt, so, yeah, it's
really interesting.
But you know, you, just, ifyou've made the decision to do
this and you and you are ahundred percent committed cause
I think that's the minimum youneed to be committed Right, then
you're, you got to walk thewalk, right, you got to go, I
(36:58):
mean, and you've got to dowhatever you got to do to push
yourself through, um, whateveryou got to drink in the morning
or whatever you got to do beforeyou go to bed at night, and you
got to know there's going to besome dark days, I mean, I can
tell you I went six or sevenmonths without a dollar.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yeah, no, I know exactly what this is, and what
keeps me going in part is themoney I invested in it.
Do you know what I mean?
Like you say 100%, I say you'vegot to be all in, you've got to
be all in you.
You say 100%, I say you've gotto be all in, you've got to be
all in, you've got to believe.
If you don't believe, nobodyelse is going to believe, right,
and so you've got to be all in.
You've got to set yourself upto be a pro.
(37:35):
If you have to invest moremoney to do that and you can
invest the money, great, but youreally just got to.
If you're going to take therisk, take the risk 100%.
Like you said, just really gofor it.
And but it is tough, Iunderstand so, but you know the
good news is you, you made itthrough those that period and
you now have a pretty goodbusiness, right, you're very
happy.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
We have a, we have a great business.
Uh, we're out from under, uh,the major insurer.
We run our own, uh, brokerageand uh I don't want to say
brokerage, I guess brokerage andinvestment advisory firm.
And yeah, we have a lot of fun,we enjoy ourselves, our clients
(38:18):
like us, we're open, we'rehonest, we educate them, they
make the ultimate decisions.
It's very rewarding, it's veryfulfilling, it's um, it's very
rewarding, it's very fulfillingand, um, it's kind of comical
that you know now that you'renot selling insurance.
But people come in and you knowwe, we untake them and we do a
(38:39):
full financial background onthem and set them all up with
the data they provide and you gohey, man, you know you're
married, you got a house, yougot two kids.
You know what are you going todo if something bad happens?
Like, oh, you tell me I needsome life insurance.
Well, you know you're married,you got a house, you got two
kids.
You know what are you going todo if something bad happens,
like, oh, you're telling me Ineed some life insurance.
Well, you know you reallyshould consider it, so you're
doing it anyway.
Oh sure, where do I sign up?
You know, I mean now.
You know, now there's no effortbecause they're looking at you
(39:01):
in a different light.
Sure, right, I mean you're anadvisor.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
You're an advisor.
It's a big difference, salesmanand advisor, in their
psychologically, in their mind,right.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Correct, correct, and and it's, it's, it's a more.
Now it's more natural,especially for me, because I
don't, I don't want to sell youanything.
I mean, I just, I just just notmy game.
So, um, it's pretty neat and uh, we're, we're really happy.
I have a wonderful partner,corey Um, and uh, he's, he's a
(39:41):
bit younger than me butincredibly passionate for this
field and, um, we, we, we reallyenjoy ourselves here and again.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
That's wwwshirewealthcom, that's Shire
S-H-I-R-E wealthcom.
You can find more about Alexand Corey and their business by
visiting there.
I've got one last question.
We've been running a bit long,but that's cool because this is
a very interesting conversation.
First, I want to just mentionhighlight for you.
I know that, as a former smallbusiness owner, you're very
passionate about helping peoplewith small businesses, so you're
(40:07):
very passionate about advisingpeople financially with their
small businesses.
I just want to throw that plugin, because you're not just
someone who works withindividuals and families, but
you help small businesses.
Right, that is correct,excellent.
So finally, before we end today, because you've now made
several pivots, I'm wondering if, for those who are listening,
(40:28):
who are considering a pivotbecause I think the hardest
phase is the considering thepivot Do I need a pivot?
Should I pivot?
And those who are considering apivot, who need to pivot or who
have to pivot, what advice doyou have for them?
I mean, looking back, what doyou wish?
You knew then that you know now.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
So I think it's incredibly important to know
yourself and know yourself well,because, as I look back, I
never realized I wasn't good atselling.
I was good at educating peopleto motivate them to purchase
something that they chose topurchase.
That's really so.
You really need to.
(41:09):
Yeah, you need to know yourself.
Um, your commitment level anddrive to succeed, I think, have
to be exceptionally high,because it's not necessarily
smooth Uh, it could be bumpy.
So I think those are probablytwo of the things I look back at
(41:31):
and wish I had maybe realized Ithought I would be instantly
successful, um, and I wasn't.
So, uh, those are two things, Ithink, that are pretty
important.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
I think know yourself is really key because you, you
really you can't fake it.
I mean, people say, fake ittill you make it.
But I think that's a terriblesaying because I think you know,
maybe maybe you can takesomething you're skilled at and
maybe you're not a hundredpercent excellent at it yet, and
fake it a little bit.
But uh, you know, you can findyourself in a profession you
(42:05):
really just hate and isn't agood fit and you're not going to
succeed.
And even if you do succeed,you're going to be miserable.
So if you're going to make thatpivot, you really got to take
some time first to say who am I,what's my skills, what do I do,
what do I love, what do I hate.
You know I gave in my episodeon pivoting after 50, I said,
you know, when I did it I was insuch a fog the thick fog of I
(42:29):
could not figure out what thehell to do.
Nothing was working.
So I stepped back and redid it.
I said I remembered in myformer career if anybody came to
me with an idea, I'd requirethat we first sit down and come
up with criteria.
You know, not just go hey,that's a great idea, let's do it
, but let's game it out.
Let's look at what is this, notjust go hey, that's a great
idea, let's do it, but let's,let's game it out.
(42:49):
Let's look at what is this.
What's the purpose, what's itgoing to serve, what are the
long-term ramifications, what isthe downside of this?
Right?
And so I started to go why am Inot approaching my own pivot the
same way?
And so I started to make abunch of lists, and the list I
started with in my case was whatI'm absolutely not willing to
put up with ever again, you know.
So I started.
I wanted a list that said whatdo I want my day to look like,
(43:12):
my typical day?
You know, I made a whole bunchof lists in different ways, and
eventually those lists helped mefocus to where I wanted to be,
and I wanted to be a smallbusiness owner.
That's what it helped mefinally ultimately see and what
kind of small business owner Iwould be.
But I had to start with theselists, and one of them was, you
know, what do I not want to do?
(43:33):
And if you go with what youdon't want to do, that's the
first step in knowing yourselfin terms of what's going to work
going forward, you know, and soI'm really grateful that you
brought that up, alex.
This has been a great show.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Yeah, fun time.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
Thank Alex.
This has been a great show.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, fun time.
Thank you.
I hope we can get you backsometime and talk about money,
because I think we could all usesome advice about money, but in
the meantime, thank you verymuch for being with us today.
Everybody, if you've enjoyedthis, as always, please hit the
like or subscribe button so youcan get notified every time I
drop a new show.
I want to offer you all one newthing.
If you have ideas of a show ora topic that you would like me
(44:12):
to do, I want to invite you toplease write me.
Send me an email.
It's matt atmattbrookscoachingcom.
Simple, matt atmattbrookscoachingcom.
Send me an email.
If it's a great idea, I willdefinitely consider it and go
with it.
In the meantime, be well andI'll catch you next time on the
Barrier Busting Podcast.
Thank you.
Are you feeling stuck ?
Is something holding you back?
Are there obstacles in your way?
Well, let's smash through thoseobstacles so that you can live
your best life.
Hi, I'm Matt Brooks, founder ofMatt Brooks Coaching, and I'm
fascinated with how peopleovercome barriers and achieve
success.
Join me for insights,strategies and inspiring stories
(00:34):
as we explore practical tipsand powerful tools to unlock
your full potential.
This is the Barrier BustingPodcast.
Well, welcome back to theBarrier Busting Podcast.
(00:55):
This is a part of a series thatI'm doing on pivoting career
pivoting, pivoting in life ingeneral and, if you recall, if
you've been listening, if youhaven't, I did a show on
pivoting in life in general and,if you recall, if you've been
listening, if you haven't, did afew show.
I did a show on pivoting ingeneral.
I did a show on pivoting inyour 50s and ageism, and I've
had a guest on already who was aschool librarian for 20 years,
(01:16):
who's now gone into her ownsmall business.
I have a couple more guestscoming on and then in a few
weeks I'm going to have a jobrecruiter coming on for a couple
episodes.
So I think this is a prettyinteresting series and today I
have someone who's, I will admit, I've known a long time.
He's a great guy and he's beenthrough a few interesting pivots
, both with his prior businessand with his career, and I find
(01:39):
his story particularlyinteresting.
My guest today is AlexCastronakis, who is a financial
planner for LPL Financial, wherehe focuses on helping families
and small businesses pursuefinancial balance.
For 30 years, Alex owned andoperated several small
businesses, including PittsfieldRadio, Electronic Entertainment
Solutions and Superior Wireless, until he first transitioned
(02:03):
into the insurance business andthen, ultimately, financial
planning in 2016, making themove to open his own financial
planning business, Shire WealthManagement LLC, in 2022.
You can learn more about himand his business by visiting
wwwshirewealthcom.
That's S-H-I-R-E wealthcom.
(02:24):
Alex, it's so awesome to haveyou on the show.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Great to be here, Matt.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Well, I really appreciate it because I think
you have done some interestingpivoting in your life and you
didn't study how to pivot, soyou just kind of went about it
right and you figured it outvery well.
You were very successful.
So we want to pick your brain alittle bit.
Let's talk first about the 30years you were owning and
operating a business.
Tell us first about PittsfieldRadio.
(02:50):
What kind of business was it?
This is in Pittsfield,massachusetts I'm speaking of
and what kind of business was it?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, so when I went to work with my dad at
Pittsfield Radio in 1986 or 7.
It was electronics parts,distribution and some
peripherals that went along withthat.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
And it was particularly successful because
Pittsfield at the time was whereGE was right.
There was a huge business fromGE, wasn't there?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, we sold into GE and then we sold to anybody
that really fixed anything thathad to do with electronics,
which in that day and time was apretty big business as well.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I remember, I remember the TV repairman and
all that.
Now we just buy stuff and throwit out when we're done with it.
Right, that is true.
I mean, you should see, I livein New Jersey and we all have
these town dumps with recyclingcenters in them and there's this
big, enormous you know, I don'tknow what the hell it is.
It's enormous that you putelectronics in and I went down
(03:54):
there with a printer that diedand I walked in and there must
have been 300 flat-screentelevisions in there right, Yep
same in our town, and I imagineevery other one out there as
well.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
So that that was the end of a Pittsfield radio when
that age started to come up,right.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
When we started to build things that we didn't
repair right.
That was a big part of it.
And then G?
Uh downsized in the Pittsfieldarea as well.
Uh, sometime in the nineties, Ithink.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
And, um, that we took a big hit at that moment as
well.
Yeah, yeah, um.
But first let's go back to thebusiness itself, cause I
remember you really enjoyed it,right?
What was the experience ofowning your own business like
for you?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Uh, it was fun.
Um wasn't always profitable,but it was a lot of fun and a
lot of feel good moments.
Um you know, we knew all ourcustomers.
They all came in or we went andvisited with them and it was
really enjoyable.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
I remember your store was kind of a hangout right.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Oh yeah, we made I don't know how many pots of
coffee in a day.
People would just come in Backwhen smoking was legal, they'd
come in and smoke.
I inevitably changed thatbecause they were killing me,
but it was kind of like Iremember it.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
It was kind of like barbershop.
When I saw the movie barbershopI was like, oh my God, that's
Pittsfield radio right, it wasvery much barbershop.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
No one ever just came in, bought something and walked
out the door it was.
It was always a an episode, soto speak, when people came by
and it was great.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
That had to be fun, right?
Yeah, it was a blast, yeah, andyou, so you were in the store
all the time, right?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Till I first changed it.
Yes, right.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Right, okay, okay.
So at some point that's what Iwant to talk about now At some
point you see the writing on thewall for, for that type of
business, things were changingand you begin to think that your
business was becoming lessviable, right?
So what made you first startthinking this way?
And then take us through theprogression of your thinking to
the point where you decided tomake a fundamental change to
(05:58):
your business.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Sure, I mean it's probably going to sound a little
bit simple, right?
Um, sales were down, uh, waydown, and continuing to decline,
um, so you try to reach forfurther or more market share.
Uh, but that was limited aswell because it was declining
nationwide.
Um, when GE downsized, uh, Imean there was no coming back
(06:25):
from that.
The population of Pittsfieldstarted to decrease, the repair
industry was decreasing, soeverything was, I mean, really
starting to fall apart, and itbecame very apparent very
quickly, because your sales aredown.
You know, being a businessowner, you start to not have any
money as well as a result of it.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Were you freaking out at this point?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Not freaking out, Uh, but it was pretty uncomfortable
.
Um, and you know you face hardchoices, you know you do, you do
what most people do is they'rerunning out of money.
You start cutting back in thebusiness and cutting back and
this and that, and of coursecutting back still typically
leads to less sales and lowerreturn.
So we tried promoting thingswhich worked somewhat, but again
(07:14):
you're promoting, so lowerreturns.
But it was really clear thatnationwide, that industry, over
the next period of time, whetherit be five years or 10 years or
even 15 years, that business,the repair business, was going
away at the level we were at,the small electronics, the
televisions, the audio, thevideo.
(07:35):
We were in the distribution ofthe antenna business.
So people would install theantennas and at that point, you
know, cable was paramount butnot in all areas.
But then there started to bethe introduction of the
satellite dish and all theseother things and it just started
to erode pretty much everybusiness we were in.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Quite frankly, yeah, so you know, you're sitting
there and you're seeing thisright on the wall.
I mean, I'm sure you'rethinking what the fuck am I
going to do now?
Right and right, and so youknow how.
Did you talk about the processof the wheel spinning in your
brain to come up with the nextsolution, which which was a good
solution, as I recall.
(08:15):
So tell us all about that.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, it was so kind of staying with what I knew,
which was electronics, I decidedto look at a couple different
paths within that business,obviously not parts.
One of the things that alsohappened in Pittsfield was a
very well-known audio videostore.
(08:38):
That was quite large, mainlyaudio store, I should say.
He decided to call it quitswhen this downturn happened as
well.
So I saw a little opportunitythere not to beat him but to
maybe fill that void a littlebit.
So I looked at a coupledifferent things.
Two specifically I looked atfirst I actually looked at the
(09:00):
ham radio business as a wholebecause although we never sold
ham radio equipment, all theparts and pieces we sold did go
to a lot of the ham peoplebecause they built their own
equipment, they fixed their ownequipment, so on and so forth.
Um, that quickly I quickly havemany roadblocks with that, which
(09:20):
were, um, the cost ofacquisition, the minimum
ordering system and the yearlysales volume that they wanted
were astronomically high forsomebody that was really just
starting out, kind of likeyou're getting out of a flailing
business, so it's not likeyou're cash rich to just go
start something new.
(09:42):
So it didn't take long torealize that was not the space I
could occupy or our businesscould occupy.
So that was when I said, geez,you know, the audio video thing
might be kind of neat.
Um, back then it was still kindof stereo, uh, and the start of
the home theater was happening,but, uh, it was still pretty
(10:05):
simplistic back then.
So I jumped on that and I madea bunch of calls and talked to
different companies anddifferent people and looked at
different brands and that was amuch easier financial transition
for us to get going in and,almost natural Cause, again, we
sold all the people that fixedthat stuff and then we had the
(10:25):
retail people that would come in, because in the 80s and early
90s people actually did fixtheir own stuff as well.
Um, so we chose that route andwhich was let me cut you off
there to be clear.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
That was you started with stereos it was very much
stereo.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
yeah, speakers, speakers, amplifiers, cassette
decks.
Cd was out at that point.
Dvd didn't come out until yearslater.
But yeah, we sold just somecomponents and then, as you know
, that business is very liquid,so as things change, you are
changing with them.
Whether it was every yearseemed like in the beginning it
(11:02):
was every year and then itturned into every six months and
then it turned into every monthand then it turned into every
day.
But it did, it evolved veryquickly.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
That business grew kind of quickly as it evolved
out of the stereo business whenother things came down the road,
right, I gotta, I gotta justcut in because I'm going to tell
the listeners I've known Alexfor so long that he actually
gave me my first CD player.
I remember it, I'm the first CDplayer.
That was like oh shit, now Igot to throw it on my records,
(11:33):
but it was great, it was awesome.
So you moved you, you evolvedout of stereos into
entertainment systems, right,and you were selling them first.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Correct.
So the, the Berkshiresobviously became uh, I don't
recall which year it was a verypredominant second home area.
Right, and construction.
We had some really bigconstruction booms and, um, as I
was selling, you know it turnedinto, hey, can you come hook
that up?
And you know it was, yeah, youdrive over and you'd hook it up
(12:04):
or whatever.
And and it just kept growingand growing and growing.
It also was the start of whenthe home movie theater, the home
theater, really started toblossom and people started to
dedicate a room to a movietheater.
Uh, and the vcr, you jumped onthat though yeah, we were all
over it.
(12:24):
Yeah, oh, we were all over it.
Yeah, you know, it started withthe VCR at a low level and then
I can't recall which year nowthe DVD player was introduced,
somewhere in the 90s or 2000s.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
I remember walking into Pittsfield Radio one day, a
place that was kind of real oldschool.
It always felt like it was outof the 30s, you know, and you're
drinking coffee and everybody'ssmoking.
And then one day I walk in andit's completely different, looks
completely different, andthere's this massive TV screen
and like home entertainment area.
(12:54):
You really did a huge overhaul,not just the business, but how
it looked, how it seemed topeople, right.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yeah, I had to.
We had to.
You're right, it was.
You know, the building wasdirty and dingy.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah, but dirty and dingy in the best way.
I mean, come on, I love it, itwas great.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
No, for the business we were in.
It was like walking into whatwas it?
Cheers, right.
It was like walking into thebar, right.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Warm.
I mean, it was, it was, it wasa fun place.
You know, when you're whenyou're stopped selling resistors
, diodes, capacitors and tubesand now you're taking real money
from people and uh, you knowyou, yeah, you know we did the
floors, we redid the store, weput a ceiling in and instead of
the one that was 14 feet highthat was falling on you as it
(13:36):
rained and stuff and things likethat, and you know, we did the
best we could with the space wehad.
And, yeah, that business reallyevolved really year over year
over year, until it evolved intothat age old saying, there, you
know, be careful what you wishfor, because you might get it.
Which was it got?
(13:56):
It started to grow so much thatI couldn't really do it anymore
.
Um, I couldn't really do itanymore and, uh, I sustained
some injuries along that rideinstalling, cause things were
getting bigger and bigger andheavier and heavier.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
And uh, so you were doing the installs yourself too.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
I was doing it myself .
We, you know you hired peoplewhen you could.
Um was a very skilled laborfield, an unusual skilled labor,
um, and it was also skilledwith, uh, what you call a high
level of care, cause you'rewalking into homes that are
whatever a million or five or$15 million and you're you're
(14:37):
the last guy in, you're goinginto the finished home to hang
the television or put thespeakers in the ceiling or the
walls or the control panels,hang the television or put the
speakers in the ceiling or thewalls or the control panels.
So it's not a job for everybody, because not everybody
remembers to wash their handsand not everybody is neat when
they're doing things.
And you know you got a brandnew, freshly white painted wall
and then someone goes over andputs their hand and leans on it
and leaves a you know a niceblack handprint on the wall.
(14:58):
Um, so it was very detailoriented and and um, and they're
just, I don't know.
Today even, I think maybethere's more people skilled in
that field, but I still don'tthink it's robust.
Um, I think all those fields,all those blue collar uh, uh,
skilled labor fields are, aresuffering and need help every
day.
(15:18):
I mean, especially when youlook at plumbing, electrical,
all of those, those fields, um,and this is, I would say,
actually a little morespecialized.
So, yeah, so not breaking thenews here what we're talking
about but when your businessgrew and now you're having
trouble staying with it, plusyou're not feeling great and you
(15:40):
know you need some shouldersfixed and this is failing and
that's failing, and you come tothat realization like, huh, what
am I gonna do the rest of mylife?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
because probably not doing this oh yeah, I mean, I
think so you.
You suddenly, you know,basically throughout your
shoulders doing this, and I meanit was from a lifelong of you
know, you were used to do a lotof karate, other things and yeah
you know, and finally kicked inand you had to have your
shoulders replaced at a prettyyoung age, by the way.
And so you come to this verysobering moment where you've
(16:12):
pivoted your business.
It's kicking ass, but you'vegot to make a change for you
right Correct For longevitypurposes of being able to work.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Yes, there is a.
There's a serious hurdle now infront of me, because I think a
lot of people said I'll justhire five guys.
Right, I just, you know, thereweren't five guys to hire, right
, that was the issue.
Right, if I could have juststepped back and stayed
management, that would have beena great solution, but that
solution wasn't there,unfortunately wasn't there,
(16:45):
unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
So you're saying really there wasn't the people
in the workforce that you couldattract, correct, at that time,
because it was that specialized.
So, without getting into whatyou then pivoted to, because
we're going to talk about thatafter the break, I'm going to
take a quick break in a secondhere.
But you know, I'm just curiousbecause I work with people about
how to break through theirbarriers and in part of that is
(17:05):
also how to handle theirdifficulties and when they face
a rough spot, when they face anobstacle like this, you know
people handle it in variousdifferent ways.
How did you handle itpsychologically?
I mean, here you were, youpivoted this business it's
really doing well, but youphysically can't do it anymore
and you can't find people thatreally you're comfortable hiring
(17:26):
to do it.
What effect did that have on,without going too deep, what
effect did that have on you andhow did you, you know, keep
yourself going through thatperiod?
Speaker 2 (17:35):
So I it's funny, I'm going to bounce back and talk
about the original pivot as well, as this is the pivot I'm
facing right.
So I think the one I was facingwhen my body was giving me
issues and you kind of come tothis realization like, probably
can't stay in this career, atthis level anyway, um, I gotta
(18:00):
be honest with you, that wasn'thorrible for me.
Um, I, I realized that I scaledback the installation.
I stuck with the service.
Um, so I, I, you know, you're,you're leaning on the customers
you have and maintaining them,and you maintain them quite at a
higher level that way, becauseyou're omitting another portion
(18:23):
of the business.
Right, and, um, I kind ofrolled with that.
I can't remember how long,maybe a year or two, um, and it
was fine.
Uh, I missed the larger scopeof work.
But the larger scope of workgot so large I'd actually lost a
(18:43):
lot of fun in the work.
Um, you know, when you weredoing a four or $5,000 job and
you could do that maybe a day ormaybe two, that was fulfilling.
You know, you went to the house, you met the people, you blah,
blah, blah.
You just do this, you do that,you go back the next day
tutorial.
They love you, you love them.
(19:04):
You walk out the door, youshake hands.
Well, you know, the 5,000 turnedinto the 50,000, turned into
the 100,000, turned into the150,000.
And it just kept going.
And now you're talking a sixmonth project, a year project, a
two year project and, um, youknow it's, it's all at a higher
level.
And you know it's all at ahigher level and it's what
(19:26):
everybody wishes for.
And then most people probablywant it still, when they get it,
some people probably don't,because the responsibility level
and the demands justcontinuously get higher along
with it.
And when the labor pool wasn'tthere to support that, that was
(19:46):
very difficult.
The business failing yearsearlier that led me to that
career was mentally harder,because the business having no
money led to me having no money.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
So you know that can put you in some odd places.
Well, but also I I correct meif I'm wrong, but there was
something personal aboutPittsfield radio to you.
I mean it'd been in the familybut also there was.
You had a you know you reallyhad a love for that and that
business the way it was Right.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, yeah, and it was, it was.
You know my father was stillthere, obviously, but it was his
.
Yeah, yeah, and it was, it was.
You know my father was stillthere, obviously, but it was his
.
So you, you, you try topreserve it and then come to the
realization you cannot preserveit and your father, who wants
to preserve it, cause it's theonly thing he's ever known, and
you know you're trying to breakthat news to him.
And hey, by the way, you knowwe're going into another
(20:40):
business, you know because, andbut but I found that that was,
that was grueling and that wasmentally challenging.
And I don't want to say I was,you would, I would hide, but
there were far less things Icould do because of financial
(21:01):
constraints and just thebusiness failing type of thing.
So you, you know, you, I'm notgoing to say you're depressed
and hiding in a corner, but it'snot comfortable and it's very,
very difficult.
And you do take it verypersonal, even though you, I
would, you know, we were keenlyaware had nothing to do with us,
Right, it was just sheereconomics or the marketplace at
(21:23):
the time.
But you take it exceptionallypersonal when it's your business
.
Yeah, and that was a very thatwas a difficult time.
I mean no joke, I don't know.
Anybody that knows me probablydoesn't know that, because it
wasn't something I walked aroundand talked to people with and
told them, but that was a verydifficult time.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Well, I appreciate you sharing that with us because
I know it was a difficult timefor you, but I think it's
important for people tounderstand you can face those
difficult times and and pullthrough what you did pretty
quickly.
You found a really goodsolution for that business
pretty quickly and it didn't.
It didn't take off more rapidlythan a lot of businesses would.
So you know, you were able tosort of see the writing on the
(22:05):
wall, make a turn, make like aleft turn or a right turn,
whatever you want to call it andfind a solution.
Unfortunately, that solutiondidn't last forever because of
these physical problems, and weare going to talk about those
and what your next pivot wasright after this quick break.
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Speaker 1 (23:11):
Okay, back with Alex.
So we just you revealed to usthis the challenges that you
faced in pivoting your businessand then coming to the point
where your new pivot was verysuccessful, but it was affecting
your health to the point whereyou couldn't continue.
You also were unable to find aqualified labor force to help
(23:33):
you with that business, so youhad to make a fundamental change
.
Now you had to essentially shutthat business down and do
something else.
All right, walk us through yourprocess here.
What did you?
I mean first of all, when wasit?
What was it that made yousuddenly say I got to do
something different?
Now, I mean that's a stupid wayto say it because we already
(23:56):
know what it is, but was there aspecific moment where you just
knew?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
When you go to bed at night and you roll over and
you're in tears because you'rein so much pain and you can't
sleep, and you can't sleepbecause both your shoulders are
just trashed.
Yeah, I mean no joke.
I mean I say it laughingly nowbecause I can laugh at it as I
look back.
Right, it's kind of comical,but it wasn't funny at the time,
(24:25):
was it?
Oh no, no, it was.
I mean it was excruciating.
And then to get up and go towork, at some level, you know,
you couldn't lift your handsabove the height of your arms,
above the height of yourshoulders.
And yeah, you, you know, andthat, just you, just you know.
(24:46):
For for me it was just like I'mdone.
I mean, I gotta tell you therewasn't a lot of thought.
It was like this has run itscourse.
Even if I take the year,because they both needed to be
fixed, they take a year, a yearand a half off to do it.
How can I come back andcontinue to do what led me where
I am Right?
I mean, it's not like it stops,it's, you're just going to do
it again and again, and again.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
But of course you're, you're too young to retire at
this point, so you've got to dosomething else, right?
And so what are you doing inyour brain?
You're going Holy shit, I gotto.
This is all I know.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
What am I going to do now?
Right, talk us, talk us throughthat process.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I stillfirmly believe the pivot I made.
The only one that gets it stillis me.
I don't know if anybody elsereally gets it, including my
wife and family.
I mean, they support me.
But, yeah, I had to findsomething that was no longer
(25:45):
physically physical, laborintensive, right, and?
And I looked at a few things andI had a wonderful, wonderful
friend of mine who has sincepassed.
He was actually a friend of mydad's and older than both myself
and my dad, my friend Cy, andhe just kept saying to me you
know, I want you to go see myfriend Cy.
And he just kept saying to meyou know, I want you to go see
my friend, I want you to go seemy friend.
(26:06):
And he was telling me this forlike maybe six months to a year
and I was going yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, whatever, I'm gonna
look at this and the servicething is working well for me
right now.
I don't have to kill myself andand eventually, one day, I, you
know, I had my surgeries, I hadmy shoulders fixed and, um, I
(26:29):
called Cy up and I said you knowwhat?
I want to go see your friendLike do you want to tell me what
it's about?
He goes no.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
So you had no idea at this point who the friend is
really, what the business isNothing.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
No, no, the only thing I knew is that you, sy,
was uh, a retired seniorexecutive in the insurance
business.
Okay, so you kind of know thatif it's his friend, it's
probably an associate of someform, right, but I had no, no
idea.
I mean, honestly, I got my car,I, from you know where
(27:00):
pittsfield or I don't where did.
Did I live at the time?
Um, I was living in my house,hancock, williamstown area.
You know, get my car and driveto Wellesley, mass, right, yeah,
not not a hop, skip and a jumpfrom the Berkshires here.
And and I meet, uh, this justwonderful man, um, named Dick,
(27:21):
just this amazing guy.
And to this day I don't know ifI even liked the business, but
I sure liked him and he was justsuch a such a wonderful,
wonderful guy, very similarpersonality to my friend Cy and
and very short story of that'show I ended up in the start of
(27:44):
the business I'm kind ofcurrently in, now, right, but it
still was different.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
So you went into the insurance business from that and
you did that for a while, butyou realized that something
about it wasn't a perfect fit,and I think it's.
I want to bring this up becausein my episodes on pivoting I
talked about.
You know how when you decide tomake a pivot, you decide which
direction you're going.
Don't assume that thatdirection is where you're going
to end up.
That direction, more often thannot, is a road to where you're
(28:11):
going to end up.
So as you're going down thatroad, you're going to learn more
, you're going to experiencemore and it may take you in
different directions, which iskind of what happened to you.
So you go into insurance, you'rethere for a while, but you
realize it's not quite a perfectfit.
So how did you decide totransition from that to
financial planning, which I knowis your happy place?
You finally found the sweetspot.
(28:32):
You're really happy doing it.
I want the listeners to knowthat right up front.
But how did you know?
I mean, you told me once thatit's kind of a natural
progression to go from sellinginsurance to financial planning,
but I don't think most peoplewould know that.
So what happened that made yougo.
Okay, this isn't really right.
I want to move to somethingelse.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Well, yeah, I mean quick, funny story, I guess, and
it goes back to everybody thatgot me involved.
That got me involved.
You know, cy, who saw me run anelectronics business for many
years, assumed I was a greatsales guy and clearly, dick that
(29:15):
I met hired me because Cythought I was a great sales guy.
And I take a lot of pride insaying this.
I ran that electronics businessfor I don't know how many years
.
I mean it was 30 total, but theretail side of it was probably
closer to 15, 20.
But I take a lot of pride insaying I never sold anybody
anything.
People would come in.
(29:36):
You would educate them onspeakers and quality and let
them listen to them.
Whether it was a, if it was atv, you explained to them the
differences and whatever tvsthey were looking at, and then
they would watch them and youcould make adjustments and and,
um, you know, they would make apurchase.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I, I don't sell anything to this.
No, I think back.
I think back in PittsfieldRadio.
It was the coffee and the hangthat did more to sell things
than anything else the coffee,the worst damn coffee ever too.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
But it did, it did sell.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
It was awesome.
So you discovered that sales isnot your thing.
Is that what you're saying?
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Well, I discovered that the way I sold through
education wasn't selling Right,discovered that the way I sold
through education wasn't sellingright.
Because the one thing you learnquickly when you're learning
the insurance business, um, isthat you, you actually have to
sell.
I mean, sell the product, nothard sell the product, but you
have to sell the product.
Um, not a lot of people justknock on your door and say, hey,
(30:40):
man, I need life and disabilitypolicy.
I mean, it rarely does happen.
Um, so, granted, also, I have ajob now that doesn't pay me
until you sell something Right.
So there's, there's, there's noincome.
Um, so explain that to yourwife.
Um, so, uh, and, of course,anybody that does do this, like
(31:06):
I did.
Um, clearly, no matter howgenius your idea is because we
all think we're geniuses when wemake these thought processes
and come to a conclusion that,hey, this is where I'm going
right, this is a smart move forme.
Please make sure, if you'remarried, you have your spouse's
consent to go take a job thatdoesn't pay.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
All right, we are not going there.
People, I'm sorry I'm going tokeep you off of that yeah, but I
mean, you know, it's whenyou're going to jump off make
sure you're you know.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
so you know and I knew that.
But it was through that processof you know.
You go through all yourtraining and the educational
aspects and the product aspectsand you learn everything and
you're like, hey, this is kindof cool, I get this, okay.
And then you start going totalk to people and you know
they're looking at you like, Idon't know, your ears fell off
(31:57):
or your eyes are glued in thecenter of your forehead or
something you know.
I mean it's like wow, I mean,am I that bad at this?
Or or, or what?
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I can relate.
I got the same problem.
You know I have to sell myselfas a coach, you know my coaching
business and you know I'm veryinto helping people, but sales
is not something I'm great at.
So you know, uh, I get it.
It's a challenge, it's a, it'sa different world, right.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Yeah, yeah, so, um, so, yeah, I mean in in, in the
environment I was in which I waswhat they call the captured
insurance agent, right, I wasdirectly under a major insurance
company.
Okay, Um, so in that business,you, you do start by selling
insurance, whether it's life ordisability or long-term care or
(32:44):
any of those peripheral products.
They allow you to do healthcareand stuff, even though it's not
their product, um, you know,and they want you to do that for
whatever, a few years, and thento round that process out as
you're moving forward in yourcareer.
Then you're moving forward withgetting some securities
licenses, not necessarily anadvisory license, but there's
(33:09):
different licenses as you movethrough FINRA.
If that's the path you'retaking and you know you get your
securities licenses, so maybeyou can do mutual funds and 401k
plans and things like that.
And then the next level, abovethat, of course, is moving to
the advisory license, a fee forservice, which is a little
different than the other Um anduh, and for me that made a lot
(33:36):
of sense because to me thatagain, not selling, it was
educating and people could makethe right decision Right on
track with my thing.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Sorry to interrupt, but right on track with my thing
about pivoting is you take yourexperiences and you frame them
in the broadest sense possible,like I used an example in one of
my shows of you know, if youwere in management, then you've
dealt with a lot of differentkinds of people in your life, so
you know something.
If you were in management, thenyou've dealt with a lot of
different kinds of people inyour life, so you know something
about human behavior.
So see your skills in a broaderperspective and use them in
your next pivot, which isexactly what you're talking
(34:11):
about right here.
Right, yes, yeah, yeah.
So you go into financialplanning and of course, in both
these endeavors you know it.
As you were going to go back towhat you said a minute ago, I
(34:34):
don't want to get into the howdo you tell your wife part, but
you know you're not making muchmoney and it's a long slog at
first to get it going, to getyour name out there, to bring in
clients, to have people.
I know what that long slog islike.
It's tough.
It's tough and it's hard tostay focused at times.
It's hard to keep believing inyourself because at first,
you're not getting a lot of goodfeedback good feedback being
clients showing up right.
So what did you do to keepyourself focused and also to
(34:55):
keep your spirits up during thatperiod?
Speaker 2 (34:59):
I got.
To be honest, I don't know howI did it, because there were so
many bad days.
Um, you know where you, you,you know you line up meetings
and then every meeting cancels.
Um, you have people fill outthe paperwork and you get them
approved, and then that wechanged our minds.
(35:20):
Yeah, I mean it.
It it's a, it's a gruelingbusiness, um, um and uh.
And then you have your successes, which, you know, in my case,
carried me a long way.
So, you know, when you, whenyou did the right thing and the
client got it, understood it, um, those were, those were the
(35:42):
moments.
I guess that would carry youforward through the one, two or
five or 10 bad experiences.
At least, at least you hope.
I mean, I can tell you now, I,10 or 12 years, I've been doing
this, um, and a few years back,when I was still with that major
insurer, uh, four or five yearsago, we had two or three kids
come in right out of college.
(36:03):
Uh, smart, smart kids, master'sdegree, one of them bachelor's.
Smart, smart kids, master'sdegree, one of them bachelor's,
the other one bright kids.
And, um, you know anothergeneration, they're younger,
they couldn't take the nose.
All of them left within 30 to60 days.
That's tough.
They could not understandpeople saying no to them.
(36:24):
It wasn't that they weren'tdoing a good job.
They were doing a great job,right Um.
But you know, I think the agewe're at right.
We got known a lot more.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
We have scars and thicker skin right.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Yeah, yeah, you know we ate some dirt, so, yeah, it's
really interesting.
But you know, you, just, ifyou've made the decision to do
this and you and you are ahundred percent committed cause
I think that's the minimum youneed to be committed Right, then
you're, you got to walk thewalk, right, you got to go, I
(36:58):
mean, and you've got to dowhatever you got to do to push
yourself through, um, whateveryou got to drink in the morning
or whatever you got to do beforeyou go to bed at night, and you
got to know there's going to besome dark days, I mean, I can
tell you I went six or sevenmonths without a dollar.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yeah, no, I know exactly what this is, and what
keeps me going in part is themoney I invested in it.
Do you know what I mean?
Like you say 100%, I say you'vegot to be all in, you've got to
be all in you.
You say 100%, I say you've gotto be all in, you've got to be
all in, you've got to believe.
If you don't believe, nobodyelse is going to believe, right,
and so you've got to be all in.
You've got to set yourself upto be a pro.
(37:35):
If you have to invest moremoney to do that and you can
invest the money, great, but youreally just got to.
If you're going to take therisk, take the risk 100%.
Like you said, just really gofor it.
And but it is tough, Iunderstand so, but you know the
good news is you, you made itthrough those that period and
you now have a pretty goodbusiness, right, you're very
happy.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
We have a, we have a great business.
Uh, we're out from under, uh,the major insurer.
We run our own, uh, brokerageand uh I don't want to say
brokerage, I guess brokerage andinvestment advisory firm.
And yeah, we have a lot of fun,we enjoy ourselves, our clients
(38:18):
like us, we're open, we'rehonest, we educate them, they
make the ultimate decisions.
It's very rewarding, it's veryfulfilling, it's um, it's very
rewarding, it's very fulfillingand, um, it's kind of comical
that you know now that you'renot selling insurance.
But people come in and you knowwe, we untake them and we do a
(38:39):
full financial background onthem and set them all up with
the data they provide and you gohey, man, you know you're
married, you got a house, yougot two kids.
You know what are you going todo if something bad happens?
Like, oh, you tell me I needsome life insurance.
Well, you know you're married,you got a house, you got two
kids.
You know what are you going todo if something bad happens,
like, oh, you're telling me Ineed some life insurance.
Well, you know you reallyshould consider it, so you're
doing it anyway.
Oh sure, where do I sign up?
You know, I mean now.
You know, now there's no effortbecause they're looking at you
(39:01):
in a different light.
Sure, right, I mean you're anadvisor.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
You're an advisor.
It's a big difference, salesmanand advisor, in their
psychologically, in their mind,right.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Correct, correct, and and it's, it's, it's a more.
Now it's more natural,especially for me, because I
don't, I don't want to sell youanything.
I mean, I just, I just just notmy game.
So, um, it's pretty neat and uh, we're, we're really happy.
I have a wonderful partner,corey Um, and uh, he's, he's a
(39:41):
bit younger than me butincredibly passionate for this
field and, um, we, we, we reallyenjoy ourselves here and again.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
That's wwwshirewealthcom, that's Shire
S-H-I-R-E wealthcom.
You can find more about Alexand Corey and their business by
visiting there.
I've got one last question.
We've been running a bit long,but that's cool because this is
a very interesting conversation.
First, I want to just mentionhighlight for you.
I know that, as a former smallbusiness owner, you're very
passionate about helping peoplewith small businesses, so you're
(40:07):
very passionate about advisingpeople financially with their
small businesses.
I just want to throw that plugin, because you're not just
someone who works withindividuals and families, but
you help small businesses.
Right, that is correct,excellent.
So finally, before we end today, because you've now made
several pivots, I'm wondering if, for those who are listening,
(40:28):
who are considering a pivotbecause I think the hardest
phase is the considering thepivot Do I need a pivot?
Should I pivot?
And those who are considering apivot, who need to pivot or who
have to pivot, what advice doyou have for them?
I mean, looking back, what doyou wish?
You knew then that you know now.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
So I think it's incredibly important to know
yourself and know yourself well,because, as I look back, I
never realized I wasn't good atselling.
I was good at educating peopleto motivate them to purchase
something that they chose topurchase.
That's really so.
You really need to.
(41:09):
Yeah, you need to know yourself.
Um, your commitment level anddrive to succeed, I think, have
to be exceptionally high,because it's not necessarily
smooth Uh, it could be bumpy.
So I think those are probablytwo of the things I look back at
(41:31):
and wish I had maybe realized Ithought I would be instantly
successful, um, and I wasn't.
So, uh, those are two things, Ithink, that are pretty
important.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
I think know yourself is really key because you, you
really you can't fake it.
I mean, people say, fake ittill you make it.
But I think that's a terriblesaying because I think you know,
maybe maybe you can takesomething you're skilled at and
maybe you're not a hundredpercent excellent at it yet, and
fake it a little bit.
But uh, you know, you can findyourself in a profession you
(42:05):
really just hate and isn't agood fit and you're not going to
succeed.
And even if you do succeed,you're going to be miserable.
So if you're going to make thatpivot, you really got to take
some time first to say who am I,what's my skills, what do I do,
what do I love, what do I hate.
You know I gave in my episodeon pivoting after 50, I said,
you know, when I did it I was insuch a fog the thick fog of I
(42:29):
could not figure out what thehell to do.
Nothing was working.
So I stepped back and redid it.
I said I remembered in myformer career if anybody came to
me with an idea, I'd requirethat we first sit down and come
up with criteria.
You know, not just go hey,that's a great idea, let's do it
, but let's game it out.
Let's look at what is this, notjust go hey, that's a great
idea, let's do it, but let's,let's game it out.
(42:49):
Let's look at what is this.
What's the purpose, what's itgoing to serve, what are the
long-term ramifications, what isthe downside of this?
Right?
And so I started to go why am Inot approaching my own pivot the
same way?
And so I started to make abunch of lists, and the list I
started with in my case was whatI'm absolutely not willing to
put up with ever again, you know.
So I started.
I wanted a list that said whatdo I want my day to look like,
(43:12):
my typical day?
You know, I made a whole bunchof lists in different ways, and
eventually those lists helped mefocus to where I wanted to be,
and I wanted to be a smallbusiness owner.
That's what it helped mefinally ultimately see and what
kind of small business owner Iwould be.
But I had to start with theselists, and one of them was, you
know, what do I not want to do?
(43:33):
And if you go with what youdon't want to do, that's the
first step in knowing yourselfin terms of what's going to work
going forward, you know, and soI'm really grateful that you
brought that up, alex.
This has been a great show.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Yeah, fun time.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
Thank Alex.
This has been a great show.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, fun time.
Thank you.
I hope we can get you backsometime and talk about money,
because I think we could all usesome advice about money, but in
the meantime, thank you verymuch for being with us today.
Everybody, if you've enjoyedthis, as always, please hit the
like or subscribe button so youcan get notified every time I
drop a new show.
I want to offer you all one newthing.
If you have ideas of a show ora topic that you would like me
(44:12):
to do, I want to invite you toplease write me.
Send me an email.
It's matt atmattbrookscoachingcom.
Simple, matt atmattbrookscoachingcom.
Send me an email.
If it's a great idea, I willdefinitely consider it and go
with it.
In the meantime, be well andI'll catch you next time on the
Barrier Busting Podcast.
Thank you.
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