"Refuse to Be a Prisoner of Your Past" with John Evangelista

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What truly sets exceptional financial advisors apart? Is it technical knowledge, investment returns, or something deeper? In this deeply personal conversation, John Evangelista shares the journey that transformed him from a young advisor at American Express to the founder of a specialized wealth management firm serving university faculty and staff across the country.

John's story isn't just about building a successful practice—it's about making the courageous decisions that defined his career. After selling the majority of his client book in 2003 and starting over with just 14 families, he discovered that clarity of purpose would become his North Star. Despite being told his idea to specialize in serving university employees was "the dumbest idea ever," John persisted, building a thriving firm now registered in 19 states with clients from Yale to USC.

The most powerful revelation comes when John reflects on what he's learned after three decades in the business: "Great clients can help you create a great revenue stream, but great relationships create a great life." This philosophy has transformed how he mentors the next generation of advisors, teaching them to count relationships rather than just client numbers. The depth of these connections became painfully clear when John flew to Hawaii to say goodbye to a dying client who told him, "All I feel is love."

For those facing their own challenges, John offers two transformative principles that guided his journey: "Surround yourself with the best team possible" and "Don't be a prisoner of your past." These insights helped him overcome early setbacks, including his parents' divorce and other career disappointments, to build both a successful business and a fulfilling life that includes raising bees and producing honey now sold in stores.

Whether you're in financial services or any profession where relationships matter, this conversation will remind you that technical skills alone aren't enough—it's the human connection that truly changes lives. 

"Good financial advisors change their clients' lives, but great financial advisors change the world."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Bamboo Lab Podcast with your
host, peak Performance Coach,brian Bosley.
Are you stuck on the hamsterwheel of life, spinning and
spinning but not really movingforward?
Are you ready to jump off andsoar?
Are you finally ready to sculptyour life?
If so, you've landed in theright place.

(00:21):
This podcast is created andbroadcast just for you, all of
you strivers, thrivers andsurvivors out there.
If you'd like to learn moreabout Brian and the Bamboo Lab,
feel free to reach out toexplore your true peak level at
wwwbamboolab3.com.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Welcome everyone to this week's episode of the
Bamboo Lab Podcast.
As always, I'm your host, brianBosley.
Folks, I've been excited tohave our guest on for quite a
while.
We tried to do it a few monthsago and then I had a glitch and
we couldn't do it.
What was 30, I don't know,maybe 31 years ago or so, I was

(01:02):
working in the Ameriprisefinancial office in Ann Arbor,
michigan, and there was thiskind of bullpen and I got a
chance to work with I don't know, maybe 15 people, 12.
It's been a long time.
There was one particulargentleman that made an impact on
me and I was with the companyfor five years and I worked with
a lot of different advisors andthere were four or five that I

(01:25):
just never forgot about.
Like they left an imprint on me.
It was their work ethic, theircharacter, their kind of the
personality, and so over thepast two months I've already, or
the past three months, I'vealready had one of those
gentlemen on the podcast.
So now I'm bringing number twoon, and this gentleman here was
one of the.
He was the first one who had animprint on me at Ameriprise

(01:45):
Financial 31 years ago or so.
So today, folks, we have JohnEvangelista.
John, my friend, welcome to theBamboo Lab podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Thanks, Brian.
I'm glad that we finally madethis happen.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
It's been 30 some years.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yes, it has, and I tell you you are somewhat
infamous here in my firm.
All of my advisors know who youare by name, just because you
made an imprint on me back thenand I've known a lot of people
in my career over the last 30years and, yeah, you made an

(02:22):
impact, an imprint on me andthat's why it's kind of a full
circle moment now talking yearslater.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
That's crazy and I was a blumbering fool back then
because that was kind of myfirst experience at all in Well,
I guess that was my secondexperience in any type of
management position.
I don't even know what thetitle was training manager or
something.
It was kind of a part time gigreally because we still had to
run our practices.
But I remember those daysfondly and I can still remember

(02:50):
exactly where you sat in thatbullpen At least my memory when
you'd walk in.
It was the left far corner inthat area, or was it the far?

Speaker 3 (02:58):
right.
Well, I still remember when youwalked into the coffee room I'm
sight unseen, didn't know youfrom Adam.
When you walked into the coffeeroom, when we there I'm sight
unseen, didn't know you fromadam.
And you walked in and I wasgetting coffee for a prospect
that was sitting in the lobbyand you just introduced yourself
and you said I don't know ifyou remember this you're like
hey, I'm brian bosley, I'm yournew training manager, and I was

(03:18):
all excited deer in theheadlights a little bit, because
it's relatively early on andyou said so who's running this
thing?
And I looked at you, probablylike a young puppy, and like
what do you expect my answer tobe?
And you just looked at me andsaid well, let me give you a
clue, it's not me.
And I was like and that set itoff?
Uh, and it was both scary butexciting.

(03:41):
And and um, we had a lot of fun, a lot of success that first
year.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
So you got me started the right way.
Oh, thanks, brother, it was anhonor.
It was an honor, all right.
Well, I've obviously got toknow a lot about you from the
beginning and now.
We've been friends on Facebook,we've talked on the phone,
we've kept in contact via textover the years.
But can you please tell theBamboo Pack audience out there a
little bit about who you are,where you're from, childhood
family, who or what inspired you?

Speaker 3 (04:06):
whatever you have.
Yeah, so, yeah, so, um, so I, Ireally lived in ann arbor
mission for a long period oftime.
Um, however, I was originallyborn in upstate new york.
Uh, I'm a first generationfilipino-american.
My dad uh immigrated from thePhilippines in 1961.
Met my mom, my mom's family's,all from North Dakota.

(04:30):
So if you look at my image, youwon't see the German, french,
canadian side of the family frommy mom's side of the family.
So, sadly, uh come from adivorced family.
Uh, and so mid part of fifthgrade, my mom and my stepfather

(04:51):
uh moved us from upstate NewYork, just outside of Albany, to
Ann Arbor, michigan, and forthe most part I really haven't
gone very far.
Uh, so the the building inwhich you and I met uh here in
Ann Arbor, my current office, ismaybe a par five away.
It's less than probably 500yards.

(05:12):
So been in various offices, butso so that's uh, yeah, so
that's how I ended up here, and,and generally that's who I am I
, and generally that's who I amI, married to my lovely wife
Chris.
I always say that we've beentogether since 1992, albeit we

(05:33):
haven't been married that long,but I do want to give her credit
for time served and we wereblessed with one son.
We both came from largerfamilies, however, I think we
were both building our careersand got started a little bit
later on that, but we are quiteblessed with one son who just
recently graduated from collegeand is now working for the firm,

(05:56):
so that's exciting.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
I did hear that and I saw that.
I think it was.
Maybe it was on your website orsomething, or maybe you post it
.
I saw that somewhere at onepoint.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
Now, where did you go to school?
So I went to Eastern Michigan.
So everybody always assumes,just because I'm an Ann Arbor
kid been around here, that Ithink the presumption for most
people is oh, you graduated fromthe University of Michigan and
I did not.
I actually graduated fromEastern Michigan.
It's a good school, it isationmanagement major, because that
had a lot to do with financialplanning.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
And where did John graduate from?

Speaker 3 (06:31):
So the University of Alabama.
So they have the specializeddegree program we mainly hire
from the personal financialplanning degree programs that
are the precursor to hopefullysitting for the CFP exam.
So John decided to go toAlabama and and absolutely loved

(06:51):
it and graduated in May and Ialways like to say he's off the
personal payroll and now he's ona professional payroll.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Well, congratulations , john, well done.
Alabama is an amazing school,other than when they played
Michigan and I thought.
I think he texted you when theyplayed Michigan in the playoffs
a couple of years ago and theyplayed them again.
I remember texting you.
Was that a tough choice for you?

Speaker 3 (07:15):
A little.
So, growing up in Ann Arbor,playing football in Ann Arbor,
when you have Bo Schembechlerwho comes into your ninth grade
football group and it's like youknow larger than life, and our
high school was in the shadow ofMichigan Stadium, so it's kind
of hard to not love Michigan.

(07:35):
So, however, I have learned tolove Alabama and we're all dyed
in the wool roll type people aswell.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
That's good.
They're both great schools.
I'm a Michigan fan, not a man.
I obviously went to CentralMichigan University, but I met
Bo Schembechler in 1983 at theFieldhouse in Ann Arbor when we
were going to the statechampionship as a high school
and I was a junior high schoolerand that was one of my big
claims to fame.
And I only met him the one time, but I was a diehard fan of his
.
I was young during the 10-yearwar between him and Woody Hayes,

(08:10):
but I read all about it andI've watched so many of those
old games or those old clipsover and over.
So well, that's awesome.
Can you share a little bitabout your firm with the
audience and when you startedthat and kind of what you're
about, as much as you can, andobviously with compliance?

Speaker 3 (08:30):
Yeah, so.
So, as you know and as we'vealready discussed, starting at
American Express many years ago,so originally had intended,
realized I was an early adopterto that fiduciary-based, that
fee-based planning as soon asAmerican Express opened up that
platform in 1998, I was an earlyadopter to that and realized

(08:53):
that most of the people that Iwas advising and bringing on
were coming at some point.
They were coming for me and notnecessarily for the blue box as
we used to say back then.
And I also wanted to be quiteclear that I didn't want my
clients to confuse who I workedfor and who I represented.

(09:15):
I'd left earlier, startedcontemplating going independent,
as we say in 2001,.
Had started a due diligenceprocess to consider where we
would go, with whom we wouldaffiliate, and then 9-11

(09:39):
happened and I just realizedit's like okay, during this time
I'm not going to ask my clientsto make a leap of faith and
leave with me.
So stuck around a little longer, 18 months.
A business partner of mine atthe time felt like he needed to

(10:00):
leave, so he jumped across uh,before I did.
And then when I left, uh,american express, believe it or
not, I I made a prettysignificant decision to sell.
So when I left American expressin 2003, when I finally did move
over, uh, now my wife happenedto be pregnant at the time.

(10:21):
Uh, so I don't know what I wasthinking at the time to do this,
but just chose to goindependent.
I sold a majority of my book ofbusiness.
I had been advising 387families at that point and I
started completely over, for allpractical purposes, with 14

(10:42):
families.
Wow, for all practical purposes, with 14 families.
Wow.
So, even though you and I metin 95, I, for all intents and
purposes, restarted my career in2003.
Now, challenges of that I sharewith my wife.
I've got you, you can stay home.
Let's have this baby, our firstchild at the time, thinking

(11:09):
that we would have more.
Uh, she left a well-establishedcareer and because I shared
with her, I've got us, we'recovered.
And that was naive, that wasignorant, that was not
necessarily the best thing to doand just try to start over with
14 clients, but I did it anyway.
Um, so, that's so.

(11:31):
That's kind of how independencehappened.
Um, I would say how, thecurrent iteration, how we've
arrived where we are now, andI'll maybe describe that a
little bit more here in a minute.
So some people that you know,tony Mazzelli, uh, ken
Evangelista, people that I hadknown from American Express.

(11:53):
We were affiliated loosely.
They approached me in 2000,really 2005 and said hey, you
know what you know, we've gotanother advisor.
Hey, you know what you know,we've got another advisor,
well-established, you know,million dollar producer.
And they said to me a verysimple sentiment, which is you

(12:15):
know, he's got all the resourcesand not a lot of time, and, to
be direct, you have more timeand fewer resources.
So what are your thoughts aboutyou joining him?
And so left Ann Arbor eventhough I kept an office, hedged
my bets maybe a little bit, andthat was fortuitous that I did

(12:36):
Went up, worked with hisprincipal, brought all of our
systems and processes that wehad already been utilizing
individually in Ann Arborsystems and processes that we
had already been utilizingindividually in Ann Arbor and
legitimately took this from 1.1million of revenue to 1.75
million of revenue inside of 12months alone.

(12:56):
And then you're saying, well,what's bad about that?
Well, realized, at the end ofthat 12 months, when we were
talking about the next, thebusiness plan for the next year,
it's like well, john, go, goget the business on your own.
And I'm like, well, that's notwhy I'm here, right, and not
gaining any recognition oracknowledgement that I had any

(13:17):
part of helping this go from a1.1 million to 1.7.
So I realized at that pointit's like you know what this
isn't for me, um, if I'm notgoing to be valued, if I'm not
going to be acknowledged for youknow the time and effort, etc.
Um, so I decided at that pointto come back to ann arbor and

(13:39):
then you may be familiar withpeter montoya's book, the Brand
Called you.
I'm not.
I don't know if you know that,because a lot of times people
ask okay, evangelist andassociate wealth management for
university faculty and staff,how did that come to be?
And so, while I was still inBrighton, michigan, I'm still

(13:59):
working with this principal Idecided on my own dime, on my
own time, I flew down to Miami,florida, and I met, as you have,
you get these groups, theyinvite advisors from all around
the country and you explore.

(14:22):
This quote-unquote brand calledyou.
And so the simple premise whodo you work with?
Who do you work with that?
Who do you really like workingwith and who really likes
working with you, right?
So simple, simple premise.
So what do you do and who doyou do it for.
So here I am, sitting in Miami,I'm sitting in this group of
probably no less than 70advisors that's probably one of

(14:44):
the younger ones there and as Iwent through this discovery
process there, I'm like, well,who do I like working with and
who really likes working with me?
And really it kind of startedwith my mom.
My mom was a University ofMichigan nurse and what I
realized, the people that reallyloved working with me and I

(15:05):
loved working with them.
There was a lot of consistencyand they were university,
faculty and staff.
So we have, as you know, herein Ann Arbor, we have the
University of Michigan.
So, and I'll never forget, youknow, as we're going through
this discovery process ofexploring, can you have a niche
Right, and you think about, backthen most people were

(15:25):
generalists.
Definitely in American Expresswe're all generalists.
It's like you have, as we usedto joke, if you have a dollar
and a pulse, we'll work with you, kind of thing.
So at that point, to realizethat you know what, I'm going to
take this leap, I'm going tonarrow, I'm going to take this
leap, I'm going to narrow, I'mgoing to create this niche I'm

(15:46):
going to work with and I'm goingto provide wealth management
for university faculty and staffand and really the basis of
that is it's going to attractthe people you're looking for
and it's going to deflect thepeople you don't.
That you're not looking for,and that's really how that
started.
So here I uh to bring this backfull circle.

(16:06):
So I fly back.
I am just pumped up, I amexcited, I'm invigorated.
I had this like crap of notbeing acknowledged for the
success that we had over thelast year and I presented this
business opportunity.
I said I don't even need torebrand, I just want to put a
separate tab on our website, andpart of the reason I was able

(16:31):
to help move the firm from 1.1to 1.7 is there was unmined gold
.
There were unminedopportunities within that base
and a lot of them were facultyand staff right.
So I present this businessopportunity.
Let's do this and I'll neverforget.

(16:51):
This individual looked acrossthe table for me and said that's
the dumbest idea I've everheard.
That will never work.
And here we are.
Yes, that's a true story.
So I realized at that point Igotta get out of here.
So I reached out to one of myformer compatriots who had also

(17:14):
gone independent at that pointand I said, chris, I gotta get
out of this town.
You know, can I come back tothe ann arbor office that he had
?
And he's like, come, you know,come back home.
Basically yeah, so, anyway.
So that's how it all started.
Um, I know that was along-winded explanation and here
we are.

(17:35):
Um 21 employees registered in19 states.
We advise faculty and stafffrom Yale to USC, from Michigan
State down to Florida and TexasVanderbilt, I mean, you name it

(17:55):
and that's one of the reasonstoo, I wanted to have you on.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Of course.
I've run in the same circles asyou have more professionally in
the past six years and yourname has popped up so many times
and I remember when I firstheard your name I'm like hey, I
know him.
You know, I didn't make theconnection right away and this
is probably five years ago, I'mnot even sure, you know, maybe
it was through you know Tony orsomeone, and then I just started

(18:21):
, you know, asking how you'redoing, of course.
And then, you know, I'm blessednow that my daughter gets to
associate with you quite oftenand I mean, I've heard nothing
but amazingly positive thingsabout you and your firm and when
I heard that, it didn'tsurprise me but it did make me
smile, thinking OK, he turnedout exactly the way I thought he
would when he was 20 some yearsold.

(18:43):
And you've done it.
You have done it.
Your firm has an amazingreputation and I think that's
somewhat hard to do to maintaina firm that's 20 some years and
it's running.
You know you don't, when youdon't hear anything negative
about them.
It's easy to do that after afirm that's one or two years old
.
You know you're, you're in theglory, kind of like.
You're in those glory years,honeymoon phase, everything's

(19:03):
good.
But when you hear so many goodthings over the years, and
especially when a firm is 21years old so hey, by the way,
I've got pulled up right nowyour wedding picture on Facebook
.
So you and Chris, that's theface I remember, even though
you've aged very well.
I mean, I would spot you in acrowd, like if somebody said

(19:29):
which one of these 150 people isJohn.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
I'd say that's him right there, Even if I hadn't
seen your picture over the past30 years.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
There's a little bit more gray.
There's a little bit more graythere.
There's a little more gray.
Yeah, that's okay.
Well, I don't have any graybecause I don't have any hair.
So maybe that's your secretJust cut your hair off.
But no, you got good hair.
I love it.
So, um, the question I like toask everybody John, you can talk
about this over the course ofyour career, let's just even say
, I don't over your life, youjust call it, I don't care what
time frame.
What is one of the greatestchallenges you've overcome?

(19:56):
And and then, how did youovercome it?

Speaker 3 (20:01):
uh, I, I would say I would go back to that 2003
because I thought about thatidea of challenge and, I think,
being a new dad, feeling thatweight of the responsibility to
know, um, that my wife reallylet me, left what her career was

(20:25):
at that point.
You know, we left that safetyand that stability that I
counted on as a new advisor.
Right, I, you know I would notbe where I am in so many
different ways without Chris,and so she supported me when we
were all young, broke advisors,trying to make our way, and so

(20:46):
then to really feel like I, Ilet her down, that I failed,
that it presented morechallenges, which should
hopefully, for new parents, beto be this wonderful moment.
This time, and you know,without going into too much,
that person that had jumpedacross ahead of me in 2001, you

(21:09):
know, I thought I was kind ofgetting the band back together
and feeling like we were goingto grow a firm and grow a
business together.
Band back together and feelinglike we were going to grow a
firm and grow a businesstogether.
And he was quite distracted andmade some really bad decisions
that impacted Chris and mesignificantly financially, um,
and that's part of why I tookthe opportunity to go affiliate

(21:31):
with that, that other principal.
So it was a very tough time,that that couple of year time
period, which was why it made iteven more challenging to not
feel wanted, not to beacknowledged or recognized, when
I felt like I was making adifference and I felt like there
was a real opportunity, um,with that principle, that that
older advisor, um, and so thatwas a very, very tough time.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
Well, it was a lot of things happening at once too.
I mean, you were probably onlymarried.
It was.
You were married.
What?
Four years?
Four or five years at the time,yes, or four years, yes.
And you got married in 99.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
Yep Gosh.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
Well it's, it's amazing.
How do you think, though, whenyou look at that challenging
time, do you think if thatsomehow would have been stripped
from your experience, do youthink you'd be where you are
today?
Or were you able to use that asa learning and a motivation to
get to where you are today?

Speaker 3 (22:27):
I absolutely did use it as motivation.
So, you know, coming from adivorced family, my dad,
especially once we moved out toAnn Arbor, I was the classic kid
of a divorce, right.
So you saw, I saw my dad twice,you know, two weeks in the

(22:49):
summer and then over theholidays, over Christmas break,
right.
So I always wanted hisrecognition, I wanted him to
feel proud of me, Right, and Iwanted uh to feel that in his,
his recognition uh and awarenessof what I was doing, and I

(23:10):
wanted to be him to be proud ofhis son kind of thing.
So, um, I guess the point ofthat is, you know, feeling like
I was letting it down, likeletting people down.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
And and so, even though I felt like I'd made
choices that I thought weregoing to work out, we're going
to make my life and my family'slife better, and it didn't work
out that way through.
You know both individuals thatwere in my life professionally

(23:44):
at the time and so absolutely sothen that.
And then having that sense ofpurpose though that's why I say
that that brand call you havingthat clarity of purpose, having
that clear mission of now I knowwhat I'm going to do.
Now I know exactly who I wantto be.
These are people who care aboutme and I care about them.

(24:06):
I want these people becauseback then, brian, most of the
university and it's reallyhasn't changed that much over
the last 30 years.
This is a group of people whohave been generally ignored by
most financial firms, and Iunderstand why, because they

(24:28):
generally can't understand howto monetize that client.
However, I believe so many morepeople should have retired from
the University of Michigan asmulti-multi-millionaires, and
it's not that they didn't wantto, it's because they didn't
know how to.
So that clarity and thatchallenge, um, that that
principal kind of put down andhe probably doesn't know, that

(24:49):
he kind of helped me in that, um, in a twisted way which is and
chris will tell you this storyand it really hasn't changed
much with our firm today whichis kind of embodies our core
philosophies and our core valuesthat, whether you have 5,000 or
5 million, we treat everybodythe same.

(25:10):
We take everybody through thesame exact process.
And so that motivation of I'mgoing to prove you wrong.
I'm going to prove to you thatthis is not the dumbest idea and
I'm a very competitive person.
I don't know if you rememberthat, um, I don't like to be bad

(25:31):
at anything and don't get mewrong, my, my handicap's higher
than it should be on the golfcourse, but it doesn't mean I
don't want to always get betterand be the best at everything
that I'm doing.
Um, I generally don't know howto do anything halfway.
Um, nine years ago, I startedraising bees as a hobby.

(25:52):
I started with two colonies andnow I've got honey on store
shelves and you know we'reproducing thousands of pounds of
honey.
So, as Chris will tell you ifyou were here, I generally don't
know how to do anything halfway.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
So I love that.
Hey, I had some of your honey.
I think I sent you a picture,didn't?

Speaker 1 (26:11):
I send you a picture.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
I think you did A few weeks ago.
It's amazing.
Yeah, my daughter told me shegoes.
Hey, you got to try some ofthis.
I'm like why she goes.
It's John's honey.
I'm like what.
I had no idea that you raisedbees.
You know it's interesting whenyou talk about using that time
frame as a motivation.
I'm so, you know.

(26:38):
I think when you get older andyou get more experience, you
know failures behind you in life.
You realize the beauty offailures.
You realize the beauty ofmistakes or dark moments in your
life.
You don't realize them whenyou're going through them.
I don't think, even at my age Istill I recognize them as
learning, but it's still hard toget through those.
But every one of those failures, if you handle it right, are
always the big impetus to yoursuccesses.
I had a dear friend of mine callme or texted me last night as I
literally was crawling into bedand the person said are you

(27:01):
busy?
I said I'm actually literallycalling the bed but I can talk.
So they called me, had a reallychallenging day yesterday,
really a momentous day, and wetalked about using and this is a
little bit thicker probably, ormaybe a little deeper, but it
is sometimes you have to go to adark side.

(27:22):
You have to go and reallyexperience that pain you're
going through or that fear orwhatever it might be, and you
got to almost.
There's always a in that darkside there's always a power and
a strength.
And I think if you can harnessthe power and strength from that
dark side and I don't meangoing to a dark, deep, heavy

(27:44):
depression, but when you canreally experience that pain and
feel it without trying to runaway from it and be aware of it
you're intentional about thefeelings, kind of extrapolating
your feelings you can pull a lotof power out of that.
You really can.
And a lot of people do thatintuitively, they just do it,
they use it as a motivation.
But sometimes you can dig deepdown there.

(28:05):
I've done that a couple of timesin my life and it's I always
find big moments of not justprofessional but personal
advancements that come after afailure or come after a
challenge or a dark period of mylife.
There's always the next levelalways seems to be maybe a level
of some type of happiness orsuccess that I didn't really
realize I could have achievedprior to that moment happening.

(28:27):
And so I try to tell people man, if you're going through
something dark right now, youknow, ask yourself what is this
trying to tell me?
So what am I learning from it?
And then how can I deliberatelyand intentionally use this
moment to tell me?
So what am I learning from it?
And then, how can Ideliberately and intentionally
use this moment to do somethingthat I never would have done
positive thing that I neverwould have done had this moment
never occurred, because there'sa silver lining in all those

(28:48):
clouds.
So it sounds like you didexactly that.
So well done, my friend.
Yeah, I like looking throughyour pictures here and I just
kind of click every once in awhile so with my finger, when
I'm done talking, I look over tosee what the next picture is
you at an Alabama game.
You at a Michigan game.
You and Chris getting married.
You hanging out with John sogood stuff, brother.

(29:10):
What do you think John, in thepast 12 to 24 months has been
one of your greatest learnings?

Speaker 3 (29:22):
I would say that you know, as I've continued to grow
the company, as I've continuedto develop as an advisor and
really understanding that I'vebeen building a business I'm not
building a practice that whatI've learned because I give a

(29:46):
lot of thought to this.
I reflect a lot about whatmakes us different.
It's usually I'm in the processof interviewing interns and
potential new hires next yearand it's a common question of,
like, what makes you differentand what I've realized over the

(30:07):
last 12 months I would saymainly in the last 12 months
I've come to a realization andit's really impacted how I
mentor and develop the nextgeneration of advisor now, which
is great clients can help youcreate a great like revenue
stream, but great relationshipscreate a great life, and that's

(30:33):
to me.
I used to talk to all myadvisors as we put our business
plans together, how many newclients they are going to take
on next year as an example,because we're in the midst of
getting ready for our 2026business planning and I thought
about it most of my whole career.

(30:54):
We've always talked aboutclients, clients, clients,
households and I thought aboutit most of my whole career.
We've always talked aboutclients, clients, clients,
households and I realized that'swhat's helped us become a
by-referral only, like this goldstandard of what everybody
wants but few people ever havebody.
That is me.
I can't separate me as a person, as me as an advisor is the

(31:20):
relationships that I have withmy quote unquote clients is I
have more relationships than Ihave clients and I do stuff with
my clients outside of I was.
You know, whether we go onvacations with each other,
whether we play pickball witheach other, whether we play, uh,

(31:41):
golf with each other, whetherwe drink bourbon or you know all
of these things that we dotogether that extend outside of
the office, and you know I sadly, um, I'm going to try and keep
this together here for a coupleminutes.

(32:02):
So, um, I lost two of mylongest clients last week and
when we were in Italy, um, onewas expected, kind of, I was
blessed, blessed, which isanother life lesson.
Just don't wait.
Luckily, client's wife reachedout to me in August and said hey

(32:25):
, I know you're planning oncoming out here to Hawaii to
come see us around Christmastime, but he's lost 25 pounds.
I don't think he's going tomake it.
But he's lost 25 pounds, Idon't think he's going to make
it.
And so I got to the office thenext day and I looked at my
staff and I said I'm going toHawaii.
And they're like what are youtalking about?

(32:45):
You're going to Hawaii.
I said I'm going to Hawaii, I'mgoing to say goodbye.
So when I was sitting there withhim in his bed in his living

(33:06):
room and sitting there with hiswife, and I'm sitting there with
his stepdaughter and his stepgranddaughter and he's just
smiling at me, he said somethingyou said.
He said, john, you look exactlythe same because we don't get
to see each other Right.
And he says you look, you don't.
We don't get to see each otherright.
And he says you look, youhaven't aged.
And he's just got this hugesmile.
And I looked at him and I saidAl, how do you feel?

(33:28):
And he said I don't know.
I can't tell you how I feel,but all I feel is love.
And it's hard for me to eventell that story right now.
But what I realized as I'vereflected on this year is the

(33:49):
relationships I have that haveenriched my life and I've been
blessed right If by having themin my life.
And I have a saying here.
You know, I expect our clientsto have a better life with us in
their life.
And so both of these gentlemen,who were some of my longest
clients, and to lose them and torealize that sense of loss of I

(34:16):
will miss those conversations,I'm going to miss that
relationship, and that's thepart where I had already started
prior to this.
Last month changed myconversation with my next
generation advisors and reallychanged that dialogue and really
change that dialogue of I wantyou to think about how many

(34:42):
relationships you have with thepeople you see every day versus
the number of clients that youcan count on your you know, book
of business.
And so that I would say to kindof that, that encapsulating
moment, that encapsulating valuestatement of just recognizing
what's made a difference is therelationships, the advice.

(35:03):
Hopefully, as we all shouldhope, being a financial advisor
is providing good financialadvice.
However, a key difference isI've seen these people beyond
the zeros on their statementsand it doesn't matter how many

(35:23):
zeros are on there.
So I have these deeprelationships with people that
love coming in.
I love seeing them, they loveseeing me and, you know,
business gets in the way of ourconversation about life.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
If that makes sense, it does, man.
That might be one of the bestanswers I've ever heard to that
question.
So, first of all, rest in peace, al.
I did see that on your post and, uh, you know, it's very, very
touching.
Um, it's interesting that youyou talked a while ago when we
first started talking about whenyou kind of branched off and
you had this.
You know, you use the term ofclarity of purpose and I think

(36:01):
so many advisors could learn alot about that because obviously
, when you had that clarity ofpurpose of what you want to do,
that was the seed to then howyou eventually built this
business on relationships andreally loving.
I mean, you almost never hearof an advisor using the word
love when they refer to theirclients.
But that all started probablyback in that time when you

(36:21):
decided you know, I, you had you, you kind of knew you read the
book.
You know the uh, what is it?
The brand is?
I just put it my, I put that mymailbox, actually on amazon, uh
, while we were talking, um,that was written quite a few
years ago but I'm sure it'squite a year.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
Yeah, um, I'm what we call a dinosaur.
I always say I'm a dinosaur.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
I still read seven habits of highly effective
people.
I still read some of those oldclassics a lot just to kind of
keep myself grounded on some ofthe stuff that taught me, um.
But I think that's a reallyrare and I think it's an
incredibly important aspect for,especially when you're working
with somebody for 20 years, 30years, if you don't cross a
little bit of that boundary ofof having some really strong

(37:04):
emotions towards someone.
I think it's almost kind ofindicative, it's an almost an
indictment on someone'sinability to feel emotion.
Because you work with yourclients, you know, obviously in
one of the most intimate partsof their life, which is their
money.
I mean, I got to a point,probably four or five years ago,
where I have I've gotten veryclose to some of my clients I

(37:25):
mean, so they become my bestfriends, um, and every day text
good morning, brother, I loveyou.
Sometimes after a coachingsession, I love you, man, bless
you.
I love you.
Uh, tell your family.
I said I think that.
And here's the thing, john, youknow how I?
You caught me in my earlystages of my career where I was
really inexperienced.
I was very insecure as a leaderI had no, I mean, I didn't know

(37:47):
what I was doing.
So what I did was act tough andprobably, you know I'm
obviously I had my, my, mypersonality was still still I
was an adult.
So it was kind of it wasdifferent than it is now but I
was still, I think, a kindperson.
But I would do things justbecause I thought it was the
right, because to be a leaderyou had to be tough, you know,
to mentor, to coach, to consult,whatever.

(38:09):
You had to be tough, had to bea badass, and I did that.
After I left the company, backin 1996, american Express
started.
You know my current practiceand my current business.
I kept that going with myclients for probably a decade
and maybe 12, 13, 14 years, andI realized how draining that was

(38:32):
for me.
Like I was, I was swimmingagainst the current because I
was trying to make myself thiskind of callous business
consultant who you know focuseson results only, and you know
which results, obviously themost important thing, or at
least they're there, withrelationships right at the top.
But I was all about that and Irealized how draining it was for
me until I decided, wait aminute, just be me, be nice.

(38:57):
And it took me probably severalmonths or a year to kind of
make that transition ormigration.
All of a sudden I've got betterclients.
I where the results are better.
I love working with my clients.
Now I get up on Monday morningsLike most people get up on
Christmas morning.
I I'm excited to work.
I have a passion for it andit's because I decided just be a

(39:18):
human being and if you'reworking with somebody for years,
or sometimes even months, youbuild a relationship with them
and there's no problem.
I think it's beautiful to kindof expand that or to at least
not try to hide behind it, tolet it be what it is, so I love
it, by the way.
So this might be kind of thesame kind of question, but it

(39:38):
may be.
It may be it's on the samelines as what do you consider,
john?
You know 30 some years in thebusiness?
Uh, I've been with evangelistsand associates for now for 21
years.
Yeah, 21 years.
Okay, you got a number of.
You got an amazing practice.
What's a win for you right nowin life?

Speaker 3 (39:57):
Yeah, so.
So win in life right now isreally what I see as my role
moving forward in not totality,but it's a significant part is
seeing the advisors that I haveeducated and mentored, the

(40:22):
development of those advisorshelping to get better faster.
I would say that when I'minterviewing no-transcript and I

(40:57):
would say it's almost likeparents, right, we all want our
kids to maybe be a little bitbetter than us, like have a
little bit better life than wehad.
Right, if we experienced trialsand tribulations, hopefully
maybe to minimize those.
I don't want to necessarilyeliminate those, but the wins

(41:18):
that I see is seeing my youngeradvisors succeed, seeing them
when those light bulb moments goon.
Or seeing that when we have aholiday party for our clients at
a local restaurant here in AnnArbor and clients are walking up
to me who I don't I've nevermet them, I mean that's a weird
experience for me at this pointright, where clients are coming

(41:40):
up at that holiday party andthey're like, hey, you know what
at that holiday party?
And they're like, hey, you knowwhat, emily's awesome, or
Nicole's doing a great job, orWyatt, or you know so.
So my wins are seeing them winright and seeing the impact that
they're making in people'slives, um, and that they bought
in.
You know, because, as you know,this is not an easy business.

(42:01):
Um, I've really tried to staytrue to what all of you put into
us back then.
Obviously, you know, modifiedit in some ways, but not
drastically.
So I you might be surprised tohear that.
So, so really, the the wins areseeing the wins, seeing them

(42:22):
accomplishing their goals,seeing them attain their annual
goals before December 31st,right, seeing the excitement
when they set their businessplans for the next year.
And there's this fear andthere's terror, like I know
you're never going to be happy,john, in a friendly way.

(42:42):
You're going to want my goalsto be bigger and badder next
year, and I have no idea howit's going to happen, but you
have faith that it's going tohappen.
So I think it's just going tohappen.
So that's a win for me, it's tosee the growth of the company
through their efforts, throughtheir eyes, to see and develop

(43:06):
that next generation, and that'swhy I'm excited that, um, my
son has decided to come into thebusiness.
Is, you know, hopefully helphim be a better advisor than I
am, right, honestly Sure, um,cause that's what our, that's
what our, that's what ourcommunity needs.
Um, that's what our clientsneed.

(43:29):
Um, that's what their kids need.
So we're all aboutintergenerational planning as
well, so, um.
So, as I think about what arethe wins, it's more of an
internal, uh, assessment.
It's not.
How does our broker dealer viewus?
Where do we fall in a hierarchyof of them?

(43:50):
You know what I mean.
So well, yeah, so that's that'show we would define that.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
You know, a lot of people ask me, when I first
start coaching them, somebodywho might be in an executive
position or wants to be in aleadership position.
They ask me, they, I asked themto define leadership and they
give me all these bullshitanswers really, um, and they're
partially.
I ask them to define leadershipand they give me all these
bullshit answers, really, andthey're partially correct.
And I always tell them yeah,you know, you're on the right
track.
But I think leadership is onething.
It's increasing the sense ofself-worth of the people around
you and you know, sometimes youknow that can be a form of

(44:18):
inspiring them.
Sometimes it can be holdingthem accountable, it can.
You know, sometimes they needto see a side of you they don't
want to see again.
You know, so to speak, it hasto be a lot of things and that's
, it sounds to me, exactly whatyou're doing.
You know, when you, when youtalk about this idea of you know
, with you know, john going tobe a better let's get him to be
a better advisor than I am, andall the other advisors you're

(44:38):
working with, make them betterthan me.
That's this old idea that myfriend always tells me.
As parents, our job is to pushour children further up the
stream than we were pushed andtheir job is to push their.
And that's what you know.
Obviously, evolution is, Iguess, microevolution, so I
think that's that's great.
Well, I mean, it's obviouslywhy the reputation of the firm
is so good.
So this is my favorite questionand I love, I love, this one.

(45:03):
So if I were to drive down fromMarquette, michigan, all the
way to Ann Arbor, michigan,today and pull my time machine,
john and we were going in, youcan go back to any stage of your
life, from childhood tillyesterday.
And if you could sit down andtalk to your younger former self
, what words of wisdom, recipesfor success or advice would you
give your younger John?

Speaker 3 (45:26):
Well, this will okay.
So, from my perspective,because you, you and I, through
when we correspond, and you, youpost certain things and and it
doesn't surprise me, a lot ofthe things that you, you post
that I'm like, well, of coursehe feels that way, because I
feel the same way.
So let me tell you one that Iwould definitely, I would not be

(45:50):
where I am without the teamthat I have, and that team is my
company, my work group, but myfamily, my group of friends.
That is not huge, it's small,but important, right?
So, surrounding yourself withthe best people and and I, I,

(46:14):
you know the, the adage muchbetter than than I am, but I
think you saw, you posted it, uh, maybe a month ago or a couple
weeks ago which is, you know, ifyou're in a room of being a
group of six intelligent or fiveintelligent people, who are you
?
You're the sixth, right.
So I would say, surroundingyourself with the best teammates

(46:35):
possible, the people that arethere for you, that are going to
support you.
They're going to be notnecessarily, yes, people, but
they're going to be people thatwill buy into what you want your
life to be and they're going toenrich that, and I've been.
That has helped me.

(46:56):
And again I'm going to relatethis back to being a child
divorce.
My mom was a single mom here inAnn Arbor.
She's at the hospital Most ofthe time I have.
You know there were four kidshere and you know my sister
helped.
She was older, she, she waskind of a little bit surrogate
mom for me in some ways, but shewas trying to live her own life

(47:18):
.
And so my teammates, um,playing football, uh, that's why
I love everything.
Team.
I love teams because it's madea difference in my life.
So, number one, surroundyourself with the best team
possible and recognize, when youdon't have a good teammate is,

(47:39):
you know, cutting that, cuttingthat relationship.
And and I don't know if it wasMaya Angelou or whatever,
somebody said the same oncesomebody shows you who they
truly are, believe them thefirst time.
Right, I love that and so.
So I learned that late.
So and that's the part where wegenerally always want to I've

(48:00):
never, I don't, I haven't liveda perfect life.
I've made mistakes, I've mademy than my fair share and people
have still kept me in theirlives, right.
However, you know, and I knowthat we all will come across
people who, at some level, donot have our best interest in
mind.
Right, it doesn't make themgood or bad people, it's just

(48:23):
they're not the right people forus.
So recognizing that earlier andeliminating those people
creating boundaries, creatingwhere you, even if you have to
have them in your life, thatyou're going to create some
boundaries there.
So, surrounding yourself withthe best team possible and
recognizing when you don't havesomebody that should be there

(48:46):
with you, because for me, it'sall about the journey now.
So everybody asks me now it'slike, okay, what's the next goal
?
Where's the next?
And I am a planner.
This should not surprise you.
I had a goal by the time I was60.
Today is my 57th birthday.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
So I know, today is literally my birthday.
Happy birthday, brother.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
Yeah Well, I appreciate that.
So, but you know, and youtaught me back then and it's in
all the books A is A right.
So I have a goal.
When I was 50, I said to myselfI want to work with clients and
staff that I look forward toseeing every single day.
So that's where I started sevenyears ago.

(49:27):
So I just turned 57.
So then I set the business planof where we expect to be by
September 16th of 2028.
Now my partner, my businesspartner, emily, she's always
like John December 31st Can wejust say December 31st of 2028?
And I said no, Emily, december31st, can we just say December

(49:47):
31st of 2028?
And I said no, emily.
Like I said, I wanted to dothis and hit this by the time
I'm 60, because that's just theway I'm wired Right.
So I guess the point of that isgetting the right people on
your bus right, as they say.
You know, even recognizing um, Ihad a client many years ago,
brian.
I was at American Express.

(50:08):
Still get to see him around AnnArbor.
He's a sailor, so he had a38-foot Catalina.
So I know people that aresailors and I know people that
have powerboats, and I askedthis gentleman also.
His name was Al, interestingly,and I asked him, al, I said
what's the difference betweenpowerboats and sailboats?
He says let me tell you.
So, powerboaters, it's allabout the destination.

(50:29):
Sailors, it's all about thejourney.
I know and I was like okay, sonow it's about this journey that
I'm on and there are waypoints.
That's what I'm saying.
There are clear business goalsand objectives.
There are clear family goalsand objectives.
So there are clear timelines,deadlines, goals, objectives.

(50:51):
However, it's more about thejourney than necessarily a
destination.
Right, believe for me,personally and professionally,
when I think about my outcomeversus the outcome, in a lot of
different ways, of my directfamily, right that at some point

(51:18):
.
And so this is where I wouldsay to my younger self, to
answer your question in a verylong winded way I love it.
I love it Is is don't be aprisoner of your past.
We all make mistakes, all of us.
We've all, most of us, havebeen dealt a blow Like I didn't.
My parents never thought theywere going to get divorced.

(51:40):
Like I was nine months old whenmy parents divorced, I never
knew my family as a nucleusfamily, right, I was nine months
old, right?
So where I think about whatheld me back in times of life
when I think about what's heldsome of my siblings back.

(52:01):
I love my brother Joe.
My brother Joe was higherintelligence than me, he was
always better at math than me.
He just I love my brother Joe.
My brother Joe unfortunatelycould not move past some bad

(52:21):
decisions that he made andthings that happened and it's
not easy to let those things go.
But I would definitely say, withChris coming into my life, I
think it helped that she was apsych major at Michigan.
We all need one of those, yeah,we all need one of those and

(52:43):
I've got one in-house.
So she helped me understandthat it didn't matter that my
parents were divorced, it didn'tmatter that I wasn't on the
right track when we met.
It didn't matter.
It just like how can?
And it really drives me todayit's I've made the decisions

(53:03):
that I can with the bestinformation available.
And you know we think aboutwhether it's hiring.
You know, not everybody thatgets hired here has succeeded
here.
It doesn't make them good, itdoesn't make them bad, it's just
maybe not the right place forthem, right and so so don't be a
prisoner of your past.
You know, recognize that we allmake mistakes.

(53:24):
Make you know, understand andacknowledge that we're all
flawed in a lot of your past.
You know, recognize that we allmake mistakes.
Make you know, understand andacknowledge that we're all
flawed in a lot of differentways.
Um, but how do we learn fromthat?
How do we move forward fromthat?
How do we get better from that?
Because tomorrow is another day.
Today I do get to wake up andsay to myself I can make this
day anything that I want it tobe.

(53:45):
And if all I'm thinking about isthe mistake that I made
yesterday or last week or lastmonth or six months ago or God
forbid I mean my mom, god resther soul.
Remember, I was nine months oldwhen they got divorced and at
one point I finally said to mymom and I want to say it was

(54:06):
probably when I was in myforties, brian and I looked at
her and I said mom, dad gotremarried, dad has two new kids,
dad has moved on.
You haven't.
The only life you're not livingis yours.

(54:29):
Everybody else is moving on andit saddens me to know that you,
really you still have not let go.
You are a prisoner of your pastand I want you to enjoy the
rest of your life, whatever leftof life you have.
Enjoy the rest of your life,whatever left of life you have.

(54:50):
And so my mom's example, albeita sad one honestly, it was sad
to the day that she died acouple of years ago.
We're coming up on the two yearanniversary for her passing
away.
That's probably one of my mostsad moments.
That she never let go, she, shewas just continuing to be a
prisoner of her past, and itmotivates me to be mindful of

(55:13):
even when things don't go right.
What can we learn from that andhow can we move on from that?
I would say my younger self isdon't be a prisoner of your past
.
Understand that tomorrow is anew day.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
I think those are two of the better examples I've
heard of that.
That's the second question Ican honestly say is probably in
the top five or ten bestresponses I've heard today.
And I think when people ask meso often, john, I get texts or
phone calls from clients ormostly clients that I've either
worked with in the past orcurrently do, and they'll ask me
what is your definition ofsuccess?
And I always I'm sorry, notdefinition of success, what is

(55:51):
the key to success?
If you had to give one, Ialways say look around and see
who you associate with.
It's who you marry, who youdate, who you, and it's just the
people you associate with most,whether it's teammates, whether
it's colleagues, whether it'sfriends, whether it's family,
whether it's spouses, whateveryou know, partners, whatever it
might be.
Because I do think that, as youhad mentioned, I really like

(56:12):
the idea of you know being okaythat sometimes you have to cut
relationships, because somepeople are nourishing to us and
some people are poisonous to us,and it doesn't mean they're bad
necessarily.
Sometimes they might be, but alot of times it's simply because
there's something that theycan't give you and you can't
give them, or maybe it'ssomething you're both draining

(56:33):
from each other and people say,well, how do you know if someone
is a person you're associating?
And I always say three things.
It's real simple Do theycelebrate with you when you do
something well?
Do they celebrate with you whenyou do something well?
Do they support you when thingsare going tough and do they
challenge you when you're doingsomething stupid?
If people are doing those threethings and you're doing them
back to them, probably a goodrelationship, probably a solid,

(56:54):
nourishing relationship.
If they're not, maybe you haveto consider getting them out so
you can fill them with somebodybetter for you.
And that tends to be prettyaccurate across the board.
It really does.
I can tell I do this thing, john, called a CLR.
It's called, it's a simplestands for conscious living
reminder, and I have 33 thingson a sheet of paper.

(57:15):
It's a spreadsheet and I haveto do each one of those in
certain number of times everyweek.
So, to give you an example, oneis how often do I contact my
mom?
That's seven times a week.
She has to hear from me, mykids, how much protein I put in
my body, how much I exercise,you know, run, lift, whatever,
right down to really silly.
How much I read every week andI don't ever get all.
So everyone has a differentnumber because I don't.

(57:35):
I don't do certain things seventimes a week.
I might like I take a coldshower six days a week, but I
call my mom or I contact my momseven days a week, but they all
have to be met, or at least 29have to be met.
Every week I have to completeat least 29 of them, get to
fruition.
I never I've only gotten 33once in all these years that
I've got all of them.
Where was I even going with this?

(57:56):
Oh, I know what it is.
And then I track it.
So when I'm done, every week, Iput it on a line chart and I
can see when my numbers are down, like 16, 17 that I completed
over a course, you know, thatweek I asked myself who was I
with that week, what was I doingdifferently?
And it almost always associateswith I was hanging out with
somebody not a bad person, but Iwas associating maybe that week

(58:18):
or that, that timeframe, withsomebody who isn't really
somebody I should be hanging outwith a lot.
And when, when I'm peaking atlike 31, 32 a week for a period
of time, who are the people I'mmostly associated with during
that time, and it correlatesjust like it's a perfect
correlation every single time,and so I have some kind of
quantifiable measures to be ableto work to just validate what

(58:38):
you said.
So, folks, I think you want togo back and listen to what John
said over the last few minutes.
I think those are two of thegreatest piece of advice you can
get.
You know, make sure that youknow, surround yourself with
good people and don't be aprisoner of your past.
If you do those two thingsright now, your life will start
dramatically changing over thenext few months.
So, all right.

(58:59):
Final question, john is thereany question?
I didn't ask that you wish Iwould have, or is there anything
?
You a final message you want toleave with those Bamboo Pack
members out there?

Speaker 3 (59:11):
A question that you should have asked me.
No, I think the Continuing tobe as I do right I I think where
we're going next and what we'redoing and what I think more.

(59:33):
I wish more people and again, Idon't know all of your audience
.
However, I'll speak to maybemore of the financial advisors
on this podcast there there's alot of them out there.
Yeah Is really, we have so manymore people coming into our
world.
We have so many programs KansasState, texas, tech, all of

(59:57):
these specialized.
We have all of these people whoare coming into our industry
and people need.
What I would coin is like thatold family doctor that knew you
from cradle to grave, and Ithink it's our responsibility I

(01:00:18):
view it as mine is to reallystop thinking about necessarily
and I understand why we have to.
It really irritates me and Iunderstand from a business
perspective.
You know creating accountminimums and we won't talk to
anybody unless we.
They have 250,000 or more, andI understand from a business

(01:00:38):
perspective why that is.
It's just there's a populationthat needs us and so making sure
that we are building goodpeople as advisors and not just
good clinicians is the way Iwould say that Right People who
have just as good of a bedsidemanner, as opposed to just the

(01:00:59):
technical knowledge.
You know, with the Universityof Michigan and other health
care systems, that I adviseclients.
There's some good advisor.
You know good doctors, there'ssome you know better doctors,
but the best ones, the greatestones, usually have a combination
of the technical and the peoplepart, people part Um.

(01:01:30):
And so as I think about movingforward, as I think about
helping the population, in a dayand age, I hate to say it where
you know everybody's morepolarized and more people are
seeing negative in peopleinstead of positive and, and I
think you know, making it apositive impact on somebody and
understanding, you know, kind ofgoing back to that immigrant
story of my dad coming here ismy dad wanted us to have a
better life and that's why hecame to the United States.

(01:01:52):
It's like we don't have to beimmigrants to understand that we
can just.
Are we making the nextgeneration?
Are we making our, the clientsand and understand that the
generational change that we canmake, that we should all be
excited about, regardless ofwhether or not they have a
seven-figure or six-figureaccount?

(01:02:13):
So defining your value systemto me has been important.
To me has been important to meand, coming from a Filipino
family which I don't know, ifyou know many Filipinos, it's
kind of a joke because KenEvangelista is an Italian

(01:02:33):
evangelist.
I always tell people they'reItalian evangelists and Filipino
evangelists, because everybodybecause everybody always says oh
, I, I know an evangelist andI'm like, okay, well, are they
in architecture, construction orsomething like that, or are
they like in medicine doctors,nurses?
If they're in construction andarchitecture, they're probably
Italian and if they're inmedicine, they're probably

(01:02:55):
Filipino.
I'm probably related.
So the importance of that, therelevance of this question, is I
thought I was going to followin my dad's footsteps because
half of my aunts and uncles aredoctors.
My dad's a retired vascularsurgeon, so I was able to, even
though he told me he didn't wantme to go into medicine, and

(01:03:16):
that's a whole other story.
It was about bringing what Ifelt I would have been as a
clinician, as that family doctorthat knew you from cradle to
grave, that knew you your wholelife, and I wanted to embody
that as a financial advisor andexpress myself in that way.

(01:03:39):
And that's probably willprobably not surprise you that I
work with a ridiculous numberof clinical staff, both doctors,
nurses, nurse practitioners,you name it and um, so when
values are clear, decisions areeasy, as I say.
So, um, I would say that's.

(01:04:00):
Another key thing is I realizedwho values what I do and who
did I value my relationshipswith, and it makes it a lot
easier to say no toopportunities, so I guess that's
probably an answer when youwere saying that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:20):
What came to my mind was something I've never really
thought of before.
But when you think about let'sstick with the financial
advisors, I think good financialadvisors change their clients'
lives and they do.
But a great financial advisorchanges the world, and I think
that's true with a lot ofprofessions.
When you focus on therelationship, you focus on the
value system, you focus onbuilding good people, not just

(01:04:41):
good advisors, but good peoplethat become great advisors.
That's that critical mass thatyou can.
You can provide in any, in anyindustry.
If you're leading training,mentoring, role modeling, you
know coaching, whatever it mightbe, is work on the person,
getting them to be a betterhuman.
Because one of the things I see, john, in leadership is when
somebody you know hires me tocoach my leadership, the first

(01:05:03):
thing I do is I spend the firstfew months with them, on them.
You know we start withleadership of self and they
always say, well, wait, I wantto get leadership techniques and
styles and strategies andtactics.
No, no, don't do it.
You've got to lead yourselffirst.
You can't, you can't leadyourself.
You're not leading anybodyeffectively, and I think that's,
I think that seems like whatyou're doing with your advisors
that you're training andbringing in, and do you ever

(01:05:24):
look back?
I mean, I know not everyadvisor you've ever trained or
coached still has stayed withyou but do you ever look back
and see those other advisorsthat are no longer with you but
they're doing well out there andjust kind of get a sense of
pride?

Speaker 3 (01:05:37):
Yes, I do.

Speaker 2 (01:05:37):
Yeah, it's the greatest feeling.
Yes, I do.

Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
Yeah, it is a great feeling and to know that you had
a part in that, uh, and also tofeel the pride of when they
want to reach out and just checkin and and you know, hey, what
are you up to?
This is what I'm up to, and youknow, seeing their lives, uh,

(01:06:02):
and staying connected to some ofthose people you know is
rewarding.
Yeah, and definitely keeps usconnected to our past as well,
which I think we need to.
You know, it can't just alwaysbe looking forward.
It's also being appreciative ofwhere, from where we've come
and who has been in our life.
So yeah, so that has been quiterewarding, and probably not

(01:06:25):
going to surprise you when I saythis.
It's kind of one of thosethings.
It's kind of like that highschool reunion which I'm about
to have my 40th next year andyou realize, when you go to
these reunions and you see thesepeople that are like, why don't
I have these people in my lifeanymore?
Right, and then there's someother people that you're like,
okay, I understand why thesepeople aren't in my life anymore
, but so it's probably the sameway that you might express, and

(01:06:50):
what I might express, as peoplethat we've touched
professionally over the years,kind of like what you said at
the beginning.
It's just they're the peoplethat you still smile about and
say, yep, they did succeed, theydid make it, so that was a good
thing.

Speaker 2 (01:07:07):
Well, bless you.
You, man, that's awesome.
Uh, let's wrap it up.
Yeah, I know you, I know you'rebusy and I I squeeze an hour
and six minutes out of you, so Iknow you know you got to go.
I'd like can you stand for justa couple of minutes after we
sign off here?
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you, brother, john, Iappreciate this.
I, I took I I haven't beentaking as many notes.
When I first started, I wasjust taking so many notes that I

(01:07:28):
was not like two, three yearsago, four years ago I wasn't
really.
I felt I was not as engaged inthe conversation, but this one I
still had to take a lot ofnotes.
This was one of the more.
Here's the way I'll put it.
Some of my guests make mypodcast makes my time on the air
a little more difficult becauseyou really have to pull
information out of them and thenyou get those few I'll give.

(01:07:51):
One is Frank Mossett.
He is one I've had on twice, man, and I just let him go.
You know I'm like dude and hetalks and you just go on.
There's been several DougLinick, you know, bill Williams
was like that.
This is a few of those guys Idid that interview a few weeks
ago with with Marshall Goldsmith.
He was like that and it wasjust like.

(01:08:14):
This is so easy.
I'm just sitting here as astudent learning and I'll throw
another question out whenthere's a pause, when he's done,
boom, I'll, or she's done, orwhoever it is.
That's what today was.
This is one of the easiestpodcast interviews I've done in
almost four years of doing this,just because the information
just flew and, like I alwaysshare, what people are looking
for is some signs of hope.
They're looking for inspiration, some words of wisdom.

(01:08:35):
You delivered a 10 out of 10 onthis one, brother, so thank you
so much for being such anamazing guest on the Bamboo Lab
podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
I appreciate the opportunity.

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
All right, thank you, all right, everyone.
Thank you for tuning in thisweek.
I'll talk to you all here inthe near future.
As you can probably notice, Ihave not been putting a podcast
episode once a week, like I wasfor a while, but we do have a
number of amazing guests linedup, just like the one we had
today with John.
So please stay tuned, tuned,stay patient, please smash that

(01:09:10):
like button, rate and review us,and please share this
particular episode with at leastthree people.
You know all you got to do istake it it's easy to hit it and
share it to somebody throughtext or email and just want to
let you know.
I appreciate each and every oneof you for tuning in every week
or so.
Talk to you soon.
In the meantime, please get outthere and strive to give and be
your best to the world.
Please show love and respect toothers and back on yourself and
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