Brian Seymour on the Power of Coaching

In this episode of Focused on the Future, Suzanne Siracuse talks with Brian Seymour, principal and founder of Prosperitage Wealth on why his unique social media videos are really resonating with clients, the lessons he learned since launching his own RIA and the significant impact his coaches have had on his career.  Specifically, Brian discusses: …

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Episode Transcript

(00:07):
- Hi, I am Suzanne Syracuse.
Welcome to season two of my podcast,
focused on the future keysto building a profitable,
sustainable, and impactful business.
And I'm excited to be partnering
with wealth management.com on this.
This series will focus onwhat firms need to embrace
to ensure their growth andsuccess for the future.
And you'll hear from industry leaders

(00:28):
and advisors on what's working for them.
I have a great lineup of guests in store,
and today I'm talking with Brian Seymour.
Brian is the principal
and founder of Prosperity Wealth,
a fee only RIA based justoutside of Atlanta, dedicated
to closing the racial wealth gap

(00:48):
by helping black professionalsmake smart money decisions
through unbiased financial advice.
He is A CFP
and holds a multitude ofadvanced designations.
And looking at his bio ,
I honestly think he has everyprofessional designation
possible for a financial advisor.

(01:08):
We'll get into that. Um, inhis spare time, he moonlights
as a youth chauffeur, a sports coach,
and is a proud member ofAlpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
Well, welcome Brian.
I don't know how you havetime for any of that,
but, um, thanks for being my guest
and I'm really looking forwardto our conversation today

(01:29):
and learning more aboutyou and your story.
And so I'd love to start there.
Tell us about your journey into the
wealth management industry.
Tell us a little bit about your story.
- Yeah, thank you Suzanne,for the, for the introduction
and, and for inviting me on the podcast.
Really appreciate it.
Really looking forward to the,

(01:50):
to the conversation this morning.
Um, yeah,
so my story into theindustry was, you know,
non-traditional, if you will.
I had been fascinated with math and,
and money for a long time.
I remember, you know, my momhaving me calculate the bill

(02:11):
with, with coupons
and stuff as we weregoing through the grocery
store as a young kid.
And so, you know, goingthrough school and,
and then learning aboutphysics, um, I, I thought
that I was gonna be an engineer.
And so my freshman year Iwas actually an aerospace
engineering major down in Florida.
And for as much as I enjoyedit, I, I did not enjoy the,
the culture there, the,the school very much.

(02:33):
So I actually transferredto, uh, the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
thinking I was gonna be an econ major.
And, uh, as much as I liked Econ 1 0 1,
I really fell in lovewith philosophy 1 0 1 and,
and ended up majoring in it.
So, went completely different direction.
And, you know, I look back now and, and,

(02:56):
and thankful for what ittaught me about how to think,
but when I talk to different clients
and people about kind of whatmy degrees were in, they're,
they're very interested to find out.
Um, it was in philosophy.
And so with the market, not hiring a lot
of philosophers at that time.
I went to grad school, uh,for international development

(03:19):
and, um, thought that Iwas gonna be an ambassador,
you know, shifted a little bit.
And I was working in a lot
of different jobs while I was in
school, a lot of sales jobs.
I sold cars and beds, jewelry.
And I was actually managing a GNC
and a recruiter fromNorthwestern Mutual came in

(03:40):
and we, we were talking
and she's like, you'rereally good at this.
And I was like, good at, youknow, selling supplements
or she's like, no, you're,you're good at talking to people.
Um, you're good at listening to people.
Have you ever thought aboutbeing a financial advisor?
And, and I hadn't.
And so that, that was my,my own rank to the industry.

(04:00):
- Wow. Well, first of all,
you said some reallyinteresting things there.
First of all, ,there's not a market
for philosophers, right?
Like, Socrates is not, you know, uh,
they're not hiring thenext Socrates, right?
But, you know, what's, what'sreally cool about the fact
that you were interestedin philosophy is a lot

(04:21):
of the advisors thatI have on this podcast
always reference back Corina Diamond,
who was on a couple episodesago that, um, she wanted
to be a psychiatrist.
And like, there's this wholeaspect of being an advisor
that is like a therapist
and is like getting peopleto think about things.

(04:41):
It's not always just about the money.
And so I think when you have
that added dimension in your background
or in your interest level,it tends to be a really great
transferable skill that youcan use in financial advice.
So, little did you know, I guess that,
that you would be able toput in, put some of that

(05:02):
to use in, in your job as afinancial advisor, correct?
- No idea. No idea.
You, you, you couldn't have told me,
but, um, I do appreciate it.
- Yeah. I just did anotherwebinar with a woman from RBC,
and she also got a callwhen she was in sales.

(05:24):
I forget what she was selling,but from Northwestern Mutual.
So whatever Northwestern Mutualis doing from a recruitment
standpoint, from bringingother industries into financial
services, they're obviouslydoing a great job.
So, so you get recruited
'cause you were good at sales,
you were personable, all of that.
Then what did you go work

(05:44):
for Northwestern Mutual? I take it.
- So I, I would like totell the story that it was
that smooth of a transition,
but initially when they broughtme in for the interviews,
they liked everything on paper,
but they did not think
that my network would bebig enough to be successful.
Essentially, they wannamake sure that you have 200

(06:04):
or so people that you canpretty readily call up
and hopefully, um, make a client.
And, you know, being in grad school myself
and not making a, a ton ofmoney, I did not have a lot
of people in my network thatwere making a ton of money.
And they were like, you know,go do some community events,

(06:25):
build your network, somedifferent things like that.
So I waited maybe 90 days or so
and put down everybody I knew on the list.
I mean, I made sure I hadenough people on that list
because I knew if I had the opportunity
that I would be successfulthat I would make a way.
And, you know, with themkind of telling me the, the,

(06:45):
the only reason is youdon't know enough people.
Like, well, I can meet people.I I meet people every day.
My wife gets mad at me when I travel
because I meet everybody.
You know, I've nevermet a stranger, I say.
So I knew if I had the
opportunity I could take advantage of.
But I did end up to answer yourquestion, long, long story.
I did end up working forNorthwestern Mutual, and,
and their training is just exceptional.

(07:07):
I mean, they reallymake sure that you learn
not only about insurance,
but at that time they werereally moving in the planning.
I had the opportunity to workwith a lot of older advisors
who had been in the industry, had a lot
of women advisors actually,that were really real,
real rock stars and allowedme to, to work with them

(07:30):
and see how they ran their practice and,
and really looked out for me.
So, although it didnot end up working out,
I really enjoyed my experienceat Northwestern Mutual.
And the training is definitely,you know, the springboard
and, and the opportunity that I got there
that led me to get here.
- Yeah. And you know, though,I I, I still feel like that,

(07:52):
that, you know, the call all your friends
and family approach is gotto start to change, right?
Like, it really hinders, it'sa barrier for the majority
of people to even wannacome into this industry.
And so really figuringout different ways to
help set up leads that are there

(08:13):
that can be called onversus having to, having
to rely on your friends and family.
I think that's a, that'sa very, I don't know,
I think it's an outdated approach to, to
how somebody is gonna besuccessful in this industry.
So after that, where did you go?
Did you start, did you startyour REA right after that? So,
- So, no, I actually, so Iactually had the opportunity

(08:36):
to start working remotely
after my wife got a position with UVA.
So we moved to Charlottesville, Virginia,
and I was working on a teamwith Northwestern Mutual,
and I was actually approached by Allstate.
And I had never been in a
competitive situation with Allstate.
I I did not know that that was anything

(08:58):
that they did whatsoever.
But to the point that you justmade the opportunity there
was, they already had 20, 30,000 families
that they were alreadyworking with in the area
that they had arelationship with, with home
or auto insurance.
And I was there to providethe financial services.
And that opportunity,you know, to the point

(09:20):
that you just made is a lotdifferent than call your friends
and your family becauseyou're only gonna have so many
of those no matter how goodyou are at making friends.
And so Allstate really gaveme the opportunity to use all
of the training that I hadbuilt up at Northwestern Mutual
because there weren't alot of CFPs at Allstate,
there weren't a lot ofpeople that did the type

(09:42):
of planning that I did.
Mm-Hmm. . And soI was able to provide a lot
of value to clients
and working with people that made, uh,
a a little bit to people thatwere millionaires and it,
and it really allowed me tosharpen a lot of these skills
that I was more supportive at,

(10:05):
at Northwestern Mutual.
- Yeah, that's, um, that's great.
Now you mentioned your CFP
and I, I kind of laughed alittle bit in the beginning
about, you know, uh,
looking at all theseaccreditations when you,
when you look at your long bio,there's, you've got I think,
every single certificationaccreditation, but, so,
but what made it importantfor you to get that

(10:29):
CFP or some of those other accreditations?
Was that just a requirementof where you were,
or like, what was yourmotivation to, to really,
'cause it's, it's a lot ofwork, , it's a lot
of extra studying and extrainformation that you Yeah.
That you don't necessarilyneed, right? Mm-Hmm.

(10:50):
. So what, whatmade you decide to pursue all
of those certificationsand accreditations? Yeah,
- You know, it, it is a lot of work.
And, you know, I had peoplein, in certain positions
to tell me that I needed tofocus a little bit more on the,
the selling than the education early on.

(11:10):
And I knew a couple of things.
I knew how important education was,
and I knew that the, the initial barriers,
the entry into our field aren't very high.
So, to answer your other question, no,
it wasn't a requirement, but I was young.
I used to make sure that I hada, a full beard at that time.

(11:31):
I would wear my glasses a lot more often.
Um, and I wanted to make surethat these people that were,
were twice my age
and were entrusting me tomanage their life savings,
knew that I was serious about what I do.
I think that any real professionrequires not only an amount
of education, I'm not sayingnecessarily a college degree,

(11:53):
but continuing education.
If you're a lawyer, if you're a doctor,
if you're doing anythingthat's really important, um,
the industry's gonna change
and you wanna make surethat you're on top of it.
And, you know, honestly, I knew that
and have known for a longtime that there were going
to be some people who judged me by the way
that I looked before I everhad a chance to speak to them

(12:17):
before they ever hadthe opportunity to learn
how intelligent that I was.
Mm-Hmm. . And soputting all those additional
letters behind my name gave,uh, them one less reason
to question the reason why I was there.
- Yeah. Just almost likelegitimizing, you know,
who you are, what you'redoing, why you as an,

(12:41):
as a financial expertcould help this, you know,
this family, this individual,this couple, et cetera.
And, um, I think that'sactually very smart to do.
And, and, and it,
and it's gotta be hard when you're young
in this business, right?
That you know, you, you're right.
You're, you're, you know,people are entrusting their,
their life savings to, to you.

(13:02):
And so the responsibilitythat it sounds like you felt
to make sure that youwere as knowledgeable
as you could possibly be,
maybe you didn't have allthe experience in years,
but you could at least,you know, really, um,
do a crash course inknowledge and education.
I think that's really admirable
and probably led you towhy you're successful now.

(13:26):
Absolutely. So that, that's really,
that's really interesting and
that's a great lesson out therefor, for some of the other,
um, advisors that are looking to,
to really take theirbusiness to the next level.
And, and speaking of, um, Iwanna switch into, you know,
kind of how you
and I are, how you are now aguest on this podcast, right?

(13:47):
So, so most of my guests so far,
I've known for years, right?
I've been in the business a long time.
I've met a lot of people over the years.
There's people that, that just I remember
and I wanna bring on andthey have a cool story
or they've something interesting to share.
Um, but you and I had never met
and I was scrolling onLinkedIn as we do, right.

(14:08):
And I noticed your video postsand your profile description
and, um, I was reallyintrigued as I thought it was
a really unique approach,
and I thought, I wanna know him, um,
I wanna learn more abouthis story, and here we are.
And so, so how did youcome up with, I know a lot

(14:29):
of advisors struggle withthis with social media
and being authentic and unique,
but how did you come up withyour social media strategy?
It obviously worked on meand has it proven effective?
And, and how has it helped you
so far in your overallmarketing efforts with clients?
- Yeah, yeah. So first off, thank you.

(14:50):
I I really do appreciateyou inviting me on and,
and really appreciatethe work that you do,
shining spotlight on,you know, voices that,
that always don't get represented.
And so thank you, thankyou for, for everything
that you don't for for the industry. I
- Appreciate that. Thank you.

(15:10):
- You know, as far as thesocial media, I, I wish
that I could take the credit,
but it, it was really,uh, a couple of my coaches
that really pushed me intoleaning into, into my superpower,
into being authentically me.
Because, you know, I don't have
vanguard's assets under management and I,

(15:30):
and I'm never gonna haveFidelity's marketing budget,
but, you know, nobodycan be me better than me.
. And so I rememberthat, you know, me
and Arlene, we were in a meeting
and I don't know exactlywhat I was saying,
but I clearly wasn't being myself.
And, and she was just like, Brian,
who do you wanna work with?

(15:52):
And I said, black professionals.
And she said, then,then stop playing around
and speak to them.
You just said that they need help
and if you don't do it, then who will?
And it was, it was pretty immediately
after that that i, I revamped the website
and revamped the LinkedInand, and the social media,

(16:12):
because what I found is
that I was speakinglike other advisors do,
my LinkedIn is full of lots of advisors.
So I was dressing like they do
and knowing the charts that they did,
and the same boring stuffthat I would make fun of
of other people for going .
And I, gosh, I hope, Ihope this isn't too dated
of a reference, but have,have you seen Cool Runnings?

(16:35):
- I haven't. Should I have,
- I'm So the, it's, it's the movie.
What is, is it a movie?It's a movie about the
Jamaican bobsled team.It's like based, oh,
- Yes.
I didn't know that was the name of it.
Of course I saw that years ago.
- Yeah. See, I told you Ididn't remember the name of it.
Okay. So I dunno if you remember,
but there's, there's thatscene where like, well, well,
not even that scene dice the whole time.
Like, he sees the Swiss
and the Swiss are likethe best box letters,

(16:56):
and he's like, oh man, Iwant to be like the Swiss.
He's talking like the Swiss,he's wearing the Swiss colors,
he's counting in Swiss whenthe Jamaicans are racing
and Saka has to pull him aside.
And he's like, Ari, you're not Swiss.
And and Reese is like,you know, I'm just trying
to get us off on the right foot.
I'm, I'm trying to bethe best that I could be.

(17:18):
And the only thing that he hadseen, what was great to him,
he, he, he wanted to emulatethat the best that he could.
And, you know, Sanka is like,you know, the, the right foot
for us is not the Swiss foot.
Mm-Hmm. . And Iwas trying to be Swiss and,
and, and what I, what Ihad to realize is that the,

(17:38):
the things that I could speakto, the way that I could speak
to them was differentthan anybody else could.
Um, you know, like you said,I used to try to show off my,
my, my designations.
It was CFP and CHSC and,
and RICP and WMCP.
And then I used to use mySAT words to try to show off.

(17:59):
And I, I had to remember it,you know, I'm not Swiss that,
that the things that I cando, the way that I can speak,
I could do that in a waythat was uniquely me.
And so that's just what I started trying
to do with the social media.
Um, you know, my, my videos,I, I referenced Jay-Z
and Back to the Future
and things that are SuperMario Brothers, like the things

(18:22):
that are important to me,like my background, it's,
it's comics and it's myJordans and it's my Jay-Z book.
And my Barack Obama, like,you're gonna know a lot about me
by my videos, by my background,
because, you know, the industryhasn't done a great job
of having women of advisors of color, of
advisors from non-represented communities.

(18:43):
And it really means somethingto be able to reach out
to somebody that, that lookslike you, that talks like you
and dresses like you.
So I've just been trying to lean into it
and the,
the response has been betterthan I could have thought.
You know, I've had clientsreach out on, not only
through like Facebook or, orLinkedIn, but, but Instagram

(19:05):
and TikTok and places that I didn't, I,
I was scared honestly that,that the message would resonate.
So it's still early, you know,it is, it is amazing the,
you know, other advisorsthat have reached out
and said, Hey, who's doing your videos
and thinking about hiring him,
and it's like, I amshooting these on my iPhone
with the Cap Cut app andjust trying to be myself.

(19:29):
You know, anytime that I start sounding,
anytime I'm having aconversation that I wouldn't have
at a cookout or with one
of my friends on a golfcourse, I'm like, okay, stop.
Don't use that word. No onecares about a fiduciary.
What does that actually mean?
, nobody cares aboutmodern portfolio theory.
Why does it matter to me?
And so that's, that's where I root it.

(19:49):
That's what I try to keep themain thing, the main thing.
- Gosh, that is so great.
And it's, you know, the marketingexperts in this industry
and others and, and myself,uh, you know, I found is
the importance of authenticity
and really like embracing that
and really being okay

(20:11):
and vulnerable to show that, right.
To show that 'cause it's
- Scary,- You know what I mean?
And so part of it is Ithink that people don't,
why people don't do it isbecause they're scared.
What if people don't like the real me
or the real authentic me?
And I think you haveto trust that .
Do you have some friends? Anduh, do you have a partner?

(20:32):
And, uh, you know, do, doyou at least have one friend
that likes you, right?
Like some people are, it'sgonna resonate with the people
that you want it to resonate with.
And I love just the whole analogy
with the Jamaican bobsled team.
, I'm not Swiss.
It's just such a great lessonabout embracing what's you

(20:54):
and, you know, kind ofthe business will come.
And I mean, that's how Istarted looking at your video is
that I think you referenced something
that was more mainstream.
And I do think like that the
- Taylor Swift and, uh, little
Wayne Taylor Swift and Little Wayne.
- Exactly, exactly. Okay.
And I was like, okay,

(21:15):
I haven't seen this on a LinkedIn feed,
and I think it's just like, stop making
financial advice seem morecomplicated than it has to be.
And talk to people in the,you know, I love music.
So that's probably whyit resonated with me.
I'm like, okay, how is he, Iwanna see how he is gonna take,

(21:36):
uh, Taylor Swift
and what have you like,into, into the terms
of financial planning?
How is that, how is he telling that story?
So again, I think that's a,just a great, great lesson.
And, and you mentioned also
that you are use a coach,which I'm a big believer of.
And I think, you know, coachesare such a great investment

(21:59):
in advancing where you arein your career journey,
making you a better business person,
making you a better marketer,making you a better partner.
So what advice do youhave around, you know,
selecting a coach
and how to best use them
to really take yourself to the next level?

(22:20):
- So I think the first stepis you said that you're a fan.
Clearly I'm a fan,
but I don't know thateveryone is, in fact, I know
that everyone is, you know,most people wait until
things are bad before they go see a doctor
or a therapist or an advisor.

(22:40):
And so, you know, there's a,there's the old African proverb
that if you, if you wannago fast, you go alone.
But if you wanna go far, you go together.
And, and anybody who's great has people
that are helping them be great,no one is doing this alone.
You know, Michael Jordan and,
and Kobe Bryant had Tim Roper, tiger Woods

(23:00):
and Phil Mickelson, they had Butch Harmon.
Like nobody is beinggreat without a coach.
And so my coaches areare really great, and I,
and I utilize them inslightly different ways. Um, I
- You have more than one.You've more than one.
- Yeah. . Yeah. So I,I have have three. Um, wow.
Yeah. So, you know, they, they talk about

(23:22):
how much money LeBron spendson his body to be able to,
to play at the levelthat he is 20 years in.
It's like I'm a big fan,
and it, it probably goesback to the education.
I'm a big fan of personal development,
whether it's education orhaving a team around you.
I know that I cannot do this alone.
And I know that if I ask mywife to do all of these things,
I won't have a wife for,for much longer .

(23:43):
So, yeah, I ha I have threecoaches, um, Arlene and,
and Maddie, Arlene Moss and Maddie Roach.
They, they work throughXYPN, um, oh, great.
We work with financialadvisors specifically.
So like they know the ins
and outs of the industry,which makes it, it,
it makes them like theworld's best GPS right?

(24:04):
They let me know about the traffic
and the potholes before I ever get there.
They've seen all types ofpeople take different routes
to get the destinationsso they can tell me some
of these things that I don'tknow, that I don't know,
and really push me to do intothings that I should be doing
that I'm scared to do.
And then caution me aboutthings that I wanna do to,

(24:26):
maybe I shouldn't, likediscounting my services.
Mm-Hmm. . Um, so they,
they are, they are amazing.
And then, you know, KristenNewsom, she works with,
with all types of individuals.
And, you know, as a black womanwho's also a small business
owner, she's able to speak to some things
and really articulate someof the, the struggles that,

(24:48):
that I have in the head trash
that I haven't really beenable to, to, to do with myself.
But, but all three of themhave this, this kind of aspect.
It, it is kind of motherly.
Like they're, they'reamazing listeners and,
and they'll encourage me,
but they're also not gonnalet me pull a fast one.
They're gonna call me on my stuff.

(25:09):
And, and that combination isreally how I utilize them.
But, you know, kind ofgoing back to the doctor
or lawyer analogy, if you're a therapist,
like if you're not open withthem, if you're not honest
with them, it doesn't really work.
You know, when they give you advice
and you don't take it,it doesn't really work.
And so I remember, you know, me

(25:30):
and Kristen were talking one time and,
and I was being a little stubborn,
and she was like, well,test your assumption.
She was like, you seempretty stuck on this,
so let's test the assumptionand see what happens.
And, and she was right ,
but I needed her to push me for that,
or I would've been stuckin that same place.
And so that's where youwant to, how you want

(25:50):
to utilize your coach, right.
To push you to be honestand truthful with,
and to take their advice.
Um, not to be a a yes man orsomeone to just cheer you on.
- Yeah. I first That'sgreat. That's great advice.
And you found these coaches through,
or I guess you're a member of XYPN?

(26:11):
- Yeah, so I found Arleneand Maddie through XYPN,
but I believe that they work
with advisors that areoutside the network.
I believe Kristen actuallyfound my, my wife's, um,
job has some benefits.
Um, and I think it wasactually through Spring Health,
which is where I foundKristen again, she works
with other people, but justtrying to take advantage
of these differentbenefits, whether it's XYPN

(26:33):
or whether it's my wife's job.
I think even when it comesto planning, taking advantage
of all of the benefitsand all of the networks
and all of the opportunities
and resources that we have is important.
- You are such a good exampleof trying to get the most out
of things that are available to you
to help get you to the next level.

(26:54):
And that's a lot aboutwhat this podcast is about.
And I haven't reallytalked about using coaches
as much as I probably should.
'cause I, a coach helpedme quite a bit during, um,
figuring out one of my career transitions.
And I think it is so, so, so important.
And most people, you're right,wait until they're in a,

(27:15):
in a precarious position
or in a position wherethey're very unhappy.
And I think being proactive on it is,
is a really great bit of advice.
I also love that, you know,when you're a firm owner,
especially, or if you'rethe CEO of the firm
or the boss, you know, the, there
no one holds you accountableto, to the, to the degree

(27:38):
that maybe you, you need to.
And a coach is can, a coachcan fill that role. Yes.
Um, so I think that that'sagain, just such spot on advice.
Now, speaking of the fact that you just
recently started your RIA, what, what was
that like a year ago?
- Uh, less than that we're,uh, coming up on six months.

(28:00):
- Oh my gosh. Yeah. So you recently,
recently started your RIA, that's, yes.
Congratulations. Thank you.
What were, what weresome of the top lessons
that you learned from that experience
that you think importantto share to the advisors
that may be listening?
- Yeah. You know, kind of, kind
of repetitive, but, but get help.

(28:20):
Make sure you have support.
You know, first off, of course,
I couldn't have done itwithout the support of my wife,
you know, not only emotionally,
but her having afinancially steady job that
provided benefits is thereason why I was able
to take such a risk.
- Yeah. Um, - Like I mentionedbefore, I'm a member of XYPN

(28:41):
and, you know, the, the, thebig boys do a really good job
of scaring you about what theother side could look like,
how hard it is and howcumbersome it's gonna be
and how expensive it is.
But XYPN made it about as easy as can be.
So many of the thingsthat I was scared about,
they took care of, youknow, the registration, uh,

(29:03):
the tech stack, my billing,the asset management.
So if I would've known
that there was such aturnkey solution available,
I would've started my affirm years ago.
But, but it is really hard.
I do not mean to make itseem like it's not. Yeah.
Because I would say thatthe other lessons would be,
you know, just how tough it is.

(29:24):
I think that to the pointthat you just made, it is,
it is tough being in charge.
It is nice. So to have some choices made
or delegated for you.
I hate when my wife tells me to go
to the store and get cheese.
'cause I get to the aisle and there's 30
choices of like, .
I'm just, I'm just, it'sanalysis by paralysis.

(29:46):
I know our clients feel that same way.
And so that's the reason why I try to be
so intentional with my advice.
And I think that havingsome framework like XYPN
and really leaning on yournetwork, I've been able
to reach out to so many advisors, couple
that you've had on the podcast,
and everyone has been sogracious with their time.
Like, you see thesereally successful advisors

(30:07):
or these people that have practices,
and you send them a message on LinkedIn
and you're like, they'renever gonna respond.
And it's like, yeah, let's jump on a call
and let me tell you all of my secrets
until you, all of the pitfalls.
So I really, really, really just try
to lean into the community,but I'm not done.
I am gonna get some help.
I think that that'sreally, really important.
I think that if I'm gonna,I, I need to find someone

(30:30):
to compliment me because Ireally enjoy financial planning.
I don't enjoy as much beinga business owner. Mm-Hmm.
. So I needto find someone whose
superpowers compliment mine.
I gotta, I gotta go find an Aquaman
that can do the underwater stuff
so I can keep running my race on lane.
- Yeah. You know, I, I thinkthat you hit on something

(30:50):
so important and, and honestly it takes,
I've seen it take people 20,30 years to get to the point
that you just got to in sixmonths is like, let's like,
be honest about what youreally want to be doing.
And just because, you know,you think, oh, well, I, I,

(31:12):
I wanna be the CEO of my firmand I wanna run the show.
And well, if you reallylike working with clients
and that whole side of the business,
and you are not gonna beable to grow your business
and do that at the same time, meaning
with running the business.
And I think if you can findlike a super operations person

(31:35):
or that, you know, whatis, what is it called?
The CEO, but not the full-time, CEO,
but like, you know, a outsource CEO
or an outsourced CFO,you're, you're seeing more
and more of those roles come up.
Absolutely. I think thatthat's a great bit of advice,
and I love that you've likereally referenced the XYPN

(31:58):
association because it soundslike that they are very
helpful to a lot of RIAs
and others that are, thatare looking to start firms.
And I also love that,um, there are colleagues
and peers that just wanna help other
business owners be successful.
That's a really, that's areally lovely thing about our

(32:20):
profession is that peoplelike to share what works,
what doesn't, and
and they really are notsecretive about that stuff.
I think that's just one
of those best kept areaswithin our profession. So it
- Blows my mind every time.
It blows my mind every time.
- And you just reachedout to them on LinkedIn?
- Randomly. Randomly. Love it.
I'll hear him on a, I'll hearhim on a Michael Hits podcast,

(32:43):
like a big podcast andreach out to, uh, man quit.
I know we running along Tony Hickson.
I, I reached out to him afterI heard him on a podcast,
CEO of very large firm.
And not only did he geton the call with me,
he got on the call with one,
I think his COO or another advisor.
They just taught me throughall different types of stuff.
It was amazing. It was so much value

(33:05):
that he gave me for free.
And I know he's busy
and at the very end hewas like, you know, Brian,
we've given you a lot of time.
Do you mind if we take a couple minutes?
And I was like, oh, he's gonnatry to sell me something.
I knew that there was a catch,there was always a catch.
And he was like, do you mind if
we pray with you for a second?
When I tell you that him,when, when I tell you

(33:26):
that I am constantlyamazed by this industry
and what advisors are willingto do for people that they,
from anyone I I, I know how fortunate I am
to count myself among them.
So yeah, everyone has been
amazing. Everyone has been amazing.
- That's, that's fantastic.
That's such a, that's sothat's heartwarming, you know,

(33:47):
um, that's great to hear.
So this has been, as I, I kind
of figured I'd be super interestedin, in learning about you
and, and your story, and Ihope our listeners were too.
Um, but we are at that timein the podcast, we're at the,
at the last line,
and I always ask thesame one with the title
and the theme of the podcast,focused on the future keys

(34:10):
to building a profitable, sustainable,
and impactful business in mind.
What is your last line?
What key takeaway do youwanna leave our audience with?
- Yeah. Again, we talkedabout how big of a fan I am
of the future in time travel,
but I mean, the, the futureis really what we make it.
It is, it is what you makeit, it is what I make it.

(34:34):
And we have to make sure that the choices
that we are making todayare helping shape the
future that we wanna be.
You know, we, we don't wantto climb up this ladder
and get to the top only toreach out, only to realize
that it is leaning upagainst the wrong wall.

(34:55):
Wow. Be really, really intentional.
Be really, really intentional.
- That's a very powerful statement.
I've never heard that before. Um, I
- Forgot who I stole it from.
All my best quotes stolenfrom people, .
I heard it and I was like,oh, I gotta text my wife this.
- It, yeah. It doesn'tmatter. That was like great.
And hopefully, I mean, I know that

(35:15):
that like really resonated with me.
I hope it resonated with others
and let that intentionalityis a really important piece of
not just success, but moreimportantly, happiness.
So thank you so much forbeing my guest today,
for sharing your experiences
on everything from socialmedia, what to look

(35:37):
for is starting your own firm
and your very powerful, uh, last line.
So really, really greatadvice. I'm Suzanne Syracuse.
Thanks for listening
and I hope this episode leavesyou feeling even more excited
to be focused on the future.