December 13, 2024 • 26 mins
Brandon Helms, a beacon of authenticity in the finance world, joins us to share his transformative journey of staying true to oneself amidst career changes. Gain insight into Brandon's recent shift to MarshBerry, where he finds new freedom to express his personal brand and connect stories to the often impersonal numbers of finance. With an impressive trajectory of seven roles over 18 years, Brandon's career is a testament to the power of integrating personal growth with professional development. His approach to maintaining genuine connections within a data-driven industry sheds light on the vital human element often overlooked in financial services.
Our conversation also highlights the urgent need for heart-centered leadership, exemplified by Teresa's successful journey in conscious leadership. We explore the evolving landscape of business ownership and the necessity of nurturing a love for the industry through mentorship and clear career pathways. With personal anecdotes underscoring the importance of purpose and courage, this episode serves as a guide for current and future professionals striving to make meaningful impacts in their careers.
Guest Bio:
The same commitment needed to give his former retirement plan and wealth clients clarity to make more informed decisions drives Brandon Helms to help retirement and wealth advisors steward their businesses.
As a Vice President on MarshBerry’s Financial Advisory team, Brandon’s background in being on the inside of building two fast growing financial advisor teams gives him a unique perspective to be able to consult with advisors on growth strategy and succession planning.
Brandon’s core focus is on providing financial advisors with ideas & insights specific to their business today and align with their vision for the future. Many times, this includes anticipating any potential challenges advisors face as they grow and ways to overcome them.
Prior to MarshBerry Brandon led financial advisor distribution in the southeastern US for a global asset manager where he was able to deliver tailored value add business consulting to some of the largest financial advisor teams in the country. Brandon also spent close to a decade building both individual and institutional businesses experiencing firsthand the challenges and opportunities of operating a successful financial advisory business.
Brandon attended Appalachian State University and currently lives in Greensboro, NC with his wife Lauren, two boys Carter and Greyson and their mini-goldendoodle pup Rose. In his free time, Brandon enjoys working out, watching college football & Premier League soccer, and all outdoor activities.
Connect with Brandon:
LinkedIn
Backflip YouTube Video:
Brandon Helms: Stay True, Stand Out (at 09:27)
Connect with Theresa and Ivana:
Theresa, True Strategy Consultants: tsc-consultants.com
LinkedIn @treeconti, Insta @tscconsultants
Ivana, Courageous Being: courageousbeing.com
LinkedIn @ivipol, Insta @courbeing
SITP team, Step Into The Pivot: stepintothepivot.com
LinkedIn @step-into-the-pivot, YouTube @StepIntoThePivot
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everybody and welcome to this week's episode
of Step Into the Pivot, where wewelcome a wonderful guest,
brandon Helms.
Brandon, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Yeah, grateful to be here, Excited to share my
journey along with multiplepivots.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Well, brandon, thank you so much for being here.
I've known you for a few yearsnow.
I love when I can see you inperson, because you're always
one of my biggest supporters andI just truly appreciate that,
and I appreciate you coming tous and saying hey, I'd love to
be on this podcast.
You are just one of those guyswho always is really true,
(00:37):
really authentic, and I've seenyou recently really step up from
the mentor coach and really bean ally to other women.
Like, really step up from thementor coach and really be an
ally to other women, and I thinkthat's such an amazing piece of
who you are.
It's amazing for our industry,it's amazing for the women
you're affecting and I know whenI put a post on LinkedIn,
you're almost always one of thefirst people to respond to it,
(00:57):
so it always makes me happy thatyou know to see you and that
kind of thing.
So you recently made a change.
I'd love to have you talk alittle bit about how important
it is to really you know, staytrue to yourself when you're in
this journey and you know how.
That is such an important partof who you are.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, absolutely Well .
As you can hopefully tell, I'mnot too old, but I did just turn
40, which, of course, for manyof us is a huge milestone and
throughout my journey, one I'vehad a great wife for 16 years
now who's been coaching andtraining me for almost 20 years.
So that's created a greatfoundation.
(01:39):
And then, secondarily to that,as it kind of hit that 40 mark,
I realized you know, I've beendating myself for 40 years
almost and you kind of learn newthings and you figure things
out over the years and throughyour career progression and each
step in that career progressionI've learned a ton of things
about myself.
And so what happened recentlywas I had the opportunity to
(02:00):
join a great organization calledMarshberry.
To join a great organizationcalled Marshberry and Teresa, as
you have seen, that has givenme greater flexibility to really
go out there and build mypersonal brand in the context of
what the overall organizationhas been doing.
And for me it has been anamazing fit because my
background is a little bitunique.
I won't go through every step,but I've had seven different
(02:23):
roles in 18 years of my careerjourney and the last three were
interesting in terms of I spentalmost a decade helping build
two $20 billion plus financialadvisory teams primarily focused
on the institutional space, butthen building the bridge from
the institutional clients viafinancial wellness to private
(02:45):
wealth and I did have equity.
Eventually I kind of got to thepoint where I love the model,
but I wanted a bigger platformto be able to share an impact
and share successes andexpertise and all those fun
things, and hence I moved into aDCIO role in the Southeast for
a large global asset manager andI had a great platform.
But I was into a DCIO role inthe Southeast for a large global
(03:05):
asset manager and I had a greatplatform, but I was still a
little bit limited on what Icould do within that platform.
And so MarshBerry has beenamazing in terms of I get to use
the secret sauce of having beenan advisor and now I get to
consult with advisors, but now Ireally have the flexibility and
I'm going to call it limitedconstraints on being able to
(03:28):
share the journey, be moreauthentic, really connect and
the terminology that I've beenusing here lately is to really
make M&A human, because we alllive in that world of finance
which is very numbers oriented,and so throughout that journey
whether you're an advisor withyour clients, or you know, even
in my role now, there's storiesbehind the numbers and that's my
(03:51):
job to kind of uncover thestory of why were you successful
.
But then, ultimately, where doyou want to go and how can we
use that story to help youcontinue to build a more
successful organization?
Speaker 1 (04:01):
to build a more successful organization.
What a beautiful landscapeyou're describing, and this is
really something I talk aboutvery often, and it's wonderful
to meet folks who are living itand teaching it.
It sounds to me like you reallyknow and understand that the
tools and the data and all themodels and the structures that
(04:25):
we use in the world of financeare a resource, but that at the
you know start of the day and atthe end of the day, this really
is about humanity and that,even if you are in a role and in
a position that is, you know,really technological and
data-driven, from you know startto finish of your workday, what
(04:48):
you're doing and playing withand touching and influencing
will in some way reachsomebody's heart, will be
engaging and interacting with ahuman being, and I love that.
In this whole introduction youwere saying you were talking
about yourself and datingyourself.
You invoked your marriage, yourwife, the partnership that you
(05:11):
have, the inner work that you'redoing, and then you presented
this really beautiful andcomplicated landscape of you
know financial services in yourcareer, and I feel like you know
that here it is.
You're embodying an example ofhow this all does fit together
the data and the day-to-day.
You know humanity, so can youhelp us connect those dots a
(05:32):
little bit more?
Past experiences, your livedexperiences as a human, and
leading you to where you areright now in this new?
What did you call it?
Limited, limited, remind me,this was a.
It was a beautiful phraseConstraints.
You were saying that you lovethe.
You love the experiences thatyou're having today because you
are, you know, there is, there'sfreedom that's what I was
(05:56):
hearing you talk about A certainfreedom to express who you
really are while contributing.
So help us connect those dotsand understand your foundation
better.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah, absolutely Well , I think it's.
So help us connect those dotsand understand your foundation
better through I forget whosings that actual song, but
knowing that you can make smallincremental tweaks in your
career journey that have a hugeimpact both on who you get to
serve and, ultimately, yoursuccess in whatever industry
that you're in.
And that's kind of my story.
There haven't been any 180degree major turns, but it's
been small tweaks along the way.
So, for example, right out ofcollege I was at E-Trade on the
(06:46):
trading desk, running to aBloomberg terminal, but I got my
licenses, I got to work withsmall business owners, I picked
up a ton in a call center for ayear and a half when all of a
sudden, the opportunity came upto go to principal financial
group on the record keeping side, where then I got to do
education and probably the worstpossible time in my lifetime,
(07:07):
which was 2008 and 2009.
So imagine sitting in front offolks whose balances are down
40% and having to be the personthat they're angry with on why
their account balance is downand really navigate those fund
complexities.
And then I had the opportunityto actually join the Advisor 2x
crew, which at the time wascalled 401k Recon.
(07:29):
And so I got to fly around inmy mid-20s and host events and
meet advisors and serviceproviders and all those fun
things which, side note, I atemore Maggiano's than you can
possibly imagine during thosecouple of years.
And then I had the fortunateability to go to the consulting
side with two really great teams.
One is woman-owned andwoman-led, which I absolutely
(07:52):
loved.
I saw the impact that having awoman-owned, woman-led
organization could have in themarketplace primarily dominated
by men.
And then the second team wasvery unique in that we had a
very specific niche in themarketplace and it was designed
around advisor partnerships.
So think, partner with anadvisor who has a relationship
with a key executive, become thespecialist part of their team
(08:15):
and grow in that fashion.
And that was what kind ofpropelled me into the DCIO role,
which was to have that platformto be able to serve more
advisors and that morepartnership-oriented model.
And, as you know, there's a lotof industry stereotypes that
come into play.
There's a lot of constraintsthat come into play, especially
with a large organization, andso, fortunately now I was able
(08:38):
to find a home with a greatorganization that's big enough
to have resources but alsoflexible enough to allow you to
kind of build your own personalbrand, and so it's been an
amazing fit and an amazingjourney, with lots of lessons
and, as I mentioned earlier, youknow I just turned 40.
So for those of you listeningthat have a lot of boxes you
want to check, I'm here to tellyou that this has been quite the
(08:59):
year.
I hit my first hole in one ever.
Let's see.
I did a backflip off of thediving board into the pool and
yes, I do have the video ifanybody wants it.
I ran two half marathons.
One of them was also with mywife, so it was her first.
Let's see.
I'm training for a marathoncoming up in December and then
I've got a new job.
So, no matter where you are inboth your career and life
(09:21):
journey, there is so muchopportunity to continue
progressing.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
So I love so many things you said.
Going back to, like, your firstthing, you talked about being
authentic, and I love thatbecause that is one of my
mantras for sure I love peopleare authentic, be authentic, be
who you are, and that'sfantastic.
But you know, I think you alsosaid in there a few times like I
love that you kind of put thatin perspective that life is not
always a big pivot.
(09:51):
Right, a lot of us do have abig pivot.
Something happens you know Ihave breast cancer, you know you
get divorced, like can be anynumber of big pivots, but we all
have those little pivots, thatkind of shape who we are and
continually shape us right andmove us forward or give us a new
goal or whatever that lookslike.
(10:12):
So to me, I really love that.
The word you said the mostcontinually throughout
everything you've said is impact, and I really also really love
that word.
I actually wrote it down whenyou said it the first time and
then you continued to say it afew more times.
You know having that impact andI think you're showing that in
some of the ways you're doingright, like, can you talk a
(10:35):
little about how you want tomake an impact, how that works
into your values right, yourunique value system.
And I also love that you talkedabout how you made these little
pivots in your current industryright.
You've kind of stayed in thisindustry like and a lot of us do
that, right but maybe move tosomething different, something
(10:57):
more challenging.
Can you kind of tie those maybetogether for our listeners,
because I think that they do alltie in a lot of ways.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yeah, so a lot of it for me.
I mean, I'm going to call it thewhy behind a lot of the
decisions and the why behindwhat I'm doing right now.
And it's really interesting forme because I think that similar
theme, which I probably didn'trealize it for 10 or 15 years,
was permeating through each stepin my journey and I think, for
(11:29):
example, participants is a goodexample where I knew, when I
went out and worked withparticipants, that I was having
an impact in their lives,whether they knew it or not, and
I think that's kind of,ultimately, what has driven me
over time is the why they knewit or not, and I think that's
kind of, ultimately, what hasdriven me over time is the why.
So right now it's very muchcentered around being able to
work with these business ownersand they make very important
(11:50):
decisions.
I mean, teresa, you've beenthrough the entire life cycle of
building, growing and sellingan organization and the way that
I view it is, very much ofevery decision that you make as
a business owner should be about, of course, you and your
employees, but ultimately itneeds to benefit your clients,
and so that's kind of the themethat's permeated through each
step of my journey, which isimpacting the ultimate client,
(12:13):
which in this case, wasparticipants or shareholders, or
whoever it may be, in eachparticular organization.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yeah, you're continuing that theme that you
introduced in the beginning, youknow, talking about the data
and the numbers and the humanityof it too, and so it seems to
me like that's exactly whatyou're talking about.
When you're talking aboutultimately has to be about the
clients, there has to be thatawareness of what this really
means from a human elementperspective, even when you are
just with the spreadsheet orwith, you know, in a
(12:41):
conversation that the you knowin a conversation, that is, you
know, an internal conversation.
But can you keep that bigger,higher perspective in mind in
terms of who is this ultimatelyserving and what's the big?
You know what's the big picture?
And I find that, you know,sometimes folks in the financial
services industry feel likethose more heart-centered
conversations are going to takeaway from the focus on the
(13:03):
business goals on the bottomline, the focus on the like.
But we gotta, we have to, wehave, and I don't see that be
the case.
I mean, I think you invoked ourfriend Teresa here and with her
whole journey that we both hadthe blessing to witness, I mean,
I think this Teresa you talkedabout this a little bit on some
(13:24):
of our previous episodes From abottom line perspective.
She knew what she was doing,being a heart centered,
conscious leader in the industryand making decisions, and
difficult decisions sometimes,sometimes easier decisions.
Can you contextualize that forus here?
You know just the sense of,like the goals and the data and
the projects that you're keepingin mind while dropping into the
(13:46):
human heart to heartconversation.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Well, the beauty of it is it's just a natural
progression of the conversations.
You know I may be a little moreI'm going to call it heart
centered, to use the verbiagethan many of the folks and
business owners that I get totalk to, but many of them, you
know the term that I like to useis many advisors are great
students of the business, butvery few are great stewards of
(14:10):
their business, and so I think alot about kind of the ideal
client that I want to work withand having the flexibility to go
anywhere to work with.
You know any size firm acrossinsurance, retirement and wealth
advisors, and there's so muchopportunity to work with very
similar minded folks who arebuilding organizations that are
ultimately about their clientsand they're being great stewards
(14:31):
of their business all at thesame time.
So that's a lot of how I thinkabout it.
And then the secondarycomponent and I would tell you
this is one of the biggestchallenges that we see in the
industry and I'm sure manyindustries face as well which is
the human capital component.
So a lot of the conversations Iget to have around, okay, the
next generation of folks thatare coming into the industry.
It's not as though you have aline of people wanting to become
(14:54):
a you know, financial planner,as an example, and so really
figuring out how to fill thattalent gap and unique ways and I
(15:16):
know, as we kind of talkedabout as we got ready for our
conversation, very strong desireto help equip that next
generation to kind of fill thegap, because a lot of firms
right now you have a generationtwo, and you may even call them
a generation three, who are 30.
, and so you have both a skillsgap and a talent gap to try and
fill over a relatively shorttime period.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
You know, you really hit a nail on the head there and
I've had that conversation withother.
You know, being a businessowner for 25 years, I've had
that conversation with otherbusiness owners, mostly in my
own industry, but I think it'strue throughout the entire
industry.
Whether you're an advisor,whether you're a TPA, whether
you're like whatever that lookslike right, we're all human.
(15:51):
We have to figure out all thosegaps and all those things and
how we're going to get whateverwidget we produce done and out
the door and provide thatultimate value to our clients.
And that's really a hard thing.
It's gotten harder, Like.
People say that to me all thetime.
(16:11):
Well, you know, when I startedmy business, you know 25 years
ago, like I had a computer and Ihad a file folder and I
probably had a fax machine, Likeit's a different world today
and and having that nextgeneration and it really is kind
of one of my things is bringingthat next generation.
(16:32):
And for me it's women specific.
But it's not only womenspecific, it's bringing them in,
teaching them, getting them tostay, getting them to love the
business, teaching them, gettingthem to stay, getting them to
love the business, giving them acareer path and figuring out,
like, like, where they end up.
Right, it's, it's such a, it'ssuch a journey, I guess is the
(16:52):
right word, right?
I mean what?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
would you add there, Brandon?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I'm curious to hear what your thought is, because
we've talked about this not inprep, even like just in regular
conversation sometimes.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, I think it's one.
And then, from a personalperspective, we have two young
boys, so we have seven-year-oldand almost 10-year-old boys, and
I told our now nine year old Isaid, look, but half of your
life at our house is over.
You know, I don't think hequite understands it, but that
probably also weighs heavilyinto my mindset now of just
thinking about the nextgeneration.
More so, and it's one, you know, I, I have an advocate, or a
(17:30):
person I'm advocating on behalfof right now, and we just
chatted this week and thisindividual is, you know, two and
a half years into the industryand is kind of trying to figure
out what their next step intheir path looks like.
And what's really interesting tome because I dealt with the
same thing is when you're goingthrough it, it's hard to see
what the next step and theoutcome looks like.
(17:52):
And so I, you know, for aperiod of time I kind of just
had to turn back to like, look,you just have to be strong and
courageous, you just have tokeep doing the work, don't get
discouraged, and it's and it'sall going to work out, because
when you're in the midst of itit feels so hard.
And so for this particularperson I'm advocating on behalf
of.
You know we're we're navigatingdifferent avenues that they can
(18:16):
go down.
We're connecting with differentpeople in the industry to
ultimately determine you know,what do you like doing, where is
there a need and what's theperfect fit for you.
And I'm going to then repeat,with probably our two sons here
in the next 10 years or so.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
I love that you said that, because it also they need
to have a purpose right.
They need to figure out.
I think part of that is findingtheir purpose Even if, what do
you?
Think.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
I was going to ask Brendan, because I agree with
you.
Okay, what about you?
So, if you would take all thesequestions and some of these
prompts that you're giving theperson that you're advocating
for, and then thinking aboutyour boys, um, tell us about
your own, you know, innerdialogue in this realm.
How do you, you know, make surethat you stay on purpose?
(19:01):
What are a few, maybe keyvalues that you feel like?
Yep, still, this is what I showup with every day.
What do you feel is your, why?
Speaker 2 (19:10):
yeah.
So I think you know I spent aof time.
I am sure, like many of youhave done every personality test
possible, I think, over theyears.
And to give you a sense like mytop five strengths are achiever
, competition, focus,significance and futuristic.
And it's interesting, I thinkwhen I was, you know, 23 or 24,
(19:32):
they were probably slightlydifferent and then I took it
again a few times and I wouldtell you those are relatively
spot on for any of you who havedone those, and so you kind of
have that foundation ofunderstanding one who you are.
But then you have to figure outsort of what your driving
purpose is.
Ivana, to your, to yourquestion, and for me the why
still goes back to decisionthat's made.
(19:54):
Everything that I do isultimately about the end client,
whether it's anything about thelife cycle of most financial
advisors, not to get toospecific.
But when you're small you'rethinking about growing and then
you kind of go through the cycleof a similar progression was
you start growing and you addclients and then all of a sudden
you need to hire people andthen you have to figure out the
infrastructure and then you haveto figure out do I expand my
(20:17):
services based on what myclients need.
And then you keep growing to apoint where, oh my goodness, if
I want to keep growing this fast, then I maybe have to go out
and acquire people.
And then all of a sudden,you're old enough to start
thinking about succession, andso everybody kind of goes
through that same life cycle.
But I think if you have thatsame theme or why permeating
throughout, and I would tell youand you know, as a younger
person, I think that that's hardto figure out.
(20:39):
You know, when you're new intothe industry, still learning
about yourself, still trying tofigure those things out, I think
where it really solidified forme was getting to work with
those participants back in 2008and 2009, where I just knew, no
matter what they might be mad atme, they might be the only
person that they have to yell atwhen their account is down, but
little do they know.
(21:00):
You know, by increasing theirsavings a little bit, by
investing smarter, by getting inthe plan, by all those things,
I may not ever be able to seethe impact of those decisions,
but knowing deep down that bygetting them to make those
positive decisions, that it wasgoing to have a huge impact on
the rest of their life.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
It's so great that you are amplifying, you know,
with your voice, some of theseimportant messages you mentioned
earlier that you may not havehad.
I think you said a 180 degreepivot, but you know, there you
were.
You're describing thissituation in 2008, 2009.
I mean, I remember it reallyviscerally.
(21:36):
I was one of the folks who was,you know, I was on on Friday.
I was told that, um, ourcompany was like totally fine
financially and that nobody wasgoing to lose their job or their
or their income.
And then on Monday, we cameback on Monday and it was truly
the true story.
Like on Monday, and it wastruly the true story.
Like, nah, we made a mistake.
Actually, we're done.
(21:56):
Here you go.
So that was a pivot that I wastotally helpless over.
And so there you were, sittingwith participants, you know,
discussing their accountbalances.
That 180 degree pivot can showup at any point.
I am hopeful that in your life,this continues to be the case,
that there are no major 180degree turns, you know, down the
(22:19):
road.
But what I want to highlight isthat by practicing pivoting in
this way that you are whetherit's your own personal
experiences, or when you'retalking to your kids, or when
you're talking to other fellowsin the industry or you're
sitting with folks who are intheir own pivots.
That preps you.
My experience is that thensomething really big comes and
(22:39):
shows up and it doesn't feel asradically, you know, humongous
as it would if I wasn'tessentially kind of cultivating
this resilience along the way.
It doesn't mean that it doesn'thurt, but how we, you know,
approach it and respond.
I think we can learn a lot fromwhat you're saying here,
brendan, which is like thisdaily practice of being, you
(23:02):
know, courageous you said bravewilling to pivot.
Maybe sometimes it's 15 degrees, 20 degrees, 30 degrees, so, as
we, you know, close out.
Do you have some thoughts aboutwhat I just shared?
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Yeah.
So just just one thought, thatkind of popped into my head,
because I think this, this hasbeen something that I've had to
do personally through each stepin the journey, and especially
for for younger folks as well asput everything you have into
the step that you're at rightnow, pour yourself into it, and
when you do that, if that's notthe thing you're at right now,
pour yourself into it, and whenyou do that, if that's not the
(23:37):
thing you're meant to do, it'sgonna lead to the thing that
you're meant to do.
But to be able to get to thething that you really wanna do,
you have to put everything andpour everything you've got into
where you're at right now.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
I 100% love that.
What a great way for us to end.
It's such an important message,brandon, I don't think there's
anything really left to say,because I think you hit the nail
on the head there right,totally true.
So thank you so much for beingon with us today.
(24:11):
I loved this conversation.
Being on with us today, I lovedthis conversation, loved what
you had to say.
We can't tell you how much wethank you for sharing that.
You know, not every pivot's ahuge pivot.
Sometimes they're just littlepivots, little adjustments that
we have to make in life.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
I'm wondering are we pivoting here?
If we do not say the sentence,how is this pivot the step
forward on this show, we wouldhave broken our streak.
I love a good ritual and I lovea good streak.
I'm breaking a streak.
You don't have to respond,Brendan, but I needed to say it.
Thank you, Brendan, for showingto us how these pivots are a
(24:53):
step forward, especially withthis invitation to be here now,
with the step that you're in, sograteful for your presence here
with us.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Absolutely.
Thank you both.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
All right, all right.
Thank you everybody for beingwith us again this week.
We really appreciate youlistening and remember if you
have a pivot step into it.
Hi everybody and welcome to this week's episode
of Step Into the Pivot, where wewelcome a wonderful guest,
brandon Helms.
Brandon, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Yeah, grateful to be here, Excited to share my
journey along with multiplepivots.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Well, brandon, thank you so much for being here.
I've known you for a few yearsnow.
I love when I can see you inperson, because you're always
one of my biggest supporters andI just truly appreciate that,
and I appreciate you coming tous and saying hey, I'd love to
be on this podcast.
You are just one of those guyswho always is really true,
(00:37):
really authentic, and I've seenyou recently really step up from
the mentor coach and really bean ally to other women.
Like, really step up from thementor coach and really be an
ally to other women, and I thinkthat's such an amazing piece of
who you are.
It's amazing for our industry,it's amazing for the women
you're affecting and I know whenI put a post on LinkedIn,
you're almost always one of thefirst people to respond to it,
(00:57):
so it always makes me happy thatyou know to see you and that
kind of thing.
So you recently made a change.
I'd love to have you talk alittle bit about how important
it is to really you know, staytrue to yourself when you're in
this journey and you know how.
That is such an important partof who you are.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, absolutely Well .
As you can hopefully tell, I'mnot too old, but I did just turn
40, which, of course, for manyof us is a huge milestone and
throughout my journey, one I'vehad a great wife for 16 years
now who's been coaching andtraining me for almost 20 years.
So that's created a greatfoundation.
(01:39):
And then, secondarily to that,as it kind of hit that 40 mark,
I realized you know, I've beendating myself for 40 years
almost and you kind of learn newthings and you figure things
out over the years and throughyour career progression and each
step in that career progressionI've learned a ton of things
about myself.
And so what happened recentlywas I had the opportunity to
(02:00):
join a great organization calledMarshberry.
To join a great organizationcalled Marshberry and Teresa, as
you have seen, that has givenme greater flexibility to really
go out there and build mypersonal brand in the context of
what the overall organizationhas been doing.
And for me it has been anamazing fit because my
background is a little bitunique.
I won't go through every step,but I've had seven different
(02:23):
roles in 18 years of my careerjourney and the last three were
interesting in terms of I spentalmost a decade helping build
two $20 billion plus financialadvisory teams primarily focused
on the institutional space, butthen building the bridge from
the institutional clients viafinancial wellness to private
(02:45):
wealth and I did have equity.
Eventually I kind of got to thepoint where I love the model,
but I wanted a bigger platformto be able to share an impact
and share successes andexpertise and all those fun
things, and hence I moved into aDCIO role in the Southeast for
a large global asset manager andI had a great platform.
But I was into a DCIO role inthe Southeast for a large global
(03:05):
asset manager and I had a greatplatform, but I was still a
little bit limited on what Icould do within that platform.
And so MarshBerry has beenamazing in terms of I get to use
the secret sauce of having beenan advisor and now I get to
consult with advisors, but now Ireally have the flexibility and
I'm going to call it limitedconstraints on being able to
(03:28):
share the journey, be moreauthentic, really connect and
the terminology that I've beenusing here lately is to really
make M&A human, because we alllive in that world of finance
which is very numbers oriented,and so throughout that journey
whether you're an advisor withyour clients, or you know, even
in my role now, there's storiesbehind the numbers and that's my
(03:51):
job to kind of uncover thestory of why were you successful
.
But then, ultimately, where doyou want to go and how can we
use that story to help youcontinue to build a more
successful organization?
Speaker 1 (04:01):
to build a more successful organization.
What a beautiful landscapeyou're describing, and this is
really something I talk aboutvery often, and it's wonderful
to meet folks who are living itand teaching it.
It sounds to me like you reallyknow and understand that the
tools and the data and all themodels and the structures that
(04:25):
we use in the world of financeare a resource, but that at the
you know start of the day and atthe end of the day, this really
is about humanity and that,even if you are in a role and in
a position that is, you know,really technological and
data-driven, from you know startto finish of your workday, what
(04:48):
you're doing and playing withand touching and influencing
will in some way reachsomebody's heart, will be
engaging and interacting with ahuman being, and I love that.
In this whole introduction youwere saying you were talking
about yourself and datingyourself.
You invoked your marriage, yourwife, the partnership that you
(05:11):
have, the inner work that you'redoing, and then you presented
this really beautiful andcomplicated landscape of you
know financial services in yourcareer, and I feel like you know
that here it is.
You're embodying an example ofhow this all does fit together
the data and the day-to-day.
You know humanity, so can youhelp us connect those dots a
(05:32):
little bit more?
Past experiences, your livedexperiences as a human, and
leading you to where you areright now in this new?
What did you call it?
Limited, limited, remind me,this was a.
It was a beautiful phraseConstraints.
You were saying that you lovethe.
You love the experiences thatyou're having today because you
are, you know, there is, there'sfreedom that's what I was
(05:56):
hearing you talk about A certainfreedom to express who you
really are while contributing.
So help us connect those dotsand understand your foundation
better.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah, absolutely Well , I think it's.
So help us connect those dotsand understand your foundation
better through I forget whosings that actual song, but
knowing that you can make smallincremental tweaks in your
career journey that have a hugeimpact both on who you get to
serve and, ultimately, yoursuccess in whatever industry
that you're in.
And that's kind of my story.
There haven't been any 180degree major turns, but it's
been small tweaks along the way.
So, for example, right out ofcollege I was at E-Trade on the
(06:46):
trading desk, running to aBloomberg terminal, but I got my
licenses, I got to work withsmall business owners, I picked
up a ton in a call center for ayear and a half when all of a
sudden, the opportunity came upto go to principal financial
group on the record keeping side, where then I got to do
education and probably the worstpossible time in my lifetime,
(07:07):
which was 2008 and 2009.
So imagine sitting in front offolks whose balances are down
40% and having to be the personthat they're angry with on why
their account balance is downand really navigate those fund
complexities.
And then I had the opportunityto actually join the Advisor 2x
crew, which at the time wascalled 401k Recon.
(07:29):
And so I got to fly around inmy mid-20s and host events and
meet advisors and serviceproviders and all those fun
things which, side note, I atemore Maggiano's than you can
possibly imagine during thosecouple of years.
And then I had the fortunateability to go to the consulting
side with two really great teams.
One is woman-owned andwoman-led, which I absolutely
(07:52):
loved.
I saw the impact that having awoman-owned, woman-led
organization could have in themarketplace primarily dominated
by men.
And then the second team wasvery unique in that we had a
very specific niche in themarketplace and it was designed
around advisor partnerships.
So think, partner with anadvisor who has a relationship
with a key executive, become thespecialist part of their team
(08:15):
and grow in that fashion.
And that was what kind ofpropelled me into the DCIO role,
which was to have that platformto be able to serve more
advisors and that morepartnership-oriented model.
And, as you know, there's a lotof industry stereotypes that
come into play.
There's a lot of constraintsthat come into play, especially
with a large organization, andso, fortunately now I was able
(08:38):
to find a home with a greatorganization that's big enough
to have resources but alsoflexible enough to allow you to
kind of build your own personalbrand, and so it's been an
amazing fit and an amazingjourney, with lots of lessons
and, as I mentioned earlier, youknow I just turned 40.
So for those of you listeningthat have a lot of boxes you
want to check, I'm here to tellyou that this has been quite the
(08:59):
year.
I hit my first hole in one ever.
Let's see.
I did a backflip off of thediving board into the pool and
yes, I do have the video ifanybody wants it.
I ran two half marathons.
One of them was also with mywife, so it was her first.
Let's see.
I'm training for a marathoncoming up in December and then
I've got a new job.
So, no matter where you are inboth your career and life
(09:21):
journey, there is so muchopportunity to continue
progressing.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
So I love so many things you said.
Going back to, like, your firstthing, you talked about being
authentic, and I love thatbecause that is one of my
mantras for sure I love peopleare authentic, be authentic, be
who you are, and that'sfantastic.
But you know, I think you alsosaid in there a few times like I
love that you kind of put thatin perspective that life is not
always a big pivot.
(09:51):
Right, a lot of us do have abig pivot.
Something happens you know Ihave breast cancer, you know you
get divorced, like can be anynumber of big pivots, but we all
have those little pivots, thatkind of shape who we are and
continually shape us right andmove us forward or give us a new
goal or whatever that lookslike.
(10:12):
So to me, I really love that.
The word you said the mostcontinually throughout
everything you've said is impact, and I really also really love
that word.
I actually wrote it down whenyou said it the first time and
then you continued to say it afew more times.
You know having that impact andI think you're showing that in
some of the ways you're doingright, like, can you talk a
(10:35):
little about how you want tomake an impact, how that works
into your values right, yourunique value system.
And I also love that you talkedabout how you made these little
pivots in your current industryright.
You've kind of stayed in thisindustry like and a lot of us do
that, right but maybe move tosomething different, something
(10:57):
more challenging.
Can you kind of tie those maybetogether for our listeners,
because I think that they do alltie in a lot of ways.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yeah, so a lot of it for me.
I mean, I'm going to call it thewhy behind a lot of the
decisions and the why behindwhat I'm doing right now.
And it's really interesting forme because I think that similar
theme, which I probably didn'trealize it for 10 or 15 years,
was permeating through each stepin my journey and I think, for
(11:29):
example, participants is a goodexample where I knew, when I
went out and worked withparticipants, that I was having
an impact in their lives,whether they knew it or not, and
I think that's kind of,ultimately, what has driven me
over time is the why they knewit or not, and I think that's
kind of, ultimately, what hasdriven me over time is the why.
So right now it's very muchcentered around being able to
work with these business ownersand they make very important
(11:50):
decisions.
I mean, teresa, you've beenthrough the entire life cycle of
building, growing and sellingan organization and the way that
I view it is, very much ofevery decision that you make as
a business owner should be about, of course, you and your
employees, but ultimately itneeds to benefit your clients,
and so that's kind of the themethat's permeated through each
step of my journey, which isimpacting the ultimate client,
(12:13):
which in this case, wasparticipants or shareholders, or
whoever it may be, in eachparticular organization.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yeah, you're continuing that theme that you
introduced in the beginning, youknow, talking about the data
and the numbers and the humanityof it too, and so it seems to
me like that's exactly whatyou're talking about.
When you're talking aboutultimately has to be about the
clients, there has to be thatawareness of what this really
means from a human elementperspective, even when you are
just with the spreadsheet orwith, you know, in a
(12:41):
conversation that the you knowin a conversation, that is, you
know, an internal conversation.
But can you keep that bigger,higher perspective in mind in
terms of who is this ultimatelyserving and what's the big?
You know what's the big picture?
And I find that, you know,sometimes folks in the financial
services industry feel likethose more heart-centered
conversations are going to takeaway from the focus on the
(13:03):
business goals on the bottomline, the focus on the like.
But we gotta, we have to, wehave, and I don't see that be
the case.
I mean, I think you invoked ourfriend Teresa here and with her
whole journey that we both hadthe blessing to witness, I mean,
I think this Teresa you talkedabout this a little bit on some
(13:24):
of our previous episodes From abottom line perspective.
She knew what she was doing,being a heart centered,
conscious leader in the industryand making decisions, and
difficult decisions sometimes,sometimes easier decisions.
Can you contextualize that forus here?
You know just the sense of,like the goals and the data and
the projects that you're keepingin mind while dropping into the
(13:46):
human heart to heartconversation.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Well, the beauty of it is it's just a natural
progression of the conversations.
You know I may be a little moreI'm going to call it heart
centered, to use the verbiagethan many of the folks and
business owners that I get totalk to, but many of them, you
know the term that I like to useis many advisors are great
students of the business, butvery few are great stewards of
(14:10):
their business, and so I think alot about kind of the ideal
client that I want to work withand having the flexibility to go
anywhere to work with.
You know any size firm acrossinsurance, retirement and wealth
advisors, and there's so muchopportunity to work with very
similar minded folks who arebuilding organizations that are
ultimately about their clientsand they're being great stewards
(14:31):
of their business all at thesame time.
So that's a lot of how I thinkabout it.
And then the secondarycomponent and I would tell you
this is one of the biggestchallenges that we see in the
industry and I'm sure manyindustries face as well which is
the human capital component.
So a lot of the conversations Iget to have around, okay, the
next generation of folks thatare coming into the industry.
It's not as though you have aline of people wanting to become
(14:54):
a you know, financial planner,as an example, and so really
figuring out how to fill thattalent gap and unique ways and I
(15:16):
know, as we kind of talkedabout as we got ready for our
conversation, very strong desireto help equip that next
generation to kind of fill thegap, because a lot of firms
right now you have a generationtwo, and you may even call them
a generation three, who are 30.
, and so you have both a skillsgap and a talent gap to try and
fill over a relatively shorttime period.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
You know, you really hit a nail on the head there and
I've had that conversation withother.
You know, being a businessowner for 25 years, I've had
that conversation with otherbusiness owners, mostly in my
own industry, but I think it'strue throughout the entire
industry.
Whether you're an advisor,whether you're a TPA, whether
you're like whatever that lookslike right, we're all human.
(15:51):
We have to figure out all thosegaps and all those things and
how we're going to get whateverwidget we produce done and out
the door and provide thatultimate value to our clients.
And that's really a hard thing.
It's gotten harder, Like.
People say that to me all thetime.
(16:11):
Well, you know, when I startedmy business, you know 25 years
ago, like I had a computer and Ihad a file folder and I
probably had a fax machine, Likeit's a different world today
and and having that nextgeneration and it really is kind
of one of my things is bringingthat next generation.
(16:32):
And for me it's women specific.
But it's not only womenspecific, it's bringing them in,
teaching them, getting them tostay, getting them to love the
business, teaching them, gettingthem to stay, getting them to
love the business, giving them acareer path and figuring out,
like, like, where they end up.
Right, it's, it's such a, it'ssuch a journey, I guess is the
(16:52):
right word, right?
I mean what?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
would you add there, Brandon?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I'm curious to hear what your thought is, because
we've talked about this not inprep, even like just in regular
conversation sometimes.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, I think it's one.
And then, from a personalperspective, we have two young
boys, so we have seven-year-oldand almost 10-year-old boys, and
I told our now nine year old Isaid, look, but half of your
life at our house is over.
You know, I don't think hequite understands it, but that
probably also weighs heavilyinto my mindset now of just
thinking about the nextgeneration.
More so, and it's one, you know, I, I have an advocate, or a
(17:30):
person I'm advocating on behalfof right now, and we just
chatted this week and thisindividual is, you know, two and
a half years into the industryand is kind of trying to figure
out what their next step intheir path looks like.
And what's really interesting tome because I dealt with the
same thing is when you're goingthrough it, it's hard to see
what the next step and theoutcome looks like.
(17:52):
And so I, you know, for aperiod of time I kind of just
had to turn back to like, look,you just have to be strong and
courageous, you just have tokeep doing the work, don't get
discouraged, and it's and it'sall going to work out, because
when you're in the midst of itit feels so hard.
And so for this particularperson I'm advocating on behalf
of.
You know we're we're navigatingdifferent avenues that they can
(18:16):
go down.
We're connecting with differentpeople in the industry to
ultimately determine you know,what do you like doing, where is
there a need and what's theperfect fit for you.
And I'm going to then repeat,with probably our two sons here
in the next 10 years or so.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
I love that you said that, because it also they need
to have a purpose right.
They need to figure out.
I think part of that is findingtheir purpose Even if, what do
you?
Think.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
I was going to ask Brendan, because I agree with
you.
Okay, what about you?
So, if you would take all thesequestions and some of these
prompts that you're giving theperson that you're advocating
for, and then thinking aboutyour boys, um, tell us about
your own, you know, innerdialogue in this realm.
How do you, you know, make surethat you stay on purpose?
(19:01):
What are a few, maybe keyvalues that you feel like?
Yep, still, this is what I showup with every day.
What do you feel is your, why?
Speaker 2 (19:10):
yeah.
So I think you know I spent aof time.
I am sure, like many of youhave done every personality test
possible, I think, over theyears.
And to give you a sense like mytop five strengths are achiever
, competition, focus,significance and futuristic.
And it's interesting, I thinkwhen I was, you know, 23 or 24,
(19:32):
they were probably slightlydifferent and then I took it
again a few times and I wouldtell you those are relatively
spot on for any of you who havedone those, and so you kind of
have that foundation ofunderstanding one who you are.
But then you have to figure outsort of what your driving
purpose is.
Ivana, to your, to yourquestion, and for me the why
still goes back to decisionthat's made.
(19:54):
Everything that I do isultimately about the end client,
whether it's anything about thelife cycle of most financial
advisors, not to get toospecific.
But when you're small you'rethinking about growing and then
you kind of go through the cycleof a similar progression was
you start growing and you addclients and then all of a sudden
you need to hire people andthen you have to figure out the
infrastructure and then you haveto figure out do I expand my
(20:17):
services based on what myclients need.
And then you keep growing to apoint where, oh my goodness, if
I want to keep growing this fast, then I maybe have to go out
and acquire people.
And then all of a sudden,you're old enough to start
thinking about succession, andso everybody kind of goes
through that same life cycle.
But I think if you have thatsame theme or why permeating
throughout, and I would tell youand you know, as a younger
person, I think that that's hardto figure out.
(20:39):
You know, when you're new intothe industry, still learning
about yourself, still trying tofigure those things out, I think
where it really solidified forme was getting to work with
those participants back in 2008and 2009, where I just knew, no
matter what they might be mad atme, they might be the only
person that they have to yell atwhen their account is down, but
little do they know.
(21:00):
You know, by increasing theirsavings a little bit, by
investing smarter, by getting inthe plan, by all those things,
I may not ever be able to seethe impact of those decisions,
but knowing deep down that bygetting them to make those
positive decisions, that it wasgoing to have a huge impact on
the rest of their life.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
It's so great that you are amplifying, you know,
with your voice, some of theseimportant messages you mentioned
earlier that you may not havehad.
I think you said a 180 degreepivot, but you know, there you
were.
You're describing thissituation in 2008, 2009.
I mean, I remember it reallyviscerally.
(21:36):
I was one of the folks who was,you know, I was on on Friday.
I was told that, um, ourcompany was like totally fine
financially and that nobody wasgoing to lose their job or their
or their income.
And then on Monday, we cameback on Monday and it was truly
the true story.
Like on Monday, and it wastruly the true story.
Like, nah, we made a mistake.
Actually, we're done.
(21:56):
Here you go.
So that was a pivot that I wastotally helpless over.
And so there you were, sittingwith participants, you know,
discussing their accountbalances.
That 180 degree pivot can showup at any point.
I am hopeful that in your life,this continues to be the case,
that there are no major 180degree turns, you know, down the
(22:19):
road.
But what I want to highlight isthat by practicing pivoting in
this way that you are whetherit's your own personal
experiences, or when you'retalking to your kids, or when
you're talking to other fellowsin the industry or you're
sitting with folks who are intheir own pivots.
That preps you.
My experience is that thensomething really big comes and
(22:39):
shows up and it doesn't feel asradically, you know, humongous
as it would if I wasn'tessentially kind of cultivating
this resilience along the way.
It doesn't mean that it doesn'thurt, but how we, you know,
approach it and respond.
I think we can learn a lot fromwhat you're saying here,
brendan, which is like thisdaily practice of being, you
(23:02):
know, courageous you said bravewilling to pivot.
Maybe sometimes it's 15 degrees, 20 degrees, 30 degrees, so, as
we, you know, close out.
Do you have some thoughts aboutwhat I just shared?
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Yeah.
So just just one thought, thatkind of popped into my head,
because I think this, this hasbeen something that I've had to
do personally through each stepin the journey, and especially
for for younger folks as well asput everything you have into
the step that you're at rightnow, pour yourself into it, and
when you do that, if that's notthe thing you're at right now,
pour yourself into it, and whenyou do that, if that's not the
(23:37):
thing you're meant to do, it'sgonna lead to the thing that
you're meant to do.
But to be able to get to thething that you really wanna do,
you have to put everything andpour everything you've got into
where you're at right now.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
I 100% love that.
What a great way for us to end.
It's such an important message,brandon, I don't think there's
anything really left to say,because I think you hit the nail
on the head there right,totally true.
So thank you so much for beingon with us today.
(24:11):
I loved this conversation.
Being on with us today, I lovedthis conversation, loved what
you had to say.
We can't tell you how much wethank you for sharing that.
You know, not every pivot's ahuge pivot.
Sometimes they're just littlepivots, little adjustments that
we have to make in life.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
I'm wondering are we pivoting here?
If we do not say the sentence,how is this pivot the step
forward on this show, we wouldhave broken our streak.
I love a good ritual and I lovea good streak.
I'm breaking a streak.
You don't have to respond,Brendan, but I needed to say it.
Thank you, Brendan, for showingto us how these pivots are a
(24:53):
step forward, especially withthis invitation to be here now,
with the step that you're in, sograteful for your presence here
with us.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Absolutely.
Thank you both.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
All right, all right.
Thank you everybody for beingwith us again this week.
We really appreciate youlistening and remember if you
have a pivot step into it.
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