December 5, 2025 • 36 mins
💥 What if you could build a thriving culture—without tipping into cultish?
💥 What if family office-level planning wasn’t just for the ultra-wealthy—but for builders and business owners in your own community?
In this episode of Advisors Off Script, host Shelby Nicholl sits down with Vaughan Scott, founder of Axiom, an independent RIA based in New Albany, Indiana. Vaughan’s journey spans every corner of the advice industry—from regional broker-dealers to banks, to independence—and now, he's building something different: a firm grounded in mission, structure, and deep service.
Together, Shelby and Vaughan explore what it means to lead with intention and build a culture that empowers, not pressures. They reflect on purpose, legacy, and the moments that remind us why this work matters—including a personal story Shelby shares about her father-in-law’s end-of-life family meeting.
In this episode:
- The evolution from wirehouse to independence—and what each chapter taught Vaughn
- Why culture matters more than growth-for-growth’s-sake
- What it takes to bring true family office-level planning to Middle America
- The meaning of vocare—and how purpose shapes the firms we're building
Whether you’re building, leading, or reimagining what your next chapter could look like, this episode is a call to lead with purpose.
Learn more at MurielConsulting.com
www.murielconsulting.com
Produced by Shelby Nicholl.
Edited by Aaron Sherman.
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-roll License code: EV5ON7Y3CSESDSEU
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:31):
/ We're very muchWe value everybody's input.
It's because we created acollaborative constructive
healthy environment forour team to operate in?
It's interesting to me Somany folks wanna talk about
how great their culture is.
Most of the time when peopletalk about great cultures,
it's probably pretty bad.
I always tell people, youcan't spell the word culture
without the word cult.
(00:52):
That's well said.
I loveI like to say personality.
I like your versionof environment.
that's just better.
Like, let's notbe a cult, please.
What if you could build athriving culture without
tipping into cultish?
What if family office levelplanning wasn't just for the
ultra wealthy, but for thebuilders and the business
owners in your own community?
(01:13):
Today's guest is Vaughn Scott.
He's the founder of Axiom,an independent RIA, that is
bringing family office levelservices to middle America
We're gonna hear the lessonsof his moves, how he never
got the timing quite right,but still succeeded anyway,
and how he's creating anenvironment for others Vaughn
and I share the belief thatthis industry is more than
(01:35):
just a career or a job.
It is a Ari,It's the Latin word for
purpose, a calling, asummons to meaningful work
So with that in mind, ifyou're ready to build and serve
with purpose, let's dive inVaughn Scott, welcome
to the podcast.
I'm so thrilledto have you here.
(01:56):
Tell us a little bitabout your journey.
'cause I know you startedin the broker dealer space
first and moved to RIAlater, What's your story?
thank you so much forhaving me, Shelby.
So appreciate you and all,all that you do across the
industry and, certainly amhumbled to have the opportunity
to be a guest on your podcast.
Thank you so much.
I, I actually followedin my mother's footsteps.
So I started out at a smallsoutheast regional firm.
(02:17):
I actually went on my firstrecognition trip, as they call
'em, when I was 16 years old.
it was fascinating.
Gave me, you know, a greatintro, into the industry.
When I graduated from college,I looked pretty young.
And so, wisely, the personwho hired her suggested
I go get some real worldexperience before trying
to enter, the business.
I, I, I had so many doorsopen for me when I joined.
it was JC Bradford at the timethat she had joined originally.
(02:41):
I was fortunate to have theopportunity to work with them
and then like so many others gotsucked up into the vortex of,
consolidation in the industry.
transitioned to what wasthen the largest financial
institution in theworld because what could
possibly go wrong there?
That's was right beforethe great financial crisis.
so, you know, inter interestingtime there, transitioned
to yet another, which hada stellar reputation at the
(03:03):
time that, that the greatfinancial crisis occurred.
but as time went on, found that.
Quite honestly, they were moreconcerned about, their brand
identity and, the harm wecould potentially do the brand.
Meanwhile, they were doing farmore harm to our brand in the,
in the regional community, thanwe could ever do to their brand.
And, and it just.
became clear to me that there,there had to be a better way.
(03:24):
And thankfully, at least at thisplace, they were also open to
hearing concerns and some ofthe senior leadership there and
they said, you know, we've got anew program, we're gonna launch.
You know, a pilot programto allow teams of advisors.
So out of about 1700different teams across the
country, we were one of12 that were selected, to,
(03:44):
to get outta jail free.
And so that's how, that's howwe got to independence and,
to be where we sit today.
And today you guys sit at aas a fully independent RIA.
What, what made you make thatleap to from that independent
broker dealer channelinto the true RIA channel?
it was a, a couple of facets.
One, I, I found that, becauseI've done a lot of work with
(04:07):
family enterprises and haveactually gotten to know a
lot of folks in the, what istruly the family office space.
It's a, it's a buzzword and a,in, in many ways a marketing,
tool that's used too often.
and, and I found myselfspending enormous amounts
of time with the head ofcompliance marketing, trying
to explain that actually, I,I did have some expertise in
the area and, and no, therewasn't somebody else at the
(04:28):
firm, you know, who had, youknow, any more expertise.
and, and it just, it,that became frustrating.
And then we had differentsituations at each of the
institutions where there justare conflicts of interests that
cannot be ever be resolved.
And they're, you know.
Don't need to go on thewise or where force, but I
do believe that that it'simpossible for a very large
(04:50):
institution, you know, to, toresolve all of the conflicts
of interest that exist.
and, and we try to, you know,avoid them at all costs.
Yeah.
And when did you guys go to RIA?
We, we launched threeweeks before COVID.
So, thankfully we were inthe same space and had,
you know, we're able tomove in our technology
(05:11):
overnight because we, we'ddone it with this particular
institution's blessing and,that made a huge difference.
But, We, we did three,three weeks before COVID.
and suddenly we found that, wewere working remotely, which
thankfully we had provisionedeverybody on our team, in a way
that they could, they could workremotely, not just advisors,
which a lot of, you know, a lotof teams had done previously.
So Gosh, Vaughn, it seems like,you know, pandemics and,
(05:35):
downturns in the market.
You've got a great senseof timing for all these
transitions, right?
Well that isdefinitely memorable.
And then you guys really, whenyou, when you win RIA and you
and formed Axiom in, in totalas the RIA, your goal has
always been around this idea offamily office quality services
for the core affluent, right.
(05:55):
And the, and thecommunity that you're in.
talk about why that missionwas so important to you
and what you mean by that.
my, my wife's family actuallywas a family business, so
they went through a horrificsituation where they had
gotten all the proper financialadvice, they had gotten
the best lawyers, that theydid everything they should
do from a tax perspective.
(06:16):
But unfortunately the familywasn't really prepared
for the other realities ofthat kind of a transition.
And so it, it launched myinterest or you know, and
there's gotta be a better way.
And so thankfully I firstgot introduced to the
Family Firm Institute.
Back in the early twothousands, and then have had
(06:37):
the opportunity to be partof several other groups.
actually thankfully forFFI, I'm on their, their
40th anniversary committee.
So, it's really been a specialplace to be, but what I've found
is, is there are so many things,of course, when you're talking
about the resources that that.
Families who can eitherdevelop their own family
offices or, or who can workwith what are legitimate.
And there are very few, whatI would call truly legitimate
(06:59):
family offices in the country.
Not nearly as many as, aspromote their services as such.
but there are many thingsthat we can do that you
don't need substantialeconomic resources to do.
But there are things thatyou can do in different ways.
But also in ways thatare very meaningful.
And, and it is, we can, we canhelp create a very different
(07:20):
experience for families,even for those who don't have
family office level economicresources, but, but really have
the, the needs to really thinkvery differently, about their
family, about their businessin the community, about the
foundations that they may,you know, be a part of or want
to continue to support, orthe ones that they want to,
(07:40):
you know, endow themselves.
It's really special.
And I think, I haven'tshared this with you before,
but, we recently lost myfather-in-law and through
that process though, we hadthis really beautiful family
meeting, where we brought.
Together, the sons and thewives and and my in-laws.
And it was just such anincredible moment where we were
(08:01):
able to walk through all ofthe practical matters, right?
The passwords and the dailybills and the income coming
in, but then also all ofthe accounts, how everything
was titled, where the trustwas, all the things right.
And it was such areally beautiful moment.
And I think about familyoffice kind of quality
services as being able to.
(08:22):
Sort of manifest that forso many families and to
create that openness even.
And also some protectionin there too for families.
A a. Absolutely.
It sounds like what, you dida really great job of it.
What is, what I would referto as you, you dealt with
the transactional aspectsof, of that transition and
we talk about, successionplanning and all these
(08:43):
other, again, buzzwords.
The industry morefor sales purposes.
And at the end of the day,they're all about transitions.
And in this case, you know,having lost a loved one and
I'm so sorry that, that youhave, it sounds like you had
a really good blend of boththe transactional, how do we
deal with the basics, but alsothen the transformational.
What does it mean for us tobe a family and the future?
What do we want to do together?
(09:03):
What are the things maybewe don't wanna do together?
And so, so many of thoseconversations you have to really
have all of the nuts and boltsdown from a financial planning
and estate planning perspectiveto then those are really just
the transactional elements.
And so many people patthemselves on the back
and say, Hey, done deal.
It's, you know, that's it.
We're done.
And it's, well, what aboutthe transformational stuff?
What's gonna make a difference?
(09:24):
And let's face it, the nextgeneration of clients for us.
They don't care about thetransactional stuff, they
don't care about the moneyas much as they do the
transformational elements.
And so we really have tobe mindful as an industry
I believe in, in that, youknow, we better understand
(10:04):
that it is so much about thebalance of both because both
are critically important,And this feels, when you talk,
when you say those words,it feels like this is like,
not theoretical for you, butit's, really about helping
those neighbors, helping thosefamilies, the people that are
building those real businessesand their real legacies.
how have you structuredyour offering suite in
(10:25):
order to, to solve for them?
it takes a team, so, youknow, we, we continue to add
people to our team and, atpresent really have mostly
folks that we have broughtin and, and are mentoring.
And so, as you well know,We've got sort of a two
track approach that we're,that we're wanting to take.
We want to, we wannawork with those and we're
working very closely.
Like we have a young manthat I, I, I think, you know,
(10:47):
well, that, that hopefullyis gonna join us from,
another part of the Midwest.
And our hope for him is, ishe comes here, he works us,
us for three or four yearsand then we help him open an
office under whatever brandhe wants to open it under.
But obviously using the tools,that we have developed, with him
in, in large measure too, as.
By that time.
and then he'll have, youknow, a new opportunity
(11:07):
back in his hometown.
simultaneously we wannafind people who are in
other markets like ours.
I'm sit as I'm sitting here.
It is, that is reallythe background from
our conference room.
you know, we sit, if I turn,turn this around to 180 degrees,
that's the river, pointingto Louisville, Kentucky.
And so we sit in a smallcommunity, new Albany, Indiana,
as I always say, the thrivingmetropolis of New Albany,
Indiana, to those who, you know,I, I I have the opportunity to,
(11:29):
to interact with from, from.
Many major metros but I findthere are a lot of advisors like
us, and so we'd love to findpartners in other communities
like ours who feel like they,they, they don't have the
opportunities or they needsome additional resources, and
that their communities likeours have lost capacity in the
consolidation of the industry.
(11:50):
And that we need to bringcapacity back to the
communities that we want tocontinue to live and, and
love our, our families in.
Yeah, and I think in so many ofthose small communities, right?
I, I came out for,for a long time.
I had about a decade at theEdward Jones Home Office.
So a lot of those communitiesare served by an Edward
Jones office, but thosefolks can't go quite.
(12:11):
uh, far enough in terms oftax advice and planning,
estate, conversations,those kinds of things.
How do you see what you'reable to provide to clients
in that area as, as differentthan what, you know, maybe
an an Edward Jones advisormight be able to today Yeah.
And, andand they're doing a fine job.
Yeah, great, great firm.
They've done, I mean, I, I givea lot of credit to that firm in
(12:32):
terms of really being the firstto approach markets like ours.
I, I, I think generallywhat, what I see that's
different about the way wewant to approach things.
And don't get me wrong, there,there are others who are
probably doing it just as well.
I would.
Believe strongly that it,we'd be hard pressed to find
people who are doing it better.
Is that, that we really do takea more systematized approach
(12:55):
to how we work with clients.
So it feels very personalto them, but simultaneously
behind the scenes we'redigitalizing our business
in, in ways that many firms.
At, at, at some level.
Can't yet.
They will, they'll get thereeventually, but it's just, it's
much harder as when you havea larger firm, the systems,
just can't turn on a dime.
(13:16):
But we also want to makesure that we're focused on
providing each advisor onour team, or each team that
we're supporting, or eachpartner that we're supporting,
you know, in other markets.
We want to make sure that theyhave the tools that they need
to be successful, and that we'reoptimizing the time that they're
spending in front of clients andprospects, and simultaneously
(13:37):
systematize in the way that wegive really high quality advice.
And we even have a group, of ourteam that meets, that do more
of the, the planning work andthe, and the, the, the client.
Meeting work per se.
Obviously incredibly gratefulfor the people who do so
much of the preparationwork for those meetings.
But, but we really talkabout, you know, how
(13:59):
do we make this better?
How do we systematize thisand, and we don't want
to compromise the, theexperience for the client.
We don't want them to feellike, constrained by our systems
and, we're somewhat robotic,which is the way a lot of
people in the industry want tobe very natural, organic, but
simultaneously really bring abetter experience and candidly,
better quality advice becausewe're working collectively as
(14:20):
a team and we have access to,to other experts and other,
professionals that, that we workclosely with in our community.
I love that and I think thatsystematizing is really how
we scale and we know thatwith, you know, succession and
such looming on the horizonthat that advisors in the
future and given the low.
Number that are enteringthe industry are probably
(14:41):
gonna have to serve moreclients than they used to.
So that systematizingis something that'll
just continue to fuel anindividual advisor's growth.
Yeah.
And, and ironically I wrote,during, during COVID I, we,
we started and, and we didresearch on, on an article
for venture capital, the,the actual academic journal
and, and co-authored it with,with some folks that one
was in Europe and one washappened to be in, in the
(15:03):
Middle East and Saudi Arabia.
and we did it on the importanceof digitalization, you
know, in terms of ensuringsmall businesses thrive.
And it, it's fascinatingto me today as we sit
here, I mean, it's, it'san enormous opportunity.
I'm more excited than I probablyhave been in my entire time
in the industry because theability to digitalize is here
(15:24):
and at the same time, fewpeople really understand it.
I've also, thankfully.
Because I was bored, youknow, in corporate America.
I, I launched a couplecloud-based ventures, you know,
previously, so have a muchbetter understanding and again,
much better access to expertsin, in those areas as well.
and it just creates a, aunique environment and,
and again, we can't do itwithout the team that we
(15:46):
have here, and who are gonnahelp us realize the vision.
Oh, that's great.
And you have sucha learning mindset.
You're constantly, I think,like pushing into some new
topic and learning all the time,and I'm sure that filters down
to everybody on your staff.
Like that's probablya core thing that you
all want in someone.
we are, I mean, we're verymuch about being a team.
We value everybody's input.
(16:07):
one of the newest members ofour team actually is introducing
a, a, a software tool thatwe're likely to adopt, and
it really wa it's becausewe created a collaborative.
Constructive environment.
it, it's interesting tome 'cause it's so many, so
many folks wanna talk abouthow great their culture is.
Most of the time when peopletalk about great cultures,
they really don't have 'em.
In fact, it'sprobably pretty bad.
(16:27):
we're really focused on dowe have a healthy environment
for our team to operate in?
those are the things thatwe're gonna think about and
think differently about.
rather than just trying to,different carbon copies or
you know, different versionsof what other firms are.
Yeah, I, I appreciate thatyou also kind of like change
it to say we wanna providethat healthy environment.
We wanna have thatcollaborative environment.
(16:48):
And I always tell people,you can't spell the word
culture without the word cult.
And so I like to say.
That's well said.
I loveI like to say personality.
I like your verversion of environment.
I think.
I think that's just better.
Like, let's notbe a cult, please.
Yep.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Well, you ta you touched justa moment ago on, the Venture
(17:11):
Capital MA Magazine articleand how that was really
aimed at business owners.
Can we talk for alittle bit about.
How does your kind of familyoffice for Middle America,
kind of the, the family officelike services and offering
suite that you're offering,how does that model kind of set
you up with business owners?
'cause I think that's been a,a core focus of your client set
(17:33):
I would bet 60 to70% of our clients.
Came from, or were referredby either part of a family
referred by a family.
We team members of afamily business, you
know, that we served.
but, but it's, it's, it'squite a large number.
overall and, and.
Part of what, thankfully I'vebeen able to develop and, and
(17:54):
yes, technically I own theintellectual property around it,
but, but have been able to get,you know, trademarks and, and
copyrights, you know, there'san enormous amount of content.
you know, anybody that visitsour website can see, there's
just at least a graphicillustration of what we call
next chapter, planning, which,which really focuses on.
A number of different facets.
There are actuallynine elements.
I won't spend time goingthrough all nine of 'em, but,
(18:15):
but the first five, you know,what I call the fundamental
five, are just critical.
It's trust, relationships,responsibility,
Responsibility is binary.
It's both financial and social,and especially this generation,
they really do care as much,if not more about the social
responsibility as they do Thefinancial responsibility, but at
(18:38):
the same time, we as financialadvisors know better than anyone
that you know because of thefinancial foundation, if the
financial foundation does notremain strong for the family.
Then they're not going to havethe same number of choices.
So it can't be one atthe expense of the other.
It has to be, you know, asymbiotic relationship, that
(18:58):
continues to grow and thrive.
but being able to havethose conversations,
know, is really important.
So, so again, trust,relationships, responsibility,
the binary, socialand financial time.
And then health.
And then health, I reallydeveloped it, this, this whole
process around, working withfamilies in transition of
(19:18):
leadership ownership or both.
What's interesting is, is thatthose themes actually apply,
whether it's a business oran individual, and as I just
described earlier, peoplesay, well, what's health
got to do with the business?
Well.
A, it's the health, yes,financially the business,
but also is it a healthyenvironment for team members?
Do they want to be there?
And we all know we can gointo any business and you can
(19:39):
tell the difference of whetheryou've got an engaged team or
you've got a team that reallywould rather not be there.
It it, it's very obvious today.
I like it that you mentionedthat word of transition too.
'cause there's so much justtransition in life and that's a,
that's a big part of, adultingwhen we're younger, you know,
I'm in very much this likesandwich generation time, right?
Parents are gettingolder, but we still
(19:59):
have young kids at home.
I also have a grandchildnow, which is crazy to me.
but he's, he's thebest thing ever.
we just like to havebabies all the time.
in the nickel family.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, they're plentyold enough to have
babies, so it's wonderful.
But we still have a6-year-old also in the house.
so and what you're describingthough, Shelby is a great, I
mean, it's emblematic of the,of the world that we live in.
(20:22):
And guess what?
It's also gonna be emblematic ofthe teams that we work within.
I mean, it's really,I mean, you're talking
about this transition.
Was it your father-in-law thatyou lost, you know, here you
lost the father-in-law, butnow you also have a grandchild.
And so these are exactlythe things that we're
all wrestling with, and.
We as financial advisors,obviously we, we want to make
(20:42):
sure that we're preparingpeople financially for their
futures, but once that's prettyunderstood, because let's
face it, unless there is astrong financial foundation,
people don't have the luxuryof thinking about other things
Fortunately, we also tend as anindustry to have the opportunity
to work with those who dohave a lot more resources.
but if we as advisors arenot also creating different
(21:05):
kinds of conversations andfinding ways to help our
current clients engage us inconversations with the next
generation of their families andtheir friends, then you know,
we're gonna really struggleto be relevant into the future
And I think about that,you know, just all of these
multi-generations that you'reserving, those family businesses
that you're serving in that way.
(21:27):
one of the things I think that,that you and I have talked
about before is this idea ofbuilding a hundred year firm.
And I can remember even when Iwas at Edward Jones, they were
coming up on their a hundredyear anniversary and I would be
like, I want this firm to lastfor another a hundred years.
Right?
My family lives a reallylong time, and at that
point I thought I wouldretire from there.
I didn't, I've gone onto form this, Now I think
(21:47):
about, okay, how do I createthis as a durable business?
What does that look like?
Am I creating ahundred year firm?
I don't know if I am yet ornot, but that's something
in your business with thesemulti-generations of families
that you're serving thatis so important to you.
You're really playingfor that long game.
you're creating this reallywonderful environment, but
then what kind of advisorsand partners are you hoping to
(22:09):
attract so that it can continueto grow and and become that
a hundred year durable firm?
Especially in the Midwest.
No disrespect to the, tothe people on the coast,
but especially in theMidwest, there are a lot
of communities like ours.
And our hope is, again, wedon't want to come in and
subjugate people to what, youknow, what our intentions are.
And, we all get calls every day.
You know, I wanna be in themarket, you know, it's, we
(22:31):
wanna partner with peoplethat are in the market, so
we'd rather find a partner.
You know, obviously we'rewilling to put our money
where our mouth is andmake an investment in
their community with them.
where we'll be able to bringsome very unique services that
have not so much to do with,bringing new business to us
directly, but more about howcan we help ensure that team
members in the communitiesthat we operate in, and,
(22:54):
other folks, essential serviceworkers, you know, how can we
help support these folks inthe community, which are so
critical to these communities.
At a time when if you sit in amuch larger, metro like Chicago,
New York, Boston, Phoenix,Austin, San Francisco, even
Minneapolis, you know, theseare what I call money centers
(23:15):
in the US where, much of theprivate equity, much of the
incredible amounts of wealthtend to migrate, especially
as they come in and, you know.
Buy businesses or, orportfolio companies that are
coming and buy businessesout of these communities if
we're not thinking about howwe can work together, in a
strong partnership with otherfolks that are in similar
(23:38):
communities like this.
I think there's a lotthat can be done thanks to
technology, never has therebeen an opportunity for us to
compete in, in ways that wecouldn't have possibly before.
and again, that's, that's whatmakes me excited is finding
people in communities likeours who say, you know what?
I share your value of wantingto serve the community.
You know, I grew up here too.
know, I want my kidsto grow up here.
I want my grandkids to behere, and there are, there
(23:59):
just, there I think are somany good people probably
sitting places already that,you know, again, all we, all we
want to do is help, help thembetter serve their community.
and if they wanna keeptheir own brand, great,
we're happy to do that.
They wanna leverage our brand.
Great.
Otherwise, you know, we wantto have, provide 'em with the
tools, resources, and if needed,the capital to, to really grow.
(24:20):
that's wonderful.
And I think back to thevery beginning of the
conversation we talked about.
At these communities streacross and how there was sort
of an absence of service right?
Outside of maybe a coupleof firms like Edward
Jones or some others.
There's been this absenceof service to so many of
these communities, they'velost that access to capital.
I can remember doing somework on community banks and
(24:41):
there's a lot of statisticsthat if you lose your bank,
if you lose that local bankin your area, the wealth just.
really evaporates too, right?
It's just anotherpiece in that puzzle.
And so what you're sayingis, Hey, smaller community
folks, let's band together.
Let's support one another,use each other as resources
and operate and bringthe same level of quality
(25:03):
and service, et cetera.
That major money center areascan have, and you can have
greater impact that way.
I remember, you know, the two,'cause they're no longer here.
JC Bradford, as I mentionedearlier, and then Hilliard Lyons
was right across the river.
And I mean, when I think aboutthose two, especially in the
greater Louisville area, Imean there, there are so many
good people that worked at eachone or both of those firms.
(25:26):
Who still stay in touch, and,and what was interesting and
what I understood about both ofthem was, is that unfortunately,
while they were really greatabout service and, and they
really got, you know, clientfirst, we need to really focus
on the team otherwise, and makesure there, there was a lot of
nepotism, you know, and, thatdidn't always serve people well.
And so, you know, we certainly,we certainly embrace the fact
(25:47):
that we'd love for familiesto work, you know, with us.
at the same time, wewanna make sure we've
got excellent competence.
you know, as we grow, obviouslythere'll be lots of different
opportunities, but at thesame time, it's critical to
me that, that, that we havethe competence and we have
really talented people, thereto help support the growth.
as, as we grow in, ineach community that, that
we come to partner in.
(26:08):
it's interesting you mentionedthat, that sort of dichotomy
or that that challenge really,because so many wealth practices
are family businesses too.
That's right.
and so you're, you're sayinglike what we've, what you're
experiencing or what youdid at those firms or what
they experienced, and thenwhat you wanna build in the
future is, you know, you,maybe you do want it to be
(26:30):
a family business, but youalso want it to be a business
for everybody who's there.
Yeah.
I've spoken around theworld on different, around
specifically the next chapterplanning, methodology.
But, but also I've been partof and even led, different
graduate programs and, and,U of L's, college of Business
here, regionally, and I'vebeen talking about for probably
(26:52):
10 years, this transitionthat's happening just, just
globally and that we're leavingthe era of what I call the
institution, you know, wherewe rely on one institution to
do so many things, and thinkof, I mean, you think about
the huge brands in our lives,apple as a, for instance.
I mean, you know, all thedifferent ways that Microsoft,
you know, all the different waysthat they reach into our lives.
Same is true of these of, of thefirms in our, in our industry.
(27:15):
You, there's just beenenormous consolidation.
But what's happening now andwhat I believe will continue
to occur is that there isa significant transition
to, to the era of what Iwould call federations.
How are we gonna partneraligned strategically,
partner, maybe it's an informalpartnership or a collaboration.
(27:35):
But because nobody's gonnabring down the behemoths.
You know, they're, they'regonna be behemoths in different
way, but at the same time,there are gonna be pieces and
elements, and I firmly believein the collective that there's,
there's a lot more opportunity.
I mean, I've been speakingabout this for probably five
years before I met merchant.
you know, our, our permanentequity partner, And just, it's,
that's exactly what they built.
(27:56):
They built an incredibleecosystem already.
and, and that's really, youknow, you know, probably some
people who may view this, asyou would know, Shelby would
say, how can this guy in NewAlbany, Indiana say he is got
money to bring, you know, bring,you know, to help, to help.
You know, thankfully we havea great permanent equity
partner who really is livingin, in a shiny example of what
the federation model can andshould look like and they're
(28:19):
doing at an incredible scale.
Yeah, it's interesting thefederation model because I was
just talking to somebody thisweek and they were thinking
about standing up theirown RIA, but they also know
that they are going to need.
next gen advisortraining, right?
Eventually their kids mightwanna enter the business and
how are they gonna train 'em up?
Right?
And the firm that they'rewith offers that today.
(28:41):
So they're like,oh, should I stay?
But I really wanna go RIA.
How's this gonna work?
Well, that kind of federatedmodel is how, I guess,
how we solve for that.
That's, that's exactly right.
And, and you know, at, at asignificant scale, merchant
merchants doing exactly that.
So Yeah, because theyhave, what is it now?
It's 120 ish practices.
and we, we were partner firm, Ithink number 17, if, if memory
(29:03):
My goodness, thatwas very early.
Yeah.
You jumped on thewe're early adopters.
What, what can we say?
And, and, you know, so thrilled.
I mean, just, youknow, incredible
people, top to bottom.
And, I mean, it's, we'reprivileged to be a part of
their, part of their teamand, and, really value
all that they bring to us.
I think there is such aninteresting model in terms of
(29:24):
merchant being able to providethat capital, being able to
provide just some top-notchtalent at the very top that
then is able to be filtered downto all of those practices that
they're influencing and have in.
And sort of their model.
So super interesting.
So, Vaughn, this has beena wonderful conversation.
I really appreciate you beinghere and on the podcast.
(29:45):
As you probably know, wealways love to end with
just a few little quick hitkind of questions for you.
so let's do a, aquick lightning round.
what is one thing that you wishyou knew earlier as a founder?
I, I, I'll say I, I've foundedit in other businesses and
other industries, which, whichalso gave me a lot of insights,
(30:05):
I would say in this industry.
I, I completely underestimatedthe heroic efforts it
takes and, and the teamthat you have to assemble.
to truly run and operate anindependent RIA properly, I
totally underestimated it.
Interesting.
What is like one of thoseteam members, that has just
proven to be truly critical?
(30:26):
Is it like your chiefcompliance officer?
Is it.
well, comply.
I mean, always comp youhave to start with comply.
I mean, you, you just, and,and not in the ways that a
lot of the, the other placesthat she'll remain nameless,
like to beat us aroundthe head and neck with it.
but, but it's really, itprotects everybody, you
know, protects the clients,protects the reputation of
the firm, but it needs to be,you know, common sensical.
(30:47):
So that one, that oneis, is really, but, but
it's really just the.
It's, it's not just one, it'sthe number of roles somebody's
gotta do the compliance.
Somebody also has todeal with the tech stack.
Somebody else has gotta dealwith, you know, there, there, it
just, the list goes on and on.
And oh, by the way, areyou monitoring, you know,
proper, you know, employmentregulations and every.
(31:07):
Every communitythat you operate in.
And then when you havesomebody work remotely, but
technically they spend moretime in Colorado than they do in
Kentucky, you know, you bettermake sure that you know, it,
it, the list goes on and on.
So it truly takes a, a,a much bigger team, than
than I ever anticipated.
I was naive to thinkyou could outsource and
it would all work out.
You know, after goingthrough our first exam with
(31:30):
an outsource CCO, you know,I'm now the CCO and I, and I
won't make that mistake again.
It just, it won't happen.
I mean, it, it, it's very,very, it, it, there's so
much more to it and so manymore challenges than, than,
Yeah.
any, anybody really realizes.
I appreciate that comment.
I think that's a really,insightful comment.
It's one that peoplereally do struggle with,
(31:52):
especially in those firstfew years and getting their
legs under them, so I canappreciate that very much.
Alright, another kind oflightning round question is,
what is one underrated tool orresource that helps you lead
Yeah, I will take Blinkist.
Blinkist the app, Blinkist theapp, you know, so many leaders
like, have you read this book?
Have you read that book?
(32:12):
Have you read this book?
Have you read that book?
You know, and then they,everybody gets excited and they
wanna, okay, well they told meI need to read this book and
then I gotta read that book.
Well, Blinkist and, and again,thankfully knowing, especially
in the family office, familyenterprise space, knowing many
authors of books that have.
Gain prominence globally.
There, there's a recipearound how books are written.
Well, Blinkist essentially, youknow, is cracked the code on.
(32:34):
It's the old Cliff notes.
For those of uswho remember Cliff sure.
in 10 or 15 minutes,you can listen to a
book chapter by chapter.
Or you can read itchapter by chapter.
Either way now some get upto 20 minutes, but, and,
and there are so many, justabout the time that a book
really gains popularity,it's available on Blinkist.
And so it's, it's a greattool I've found so that people
(32:58):
can invest in a single drivethat can learn what would
normally have taken 'em aweek or two weeks sometimes.
To read a book by the timeyou're balancing, you know,
family and, and friends andyou know, all the other things
that, that go along with it.
And so it's, a fantastic tool.
And then I'll send, membersof our team blanks, which,
you know, you just send alink to the, to the new book.
And, and it's, and in OneDrivethey get, they get to, and
(33:21):
then we can talk about it.
Ah, that's, that's fantastic.
I will have to usethat 'cause I have.
Constantly a big stack of booksthat I haven't quite gotten to.
and I am doing some audiobooks, but yeah, that's
almost like a podcast andyou get the whole book.
That's fantastic.
Alright.
What's one guiding principle asyou build a hundred year firm?
Great question by the way.
(33:41):
love, love that question.
and it's interesting 'causeI think it also points to
the difference in what most.
Firms, most firms thatare recruiting other
advisors and teams rightnow are doing, they're
really focused on growth.
Like their whole focusis around growth.
And eventually that's gonnaresult in some kind of an exit.
Or they're, you know, we'regonna get higher, multiple, you
know, that's the sales pitch.
I'm a firm believer in thatwe have to focus on retention.
(34:05):
How do we retain our clients?
And most importantly, especiallynow, how do we ensure that we
build meaningful relationshipswith the next generation?
And so.
It's if you're going tobuild a hundred year firm,
you better be focused onretention, not growth.
Yeah.
Super interesting.
grow.
You'll grow throughthat process.
As well and much more.
(34:26):
More of it will beorganic, but I'm even more
excited about probablyseven, 10 years from now.
because when you play thelong game, those are the
things you look forward towhen the overwhelming majority
of folks have advisorsthat were chosen for them
that they didn't choose.
And I like our odds whenwe get to that phase.
Absolutely.
Vaughn, thank you so much.
(34:47):
You shared your story, thestrategy, the heart behind
kind of what you're building.
What's one way our, kind ofour last question of the day,
what's one way that you areliving an off script life today?
That's it.
You know, interestinglyenough, I, I surprised my
daughter and, and my wife.
My daughter got married, in May.
And, I've never sung,in public before.
(35:09):
So I did two songswith a band, and, and.
I think it surprised a lotof people, in the process.
what's interesting is, is, andagain, this is next generation,
like the older generations arelike, wow, you sung two songs.
The younger generation, they'relike, dude, you stage dived
off the stage at the end ofthe, I mean, that was epic.
I mean, you know, they'rejust, you know, that's
what they couldn't believe.
(35:29):
And so, since I'm a bandmember now, riffing on that, as
they would say, I, I actuallyordered a guitar recently
and so I'm gonna start, I'mgonna take up guitar and,
spend a little bit of time,learning how to do that.
Oh, I love it.
Oh, that's so fantastic.
Well, that is it for today'sepisode of Advisors Off Script.
Vaughn, thank you somuch for being here.
Thank you so much forhaving me, Shelby.
I really appreciate it.
(35:49):
Appreciate you and,excited, excited about
the future for all of us.
And so for our listeners,if this conversation sparked
something in you, if you'releading a firm advising a
family, looking for a missionwith meaning, Check out Axiom.
Share our podcast with acolleague, and stay tuned.
This isn't just a podcast.
We got some really nice.
Playbook examples today, SoVaughn, thank you so much
/ We're very muchWe value everybody's input.
It's because we created acollaborative constructive
healthy environment forour team to operate in?
It's interesting to me Somany folks wanna talk about
how great their culture is.
Most of the time when peopletalk about great cultures,
it's probably pretty bad.
I always tell people, youcan't spell the word culture
without the word cult.
(00:52):
That's well said.
I loveI like to say personality.
I like your versionof environment.
that's just better.
Like, let's notbe a cult, please.
What if you could build athriving culture without
tipping into cultish?
What if family office levelplanning wasn't just for the
ultra wealthy, but for thebuilders and the business
owners in your own community?
(01:13):
Today's guest is Vaughn Scott.
He's the founder of Axiom,an independent RIA, that is
bringing family office levelservices to middle America
We're gonna hear the lessonsof his moves, how he never
got the timing quite right,but still succeeded anyway,
and how he's creating anenvironment for others Vaughn
and I share the belief thatthis industry is more than
(01:35):
just a career or a job.
It is a Ari,It's the Latin word for
purpose, a calling, asummons to meaningful work
So with that in mind, ifyou're ready to build and serve
with purpose, let's dive inVaughn Scott, welcome
to the podcast.
I'm so thrilledto have you here.
(01:56):
Tell us a little bitabout your journey.
'cause I know you startedin the broker dealer space
first and moved to RIAlater, What's your story?
thank you so much forhaving me, Shelby.
So appreciate you and all,all that you do across the
industry and, certainly amhumbled to have the opportunity
to be a guest on your podcast.
Thank you so much.
I, I actually followedin my mother's footsteps.
So I started out at a smallsoutheast regional firm.
(02:17):
I actually went on my firstrecognition trip, as they call
'em, when I was 16 years old.
it was fascinating.
Gave me, you know, a greatintro, into the industry.
When I graduated from college,I looked pretty young.
And so, wisely, the personwho hired her suggested
I go get some real worldexperience before trying
to enter, the business.
I, I, I had so many doorsopen for me when I joined.
it was JC Bradford at the timethat she had joined originally.
(02:41):
I was fortunate to have theopportunity to work with them
and then like so many others gotsucked up into the vortex of,
consolidation in the industry.
transitioned to what wasthen the largest financial
institution in theworld because what could
possibly go wrong there?
That's was right beforethe great financial crisis.
so, you know, inter interestingtime there, transitioned
to yet another, which hada stellar reputation at the
(03:03):
time that, that the greatfinancial crisis occurred.
but as time went on, found that.
Quite honestly, they were moreconcerned about, their brand
identity and, the harm wecould potentially do the brand.
Meanwhile, they were doing farmore harm to our brand in the,
in the regional community, thanwe could ever do to their brand.
And, and it just.
became clear to me that there,there had to be a better way.
(03:24):
And thankfully, at least at thisplace, they were also open to
hearing concerns and some ofthe senior leadership there and
they said, you know, we've got anew program, we're gonna launch.
You know, a pilot programto allow teams of advisors.
So out of about 1700different teams across the
country, we were one of12 that were selected, to,
(03:44):
to get outta jail free.
And so that's how, that's howwe got to independence and,
to be where we sit today.
And today you guys sit at aas a fully independent RIA.
What, what made you make thatleap to from that independent
broker dealer channelinto the true RIA channel?
it was a, a couple of facets.
One, I, I found that, becauseI've done a lot of work with
(04:07):
family enterprises and haveactually gotten to know a
lot of folks in the, what istruly the family office space.
It's a, it's a buzzword and a,in, in many ways a marketing,
tool that's used too often.
and, and I found myselfspending enormous amounts
of time with the head ofcompliance marketing, trying
to explain that actually, I,I did have some expertise in
the area and, and no, therewasn't somebody else at the
(04:28):
firm, you know, who had, youknow, any more expertise.
and, and it just, it,that became frustrating.
And then we had differentsituations at each of the
institutions where there justare conflicts of interests that
cannot be ever be resolved.
And they're, you know.
Don't need to go on thewise or where force, but I
do believe that that it'simpossible for a very large
(04:50):
institution, you know, to, toresolve all of the conflicts
of interest that exist.
and, and we try to, you know,avoid them at all costs.
Yeah.
And when did you guys go to RIA?
We, we launched threeweeks before COVID.
So, thankfully we were inthe same space and had,
you know, we're able tomove in our technology
(05:11):
overnight because we, we'ddone it with this particular
institution's blessing and,that made a huge difference.
But, We, we did three,three weeks before COVID.
and suddenly we found that, wewere working remotely, which
thankfully we had provisionedeverybody on our team, in a way
that they could, they could workremotely, not just advisors,
which a lot of, you know, a lotof teams had done previously.
So Gosh, Vaughn, it seems like,you know, pandemics and,
(05:35):
downturns in the market.
You've got a great senseof timing for all these
transitions, right?
Well that isdefinitely memorable.
And then you guys really, whenyou, when you win RIA and you
and formed Axiom in, in totalas the RIA, your goal has
always been around this idea offamily office quality services
for the core affluent, right.
(05:55):
And the, and thecommunity that you're in.
talk about why that missionwas so important to you
and what you mean by that.
my, my wife's family actuallywas a family business, so
they went through a horrificsituation where they had
gotten all the proper financialadvice, they had gotten
the best lawyers, that theydid everything they should
do from a tax perspective.
(06:16):
But unfortunately the familywasn't really prepared
for the other realities ofthat kind of a transition.
And so it, it launched myinterest or you know, and
there's gotta be a better way.
And so thankfully I firstgot introduced to the
Family Firm Institute.
Back in the early twothousands, and then have had
(06:37):
the opportunity to be partof several other groups.
actually thankfully forFFI, I'm on their, their
40th anniversary committee.
So, it's really been a specialplace to be, but what I've found
is, is there are so many things,of course, when you're talking
about the resources that that.
Families who can eitherdevelop their own family
offices or, or who can workwith what are legitimate.
And there are very few, whatI would call truly legitimate
(06:59):
family offices in the country.
Not nearly as many as, aspromote their services as such.
but there are many thingsthat we can do that you
don't need substantialeconomic resources to do.
But there are things thatyou can do in different ways.
But also in ways thatare very meaningful.
And, and it is, we can, we canhelp create a very different
(07:20):
experience for families,even for those who don't have
family office level economicresources, but, but really have
the, the needs to really thinkvery differently, about their
family, about their businessin the community, about the
foundations that they may,you know, be a part of or want
to continue to support, orthe ones that they want to,
(07:40):
you know, endow themselves.
It's really special.
And I think, I haven'tshared this with you before,
but, we recently lost myfather-in-law and through
that process though, we hadthis really beautiful family
meeting, where we brought.
Together, the sons and thewives and and my in-laws.
And it was just such anincredible moment where we were
(08:01):
able to walk through all ofthe practical matters, right?
The passwords and the dailybills and the income coming
in, but then also all ofthe accounts, how everything
was titled, where the trustwas, all the things right.
And it was such areally beautiful moment.
And I think about familyoffice kind of quality
services as being able to.
(08:22):
Sort of manifest that forso many families and to
create that openness even.
And also some protectionin there too for families.
A a. Absolutely.
It sounds like what, you dida really great job of it.
What is, what I would referto as you, you dealt with
the transactional aspectsof, of that transition and
we talk about, successionplanning and all these
(08:43):
other, again, buzzwords.
The industry morefor sales purposes.
And at the end of the day,they're all about transitions.
And in this case, you know,having lost a loved one and
I'm so sorry that, that youhave, it sounds like you had
a really good blend of boththe transactional, how do we
deal with the basics, but alsothen the transformational.
What does it mean for us tobe a family and the future?
What do we want to do together?
(09:03):
What are the things maybewe don't wanna do together?
And so, so many of thoseconversations you have to really
have all of the nuts and boltsdown from a financial planning
and estate planning perspectiveto then those are really just
the transactional elements.
And so many people patthemselves on the back
and say, Hey, done deal.
It's, you know, that's it.
We're done.
And it's, well, what aboutthe transformational stuff?
What's gonna make a difference?
(09:24):
And let's face it, the nextgeneration of clients for us.
They don't care about thetransactional stuff, they
don't care about the moneyas much as they do the
transformational elements.
And so we really have tobe mindful as an industry
I believe in, in that, youknow, we better understand
(10:04):
that it is so much about thebalance of both because both
are critically important,And this feels, when you talk,
when you say those words,it feels like this is like,
not theoretical for you, butit's, really about helping
those neighbors, helping thosefamilies, the people that are
building those real businessesand their real legacies.
how have you structuredyour offering suite in
(10:25):
order to, to solve for them?
it takes a team, so, youknow, we, we continue to add
people to our team and, atpresent really have mostly
folks that we have broughtin and, and are mentoring.
And so, as you well know,We've got sort of a two
track approach that we're,that we're wanting to take.
We want to, we wannawork with those and we're
working very closely.
Like we have a young manthat I, I, I think, you know,
(10:47):
well, that, that hopefullyis gonna join us from,
another part of the Midwest.
And our hope for him is, ishe comes here, he works us,
us for three or four yearsand then we help him open an
office under whatever brandhe wants to open it under.
But obviously using the tools,that we have developed, with him
in, in large measure too, as.
By that time.
and then he'll have, youknow, a new opportunity
(11:07):
back in his hometown.
simultaneously we wannafind people who are in
other markets like ours.
I'm sit as I'm sitting here.
It is, that is reallythe background from
our conference room.
you know, we sit, if I turn,turn this around to 180 degrees,
that's the river, pointingto Louisville, Kentucky.
And so we sit in a smallcommunity, new Albany, Indiana,
as I always say, the thrivingmetropolis of New Albany,
Indiana, to those who, you know,I, I I have the opportunity to,
(11:29):
to interact with from, from.
Many major metros but I findthere are a lot of advisors like
us, and so we'd love to findpartners in other communities
like ours who feel like they,they, they don't have the
opportunities or they needsome additional resources, and
that their communities likeours have lost capacity in the
consolidation of the industry.
(11:50):
And that we need to bringcapacity back to the
communities that we want tocontinue to live and, and
love our, our families in.
Yeah, and I think in so many ofthose small communities, right?
I, I came out for,for a long time.
I had about a decade at theEdward Jones Home Office.
So a lot of those communitiesare served by an Edward
Jones office, but thosefolks can't go quite.
(12:11):
uh, far enough in terms oftax advice and planning,
estate, conversations,those kinds of things.
How do you see what you'reable to provide to clients
in that area as, as differentthan what, you know, maybe
an an Edward Jones advisormight be able to today Yeah.
And, andand they're doing a fine job.
Yeah, great, great firm.
They've done, I mean, I, I givea lot of credit to that firm in
(12:32):
terms of really being the firstto approach markets like ours.
I, I, I think generallywhat, what I see that's
different about the way wewant to approach things.
And don't get me wrong, there,there are others who are
probably doing it just as well.
I would.
Believe strongly that it,we'd be hard pressed to find
people who are doing it better.
Is that, that we really do takea more systematized approach
(12:55):
to how we work with clients.
So it feels very personalto them, but simultaneously
behind the scenes we'redigitalizing our business
in, in ways that many firms.
At, at, at some level.
Can't yet.
They will, they'll get thereeventually, but it's just, it's
much harder as when you havea larger firm, the systems,
just can't turn on a dime.
(13:16):
But we also want to makesure that we're focused on
providing each advisor onour team, or each team that
we're supporting, or eachpartner that we're supporting,
you know, in other markets.
We want to make sure that theyhave the tools that they need
to be successful, and that we'reoptimizing the time that they're
spending in front of clients andprospects, and simultaneously
(13:37):
systematize in the way that wegive really high quality advice.
And we even have a group, of ourteam that meets, that do more
of the, the planning work andthe, and the, the, the client.
Meeting work per se.
Obviously incredibly gratefulfor the people who do so
much of the preparationwork for those meetings.
But, but we really talkabout, you know, how
(13:59):
do we make this better?
How do we systematize thisand, and we don't want
to compromise the, theexperience for the client.
We don't want them to feellike, constrained by our systems
and, we're somewhat robotic,which is the way a lot of
people in the industry want tobe very natural, organic, but
simultaneously really bring abetter experience and candidly,
better quality advice becausewe're working collectively as
(14:20):
a team and we have access to,to other experts and other,
professionals that, that we workclosely with in our community.
I love that and I think thatsystematizing is really how
we scale and we know thatwith, you know, succession and
such looming on the horizonthat that advisors in the
future and given the low.
Number that are enteringthe industry are probably
(14:41):
gonna have to serve moreclients than they used to.
So that systematizingis something that'll
just continue to fuel anindividual advisor's growth.
Yeah.
And, and ironically I wrote,during, during COVID I, we,
we started and, and we didresearch on, on an article
for venture capital, the,the actual academic journal
and, and co-authored it with,with some folks that one
was in Europe and one washappened to be in, in the
(15:03):
Middle East and Saudi Arabia.
and we did it on the importanceof digitalization, you
know, in terms of ensuringsmall businesses thrive.
And it, it's fascinatingto me today as we sit
here, I mean, it's, it'san enormous opportunity.
I'm more excited than I probablyhave been in my entire time
in the industry because theability to digitalize is here
(15:24):
and at the same time, fewpeople really understand it.
I've also, thankfully.
Because I was bored, youknow, in corporate America.
I, I launched a couplecloud-based ventures, you know,
previously, so have a muchbetter understanding and again,
much better access to expertsin, in those areas as well.
and it just creates a, aunique environment and,
and again, we can't do itwithout the team that we
(15:46):
have here, and who are gonnahelp us realize the vision.
Oh, that's great.
And you have sucha learning mindset.
You're constantly, I think,like pushing into some new
topic and learning all the time,and I'm sure that filters down
to everybody on your staff.
Like that's probablya core thing that you
all want in someone.
we are, I mean, we're verymuch about being a team.
We value everybody's input.
(16:07):
one of the newest members ofour team actually is introducing
a, a, a software tool thatwe're likely to adopt, and
it really wa it's becausewe created a collaborative.
Constructive environment.
it, it's interesting tome 'cause it's so many, so
many folks wanna talk abouthow great their culture is.
Most of the time when peopletalk about great cultures,
they really don't have 'em.
In fact, it'sprobably pretty bad.
(16:27):
we're really focused on dowe have a healthy environment
for our team to operate in?
those are the things thatwe're gonna think about and
think differently about.
rather than just trying to,different carbon copies or
you know, different versionsof what other firms are.
Yeah, I, I appreciate thatyou also kind of like change
it to say we wanna providethat healthy environment.
We wanna have thatcollaborative environment.
(16:48):
And I always tell people,you can't spell the word
culture without the word cult.
And so I like to say.
That's well said.
I loveI like to say personality.
I like your verversion of environment.
I think.
I think that's just better.
Like, let's notbe a cult, please.
Yep.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Well, you ta you touched justa moment ago on, the Venture
(17:11):
Capital MA Magazine articleand how that was really
aimed at business owners.
Can we talk for alittle bit about.
How does your kind of familyoffice for Middle America,
kind of the, the family officelike services and offering
suite that you're offering,how does that model kind of set
you up with business owners?
'cause I think that's been a,a core focus of your client set
(17:33):
I would bet 60 to70% of our clients.
Came from, or were referredby either part of a family
referred by a family.
We team members of afamily business, you
know, that we served.
but, but it's, it's, it'squite a large number.
overall and, and.
Part of what, thankfully I'vebeen able to develop and, and
(17:54):
yes, technically I own theintellectual property around it,
but, but have been able to get,you know, trademarks and, and
copyrights, you know, there'san enormous amount of content.
you know, anybody that visitsour website can see, there's
just at least a graphicillustration of what we call
next chapter, planning, which,which really focuses on.
A number of different facets.
There are actuallynine elements.
I won't spend time goingthrough all nine of 'em, but,
(18:15):
but the first five, you know,what I call the fundamental
five, are just critical.
It's trust, relationships,responsibility,
Responsibility is binary.
It's both financial and social,and especially this generation,
they really do care as much,if not more about the social
responsibility as they do Thefinancial responsibility, but at
(18:38):
the same time, we as financialadvisors know better than anyone
that you know because of thefinancial foundation, if the
financial foundation does notremain strong for the family.
Then they're not going to havethe same number of choices.
So it can't be one atthe expense of the other.
It has to be, you know, asymbiotic relationship, that
(18:58):
continues to grow and thrive.
but being able to havethose conversations,
know, is really important.
So, so again, trust,relationships, responsibility,
the binary, socialand financial time.
And then health.
And then health, I reallydeveloped it, this, this whole
process around, working withfamilies in transition of
(19:18):
leadership ownership or both.
What's interesting is, is thatthose themes actually apply,
whether it's a business oran individual, and as I just
described earlier, peoplesay, well, what's health
got to do with the business?
Well.
A, it's the health, yes,financially the business,
but also is it a healthyenvironment for team members?
Do they want to be there?
And we all know we can gointo any business and you can
(19:39):
tell the difference of whetheryou've got an engaged team or
you've got a team that reallywould rather not be there.
It it, it's very obvious today.
I like it that you mentionedthat word of transition too.
'cause there's so much justtransition in life and that's a,
that's a big part of, adultingwhen we're younger, you know,
I'm in very much this likesandwich generation time, right?
Parents are gettingolder, but we still
(19:59):
have young kids at home.
I also have a grandchildnow, which is crazy to me.
but he's, he's thebest thing ever.
we just like to havebabies all the time.
in the nickel family.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, they're plentyold enough to have
babies, so it's wonderful.
But we still have a6-year-old also in the house.
so and what you're describingthough, Shelby is a great, I
mean, it's emblematic of the,of the world that we live in.
(20:22):
And guess what?
It's also gonna be emblematic ofthe teams that we work within.
I mean, it's really,I mean, you're talking
about this transition.
Was it your father-in-law thatyou lost, you know, here you
lost the father-in-law, butnow you also have a grandchild.
And so these are exactlythe things that we're
all wrestling with, and.
We as financial advisors,obviously we, we want to make
(20:42):
sure that we're preparingpeople financially for their
futures, but once that's prettyunderstood, because let's
face it, unless there is astrong financial foundation,
people don't have the luxuryof thinking about other things
Fortunately, we also tend as anindustry to have the opportunity
to work with those who dohave a lot more resources.
but if we as advisors arenot also creating different
(21:05):
kinds of conversations andfinding ways to help our
current clients engage us inconversations with the next
generation of their families andtheir friends, then you know,
we're gonna really struggleto be relevant into the future
And I think about that,you know, just all of these
multi-generations that you'reserving, those family businesses
that you're serving in that way.
(21:27):
one of the things I think that,that you and I have talked
about before is this idea ofbuilding a hundred year firm.
And I can remember even when Iwas at Edward Jones, they were
coming up on their a hundredyear anniversary and I would be
like, I want this firm to lastfor another a hundred years.
Right?
My family lives a reallylong time, and at that
point I thought I wouldretire from there.
I didn't, I've gone onto form this, Now I think
(21:47):
about, okay, how do I createthis as a durable business?
What does that look like?
Am I creating ahundred year firm?
I don't know if I am yet ornot, but that's something
in your business with thesemulti-generations of families
that you're serving thatis so important to you.
You're really playingfor that long game.
you're creating this reallywonderful environment, but
then what kind of advisorsand partners are you hoping to
(22:09):
attract so that it can continueto grow and and become that
a hundred year durable firm?
Especially in the Midwest.
No disrespect to the, tothe people on the coast,
but especially in theMidwest, there are a lot
of communities like ours.
And our hope is, again, wedon't want to come in and
subjugate people to what, youknow, what our intentions are.
And, we all get calls every day.
You know, I wanna be in themarket, you know, it's, we
(22:31):
wanna partner with peoplethat are in the market, so
we'd rather find a partner.
You know, obviously we'rewilling to put our money
where our mouth is andmake an investment in
their community with them.
where we'll be able to bringsome very unique services that
have not so much to do with,bringing new business to us
directly, but more about howcan we help ensure that team
members in the communitiesthat we operate in, and,
(22:54):
other folks, essential serviceworkers, you know, how can we
help support these folks inthe community, which are so
critical to these communities.
At a time when if you sit in amuch larger, metro like Chicago,
New York, Boston, Phoenix,Austin, San Francisco, even
Minneapolis, you know, theseare what I call money centers
(23:15):
in the US where, much of theprivate equity, much of the
incredible amounts of wealthtend to migrate, especially
as they come in and, you know.
Buy businesses or, orportfolio companies that are
coming and buy businessesout of these communities if
we're not thinking about howwe can work together, in a
strong partnership with otherfolks that are in similar
(23:38):
communities like this.
I think there's a lotthat can be done thanks to
technology, never has therebeen an opportunity for us to
compete in, in ways that wecouldn't have possibly before.
and again, that's, that's whatmakes me excited is finding
people in communities likeours who say, you know what?
I share your value of wantingto serve the community.
You know, I grew up here too.
know, I want my kidsto grow up here.
I want my grandkids to behere, and there are, there
(23:59):
just, there I think are somany good people probably
sitting places already that,you know, again, all we, all we
want to do is help, help thembetter serve their community.
and if they wanna keeptheir own brand, great,
we're happy to do that.
They wanna leverage our brand.
Great.
Otherwise, you know, we wantto have, provide 'em with the
tools, resources, and if needed,the capital to, to really grow.
(24:20):
that's wonderful.
And I think back to thevery beginning of the
conversation we talked about.
At these communities streacross and how there was sort
of an absence of service right?
Outside of maybe a coupleof firms like Edward
Jones or some others.
There's been this absenceof service to so many of
these communities, they'velost that access to capital.
I can remember doing somework on community banks and
(24:41):
there's a lot of statisticsthat if you lose your bank,
if you lose that local bankin your area, the wealth just.
really evaporates too, right?
It's just anotherpiece in that puzzle.
And so what you're sayingis, Hey, smaller community
folks, let's band together.
Let's support one another,use each other as resources
and operate and bringthe same level of quality
(25:03):
and service, et cetera.
That major money center areascan have, and you can have
greater impact that way.
I remember, you know, the two,'cause they're no longer here.
JC Bradford, as I mentionedearlier, and then Hilliard Lyons
was right across the river.
And I mean, when I think aboutthose two, especially in the
greater Louisville area, Imean there, there are so many
good people that worked at eachone or both of those firms.
(25:26):
Who still stay in touch, and,and what was interesting and
what I understood about both ofthem was, is that unfortunately,
while they were really greatabout service and, and they
really got, you know, clientfirst, we need to really focus
on the team otherwise, and makesure there, there was a lot of
nepotism, you know, and, thatdidn't always serve people well.
And so, you know, we certainly,we certainly embrace the fact
(25:47):
that we'd love for familiesto work, you know, with us.
at the same time, wewanna make sure we've
got excellent competence.
you know, as we grow, obviouslythere'll be lots of different
opportunities, but at thesame time, it's critical to
me that, that, that we havethe competence and we have
really talented people, thereto help support the growth.
as, as we grow in, ineach community that, that
we come to partner in.
(26:08):
it's interesting you mentionedthat, that sort of dichotomy
or that that challenge really,because so many wealth practices
are family businesses too.
That's right.
and so you're, you're sayinglike what we've, what you're
experiencing or what youdid at those firms or what
they experienced, and thenwhat you wanna build in the
future is, you know, you,maybe you do want it to be
(26:30):
a family business, but youalso want it to be a business
for everybody who's there.
Yeah.
I've spoken around theworld on different, around
specifically the next chapterplanning, methodology.
But, but also I've been partof and even led, different
graduate programs and, and,U of L's, college of Business
here, regionally, and I'vebeen talking about for probably
(26:52):
10 years, this transitionthat's happening just, just
globally and that we're leavingthe era of what I call the
institution, you know, wherewe rely on one institution to
do so many things, and thinkof, I mean, you think about
the huge brands in our lives,apple as a, for instance.
I mean, you know, all thedifferent ways that Microsoft,
you know, all the different waysthat they reach into our lives.
Same is true of these of, of thefirms in our, in our industry.
(27:15):
You, there's just beenenormous consolidation.
But what's happening now andwhat I believe will continue
to occur is that there isa significant transition
to, to the era of what Iwould call federations.
How are we gonna partneraligned strategically,
partner, maybe it's an informalpartnership or a collaboration.
(27:35):
But because nobody's gonnabring down the behemoths.
You know, they're, they'regonna be behemoths in different
way, but at the same time,there are gonna be pieces and
elements, and I firmly believein the collective that there's,
there's a lot more opportunity.
I mean, I've been speakingabout this for probably five
years before I met merchant.
you know, our, our permanentequity partner, And just, it's,
that's exactly what they built.
(27:56):
They built an incredibleecosystem already.
and, and that's really, youknow, you know, probably some
people who may view this, asyou would know, Shelby would
say, how can this guy in NewAlbany, Indiana say he is got
money to bring, you know, bring,you know, to help, to help.
You know, thankfully we havea great permanent equity
partner who really is livingin, in a shiny example of what
the federation model can andshould look like and they're
(28:19):
doing at an incredible scale.
Yeah, it's interesting thefederation model because I was
just talking to somebody thisweek and they were thinking
about standing up theirown RIA, but they also know
that they are going to need.
next gen advisortraining, right?
Eventually their kids mightwanna enter the business and
how are they gonna train 'em up?
Right?
And the firm that they'rewith offers that today.
(28:41):
So they're like,oh, should I stay?
But I really wanna go RIA.
How's this gonna work?
Well, that kind of federatedmodel is how, I guess,
how we solve for that.
That's, that's exactly right.
And, and you know, at, at asignificant scale, merchant
merchants doing exactly that.
So Yeah, because theyhave, what is it now?
It's 120 ish practices.
and we, we were partner firm, Ithink number 17, if, if memory
(29:03):
My goodness, thatwas very early.
Yeah.
You jumped on thewe're early adopters.
What, what can we say?
And, and, you know, so thrilled.
I mean, just, youknow, incredible
people, top to bottom.
And, I mean, it's, we'reprivileged to be a part of
their, part of their teamand, and, really value
all that they bring to us.
I think there is such aninteresting model in terms of
(29:24):
merchant being able to providethat capital, being able to
provide just some top-notchtalent at the very top that
then is able to be filtered downto all of those practices that
they're influencing and have in.
And sort of their model.
So super interesting.
So, Vaughn, this has beena wonderful conversation.
I really appreciate you beinghere and on the podcast.
(29:45):
As you probably know, wealways love to end with
just a few little quick hitkind of questions for you.
so let's do a, aquick lightning round.
what is one thing that you wishyou knew earlier as a founder?
I, I, I'll say I, I've foundedit in other businesses and
other industries, which, whichalso gave me a lot of insights,
(30:05):
I would say in this industry.
I, I completely underestimatedthe heroic efforts it
takes and, and the teamthat you have to assemble.
to truly run and operate anindependent RIA properly, I
totally underestimated it.
Interesting.
What is like one of thoseteam members, that has just
proven to be truly critical?
(30:26):
Is it like your chiefcompliance officer?
Is it.
well, comply.
I mean, always comp youhave to start with comply.
I mean, you, you just, and,and not in the ways that a
lot of the, the other placesthat she'll remain nameless,
like to beat us aroundthe head and neck with it.
but, but it's really, itprotects everybody, you
know, protects the clients,protects the reputation of
the firm, but it needs to be,you know, common sensical.
(30:47):
So that one, that oneis, is really, but, but
it's really just the.
It's, it's not just one, it'sthe number of roles somebody's
gotta do the compliance.
Somebody also has todeal with the tech stack.
Somebody else has gotta dealwith, you know, there, there, it
just, the list goes on and on.
And oh, by the way, areyou monitoring, you know,
proper, you know, employmentregulations and every.
(31:07):
Every communitythat you operate in.
And then when you havesomebody work remotely, but
technically they spend moretime in Colorado than they do in
Kentucky, you know, you bettermake sure that you know, it,
it, the list goes on and on.
So it truly takes a, a,a much bigger team, than
than I ever anticipated.
I was naive to thinkyou could outsource and
it would all work out.
You know, after goingthrough our first exam with
(31:30):
an outsource CCO, you know,I'm now the CCO and I, and I
won't make that mistake again.
It just, it won't happen.
I mean, it, it, it's very,very, it, it, there's so
much more to it and so manymore challenges than, than,
Yeah.
any, anybody really realizes.
I appreciate that comment.
I think that's a really,insightful comment.
It's one that peoplereally do struggle with,
(31:52):
especially in those firstfew years and getting their
legs under them, so I canappreciate that very much.
Alright, another kind oflightning round question is,
what is one underrated tool orresource that helps you lead
Yeah, I will take Blinkist.
Blinkist the app, Blinkist theapp, you know, so many leaders
like, have you read this book?
Have you read that book?
(32:12):
Have you read this book?
Have you read that book?
You know, and then they,everybody gets excited and they
wanna, okay, well they told meI need to read this book and
then I gotta read that book.
Well, Blinkist and, and again,thankfully knowing, especially
in the family office, familyenterprise space, knowing many
authors of books that have.
Gain prominence globally.
There, there's a recipearound how books are written.
Well, Blinkist essentially, youknow, is cracked the code on.
(32:34):
It's the old Cliff notes.
For those of uswho remember Cliff sure.
in 10 or 15 minutes,you can listen to a
book chapter by chapter.
Or you can read itchapter by chapter.
Either way now some get upto 20 minutes, but, and,
and there are so many, justabout the time that a book
really gains popularity,it's available on Blinkist.
And so it's, it's a greattool I've found so that people
(32:58):
can invest in a single drivethat can learn what would
normally have taken 'em aweek or two weeks sometimes.
To read a book by the timeyou're balancing, you know,
family and, and friends andyou know, all the other things
that, that go along with it.
And so it's, a fantastic tool.
And then I'll send, membersof our team blanks, which,
you know, you just send alink to the, to the new book.
And, and it's, and in OneDrivethey get, they get to, and
(33:21):
then we can talk about it.
Ah, that's, that's fantastic.
I will have to usethat 'cause I have.
Constantly a big stack of booksthat I haven't quite gotten to.
and I am doing some audiobooks, but yeah, that's
almost like a podcast andyou get the whole book.
That's fantastic.
Alright.
What's one guiding principle asyou build a hundred year firm?
Great question by the way.
(33:41):
love, love that question.
and it's interesting 'causeI think it also points to
the difference in what most.
Firms, most firms thatare recruiting other
advisors and teams rightnow are doing, they're
really focused on growth.
Like their whole focusis around growth.
And eventually that's gonnaresult in some kind of an exit.
Or they're, you know, we'regonna get higher, multiple, you
know, that's the sales pitch.
I'm a firm believer in thatwe have to focus on retention.
(34:05):
How do we retain our clients?
And most importantly, especiallynow, how do we ensure that we
build meaningful relationshipswith the next generation?
And so.
It's if you're going tobuild a hundred year firm,
you better be focused onretention, not growth.
Yeah.
Super interesting.
grow.
You'll grow throughthat process.
As well and much more.
(34:26):
More of it will beorganic, but I'm even more
excited about probablyseven, 10 years from now.
because when you play thelong game, those are the
things you look forward towhen the overwhelming majority
of folks have advisorsthat were chosen for them
that they didn't choose.
And I like our odds whenwe get to that phase.
Absolutely.
Vaughn, thank you so much.
(34:47):
You shared your story, thestrategy, the heart behind
kind of what you're building.
What's one way our, kind ofour last question of the day,
what's one way that you areliving an off script life today?
That's it.
You know, interestinglyenough, I, I surprised my
daughter and, and my wife.
My daughter got married, in May.
And, I've never sung,in public before.
(35:09):
So I did two songswith a band, and, and.
I think it surprised a lotof people, in the process.
what's interesting is, is, andagain, this is next generation,
like the older generations arelike, wow, you sung two songs.
The younger generation, they'relike, dude, you stage dived
off the stage at the end ofthe, I mean, that was epic.
I mean, you know, they'rejust, you know, that's
what they couldn't believe.
(35:29):
And so, since I'm a bandmember now, riffing on that, as
they would say, I, I actuallyordered a guitar recently
and so I'm gonna start, I'mgonna take up guitar and,
spend a little bit of time,learning how to do that.
Oh, I love it.
Oh, that's so fantastic.
Well, that is it for today'sepisode of Advisors Off Script.
Vaughn, thank you somuch for being here.
Thank you so much forhaving me, Shelby.
I really appreciate it.
(35:49):
Appreciate you and,excited, excited about
the future for all of us.
And so for our listeners,if this conversation sparked
something in you, if you'releading a firm advising a
family, looking for a missionwith meaning, Check out Axiom.
Share our podcast with acolleague, and stay tuned.
This isn't just a podcast.
We got some really nice.
Playbook examples today, SoVaughn, thank you so much
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