Don’t Do That: Don’t Knock on the Door Without a Key

What’s the one trait that can make or break your growth journey? For Joe Steuter, Partner at Intention.ly, it’s resourcefulness — and he’s learned it from a lifetime of solving problems, starting with early mornings on a dairy farm in Nebraska.

In this episode, host Kelly Waltrich sits down in-person with her friend and business partner to unpack the lessons from 20+ years in financial services, including how to communicate with intention, stand out in a sea of sameness, and hire marketers who can actually deliver results.

From growing Carson Group from $800M to $42B AUM, to helping dozens of RIAs and fintech firms clarify their vision, Joe shares why internal alignment is just as important as external marketing — and why you should never show up with a problem without also bringing a potential solution.

This conversation is packed with insights on leadership, messaging, resilience, and building teams that can weather the ups and downs of business growth.

Kelly and Joe cover:
00:00 – Growing up on a farm, work ethic, and early career friendship with Kelly
02:50 – Lessons from scaling Carson Group from $800M to $42B
06:45 – Why experience matters when choosing strategic partners
08:56 – Common growth challenges RIAs and fintechs face
12:15 – The role of marketing partners as strategic guides
14:45 – Resilience and resourcefulness from farm life to boardrooms
20:03 – Cutting through the “sea of sameness” in messaging
26:24 – Why differentiation starts with knowing your audience deeply
29:17 – Embracing iteration and change in brand development
33:06 – Company vision planning: balancing direction with flexibility
38:09 – Hiring landmines and finding marketers who can actually execute
44:19 – Two actionable tips for hiring marketers who deliver ROI
48:50 – Aligning marketing leadership with executive expectations
49:54 – Joe’s “Don’t Do That”: Don’t knock on the door without a key
53:42 – Bringing solutions, not just problems, to your team
57:21 – Why the hardest challenges are often the most meaningful

About Our Guest:

Joe Steuter is Partner and Chief of Client Strategy at Intention.ly, where he helps RIAs, fintech firms, and financial services companies transform their marketing into a true driver of strategic growth.

With more than two decades in the industry, Joe is a master communicator and strategist, having played a pivotal role in scaling Carson Group from a single-office, $800M RIA to a $42B national powerhouse with over 175 locations. His career has been defined by a commitment to aligning teams around a clear vision, crafting differentiated messaging, and building resilient growth strategies that work in the real world.

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Episode Transcript

Kelly Waltrich (00:00):
Did you know that Joe grew up on a farm

(00:02):
milking cows. I learned workethic early on. I think,
honestly, that's one of thethings that you and I probably
bonded on early in our careers,is we looked at each other and
we saw like, Okay, here'ssomebody who's gonna grind,
yeah, complain about it, andthey just love to do the work.
It really benefits a firm. Ifyou can take whatever you're
using in your marketing strategyand find a way to funnel that

(00:24):
back inward towards your ownteam so they can be your biggest
brand advocates with helpinggrow the business. But it also
creates this social glue and buyin that a lot of firms I see
right now don't have. So we getto be here face to face and info
see system.

(00:53):
Hi everyone, and welcome to thedon't do that podcast. I'm your
host, Kelly Waltrich, and todaywe brought you home with us. We
are at Intention.ly HQ here inKing of Prussia, Pennsylvania,
and I have with me, and next tome, my partner and friend, none
other than Joe Steuer, welcomeJoe. Thanks for having me. It's

(01:13):
good to be around the team hereat Philadelphia. Well, it's all
well, it's all up.
I know guys this friendship hasbeen 20 years in the making. Joe
and I grew up together alongsidehe was, of course, alongside Ron
Carson, and I was with EdmundWalters, and we were young and

(01:33):
dumb and trying to figure outwhat we were doing. And we
became friends because you needpeople who are trying to figure
it out at the same time. And soit's been a lot of years, right?
It has been a lot of years.
Yeah, I tried to steal him fromRon, sorry, Ron, about 12 times
through that time period,knowing that this day would
always come and we would end uptogether. And I'm so excited

(01:54):
that we are,

Joe Steuter (01:56):
I would agree, yeah, it's, it's amazing how
much something starts as just asimple friendship many, many
years ago, and all of a sudden Iremind myself of that every day
where we kind of look at eachother and we're like, we're in
this together now,

Kelly Waltrich (02:08):
like every single day, yeah, it's really
fun. Yeah, I always tell myself,actually, and I think I've said
it on social media a couple oftimes, that the best thing about
being an entrepreneur, becauseit is really hard, is getting to
choose the people that you putaround you. So, you know, so
perfect an example of that,okay, Joe, so I want for those

(02:31):
listeners that don't know you,for you to give a little bit of
your background, your belief incommunication, because at your
core, I believe that you feelstrong, more strongly than about
that than anything.
And give us a little bit aboutwhat it's been like to join
Intention.ly and start helpingour clients and get thrown into

(02:52):
the mix here.

Joe Steuter (02:53):
Yeah, yeah. So it all starts where, you know, I
got my start in the industrymany, many years ago, again,
working for a fast growing firmbacked by a founder with Omani
Carson, who had a huge visionfor the future, which was a
really fun thing to be a partof. But what I recognized right

(03:14):
out of the gate was this wholeidea that so many people have a
clear vision that they justdon't take the time to
communicate or articulate thaton a daily basis with their
team, with their clients, withtheir prospects. And so
something that I found just withmy own background, you know, I
come from the School ofCommunication where the message

(03:35):
is kind of,the message boils down to
exactly what you need to say tothe right group of people at the
right time, and it's becoming alot more of an art than a
science. Big part of what Kellyand I spent so much of our early
careers on was figuring out howto tell that story with the
companies that we were at, andthe better we were able to

(03:56):
articulate that differentiatedposition in the marketplace, and
how we were able to take that tothe executive teams, how we were
able to take that to the entireorganizations, only put those
organizations in a better placeto win in the future. So a huge
part of my evolution over thelast 20 years around this

(04:17):
industry and as an architect, asa communicator, has really been
about the power of words. Andoftentimes, yeah, that may sound
romantic, like there's, there'sjust a lot of essence that can
come from practicing this art ofwhat it means to communicate
with intention. And that was oneof the things that drew me over

(04:38):
here, is, you know, for so manyyears, Kelly and I had worked
together on doing this, yeah,had worked together separately.
You know, we were bouncing ideasoff of each other. We were
constantly brainstorming usethings to infuse into the
businesses we were helping lead.
And it got to a point where wekind of said. Together like Hey,

(05:00):
I remember looking at just evenhow she named the company
intentionally. And intention hasbeen always one of my favorite
words, because it means so muchto me as a writer, as a
communicator, and it really wasbaked into the mission of
everything that you had builthere. So the name made a lot of
sense to me. It aligned with me.
I already knew I could enjoyworking with somebody who was

(05:23):
right alongside me through thisjourney called life each and
every day. And so the universealigned and allowed us to kind
of find this window ofopportunity to put both of our
minds together. And I think wecomplement each other pretty
well.

Kelly Waltrich (05:38):
Yeah, I'm the crazy one. He's the calm one.
For those of you who couldn'tfigure that out yourself, all
right, Joe, so he's also verymodest. And I think one of the
most important things that youneed to know is, you know, and
during his time at Carson, theywent from what to what, I mean,

Unknown (05:55):
yeah. I mean, we, we had a single office in Omaha,
Nebraska, probably around 800million as a as an RIA,
operating out of one office, andgrew that entire organization to
get more than 200 300 advisorsacross the country with 150 to

(06:15):
175 locations, 42 billion inassets under management. And so
every two years, I would say,like every 18 to 24 months, that
business looked completelydifferent than it did 18 months
prior, and it required somethingdifferent from me, that sort of
heavy growth. I know you sharethis with just your time at E

(06:36):
money and Orion, but it humblesyou when you have to keep
figuring it out over and overagain. Yeah, yeah. When you have
to grow alongside a company, youhave to, as the company is
reinventing itself, you have todo the same as a marketing

Kelly Waltrich (06:49):
that's so true.
And I think, you know guys andIntention.ly, and this is this
episode is not meant to be aplug for this business by any
means. And you know, I try notto do that, but I will say that
if you want advice for me, I Ibrought people to Intention.ly
to work at Intention.ly and toknow what good looks like that.
So I encourage you, as youchoosing your partners, whether

(07:10):
it's marketing or otherwise,make sure that the people that
you're and that you're workingwith every day have been there,
done that, have worked inorganizations who have seen
success, who have gone from 20million to 100 million on a tech
platform, or from 800 million to42 billion at an RIA like
because that experience, there'snothing like that. And to be

(07:30):
able to see that over the courseof years is so important in our
job, in helping all ofIntention.ly clients, be able to
aspire to the same kind ofgrowth. So I think that, you
know, I'm not the one givingadvice on this show. My guests
are, but I think you need to askthe right questions right of
your partners all the time,because I always just say to

(07:51):
people, okay, who are we upagainst? And have you seen them
do it like have they done itbefore? Can they prove it? Can
they tell you how what workedand what didn't? And I think
that's really important in yourgrowth journeys as well. Very
true. All right, Joe, so weserve a lot of clients, a
diverse set, a diverse set ofclients. It's a wild ride every

(08:12):
day. We buckle up every morningwhen we come into the office,
Tim and Omaha, me and Philly,and we never know what we're
gonna get hit with, and we knowthat growth is so personal to
all of you. It's so personal ourclients. It's so important to
your businesses. We get it thatwe sit at a really pivotal spot
in each of your worlds if youwork with us. So tell me, let's

(08:34):
talk a little bit about whatthat looks like in firms and
like what are you seeing? Whatare you seeing firms like, I
don't want to say struggle with,but what do you what are the
like? What's our wish list forfirms that we work with? Like,
what do we want them to realize?
What do we want them to get outof their own way? Sometimes, to

(08:55):
come to

Joe Steuter (08:56):
Yeah, I think there is. I mean, I learned this in my
own experience, but we'velearned this from seeing so many
I mean, we're working withdozens of firms, from fintechs
to large RIAs to smallerpractices, and oftentimes what
we find out is they almost growin spite of themselves at times,

(09:16):
and sometimes that's because ofwhat some of those dynamics
within The organization thatkeep them from living into that
full potential. Other times,they have some outside factors
coming into play that preventthem from really making a mark
on the market in a way thatthey'd like. And so we're coming
into these conversations everysingle week. You know, we're
talking to our clients, andthey're bringing something to

(09:39):
us. Usually it's a need or achallenge they need to solve, or
they're feeling stuck somewhereand they need our help to make
sense of how they're going toleverage marketing strategy in
order to grow the business. Thisis all about growth. You've
always been a staunch advocateabout what does all of this
activity. Do you meet? Yeah.
Where's the ROI coming from allof this effort, everybody thinks

(10:03):
they can do marketing, yeah. Andso you have a lot of opinions
that enter into the conversationwhen you engage with a client
and you get to know them aspeople, you get to know them as
business owners, you get to knowthem as a team. And I think what
gets a lot of firms stuckoftentimes is one they don't
always have a clear vision forwhat they're trying to solve,

(10:26):
which is a little ironic,because they're coming to us
with a feeling that they knowthey need help, but they don't
always know how to articulatethat into how they want to work
with us and how we can servethem best. We usually are able
to diagnose this ourselves, justthrough the first initial
conversations we have with theseclients, we can unearth some of
this, whether it's helping themdefine who they need to target,

(10:51):
helping them to find wherethere's opportunity in the
marketplace, or if they needhelp with understanding just
clarity and roles. I mean,that's that's something we we
find quite a bit when we'retalking about marketing.
Marketing leads to growth.
Growth leads to well, how isthis good for the business?
Where are we taking this as faras a future vision for the firm?

(11:14):
And so even though our role asmarketers is to come in and help
them with marketing strategy, weoften play this role of being a
strategic guide to help themmake sense of their own business
and where they see opportunityin the future.

Kelly Waltrich (11:30):
Guys. He is so right? And it's, it's funny,
because I want to ask you thequestion, if you don't know what
you're working towards, how doyou want your partners to know
what you're working towards? Youknow, I start a lot of
conversations, or everyconversation, Tina sits next to
me all day. She's here today,she and she hears me say, like,
all right, what are we workingtowards? Like, what are our
goals? What are you giving us toaim for? And it's really to

(11:52):
Joe's point, kind of shocking. Alot of firms haven't done the
work to figure that out, and weactually and intentionally, I
would say, as you've seen, usevolve over the course of the
last couple years, went fromvery much like a marketing
agency to a strategic growthpartner for that reason, because
we realized that so many firmsreally need a like a roadmap to
what they what they even needfrom a marketing standpoint?

Unknown (12:15):
Yeah, I mean, there are a lot of firms out there who
just need that ignition upfront.
They need somebody with energyto come into their to their
situation. Look at things from anew perspective. Perspective is
kind of my word as well, andit's, it's one of these things
where, if you're partnered withthe right firm who's coming in
and focused on your success,your growth, and figuring those

(12:37):
things out on your behalf. Youhave to, we talk about this all
the time. The other side of thisis you have to see a partner,
whether it's marketing, whetherit's up operational efficiency,
whether it's figuring out a techvendor, whether it's figuring
out a new tool or softwareyou're going to infuse in the
business, you have to see thatpartner as a as an advocate for

(12:58):
your success, rather than anobstacle to your success. And
sometimes we face that, youknow, sometimes we need to do
work with the client. There's,there's a lot of therapy
involved. You know, there is alot of order to give up in order
to get these clients and for usto find the best way to work
with them. And what we see asbeing those keys to, oh, wow,

(13:21):
that this client really clickswith us, and we have the best
results with these clients iswhen they know their role,
they're able to articulate ourrole in their growth, and then
we're all seen as sitting on thesame side of the table in order
to help get them there. Thoseare those just very basic,
fundamental pieces ofunderstanding often go so far.

(13:43):
When you're looking at amarketing partner, when you're
looking at a partner or providerin any way, shape or form for
business growth in the longterm, you need to trust that the
people coming in have your bestinterests at heart. I mean,
advisors spend all day talkingabout this with clients and
convincing them that they sit onthe same side of the table as
their clients. We're trying tohave those same conversations

(14:06):
with advisors and CEOs aroundthe country where we say, let us
sit on the same side of thetable. We have your best
interests at heart, and we planto initiate a we want to put a
strategy in play with the rightpeople in play that we think
will give you the bestopportunity to win.

Kelly Waltrich (14:27):
Okay, so, did you know that Joe grew up on a
farm milking cows? I bet youdidn't chose the

Joe Steuter (14:35):
left hook. Yeah,

Kelly Waltrich (14:37):
you thought this wasn't this episode was gonna be
a straight line. You were wrong.
Joe, tell us what thatexperience, how that experience
helped you in financialservices. Yeah.

Unknown (14:46):
So I grew up on a dairy farm in the Midwest, about an
hour northwest of Omaha,Nebraska, and I'd say the
biggest thing that that, youknow, I'm, I'm from a huge
family. I learned work ethicearly. And I think, honestly,
that's one of the things thatyou and I probably bonded on
early in our careers, is welooked at each other and we saw

(15:06):
like, Okay, here's somebodywho's gonna grind, yeah,
complain about it, and they justlove to do the work. There
aren't a lot of people, whetherit's this industry or any
industry, who have that sort ofgrit, mindset and commitment to
their craft. And so I thinkthat's what makes us such a
powerful team. But it's also, Ithink, something I learned from

(15:28):
a very young age, I learnedresilience at a very young age I
was throwing probably, you know,on a farm, you walk out there
every day, whether it's milkingcows or fixing a fence or or
moving hogs from one barn to theother, or figuring out exactly
how you're going to, you know,get the tractor fixed by 6am in

(15:50):
order to feed cattle. There'sthere are always bumps in the
road, there are always thingsthrown in front of you, and you
have to figure out a way tosolve those challenges and be
resourceful. So resilience andresourcefulness are two huge
things that I learned fromgrowing up on the farm, that I
that I apply and I bring to ourrelationships every day. And
it's because of plus gettinghardened at that young age where

(16:15):
i i had the confidence andreally just the resilience to
say, whatever problem you throwat me, it's workoutable, right?
It's it's solvable. There's away to do this. But that took a
lot of my childhood figure thatout, because oftentimes I always
just wanted to lay down indefeat, if something threw a

(16:37):
wrench in my day and I justsaid, Oh, it's so easy to get
distracted and disheartened by aproblem showing up in your life
or a complication showing up.
And what growing up on the farmtaught me was that this is all
about how you respond to thatadversity, rather than you know,
it's one thing to acknowledgeit, it's a whole other thing to

(16:57):
acknowledge it and then say, Ihave everything at my disposal
in my mind in order to figureout how to tackle this.

Kelly Waltrich (17:05):
Yeah, yeah. I think that's great. This is like
giving you a little bit of aglimpse into our world. But I
typed to Joe the other day, Ithink we had a client, and they
were, they weren't happy aboutsomething which is rare I should
talk about, but it does happen,believe it or not, they weren't
happy about something. And Isent a note to Joe, and I said,

(17:27):
Listen, I know that we are notused to running into situations
where people are unhappy, likewe got after it in our careers,
we were tough and we were movingthrough things, and we're
helping and like, thesesituations are not new, but
because, obviously marketingcommunications is hard, and
we're always, you know, dodgingbullets, but, but we are used

(17:50):
to, like defending the work verymuch. So, so we find it
Intention.ly. Sometimes it's ait's a lot of education right
around, you know, one scenariowas, hey, this lead generation
didn't work. And to me, I lookat it and I say, Okay, well,
tell me what not working meansto you, because I see that your

(18:11):
website track traffic went up by600% and your intake forms went
up by 350% and your contact ushas went up by I think you got
57 in the last month, and thishappened, and this happened and
this happened and that so helpme understand why you don't feel
like this is working, and I havean attitude about it. So Joe has

(18:31):
become one of the two of us thatthen gets on the phone with the
client and says, Hey, let's workthis out. And I think as you
guys are navigatingentrepreneurship and growing
your businesses, and I think,you know, one of the keys to to
our stability and success, maybeI don't know we're only four
years in success is a funnyword, but is finding people that

(18:53):
compliment you

Joe Steuter (18:55):
Right? Very much.
So yeah, yeah. And I think youcompliment me in many ways,
where I, you know, I'moftentimes trying to figure out
how to find a solution, or I'mtrying to work around a client
in terms of how they're howthey're approaching us with an
issue, or how they'reapproaching us with an
opportunity that falls intotheir lap, and they need to know
how to maximize it. You havethis ability to kind of see

(19:17):
right through all of the block,yeah, identify the issue and
say, This is how we come to thetable, solve that. And something
I learned from you every day,and it's it's something that I
think we do really well as anorganization. We have an
incredible team here thatunderstands what it means to
communicate well. This is why Ithink communication is so
important in industry. Is simplybecause, if you can identify

(19:41):
these things and get everyonealigned on why they're at the
table to solve whatever it iswe're trying to solve, you
automatically have so much moreof a better chance to succeed
because everyone understandstheir role. You understand
exactly. What the end game isand how we're going to work

(20:01):
backwards through that end game.

Kelly Waltrich (20:03):
Yes. Okay, so here's another funny little
story. So when I worked forOrion, what's up? Everybody from
Orion, I love you. I miss you.
There were no direct flightsthere, so I would spend half my
life on a plane trying to get toOmaha. And I now have all these
people from Omaha that work itIntention.ly, and I take took
great joy in that, until theyimmediately gave Omaha multiple
direct flights to Philadelphiaso that they no longer have to

(20:26):
feel the pain that I felt indoing that. So we try to get Joe
here to Philly as much aspossible. So all you Philly
folks, he is here all the time.
So hit him up for breakfast,lunch, drinks, come see us at
the office. Okay, Joe, so mynext question to you is this, we

(20:49):
are living in what we all callthis sea of sameness, right? And
as someone who like, loves themessage, who feels like that is
the foundation of all things ineach of the businesses of the
people who are watching thisshow and listening like, What
the hell am I allowed to saythat? What the hell do do people
do to cut through that? Becauseit is so so so hard. And I love

(21:14):
to tell people that everybodyknow, whether it's a custodian
of FinTech, an asset manager oran RIA, they say, we help you
grow. We hope you help youscale, and we help you become
more efficient. And guess what?
Guys, you don't all do that, andyou can't all do that, and if
you do, you need to come up witha better way to say it. So how
do we help everyone listeningtake your message, yeah,
voodooism and apply it to theirbusiness. Is a little bit of

(21:37):
voodoo. So

Joe Steuter (21:41):
we so quickly forget, even though we had these
conversations every day, and Ihave to remind myself of this
all the time, that it alwaysstarts with who you're trying to
attract every day. Who are youtrying to work with? How are you
trying to build a business? Yes,you need to have a clear vision
for what you're trying to buildand what you want to put in the
world. You have to know whoyou're best fit for. And anytime

(22:03):
we face the sea of sameness andmessaging, and we do this, you
know, you say that from theFinTech side of things, from the
advisor side, all advisors aresaying they're building trust.
They're looking out for the bestinterest of their client.
Holistic planning, yep, theyhave a proven process to
deliver. You know, they're allabout the plan and and so we're

(22:24):
cheering this dozens of timesday, and we're jumping into
these businesses. They feel likewhat they're saying has been
said for the first time. We haveto have a delicate conversation
about All right, let's, let'sdig in a little bit more and
figure out truly what separatesyou, because there are firms out
there saying the same thing, andso oftentimes this boils down to

(22:47):
having a great understanding ofwho it is you're trying to get
in front of, but understandingtheir need. So this, this all
comes back to something I talkabout in our message matters
episodes all the time. But ifyou don't have an intimate
understanding of what thatperson you're trying to attract
is, is facing in their life, youknow, or is there a turning

(23:09):
point that they're facing? Whatemotions are they feeling? How
do how do you identify whatthose emotions are and then
weave that into what it is youdeliver? Because what advisors
do, what fintechs do, in oftencases, it all does sound the
same, and so it's how youdeliver those things that

(23:29):
oftentimes differentiates you.
But first, you have tounderstand that ideal client
down to the T of feeling likeyou have lived there before.
This is why I think a lot of thefounder based businesses out
there for advisor firms do sowell because they come from
these stories in their ownpersonal lives, they are able to
connect with whatever it is, youknow, the eight year old kid

(23:52):
inside of them that said, Oh,wow. Either my parents or my
family faced this, or I facedsome sort of event or adversity
when I was growing up orbecoming an adult that forever
shaped the way I saw the world.
And some of it had to do withmoney or finances or a lack of

(24:13):
planning, you know, from theirfrom somebody in their family or
their friends, and that impactedand it had a ripple effect
across a community, acrossfamily, and so what you start to
think through is, well, thereason you have been so
successful to this point isbecause it's not because you're
offering anything different onthat menu of services that every

(24:35):
other advisor down the streetsays the same thing to that
audience About, but it's it'smore about how you connect your
own personal story, and you makeyour self feel understood from a
client perspective, so they areable to level with you as a
person before they can even talkto you about what it is you do,

(24:57):
how you're going to do it. Whatdoes your process look like?
What does. The experience looklike for that client. If you
can't establish and know exactlywho you're paid for as a
business and what you're tryingto solve as an issue, then you
really don't have much to standon. And that is where you see a
lot of these shallow messagesout there that all sound the

(25:18):
same. The Sea of samenesshappen. I think because there is
so much opportunity, you and Iboth know that, like in wealth
management, the amount of assetsout there switching hands over
the next few generations iscreating almost too much fish in
a barrel opportunities foradvisors, and because of that,
they've experienced a ton ofsuccess without really having to

(25:41):
do a whole lot from a marketingand positioning standpoint. And
now we're starting to see thatpeople they make these decisions
a little bit more intentionally.
They start to look at multipleoptions in their life, and they
start to say, All right, let meweigh one from versus another.
What does this look like? Who amI working list? How much is how
much does it cost? Are theycharging me? Is this experience

(26:03):
different and more convenientthan the one down the street?
And as you get into this, italways comes back to well, if
you understand your client tothat end degree, you're going to
know exactly how to speak tothem in that moment of need and
appeal to them over every otheroption that sounds the same.

Kelly Waltrich (26:24):
Yep, I totally agree. And, you know, I just did
a podcast, probably the last onethat came out, guys with Mark
Foreman, the CMO of Optifino andhis don't do that was, don't
forget your audience. And itsounds so simple, right? Like
these things sound so simple andso basic. And you're probably
rolling your eyes. But I can'ttell you how many firms come to
us and they say, how are yougoing to make me sound
different? And I want to belike, what are you going to tell

(26:45):
me that's different? What areyou going to tell me about
yourself and your firm, and theway you do business and the way
you think about your clients,and the way you provide services
and the way that you create anexperience is different, like,
because it's not about me, it'snot about us. We're good
storytellers, and we're going totake what you give us and we're
going to turn it into magic. Ican promise you that. But it
starts with you knowing, yeah,we're a mirror who you are. So

(27:08):
every time somebody says, Howare you going to make me sound
different? I want to be like,Oh, how are you different? You
tell me.
It has to start there. It's thesame thing with the planning,
like we said earlier, every timesomebody says, I need you to, I
need you to tell me what mygoals are. I'm like, yeah,
like, I'll certainly tell youwhat your goals are if you want
me to. But I don't think that'sthe best path forward here,

(27:30):
right? You know,you and your team have to come
together and decide that. Sojust some things to think about,
especially in terms of messagingand like I said, this is, this
is what Joe thinks about allday, every day.

Joe Steuter (27:41):
If you don't have someone prompting you and
extracting this from you, you'renot working with the right
partner either. If they if theydon't have some level of drive
and interest in understandingyour business, and they come
straight to you with a provenformula that works for everybody
else. And oftentimes, that'swhat we see a lot of our clients

(28:01):
want. They come straight intothese relationships, and they
want that proven. You know, youguys know what you're doing. You
do it for enough firms aroundthe country. Tell us. Just tell
us, you know, so we can get tothe answer quickly. And then
let's start pumping out thatformula. Yes, it is a math
equation. When you get down tounderstanding what those
components of that equation are.
And the reality is, thosecomponents of that equation are

(28:24):
a little different for everysingle firm based on what we
were just talking about aroundcore audience, understanding the
need. Who are you best fit for?
And if, if you have somebodycoming to you with that promise
of a quick, easy solution, justbe careful. I always say, Don't
confuse speed with success,because especially, you know,

(28:47):
and we're a really AI drivenfirm, you know, we're constantly
pushing the boundary of how wecan be more efficient so you get
to better output, betterquality, better personalization
at scale, there's still thishuge need for you to understand
that somebody who comes to youwith a quick, fast and easy

(29:09):
solution isn't always going tobe the best fit for you, because
they're not actuallyunderstanding your business at
the level you need them to to bea to be a solid, trusted
partner.

Kelly Waltrich (29:17):
And I appreciate that about Joe, because I will
tell you the other day, I waslike, why is this client's brand
not done? What is happening herethat it is taking them so long?
And he's like, hell. Some peopleneed to work through it, and
need to take time, and this is aprocess. And I'm like, okay, Joe
and I picked,

Joe Steuter (29:35):
I pick up some of that. I'm like, All right, we've
got to nudge a little bit here.
We got to pick up the pace.
Yeah, we have to. We can't it,because there is very much
paralysis by analysis, where alot of these firms get really
overwhelmed. And I'm sure all ofyou can relate to this. You've
all been faced with that thatchallenge, or that stuck moment,

(29:56):
and you're looking at sevenother people in your
organization, you're trying tofigure out how to. Get everybody
on the same page so that you canfind a path forward. But
oftentimes it's very hard toswim through those waters and
understand how you're going totake those next steps, and then
that leads to paralysis. And wesee this happen in organizations

(30:16):
all the time, where not weeks ordays, but months can go by
without any real progress oractivity, simply because the
organization has those obstaclesthat they need to figure out, as
far as alignment and clearcommunication go. And then you
need to another point we wouldlove to bring up all the time

(30:39):
is, this is this is an iterativeprocess. It's a living,
breathing thing. Your brand isnot a painting you set on the
wall and you admire it to thenext five years. Yeah, look at
what's been done. Because a lotof our clients think if they
mess it up on the first try,they've blown their shot. Yeah,
in some cases, that's true. Mostcases, it's not. We live in a
world right now where thingschange. So by the myth, not the

(31:02):
month. And so we have to get toa place where you feel
comfortable withexperimentation, with iteration,
with changing things as they go.
And the firms that adopt thatfluid mentality are the ones
that typically do best overtime, because they're just not
afraid to fail. Yeah, they'relearn, constantly learning. And
you know what? I I'm not themost patient person, but I am

(31:25):
more patient with the processthan than maybe I was before,
because having gone it throughintention, for intentionally,
and it it being mine, and like,like, Oh my gosh. So we our
messaging is constantly broughtevolving. Our brand is always,
you probably don't see thenuances of our brand, but we're
always tweaking it and changingin and we're always rethinking,
like, what is the next iterationof intentionally look like? What

(31:47):
does the next iteration of ourservices look like? So I am more
patient about it, because whenit's personal to you, it's it's
very real that, like, doing thefinal sign off is hard.

Kelly Waltrich (31:59):
It's a hard thing.

Joe Steuter (32:00):
It is, it is sometimes takes, you know, and
that's, that's that moment ofdread for a lot of firms, is
they think there is going to bethis massive moment of, either
we make this or we break this.
Yeah And yes, that can be trueto a point, but you also can't
inhibit you from just gettingsomething out there, yeah, see,
because oftentimes you need thatfeedback from your audience. You

(32:23):
need that feedback from yourmarketing strategy in order to
inform the next steps of yourplan. You're not going to be
able to spell out a full 12month 150 step plan, month by
month, week by week, and thinkthat everything is going to go
according to that plan, right?
Because so much changes in ourworld on a daily basis, and so

(32:46):
we've, we've moved till it's,you know, six month plans, to
where six months at a time, ifwe have a good focus with our
clients, and we know those mainpillars of focus and priorities,
we'll start working backwardsfrom those and developing a plan
that makes sense, knowing thatthree weeks from now, a lot of a
lot, and they change. Yeah, all

Kelly Waltrich (33:06):
right, Joe, so I brought you up on a prior
podcast, and got some flack forit, because I remember we were
sitting at the beach, we were onour leadership off site, and we
were talking about vision,company, vision, sorry for
jumping all around. I got a lotto say. I got a lot to say. I

(33:26):
don't get to do this with himvery often. I want to make sure
I hit all the things. So we'redoing this is the way we're
doing it, Tina. Tina will spliceit together in a way that makes
sense later. So we're sitting atthe beach, off site, great
conversation, and we're talkingabout company vision. And I know
that a lot of you on the phoneare using EOS as your operating
system. Joe and I both beenthrough that with our prior
firms as well. Intention.ly,actually, Randy Lambert and team

(33:49):
are building an EOS for ourindustry. So if you haven't had
that conversation with him, it'svery cool, but we debate about
the the length of time youshould be able to to look into
the future. And I'm guessingthat you can figure out which
one of us is fly by the seat ofour pants and which one of us is

(34:11):
more thoughtful. But we havecome together to be able to find
a nice blend of that. But Ithink the debate was like,
which, you know, Joe, Joe comingout of Carson, you know, they
had a very solid process forplanning for the future, and it
was like, What are we workingtowards in the next year? What

(34:35):
are we working towards in fiveyears? What are we working
towards in 10 years? And I see alot of firms that do that. EOS
asks you to do that, right? Youhave to pull it out of paper.
Yeah, it's part of the processfor me. I quarterly, seriously.
Because things change so fast,and so I'm curious with all of
you, and would love yourfeedback in terms of, like, what
do you how? What is the intervalfor your planning? Because AI
has never sped things up morethan the you know, the past, and

(34:58):
it's almost impossible to plan.
More than that. So let's, let'stalk this out. What do you

Joe Steuter (35:02):
see us? Yeah, well, it's this to your point. It's as
slow as it's ever going to be,which is a scary thought to
think about. Some

Kelly Waltrich (35:08):
that feels very Omani to you, that's very Omani
you taught him, well, well, he

Joe Steuter (35:12):
taught me, well too, but in so many ways, yeah,
there. There has to be thisflexibility and and openness to
change. Otherwise you will dieon the vine within six months,
not in six years. So there is,there is this balance, yes, do I
think a five year plan? I dofeel like, as an executive team

(35:35):
member or as a CEO of a firm,there is this, this value in
pointing out this is where we'regoing, even if it's not a
specific destination, it's adirection there, you know, and
that's where I think I reallythrive off of, quote, what I
know, and I kind of told youthis after our conversation with
that planning meeting, is if Iknow where we are heading within

(36:00):
a certain direction. Tell me ifwe're going northeast or West
versus Yeah, do I think we needto spell out everything in
detail, every you know to knowto paint a perfect picture of
that future? Yeah, that's alittle bit of you know, some of
the the older thinking that'sout there is you need to be able
to paint every detail in thispicture for you to drive towards
it. Now, I feel like the worldhas changed to a point where we

(36:24):
need to be able to embrace someof that uncertainty and see it
as an opportunity rather than anobstacle, but also view all of
this with some direction.
Because I think if, if a teamand this is where we see
opportunity, as much as we'redoing marketing for the external
world, where these firms aretrying to bring in new clients.
We're also starting to see a lotof firms around the country who

(36:47):
say, I need help articulatingthis internally to my team and
working from the inside out. Andit's because that team of yours
desires at least a directionthey may not need a well formed
destination with a full view ofwhat that future in five or 10
years looks like. Because, yeah,most of us are just trying to

(37:09):
get through the week or themonth, much less than a year or
a decade, but in so many cases,I think it, it really benefits a
firm if you can take whateveryou're using in your marketing
strategy. And find a way tofunnel that back inward towards
your own team so they can beyour biggest brand advocates
with helping grow the business,but it also creates this social

(37:32):
glue and buy in that a lot offirms I see right now don't have
you see so many talented people,we get a front row seat to this,
where they're jumping firmsevery six to 12 months, and
these are talented people whomove throughout the industry.
And I think there's a huge, youknow, one of the big factors
here that I think iscontributing to that is people

(37:53):
are hungry for some sort ofmeaningful direction that they
can be a part of. And if youjust give them a swim lane and
let them do what they're bestat, yeah, they can. They can do
great things for you. Awesome.
Yeah, okay,

Kelly Waltrich (38:09):
my next question for you, and then we're gonna
get into your don't do that, butI feel like I have to hit this
hiring. Yeah, I don't know howyou guys feel, but hiring is
it's like a landmine. It's likea bunch of land mines, and it's
really hard, and it's never beenharder in marketing. It's never

(38:30):
been easier to BS your waythrough an interview. It's never
been easier to put yourinterview questions in chatgpt
and spit out something thatsounds good. And I feel like we
one, we interview a lot forintentionally we do, and you
think that would make us greatat it. We're still working at
that. But I also do a lot ofhiring for other companies,

(38:54):
because we talk to so manymarketers, and because there's
so many, and because I like tobe a destination where marketers
can feel like they can get helpfinding a home, and firms can
feel like they can get helpfinding a marketer. And all
jokes aside, I would saymarketing is the hardest role to
get right, because it's so easyto play pretend,

Joe Steuter (39:17):
yeah, oh, exactly, yeah. It's, it's, it's a hard
one to sniff out. You know, thereal the people with real
talent, because, well, we'vetalked about this before, too,
where so many people think theycan do it, and they have enough,
they're equipped with enoughknowledge and maybe some
experience to feel dangerous inthis area. And fact is, it is
probably the biggest determinantof your firm's success, right?

(39:40):
Is the people you're bringinginto the fold and saying this,
you're going to be a large partof our value proposition going
forward. And you could very youknow, with every new hire we
look at, we say, How is thisperson going to impact the
trajectory of our firm? Notjust, hey, how do we add another
body to the equation here inorder to get more work done
every day? Day, we're looking atexperience, we're looking at

(40:02):
capabilities. And so it's toughbecause we've made mistakes in
our past. You know, like, morethan a few, I've, yeah, I've
been a manager for so long, youknow, more than more than a
decade, where I've been managingpeople that I've made my own
mistakes with interviewing andmade my own mistakes with true,
you know, choosing the personwho probably wasn't the best fit

(40:24):
for the role, or finding thatthat person has different skill
sets and that their role evolvesinto something you didn't even
anticipate, even six months intothe into the job, because you've
found they're amazing atsomething else. And so, yeah, as
far as, yeah, there's, there's alot there. I think this is a
perfect this is a perfectexample of where I think

(40:46):
humility comes in, because Idon't have a winning formula for
how to attract the best talent.
I think the best way you can dothis whole process of finding
the right people who fit intothe vision and the mission that
you're trying to create as afirm is to have a really
interactive, thorough interviewprocess with multiple people.

(41:10):
Yeah, multiple people, yes.
There's coming at it fromdifferent angles, guidance of
questions you can ask, andthere's all kinds of clever ways
that you can try to extract theright information from people,
but what we typically put someof our candidates through is an
exercise in resourcefulness andunderstanding exactly all right.

(41:33):
Let us know how you would if weput a potential scenario in
front of you. How might you comeup with a marketing strategy
using your experience and yourskillset to put something in
front of a client that makessense, that they may respond
well to. That could also be veryeffective, but because without
that exercise being a part ofthe interview, you are just

(41:54):
going over someone's you'regoing off of someone's word
Yeah, and you're making a bet,and a lot of hires are a bet
that you make one way oranother, because you still only
have a fraction of time, even ifit's with four or five people
involved in the interview,you're all using your instincts
to make a big decision on whoyou add to your team. Yeah, so
it's, it is, it's a, it's a bigdecision. And I, I'd say, Never

(42:18):
has there been more opportunityto fake it, consider it, well,
fake it as a candidate, but alsofrom a company standpoint, can
we have more interest than evertoo coming from multiple
different directions, talentthat's coming out the woodwork
and saying, here's where I see afit in your organization. And so
you have to be able to vet allof that opportunity coming in,

(42:41):
and then have a solid, thoroughprocess in place that allows you
to select the best meatball.
I'll never

Kelly Waltrich (42:49):
forget, I hired this guy and Intention.ly he's
not listening. But if you no notIntention.ly at Orion, at Orion,
I hired this guy at Orion, he'sdefinitely not listening. But if
he is, you know who you are, hewalked into my office one day
and he was like, you know, Ijust don't care about this, like
all of you care. And I was like,get out.

(43:14):
I could see where you would be.
That direct,Get out. I just, like, could not
believe, one, that I hired thisperson to begin with, and two
that he was just like, you guysall care about this a lot. I
just don't. Yeah,

Joe Steuter (43:27):
that's a great point, though. There are people
out there who you know want tosee their eight to five as just
a job where they can clock in,clock out, probably drift by in
the meantime until they findtheir next source of
inspiration, and I think a bigpart of the candidate interview
process is figuring out how,where that drive and motivation
comes from with someone. Becauseif they're if we're just talking

(43:50):
about the rate, we're talkingabout the responsibilities that
duties assign, there are a lotof people who can bullshit their
way through that, right? If youreally get to the core of like,
what are you most excited about?
You know, what brings you intowork every day that you're
excited about? What does anideal day in your life look like
when you're doing somethingthat's purposeful to you? Yeah?
That's where you get intosniffing out this, this

(44:12):
intrinsic motivation that peoplehave to be a part of something
bigger. Yeah?

Kelly Waltrich (44:19):
So I'll give you two things, just so you walk
away with something actionable.
I'll give you two things inhiring marketers that I think is
super important, and feel freeto add to this. The first is,
tell me what you havesuccessfully done and give me
some metrics around it, like acampaign that you launched,
anything that you owned, thatyou can talk about the process

(44:43):
from point A to point B, and thesuccess that you saw because of
it, because I can sniff out fromthat the person who's going to
be like, listen, I launched acampaign. This was my audience.
This was my thought process.
This was the creative conceptthat I came up with. These are
the channels that I executed.
And again. Is these. This is theamount of opportunity that it
brought to the business, andthis is the revenue that it

(45:05):
drove from the people who arelike, well, I wrote this blog
and I put on this event. No, no,no, no. If you are looking for a
great marketer, they are goingto be able to tell you something
that they did successfully. Thesecond thing, and this is really
important to the hires that wedo and intentionally, and the
hires that I generally helpplace in other firms is, can you
take someone's goals and theirbudget and their target and turn

(45:30):
it into a solid plan, but morethan that, once you have the
plan, are you confident inyourself enough that that plan
is going to get you to yourgoals, and can you figure out
how to execute it? Because Ithink that the very best
marketers are the ones who buildplans that they believe that

(45:50):
they can successfully executeagainst, and those are the
people that I look for atIntention.ly

Joe Steuter (45:56):
Yeah, yeah, I would agree. I think we're always
looking for. We need this, thatperson who understands
strategically, the environmentthat they're stepping into and
how they're going to providegood advice, and can be in a
position to really add value,but at the same time, they have
to have this ability totranslate their thoughts and

(46:17):
ideas into action. If they can'tdo that, they are, like the
other 95% of marketers out therewho do bring and this is why you
see a lot of CMOS. What theaverage tenure of a CMO at a
company is less than two yearsnow?

Kelly Waltrich (46:31):
Oh, my God, is it two? I thought it was under,
a little under, yeah, you'reprobably right, yeah, closer

Joe Steuter (46:35):
to 224, months now.
And I think it's, it'sliterally, because it's very
easy to come into anorganization. You and I have
both been a part of all kinds oforganizations where you've got
multiple ideas flowing in, butyou can see very quickly where a
leader can come in, cast avision, throw some ideas out,
and fill in a year and a half ortwo years with trying to execute

(46:59):
on what this vision is, andoftentimes they don't have what
it takes in order to deliver onwhat they came in to do. And so
they bounced from one place tothe next, because

Kelly Waltrich (47:13):
it takes two years to figure out its own Bs,
and then the firm realizes it,and they're out the door.
That's, that's one, that's,that's, if the marketer isn't
good, I think on the flip side,I'm a fierce advocate of
marketers, so I think the otherpiece of it is leaders that
don't understand what theyshould be doing, what they
should be held accountable to,how they should be measured, and
the resources that they need tobe successful. So it's one, it's

(47:33):
one or the

Joe Steuter (47:33):
other. No, that's a good point. There are a lot of
firms and a lot of CMOs outthere who just need to be able
to tell that clear story, andCMOs marketing leaders out there
you need to develop, and we'vebeen talking about this as
marketers for a decade now, butthat ability to build a
relationship with the executiveteam and a company with the CEO

(47:57):
so they understand marketing'srole, and this is where we can
have a whole other conversationabout what is marketing
responsible for inside of anorganization, because that
question alone can lead certainleaders down a path of, well, I
think they're in charge of notonly awareness and drumming up
interest and bringing in leads,but also converting on all of

(48:18):
that and handing a lot of thisnew business over on a silver
platter. Other organizations aresaying, Well, wait, you know,
this is where we see marketingplaying a role. This is where we
see other departments, other keyfunctions and areas of the
business coming in to supportthat process from prospect to
new client. And so I thinkhaving that understanding,

(48:40):
having that solid relationshipwith your leadership team and
them understanding how you'regoing to come to the table to
provide value as a marketer ismost

Kelly Waltrich (48:50):
important in value. Yeah, for sure. Okay,
it's about that time, those ofyou who are just tuning in, this
podcast was built on the ideathat we learn better from our
mistakes than from our wins. I'ma firm believer in tripping
sometimes so that you can learnfrom it. So we have had awesome
people all across the industryjump on and tell us the hard

(49:13):
lessons they learned. So Joe,what are we not doing today?
They all everybody at my teammakes fun of me for saying that,
what are we not doing today? ButI love
it. It can be misinterpretedtoo, because it can be seen as
now, where are we not now? He'stelling me my message isn't
clear.

Joe Steuter (49:32):
Actually, I love it, because we don't talk enough
about this in the industry.
There's so many ideas so you cando that. There's oftentimes so
much room in an organization totalk about what to stop doing,
yes and that alone, you can makethat an entire 12 month strategy
for a great strategy forreferring to stop doing what to
kick and it will only contributeto your growth.

Kelly Waltrich (49:54):
So well, I just want to jump in there for one
second. So Tina, our otherpartner, and I looked at each
other one day last. Year, andwe're like, we're gonna stop
doing stupid shit this year. Andhere's the list of stupid shit
things we are not gonna doanymore. So that was also a
little bit of, she's over there,shaking her head. Is really
true. It's really true. It istotally important to have that
list. So that was also part ofthe inspiration for this, this

(50:17):
whole,

Joe Steuter (50:18):
yeah, well, it kind of comes down to one thing that
I have had on my mind, and thisis something that I have learned
through working specificallywith Kelly and just even in the
last year that I've been here,is don't knock on the door
without a key. And to me, thatmeans don't come to the table
when you have an issue or aproblem without offering some

(50:41):
sort of solution in its place,or some way of figuring out how
you are going to helpcircumnavigate the situation
that you're bringing to thetable. And you and I are faced
with challenges each and everyday, so we always look for
people who are part of the teamwho can not only help identify
the issue, that's step numberone. But if you don't have a key

(51:03):
to open the door for thatsolution, or at least for a
direction that you can take inorder to address whatever it is
that's coming to the table,you're not doing a whole lot of
good as a team member. Help youcan? You could apply this to
being a good spouse to being agood friend? Yep, it's it can be

(51:23):
damaging to any relationship atwork or at home, if you are just
serving up the problems. Yes,serve up the problems. You drop
them there. You might feelbetter because you feel like you
dropped them on someone else,and now it's their issue to
solve, but it actually doesn'tcontribute to the long term
success of that relationship orin that company, whatever it

(51:43):
might be. So don't knock withoutthe key. Yeah,

Kelly Waltrich (51:46):
I love it, you know, I love it. We talk about
this a lot, I think. And thisgoes to the hiring discussion
that we just had. It's like, wewant people who are gonna be
like, Hey, this isn't working,but this is what we're gonna do.
I think about Zhoray on ourteam. Shout out. Zho. Love you.
She is. She's tough on me, whichI love, because she's like, Hey,

(52:08):
this process, I don't like it,and this is what we need to do
instead. And we're going toconnect this technology to this
technology, and they're going tospeak better together. And then
we're going to have the team dothis process instead, and it's
going to take us half the time.
I'm like, Oh, you go. Do it.
Come on.

Joe Steuter (52:24):
Perfect. Yeah, and that's a person that adds value
each and every day to the towhat you're trying to
accomplish. And it's and I'vebeen guilty of this, by the way.
I mean, I, I learned this atprevious jobs. I've learned and
here it is so easy to forgetthis one as you enter into that
day and somebody throwssomething at you, or you're
trying to help someone solve anissue, it is so easy to just

(52:47):
say, well, I need to pull inother people, and they need to
help me figure out what thesolution is to this problem,
because it does. It takes a lotof time, energy. There's a lot
of things technology can do forus nowadays. This is not one of
them, or at least it could beused in a way to help you get to
the solution, but you have toreally apply yourself every day.

(53:08):
And that's something I mademistake on so many times
throughout my career, is I foundmyself facing a problem and I
just threw it on the table, andI'd have other people blankly
staring back at me and saying,like, Well, Joe, what are we
going to do about this? Ifyou're the one bringing that
problem to the table, how are wegoing to address it? And that's

(53:28):
never a good way to show up in ain a room, because not only are
you dragging the energy out ofthe room with whatever you're
deciding to put on the table,but you can't give them any
direction on how they will beused to help come to a solution.
Yeah,

Kelly Waltrich (53:42):
and I think to be clear, you know, we talk
about this too, like theexpectation is not that people
are not going to bring bringproblems and that you're not
going to collaborate to solvethem. Like that's all very real,
and that's very needed, and goodcompanies do that all day long.
But I think we look for thepeople and we like, Give each
other a wink every time it'slike, hey, figure this out. And

(54:02):
I'm like, Okay, well, thatperson knows that my lit to do
list is, like, more than thehours in a day today, and they
want to pile that on, versus theperson who's like, like, I said,
Hey, Kel, hey, Joe. Like, thisis what's happening. This is how
I think we should address it. Ifyou have better ideas or
alternative ideas, toss them in.
But this is, this is what I'mgoing to do, unless you tell me
otherwise. Like, that isotherwise. Like, that is the pat

(54:22):
you got to look for thosepeople. Like, go through your
team and think about, like, whoare the people that are throwing
you grenades, and who are thepeople that are, you know, get
that the wind at your back

Joe Steuter (54:36):
Helping you through the guantlet. But, you know,
because, yes, you have to beseen as somebody who is coming
into the team to help figure outa solution to that problem. But
I agree, you have to, you haveto get people around you who are
almost motivated by thosegrenades that are thrown in
front of them because, and thisis where intrinsic motivation

(54:56):
comes in. If you have thosegrenades thrown a person day in
and. Day out, and they're notmotivated to do the work that
they really feel strongly about,they will get discouraged, they
will bow out, and they willleave your team with within a
very short period of time,because you you need to find
something deeper in yourself inorder to decide, yeah, like, I

(55:18):
actually love the challengesthat are coming up front of me,
and I loved figuring out a wayto solve this as a team.

Kelly Waltrich (55:23):
Yeah, leave it to the messaging guy to call it.
Don't come to the door without akey.

Joe Steuter (55:28):
Don't knock on the door without a knock on the
door. We all can say, Hey, Igotta, I got an issue here.
Yeah? Like, who's gonna answerand solve this for me? But you
gotta have the key to open ityourself.

Kelly Waltrich (55:38):
Yeah, it's very true. Okay, so for those of you
who joined us today, I got tosit down with my friend and
partner and Joe Steuter, thishas been an awesome experience.
We get to be here face to faceand hide out. It's a real love
here. And we covered a lot oftopics, and I I'm really excited

(56:02):
about his don't do that, becauseI think we can all learn from
them. Like he said, It's likework and life. You don't come to
your spouse with just problemsto solve either all you men out
there. I think my under thatsometimes, like I said,

Joe Steuter (56:16):
I've learned on both sides. So

Kelly Waltrich (56:18):
all good. Yeah, okay, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna
just, we're just gonna closewith this. We say all the time
and Intention.ly, that we'rebuilding, trying to build the
company that we wish we workfor, right? Because it's really
hard, it's really nice. I feellike that's the thing. Like

(56:38):
social media does a reallyeverybody's like, you're gone so
fast and it looks so it's like,Yeah, we're good at marketing,
that's, of course, what it'sgonna look like, guys. But like,
this is real, and it's hard, andI spend a lot of time talking to
entrepreneurs all across ourspace. We kind of have this a
little support group that'sforming. I think about what it
is to serve financial advisorsand financial services firms and

(57:01):
what that looks like, and howhard it is. And I want you to
leave our listeners with someinspo on sort of building and
growth and like, why not what ittakes and, you know, why not
take it to? Why not take itdiscouraged when it's hard?

Joe Steuter (57:21):
Yeah, I think the biggest thing I've learned in
life. We were talking about megrowing up on a farm, the
biggest lesson I had learnedfrom 10 to 18 growing up is that
the hard things are the thingsthat you remember in that
matter. And if this was easy,and if we were just able to plug
in this formula. You know, workwith companies that only had one

(57:45):
way to go, which was up, neverfaced any obstacles along the
way. I think we'd look back onthis and we'd say, oh, yeah, it
was fun. But was it meaningful?
Did it bring anybody closertogether? Did you learn anything
from it as a human and to me, Ithink if you don't
philosophically align withsomebody this, this is where I
think Kelly and I have so muchin common is, I think we see the

(58:07):
benefit from helping peoplethrough those challenges, and
yeah, and what we see fromlooking back, you know,
hindsight is always 2020, ofcourse, but Yeah, I've found a
way in my life to appreciatethat the struggle is where some
of the biggest lessons in lifecome, the the challenge, those
moments where somebody is reallyfaced with something they need

(58:30):
to resolve, and you can be apart of getting them on the
other side of this is rewardingwork, yep, and I want to be able
to, you know, not to get tooDeep, like, I want to be able to
get to the end of my life andsave that. I I was part of
something special that washelping someone, or a number of
people, solve it, and I waswalking around people who really

(58:51):
believed in what they were doingas much as I did.

Kelly Waltrich (58:56):
Growth isn't a straight line, guys and building
businesses aren't straightlines. And it's messy, and
sometimes it's ugly and it'shard and it's sticky, and you
want to yell at your marketingpartner a lot. Sometimes don't
do that. That's a whole notherepisode. But growth isn't a
straight line. Just keep that inmind. And it's about, you know,
doing the doing little hardstuff. Yeah, been doing it

(59:17):
consistently. All right, homie.
This has been fun. I love you.
Thanks for watching us.