September 2, 2025 • 22 mins
What’s the one mistake that can quietly rob you of fulfillment in both business and life? For Winston Justice, CEO of SageSpring, it’s failing to be present.
In this episode, host Kelly Waltrich sits down with Winston to unpack his extraordinary journey - from protecting quarterbacks in the NFL to leading a $7.8B wealth management firm. Along the way, Winston shares how lessons from football, entrepreneurship, and finance shaped his leadership philosophy, and why accountability, resilience, and adaptability matter just as much in the boardroom as they do on the field.
He also reveals the sacred responsibility advisors hold in stewarding not only wealth but also values, legacy, and family well-being — and why the best advisors of tomorrow will blend technical acumen with deep relational skills.
Winston’s Don’t Do That advice? Don’t miss the moment. Success often comes from focusing on what’s right in front of you instead of constantly chasing what’s next.
This conversation is packed with insights on leadership, transitions, family, and finding meaning in the work we do every day.
Kelly and Winston cover:
00:00 – Winston’s introduction and overview of SageSpring
01:16 – From USC to the NFL: early lessons in growth and resilience
03:12 – Starting Elixir Coffee and the first taste of entrepreneurship
04:41 – Transitioning out of football: fear, reinvention, and Wells Fargo
05:48 – Lessons from Bernstein and leading nonprofit/foundation clients
06:16 – Becoming CEO of SageSpring and why stewardship matters
07:23 – Three leadership lessons from sports: failure, accountability, and teamwork
10:08 – Why Winston now follows coaches more than NFL players
11:14 – What sets SageSpring apart: legacy, values, and sacred client relationships
13:18 – The evolving role of advisors: beyond portfolios to purpose and well-being
15:32 – Sports dreams, parenting, and preparing kids for life beyond athletics
16:44 – Winston’s “Don’t Do That”: Don’t miss the moment — be present
19:17 – How being present changes leadership, family, and perspective
21:42 – Practical advice for choosing presence daily
Winston Justice is CEO of SageSpring Wealth Partners, a fiduciary firm managing more than $7.8B in client assets across 11 offices in 5 states. A former NFL offensive lineman who played for the Eagles, Colts, and Broncos, Winston has successfully transitioned from pro sports to entrepreneurship and finance, building a career defined by resilience, accountability, and servant leadership.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Winston Justice (00:02):
So some things that I think sports kind of
thrusts you into is the abilityto fail, and use failure as a
way to get better, then alsousing the ability to win and use
that to get better too, becauseit's like instant results,
right? You lose the game. Youlook at the film, what can do do
to get better? You win. What canyou do to get better? So taking
(00:23):
that view of continuousimprovement into the business
world, I think, is extremelybeneficial.
Kelly Waltrich (00:31):
Welcome to the don't do that podcast. I'm Kelly
Waltrich, CEO and Co-Founder ofIntention.ly. And like me, this
show is no fluff and no BS, justsmart advice to help you learn
from the best and level upfaster. So what are we not doing
today? Let's find out. Hieveryone, and welcome to the
don't do that podcast. I'm yourhost, Kelly Walter, and today I
(00:54):
have with me a very specialguest. Winston Justice, the CEO
of SageSpring. Hi Winston,thanks for joining me.
Winston Justice (01:01):
Thank you so much for having me. Should be a
fun conversation. Yes, it
Kelly Waltrich (01:04):
will all right.
So tell me a little bit aboutSageSpring. Tell our listeners a
little bit about your
Unknown (01:09):
firm. So SageSpring is a wealth management, investment
management firm, also a multifamily office firm. We work with
ultra high network clients, highnetwork clients, and also we
work with institutional clientstoo, as well smaller ones, and
we manage roughly $7.8 billionnationwide. We are across 11
(01:30):
offices five different states,and we are a true fiduciary
means we have to work in thebest interests of our client.
Kelly Waltrich (01:37):
Awesome. So you and I met a couple of months
ago, and I thought your namesounded familiar, so I did a
little googling before our call.
Yeah. And it turns out you havean interesting path to the role
that you're in. So telleverybody a little bit about
your journey to CEO ofSageSpring.
Unknown (01:54):
Man, where do you want to start? Like, like, start
childhood journey? Or where ajourney
Kelly Waltrich (01:59):
I'm thinking like, two-thousand sixish.
Unknown (02:02):
Two-thousand six. Okay, not to be super specific, yeah.
So 2006 I was actually, was atUSC in California, and I was
finished up USC, finishing up,actually the beginning of 2006
we actually lost the nationalchampionship to Texas. That's
how my year started off, right?
And I was at USC, and I gotdrafted to the eagles that year,
(02:23):
and it was a awesome experience.
It was all so tough. A lot ofgrowth happened, right? I was
20, and I just met my girlfriendat the time, it was going to be
my wife, right? And in Philly, alot of growth happened at all my
kids in Philly, I keep makingthis joke with my wife and kids.
I went to Philly literally witha suitcase, and when I got
(02:47):
traded seven years later, I hadlike, a truck full of, like,
kids toys and three kids a wife,like a living room set like all
that is like, I mean, so muchgrowth happened. Also when I was
at Philly, I realized I wantedto get into business. I just
didn't know what. And when I wasat USC, I majored in public
policy, which was a major tostay eligible play football,
(03:09):
okay? And I realized I wanted todo something afterwards. I
didn't want football would be bethe best time of my life. And I
asked Andy reed to let me goback to school and get a
master's in finance. And heactually gave me the leeway to
go back and finish school. And Istarted a small VC fund because
I thought I wanted to be aventure capitalist. And that
(03:30):
experience made me realize Ididn't want to be a venture
capitalist. I wanted to be onthe public side of the market.
And so on the journey there, Istarted as a small chain of
coffee shops, actually, they'reactually, they're still going.
So if you're in here Philly,most of our stores, they are
actually in the Philly airport.
Now. They're called elixircoffee. So I started that when I
was with 22 Wow. And then, andthat's still going, we use that.
(03:51):
That's a really big giving toolfor my family, so we give a lot
of the prop to it, and it's agood connecting mechanism for
us. Yeah, when I was traded tothe cults that brought me to
reality, like, to the pointwhere this could end any moment.
Because when you're traded, it'sa really, it's odd. It's odd
feeling, right? Someone'straining you to another team
(04:12):
because they want to trade youwith another human being or a
draft pick for value, right,right? It's so weird to think
about,Yeah, and so Australia to Philly
Andy Reid was great about it. Iremember he was calling me. I
was getting on the 95 I wasright after the season or before
the draft, and I kind of made Ikind of thought, this is odd. He
(04:35):
doesn't really call me. And Ianswered. He's like, Hey, we're
thinking about trading you. Andhe said, What do you think? And
I said, Well, it's kind of likealready there. And so I traded
to the Colts, and after that,ended with the Broncos for two
years. And then when I thought Icould play, but no one else
thought so, right? Becausethat's how it ends, right? I
think could play, but not thinkso. I I started interviewing for
(04:57):
jobs. For two reasons. One,because it was out of fear,
right? Because I didn't want tojust sit home and do nothing. So
I was like, well, at least I'mgonna do something. And two, I
didn't want my life just to begoing to Costco with my wife.
Even though it's great, I enjoygoing to Costco with my wife,
especially on Saturdays, but Ididn't want that to be it. And
(05:20):
so I felt the physical for theCardinals on a Thursday. Started
at Wells Fargo as associateanalyst on a Tuesday, which was
great. And then I was recruitedto be a hedge fund manager of a
fund of funds based in SantaMonica. And then after that, I
was recruited to Bernstein, andthat's what brought me to
Nashville. And Bernstein, I leda team that managed assets for
(05:41):
nonprofits and foundations andfamily offices, and that was a
great business. And Bernstein isawesome firm. They really train
you to be expert at something,but you either stay at Bernstein
for 30 years or you leave afteryou get the expertise. And I
chose to take those skills inother places, and in November of
last year, I transitioned to bethe CEO SageSpring Private
(06:03):
Wealth. And, you know, Bernsteinwas a great experience, and we
still use Bernstein now. They'rea really great partner. We had
an off site in April, and weactually did it at the Bernstein
headquarters. And so it's cool.
It's a full circle. So that's myjourney here.
Kelly Waltrich (06:20):
Oh my gosh.
Okay, so so many questions.
First, is your wife a saint formoving as much as she needed to?
Oh,
Unknown (06:27):
Yeah, she I mean, our kids went to probably, my son
actually went to, like, sevendifferent schools, eight
different schools. So she'sdefinitely a champion. She's a
warrior. She's built tough.
Kelly Waltrich (06:37):
That's awesome.
So I imagine that the path thatyou took to get here, you have
some unique attributes, or youlearn some things that other ra
leaders don't have, like, what?
What does being an athlete atthat level, and sports sort of
teach you, and for those of youdon't know guys. So I found all
this out about Winston as I wasGoogling and I had to put
(07:00):
together a proposal for hisfirm, so I went ham over all the
things we could do with hisfootball background. Now you'll
notice you see none of that onhis website, so I have not
talked him into any of it yet,but my plan is, is to because
this is that's such a bigdifferentiator for you, I feel
like you must have taken a lotof that with you. Yeah, and
Unknown (07:20):
There's some stuff you can take, like, for instance, we
used to, you know, if you havean argument, you can fight
someone on the field. You can'treally choose that now that
sometime, yeah, but you can't doit. Some things that I think
sports kind of thrusts you into,is the ability to fail and use
failure as a way to get better,then also using the ability to
(07:42):
win, then use that to get bettertoo, because it's like instead
results, right? You lose thegame. You look at the film, what
can do do to get better? Youwin. What can you do to get
better? So taking that view ofcontinuous improvement into the
business world, I think, isextremely beneficial. Yeah, I
bet two is accountability. Youcan't deny accountability in
(08:03):
sports, right? If it's on thetape and everyone sees it in
business, you could kind of hidebehind certain things, right?
You could hide behind certainnumbers and drawing that out and
also creating accountabilitywith yourself and also with the
team, I think, is extremelybeneficial. And the third is
sports, you're thrust intoworking with people that you
might not like are you might notagree with your view on the
(08:26):
world, but you still got to worktogether anyway, because your
livelihood depends on it, andthe ability to work with
different types of people thathave different temperaments is
extremely beneficial and likethe business world, because it's
all about how you relate, inyour relational capacity to
other people. And so those arethree things I think, is
(08:46):
extremely beneficial as youbuild as athlete that you take
into the business world.
Kelly Waltrich (08:52):
Oh my gosh, that's so true. The last one,
like, rings so true, becausethat's, that's the toughest
thing about business, right?
Like, at the end of the day, youwant to work with just people
that you like, but the chancesof that happening are are small,
right?
Unknown (09:06):
Yeah, and you also don't like everyone all the
time, right, right? Like comesand goes, right? Totally. I
mean, look, I mean, you ask mywife, I know we're bringing up
her a lot, she probably doesn'tlike me 70% you know, she's not
liking me.
Kelly Waltrich (09:21):
Yeah, imagine my husband's in that camp too.
Think that's normal. I thinkthat's healthy, right? All
right, so you guys listeners,now you get why I love Winston,
like Philly. I have my Eaglescup here. I'm a little bit of a
crazy person about football, andwe're about to start the season.
(09:45):
So tell us, like, Who are youcheering for? Tell us how you
think about it now, like lookingback,
Unknown (09:51):
Yeah, you know, football was a very, it's a very
unique human experience that atthe time it was really. Really
hard to go through, but I valueevery moment of it. It's such a
big character builderopportunity. Now, what do I
watch? Now I watch a lot of myson's games. Yeah, that's it. I
(10:12):
watch my son's games. I watch mydaughter's soccer games, and
then I have another daughterthat plays volleyball, so that's
awesome. That is what I watch.
So I don't really sit down andwatch the little games, but I do
follow some of the coaches thatused to coach me, because all
the players are done. So Ifollow Andy Reid, yeah, I hope
he does well. I follow PeteCarroll. He's my coach in
(10:33):
college. Juan Castillo was thathe was my alpha flying coach of
the Eagles. Really close. Hebounced around a lot. So I do
follow coaches and then hopethat they do. Well,
Kelly Waltrich (10:42):
Aw, that's nice.
Okay, so tell us so SageSpring,what sets you guys apart, like,
and what, what kind of advisorsthrive with you? For those that
are listening and are lookingfor a new home or thinking about
what's next for them, like, tellus more about that.
Unknown (10:55):
Yeah, I think this business is primarily based upon
the foundation of relationship.
And I think we, as a firm, we'rethe best at stewardship and
legacy, stewarding a family'scapital, stewarding a family's
legacy. And some of that goesbeyond just wealth. It could be
the transfer of knowledge andvalues. It could be the transfer
of a business of thoughts, of away on how to codify how you
(11:19):
serve your family, right? Ithink all that goes into play
with serving a family and whatwe do very, very well. I do
think the business is changing.
I think the portfolio part ofthe bill business to actual
portfolio allocation of it isjust one piece of it, and I
think it's becoming smaller andsmaller. I think that's becoming
(11:41):
table stakes, right? I thinkwhat's extremely important with
serving families is, is yourfamily thriving, spiritually,
socially, is your familygrowing? And our advisors are
the best at partnering withfamilies to really do that,
because it's a very significant,sacred place that advisors are
in, right? People will talkabout anything, yep, right?
(12:02):
Addictions, problems, except howmuch money you're in saving or
investing or what's in your bankaccount. People are really
guarded about that. And for youto be in those rooms, those
living rooms, is a really sacredposition to be in. And the more
and more I do this job, the moreand more like it, because it's,
very a significant job rightnow. I get to serve the advisors
(12:24):
that are in those places, andsometimes the advisors call me
the joint, which is great, youknow, and I get to join, I get
to be part of their family'sjourney. That's so important,
right? And also institutionstoo, because you work with
smaller institutions, and whenyou work with a small one, it's
more impactful. It's more thanjust portfolio allocation and
(12:45):
meeting a spend. You're actuallyhelping that community get
better.
Kelly Waltrich (12:49):
That's amazing.
The CEO of Asset-Map, I don'tknow if you're familiar with
them, but Adam Holt, he held aan Influencer Round Table A
couple weeks ago, and he gottogether 50 financial planning
influencers and sat everybody ina room, and he said, what is
financial advice going to looklike in five years? And so we
did a whole bunch of round tablediscussions on that topic. And
generally, what you just said isvery much the direction that
(13:11):
everybody agreed upon, where thenumbers still matter, but people
are are looking for so much morethan that. They're looking for
meaning. And the financialadvisors and the firms who sort
of embrace that, are the onesthat are going to be well
positioned going into the nextdecade. So I think you're well
ahead of the curve in thatrespect.
Yeah, exactly, yeah, hopefully,hopefully, yeah. You never know
(13:39):
where that curve is going to be.
Yeah. You know. You know, I wassitting in that room and I'm
just going to be honest withyou, I played devil's advocate
for a second, and I was asecond, and I was like, Well,
what percentage of the peoplewant a hug from their advisor,
versus, like, just numbers thatlook good. I'm still, I still
want to know, because I don't. Ifeel like I lean less. I lean
more hard numbers than than therest of it. But I'm, I think
(14:01):
I'm...everybody in the room toldme that I was the minority, so I
don't know.
Winston Justice (14:07):
I think it's both. Yeah, I think you need to
have both, right? You can't justhave a relationship without any
portfolio allocation to that ornumbers to it, right, right? You
have, you need both. And I thinkthe advisor of tomorrow, it's
going to be both. They're alsogoing to be an advisor, like a
trusted advisor, right? Butthey're also need to have some
acumen on the investment part ofit too.
Kelly Waltrich (14:36):
Okay, so I mentioned earlier that I gave
you a whole bunch of ideas ofthings that you could do to
relate football to your to yourjob. And one that just popped
into my head is there are somany like, I think I have a five
year old, right? And he thinks,does every kid think that
they're going to be a proathlete coming out of college? I
think that they do from likefive to 20. They all think that
that's their future. And theyall have parents who are like,
(14:58):
Oh my gosh, no. You have to, youhave to figure out what you're
going to do with your life, evenif you're amazing at things,
right? Like, even if you'regreat, I feel like that's a,
that's a campaign for you liketo parents to help their
children make sure that they'replanning for beyond, beyond
sports.
Yeah, right. You know the thingis, you're going to be retired
(15:20):
athlete, wherever sport youplay, a lot longer current one.
So that's really important foryou to, like, think through. I
do think, though, and you'regoing to realize this when you
get older and your kids are getinto, like, the Pee Wee sports
is that sometimes parentsbelieve that their kids are
going pro too.
It's so true. Like, my son'sfive, and I believe it already.
Winston Justice (15:42):
I could look at the parent and I got the kid,
and I could say, well, chancesare is not going to make it. He
better hit the books, you know.
But everyone, it's so true.
Everyone, everyone should hitthe hit. Everyone should hit the
books is this. Parents startbelieve, they believe that their
kids can make it too.
Kelly Waltrich (16:01):
Oh, it comes from a good place, right? The
parents just want the best.
Well, listen, I'm going to tellyour marketing folks that we
need a campaign around that,because every parent, they think
their kids are destined forgreatness no matter what. So
yeah, they are anyway, yeah, allright. So Winston, the premise
of this show is that we learnbetter from our mistakes than
our wins, and so I've askedleaders all across financial
(16:25):
services mistakes that they madethat they want to help others
avoid. So what are we tellingeveryone not to do today?
So if I go back to you learnfrom your mistakes and your
wins. I do. I really do thinkyou do. I think you learn a lot,
(16:46):
but one way to stay optimisticis to hold on to your wins. You
can't forget that. Yeah, right.
It gives you hope, right? Itgives you some leverage going
going forward. It helps you keepkeep going. Because in any
business, any endeavor, that'shard, you're going to experience
a lot of loss, right? A lot of alot of not winning, right? And
in those moments when you notwin, you need to look back and
(17:08):
say, Well, I did win in this Icould probably keep going, you
know? So that's one, that's onething I would say. I'll
encourage everyone to hold on tosome of your wins.
I love that, don't overlook thewins,
Winston Justice (17:20):
Yeah, as as as hope to say, you keep going,
because if you're doing anythinghard, right, there's gonna be
times where you're gonna sayyou're gonna feel all alone, and
you're gonna say, I don't thinkI could do this. And you need to
tell yourself, I can.
Kelly Waltrich (17:34):
Oh my gosh. All right, well, maybe you're
starting the opposite podcast.
Winston Justice (17:37):
But I do have answer for you.
Kelly Waltrich (17:37):
Okay?
Winston Justice (17:39):
The answer is, this is to be present. So I
guess that's what you should dowell. So what you should not do
is not be present, meaning thatyou need to enjoy where you're
at now. And one thing that Ialways struggle with, I still
do, but I really struggled withthat what in my 20s and 30s is
(18:00):
that I was always looking forthe next thing, the next battle,
the next conquer, the next hillto climb. And when you climb
that hill, when you conquer thatnext thing, then it's like,
okay, well, where's the nextthing? And then you never get a
chance to really fully bepresent and be in those
relationships, in those momentsand really savor that. So that's
(18:24):
one thing that would that woulddo, and I tried to be very
conscious on how to do that nowand be present. Because of that,
I naturally, I'm looking for thenext thing, the next thing, the
next thing, and keep doing that.
You're never here. Yep, you'renever in reality. Oh my gosh,
that's what I try to be present.
Kelly Waltrich (18:43):
That might be one of my favorite ones ever.
And you know what my mom, when Iwas younger, she used to tell me
all the time, like, don't wishit away. And now I tell my kids
that because, like, it's so easyto be like, I can't wait for
summer, or I can't wait for ittill school's over, or I can't
wait till I get through thisbusiness meeting, or I can't
wait till this and it's like,no, you gotta, you're gonna wish
it away, and it goes too fastalready, right?
Winston Justice (19:05):
Yeah, stay in it, like, stay in the fight and
enjoy it. Like, I remember whenI was a football I just couldn't
wait till it was some practiceover. Our game was over, right?
I didn't stand there and justsavor the smell of the grass or
the fight of me going intodefensive end. I didn't, they
didn't savor all that. Or youmentioned you like kids, right?
(19:27):
When your kids are going throughpotty training, right? Man, I
just want this to be over justor like when you go on trick or
treating like. Man, I don't wantto go another block, you know.
But now it's like, when yourkids are 17, they're they don't
really want to go trick ortreating with you, right? Yeah,
I'll take that back. I know. Sonow it's like being present in a
17, 15, 14-year old, you know,life, which, it's a very
(19:49):
limiting right now.
Kelly Waltrich (19:50):
So oh my gosh, Winston, I think that's my
favorite one. Yet I'm sorry toall those that came before you,
but I love that, and I try topractice that in my life, and
it's so easier said than done.
But, and anybody, any, I don'tknow if this is true of all
humans, but I know any mom ofyoung kids that scrolls
Instagram, it's like onereminder after the next to hold
on to, like every moment. So Ifeel like I have a constant dose
(20:13):
of that, like they're not goingto be little forever, and you're
not going to have this momentfor so I try, I really do, but
it is. It's hard because some ofthe moments are tough and you
want to, you want to get pastsome. Yeah, pretty powerful.
Yeah. All right, for everybodythat's listening, even if you're
not a Philadelphia Eagles fan,that's okay. Today we have
Winston here, and he isreminding us his don't do that
(20:35):
is not to let it pass you buyand be present in the current
moment. So Winston, give us as aparting gift like, how do what
is your advice for people to beable to be as present as
possible?
Winston Justice (20:54):
Advice for being as present as possible? I
think the best advice is to bepresent as possible. It's a
(21:19):
constant choice.
Kelly Waltrich (21:21):
It is conI love it. I love it. Thank you so
much. I think that that'swonderful advice, and I
appreciate you so much fortaking the time, and I
appreciate you letting me presson your Philadelphia Eagles pass
because I love it so much. And Ialso am thanking you in advance
for all of the marketing ideas Ihave for you that I'm going to
(21:41):
be sending your way. Great.
Winston Justice (21:44):
Bring it on.
Yeah, we are ready. We're readyfor the challenge. Awesome.
Kelly Waltrich (21:50):
Challenge, too.
Awesome. Thank you so much.
Listen. This is awesome. Allright. Bye. Thanks so much for
tuning in. If you enjoyedtoday's show, subscribe to be
notified when new episodesbecome available, and please
consider giving us a five starreview on Apple or Spotify. This
podcast is sponsored byIntention.ly, a financial
(22:13):
services growth engine designconsultancy and agency. If you
want to learn more, please emailme at Kelly, at
growintentionally.com. Thank youagain for listening and check
back to hear what we're notdoing next.
Unknown (22:27):
The information covered and posted represents the views
and opinions of the guest anddoes not necessarily represent
the views or opinions of KellyWaltrich. The content has been
made available for informationaland educational purposes only.
So some things that I think sports kind of
thrusts you into is the abilityto fail, and use failure as a
way to get better, then alsousing the ability to win and use
that to get better too, becauseit's like instant results,
right? You lose the game. Youlook at the film, what can do do
to get better? You win. What canyou do to get better? So taking
(00:23):
that view of continuousimprovement into the business
world, I think, is extremelybeneficial.
Kelly Waltrich (00:31):
Welcome to the don't do that podcast. I'm Kelly
Waltrich, CEO and Co-Founder ofIntention.ly. And like me, this
show is no fluff and no BS, justsmart advice to help you learn
from the best and level upfaster. So what are we not doing
today? Let's find out. Hieveryone, and welcome to the
don't do that podcast. I'm yourhost, Kelly Walter, and today I
(00:54):
have with me a very specialguest. Winston Justice, the CEO
of SageSpring. Hi Winston,thanks for joining me.
Winston Justice (01:01):
Thank you so much for having me. Should be a
fun conversation. Yes, it
Kelly Waltrich (01:04):
will all right.
So tell me a little bit aboutSageSpring. Tell our listeners a
little bit about your
Unknown (01:09):
firm. So SageSpring is a wealth management, investment
management firm, also a multifamily office firm. We work with
ultra high network clients, highnetwork clients, and also we
work with institutional clientstoo, as well smaller ones, and
we manage roughly $7.8 billionnationwide. We are across 11
(01:30):
offices five different states,and we are a true fiduciary
means we have to work in thebest interests of our client.
Kelly Waltrich (01:37):
Awesome. So you and I met a couple of months
ago, and I thought your namesounded familiar, so I did a
little googling before our call.
Yeah. And it turns out you havean interesting path to the role
that you're in. So telleverybody a little bit about
your journey to CEO ofSageSpring.
Unknown (01:54):
Man, where do you want to start? Like, like, start
childhood journey? Or where ajourney
Kelly Waltrich (01:59):
I'm thinking like, two-thousand sixish.
Unknown (02:02):
Two-thousand six. Okay, not to be super specific, yeah.
So 2006 I was actually, was atUSC in California, and I was
finished up USC, finishing up,actually the beginning of 2006
we actually lost the nationalchampionship to Texas. That's
how my year started off, right?
And I was at USC, and I gotdrafted to the eagles that year,
(02:23):
and it was a awesome experience.
It was all so tough. A lot ofgrowth happened, right? I was
20, and I just met my girlfriendat the time, it was going to be
my wife, right? And in Philly, alot of growth happened at all my
kids in Philly, I keep makingthis joke with my wife and kids.
I went to Philly literally witha suitcase, and when I got
(02:47):
traded seven years later, I hadlike, a truck full of, like,
kids toys and three kids a wife,like a living room set like all
that is like, I mean, so muchgrowth happened. Also when I was
at Philly, I realized I wantedto get into business. I just
didn't know what. And when I wasat USC, I majored in public
policy, which was a major tostay eligible play football,
(03:09):
okay? And I realized I wanted todo something afterwards. I
didn't want football would be bethe best time of my life. And I
asked Andy reed to let me goback to school and get a
master's in finance. And heactually gave me the leeway to
go back and finish school. And Istarted a small VC fund because
I thought I wanted to be aventure capitalist. And that
(03:30):
experience made me realize Ididn't want to be a venture
capitalist. I wanted to be onthe public side of the market.
And so on the journey there, Istarted as a small chain of
coffee shops, actually, they'reactually, they're still going.
So if you're in here Philly,most of our stores, they are
actually in the Philly airport.
Now. They're called elixircoffee. So I started that when I
was with 22 Wow. And then, andthat's still going, we use that.
(03:51):
That's a really big giving toolfor my family, so we give a lot
of the prop to it, and it's agood connecting mechanism for
us. Yeah, when I was traded tothe cults that brought me to
reality, like, to the pointwhere this could end any moment.
Because when you're traded, it'sa really, it's odd. It's odd
feeling, right? Someone'straining you to another team
(04:12):
because they want to trade youwith another human being or a
draft pick for value, right,right? It's so weird to think
about,Yeah, and so Australia to Philly
Andy Reid was great about it. Iremember he was calling me. I
was getting on the 95 I wasright after the season or before
the draft, and I kind of made Ikind of thought, this is odd. He
(04:35):
doesn't really call me. And Ianswered. He's like, Hey, we're
thinking about trading you. Andhe said, What do you think? And
I said, Well, it's kind of likealready there. And so I traded
to the Colts, and after that,ended with the Broncos for two
years. And then when I thought Icould play, but no one else
thought so, right? Becausethat's how it ends, right? I
think could play, but not thinkso. I I started interviewing for
(04:57):
jobs. For two reasons. One,because it was out of fear,
right? Because I didn't want tojust sit home and do nothing. So
I was like, well, at least I'mgonna do something. And two, I
didn't want my life just to begoing to Costco with my wife.
Even though it's great, I enjoygoing to Costco with my wife,
especially on Saturdays, but Ididn't want that to be it. And
(05:20):
so I felt the physical for theCardinals on a Thursday. Started
at Wells Fargo as associateanalyst on a Tuesday, which was
great. And then I was recruitedto be a hedge fund manager of a
fund of funds based in SantaMonica. And then after that, I
was recruited to Bernstein, andthat's what brought me to
Nashville. And Bernstein, I leda team that managed assets for
(05:41):
nonprofits and foundations andfamily offices, and that was a
great business. And Bernstein isawesome firm. They really train
you to be expert at something,but you either stay at Bernstein
for 30 years or you leave afteryou get the expertise. And I
chose to take those skills inother places, and in November of
last year, I transitioned to bethe CEO SageSpring Private
(06:03):
Wealth. And, you know, Bernsteinwas a great experience, and we
still use Bernstein now. They'rea really great partner. We had
an off site in April, and weactually did it at the Bernstein
headquarters. And so it's cool.
It's a full circle. So that's myjourney here.
Kelly Waltrich (06:20):
Oh my gosh.
Okay, so so many questions.
First, is your wife a saint formoving as much as she needed to?
Oh,
Unknown (06:27):
Yeah, she I mean, our kids went to probably, my son
actually went to, like, sevendifferent schools, eight
different schools. So she'sdefinitely a champion. She's a
warrior. She's built tough.
Kelly Waltrich (06:37):
That's awesome.
So I imagine that the path thatyou took to get here, you have
some unique attributes, or youlearn some things that other ra
leaders don't have, like, what?
What does being an athlete atthat level, and sports sort of
teach you, and for those of youdon't know guys. So I found all
this out about Winston as I wasGoogling and I had to put
(07:00):
together a proposal for hisfirm, so I went ham over all the
things we could do with hisfootball background. Now you'll
notice you see none of that onhis website, so I have not
talked him into any of it yet,but my plan is, is to because
this is that's such a bigdifferentiator for you, I feel
like you must have taken a lotof that with you. Yeah, and
Unknown (07:20):
There's some stuff you can take, like, for instance, we
used to, you know, if you havean argument, you can fight
someone on the field. You can'treally choose that now that
sometime, yeah, but you can't doit. Some things that I think
sports kind of thrusts you into,is the ability to fail and use
failure as a way to get better,then also using the ability to
(07:42):
win, then use that to get bettertoo, because it's like instead
results, right? You lose thegame. You look at the film, what
can do do to get better? Youwin. What can you do to get
better? So taking that view ofcontinuous improvement into the
business world, I think, isextremely beneficial. Yeah, I
bet two is accountability. Youcan't deny accountability in
(08:03):
sports, right? If it's on thetape and everyone sees it in
business, you could kind of hidebehind certain things, right?
You could hide behind certainnumbers and drawing that out and
also creating accountabilitywith yourself and also with the
team, I think, is extremelybeneficial. And the third is
sports, you're thrust intoworking with people that you
might not like are you might notagree with your view on the
(08:26):
world, but you still got to worktogether anyway, because your
livelihood depends on it, andthe ability to work with
different types of people thathave different temperaments is
extremely beneficial and likethe business world, because it's
all about how you relate, inyour relational capacity to
other people. And so those arethree things I think, is
(08:46):
extremely beneficial as youbuild as athlete that you take
into the business world.
Kelly Waltrich (08:52):
Oh my gosh, that's so true. The last one,
like, rings so true, becausethat's, that's the toughest
thing about business, right?
Like, at the end of the day, youwant to work with just people
that you like, but the chancesof that happening are are small,
right?
Unknown (09:06):
Yeah, and you also don't like everyone all the
time, right, right? Like comesand goes, right? Totally. I
mean, look, I mean, you ask mywife, I know we're bringing up
her a lot, she probably doesn'tlike me 70% you know, she's not
liking me.
Kelly Waltrich (09:21):
Yeah, imagine my husband's in that camp too.
Think that's normal. I thinkthat's healthy, right? All
right, so you guys listeners,now you get why I love Winston,
like Philly. I have my Eaglescup here. I'm a little bit of a
crazy person about football, andwe're about to start the season.
(09:45):
So tell us, like, Who are youcheering for? Tell us how you
think about it now, like lookingback,
Unknown (09:51):
Yeah, you know, football was a very, it's a very
unique human experience that atthe time it was really. Really
hard to go through, but I valueevery moment of it. It's such a
big character builderopportunity. Now, what do I
watch? Now I watch a lot of myson's games. Yeah, that's it. I
(10:12):
watch my son's games. I watch mydaughter's soccer games, and
then I have another daughterthat plays volleyball, so that's
awesome. That is what I watch.
So I don't really sit down andwatch the little games, but I do
follow some of the coaches thatused to coach me, because all
the players are done. So Ifollow Andy Reid, yeah, I hope
he does well. I follow PeteCarroll. He's my coach in
(10:33):
college. Juan Castillo was thathe was my alpha flying coach of
the Eagles. Really close. Hebounced around a lot. So I do
follow coaches and then hopethat they do. Well,
Kelly Waltrich (10:42):
Aw, that's nice.
Okay, so tell us so SageSpring,what sets you guys apart, like,
and what, what kind of advisorsthrive with you? For those that
are listening and are lookingfor a new home or thinking about
what's next for them, like, tellus more about that.
Unknown (10:55):
Yeah, I think this business is primarily based upon
the foundation of relationship.
And I think we, as a firm, we'rethe best at stewardship and
legacy, stewarding a family'scapital, stewarding a family's
legacy. And some of that goesbeyond just wealth. It could be
the transfer of knowledge andvalues. It could be the transfer
of a business of thoughts, of away on how to codify how you
(11:19):
serve your family, right? Ithink all that goes into play
with serving a family and whatwe do very, very well. I do
think the business is changing.
I think the portfolio part ofthe bill business to actual
portfolio allocation of it isjust one piece of it, and I
think it's becoming smaller andsmaller. I think that's becoming
(11:41):
table stakes, right? I thinkwhat's extremely important with
serving families is, is yourfamily thriving, spiritually,
socially, is your familygrowing? And our advisors are
the best at partnering withfamilies to really do that,
because it's a very significant,sacred place that advisors are
in, right? People will talkabout anything, yep, right?
(12:02):
Addictions, problems, except howmuch money you're in saving or
investing or what's in your bankaccount. People are really
guarded about that. And for youto be in those rooms, those
living rooms, is a really sacredposition to be in. And the more
and more I do this job, the moreand more like it, because it's,
very a significant job rightnow. I get to serve the advisors
(12:24):
that are in those places, andsometimes the advisors call me
the joint, which is great, youknow, and I get to join, I get
to be part of their family'sjourney. That's so important,
right? And also institutionstoo, because you work with
smaller institutions, and whenyou work with a small one, it's
more impactful. It's more thanjust portfolio allocation and
(12:45):
meeting a spend. You're actuallyhelping that community get
better.
Kelly Waltrich (12:49):
That's amazing.
The CEO of Asset-Map, I don'tknow if you're familiar with
them, but Adam Holt, he held aan Influencer Round Table A
couple weeks ago, and he gottogether 50 financial planning
influencers and sat everybody ina room, and he said, what is
financial advice going to looklike in five years? And so we
did a whole bunch of round tablediscussions on that topic. And
generally, what you just said isvery much the direction that
(13:11):
everybody agreed upon, where thenumbers still matter, but people
are are looking for so much morethan that. They're looking for
meaning. And the financialadvisors and the firms who sort
of embrace that, are the onesthat are going to be well
positioned going into the nextdecade. So I think you're well
ahead of the curve in thatrespect.
Yeah, exactly, yeah, hopefully,hopefully, yeah. You never know
(13:39):
where that curve is going to be.
Yeah. You know. You know, I wassitting in that room and I'm
just going to be honest withyou, I played devil's advocate
for a second, and I was asecond, and I was like, Well,
what percentage of the peoplewant a hug from their advisor,
versus, like, just numbers thatlook good. I'm still, I still
want to know, because I don't. Ifeel like I lean less. I lean
more hard numbers than than therest of it. But I'm, I think
(14:01):
I'm...everybody in the room toldme that I was the minority, so I
don't know.
Winston Justice (14:07):
I think it's both. Yeah, I think you need to
have both, right? You can't justhave a relationship without any
portfolio allocation to that ornumbers to it, right, right? You
have, you need both. And I thinkthe advisor of tomorrow, it's
going to be both. They're alsogoing to be an advisor, like a
trusted advisor, right? Butthey're also need to have some
acumen on the investment part ofit too.
Kelly Waltrich (14:36):
Okay, so I mentioned earlier that I gave
you a whole bunch of ideas ofthings that you could do to
relate football to your to yourjob. And one that just popped
into my head is there are somany like, I think I have a five
year old, right? And he thinks,does every kid think that
they're going to be a proathlete coming out of college? I
think that they do from likefive to 20. They all think that
that's their future. And theyall have parents who are like,
(14:58):
Oh my gosh, no. You have to, youhave to figure out what you're
going to do with your life, evenif you're amazing at things,
right? Like, even if you'regreat, I feel like that's a,
that's a campaign for you liketo parents to help their
children make sure that they'replanning for beyond, beyond
sports.
Yeah, right. You know the thingis, you're going to be retired
(15:20):
athlete, wherever sport youplay, a lot longer current one.
So that's really important foryou to, like, think through. I
do think, though, and you'regoing to realize this when you
get older and your kids are getinto, like, the Pee Wee sports
is that sometimes parentsbelieve that their kids are
going pro too.
It's so true. Like, my son'sfive, and I believe it already.
Winston Justice (15:42):
I could look at the parent and I got the kid,
and I could say, well, chancesare is not going to make it. He
better hit the books, you know.
But everyone, it's so true.
Everyone, everyone should hitthe hit. Everyone should hit the
books is this. Parents startbelieve, they believe that their
kids can make it too.
Kelly Waltrich (16:01):
Oh, it comes from a good place, right? The
parents just want the best.
Well, listen, I'm going to tellyour marketing folks that we
need a campaign around that,because every parent, they think
their kids are destined forgreatness no matter what. So
yeah, they are anyway, yeah, allright. So Winston, the premise
of this show is that we learnbetter from our mistakes than
our wins, and so I've askedleaders all across financial
(16:25):
services mistakes that they madethat they want to help others
avoid. So what are we tellingeveryone not to do today?
So if I go back to you learnfrom your mistakes and your
wins. I do. I really do thinkyou do. I think you learn a lot,
(16:46):
but one way to stay optimisticis to hold on to your wins. You
can't forget that. Yeah, right.
It gives you hope, right? Itgives you some leverage going
going forward. It helps you keepkeep going. Because in any
business, any endeavor, that'shard, you're going to experience
a lot of loss, right? A lot of alot of not winning, right? And
in those moments when you notwin, you need to look back and
(17:08):
say, Well, I did win in this Icould probably keep going, you
know? So that's one, that's onething I would say. I'll
encourage everyone to hold on tosome of your wins.
I love that, don't overlook thewins,
Winston Justice (17:20):
Yeah, as as as hope to say, you keep going,
because if you're doing anythinghard, right, there's gonna be
times where you're gonna sayyou're gonna feel all alone, and
you're gonna say, I don't thinkI could do this. And you need to
tell yourself, I can.
Kelly Waltrich (17:34):
Oh my gosh. All right, well, maybe you're
starting the opposite podcast.
Winston Justice (17:37):
But I do have answer for you.
Kelly Waltrich (17:37):
Okay?
Winston Justice (17:39):
The answer is, this is to be present. So I
guess that's what you should dowell. So what you should not do
is not be present, meaning thatyou need to enjoy where you're
at now. And one thing that Ialways struggle with, I still
do, but I really struggled withthat what in my 20s and 30s is
(18:00):
that I was always looking forthe next thing, the next battle,
the next conquer, the next hillto climb. And when you climb
that hill, when you conquer thatnext thing, then it's like,
okay, well, where's the nextthing? And then you never get a
chance to really fully bepresent and be in those
relationships, in those momentsand really savor that. So that's
(18:24):
one thing that would that woulddo, and I tried to be very
conscious on how to do that nowand be present. Because of that,
I naturally, I'm looking for thenext thing, the next thing, the
next thing, and keep doing that.
You're never here. Yep, you'renever in reality. Oh my gosh,
that's what I try to be present.
Kelly Waltrich (18:43):
That might be one of my favorite ones ever.
And you know what my mom, when Iwas younger, she used to tell me
all the time, like, don't wishit away. And now I tell my kids
that because, like, it's so easyto be like, I can't wait for
summer, or I can't wait for ittill school's over, or I can't
wait till I get through thisbusiness meeting, or I can't
wait till this and it's like,no, you gotta, you're gonna wish
it away, and it goes too fastalready, right?
Winston Justice (19:05):
Yeah, stay in it, like, stay in the fight and
enjoy it. Like, I remember whenI was a football I just couldn't
wait till it was some practiceover. Our game was over, right?
I didn't stand there and justsavor the smell of the grass or
the fight of me going intodefensive end. I didn't, they
didn't savor all that. Or youmentioned you like kids, right?
(19:27):
When your kids are going throughpotty training, right? Man, I
just want this to be over justor like when you go on trick or
treating like. Man, I don't wantto go another block, you know.
But now it's like, when yourkids are 17, they're they don't
really want to go trick ortreating with you, right? Yeah,
I'll take that back. I know. Sonow it's like being present in a
17, 15, 14-year old, you know,life, which, it's a very
(19:49):
limiting right now.
Kelly Waltrich (19:50):
So oh my gosh, Winston, I think that's my
favorite one. Yet I'm sorry toall those that came before you,
but I love that, and I try topractice that in my life, and
it's so easier said than done.
But, and anybody, any, I don'tknow if this is true of all
humans, but I know any mom ofyoung kids that scrolls
Instagram, it's like onereminder after the next to hold
on to, like every moment. So Ifeel like I have a constant dose
(20:13):
of that, like they're not goingto be little forever, and you're
not going to have this momentfor so I try, I really do, but
it is. It's hard because some ofthe moments are tough and you
want to, you want to get pastsome. Yeah, pretty powerful.
Yeah. All right, for everybodythat's listening, even if you're
not a Philadelphia Eagles fan,that's okay. Today we have
Winston here, and he isreminding us his don't do that
(20:35):
is not to let it pass you buyand be present in the current
moment. So Winston, give us as aparting gift like, how do what
is your advice for people to beable to be as present as
possible?
Winston Justice (20:54):
Advice for being as present as possible? I
think the best advice is to bepresent as possible. It's a
(21:19):
constant choice.
Kelly Waltrich (21:21):
It is conI love it. I love it. Thank you so
much. I think that that'swonderful advice, and I
appreciate you so much fortaking the time, and I
appreciate you letting me presson your Philadelphia Eagles pass
because I love it so much. And Ialso am thanking you in advance
for all of the marketing ideas Ihave for you that I'm going to
(21:41):
be sending your way. Great.
Winston Justice (21:44):
Bring it on.
Yeah, we are ready. We're readyfor the challenge. Awesome.
Kelly Waltrich (21:50):
Challenge, too.
Awesome. Thank you so much.
Listen. This is awesome. Allright. Bye. Thanks so much for
tuning in. If you enjoyedtoday's show, subscribe to be
notified when new episodesbecome available, and please
consider giving us a five starreview on Apple or Spotify. This
podcast is sponsored byIntention.ly, a financial
(22:13):
services growth engine designconsultancy and agency. If you
want to learn more, please emailme at Kelly, at
growintentionally.com. Thank youagain for listening and check
back to hear what we're notdoing next.
Unknown (22:27):
The information covered and posted represents the views
and opinions of the guest anddoes not necessarily represent
the views or opinions of KellyWaltrich. The content has been
made available for informationaland educational purposes only.
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