The Evolving Advisor Podcast

In this episode, Jeff and Lou discuss:

• Why it is often hard for advisors to relinquish control to allow their businesses to grow.

• Where too much or too little time is spent when an advisor cannot break into the next level of success.

• Changing the way you operate and your mindset as your firm grows.

• The importance of having a succession agreement.

Key Takeaways:

• You have to fire yourself from certain responsibilities, hire the right people who can do the job better than you, and find a way to retain them in your company.

• The ceiling of complexity is often hit when growing your business and you won’t be able to break through until something changes.

• Do the things that you enjoy doing coupled with doing things that you do well.

• Having a succession plan is important for your family, your company, and your clients.

"If you want to be relevant and think about change in the future, you have to accept the fact that this next generation of investors may have different needs in their early stages." — Jeff Concepcion

Connect with Jeffrey Concepcion:

Website: https://www.stratoswealthpartners.com

Contact: https://www.stratoswealthpartners.com/contact

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Stratos_Wealth

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stratoswealthpartners

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffconcepcion1/

In this episode, Jeff and Deborah discuss:

• Deborah’s self-driven start in financial planning in 1981

• The multi-pronged marketing approach to growing her award-winning business

• Her evolution from advisor to highly successful CEO

• Giving back through wine making and writing

Key Takeaways:

• Build your business by investing in your personal relationships with others

• Educate your market before your ask for the sale

• Learn to fire yourself

• Be authentic to attract the right clients

"If you want to live like others you dream about today, you've got to do what others won't do today to get there" — Deborah Danielson

In this episode, Jeff and Sterling discuss:

• How Sterling got his start with Barron’s over 20 years ago.

• What to do to outpace your peers in organic growth.

• The evolution of the advisors lists Barron’s has provided to the industry.

• Future opportunities and evolutions at Barron’s.

Key Takeaways:

•Think more about it as a business, not a practice.

•Reducing your responsibilities and bringing on talent will allow your business to grow and thrive rather than just continue as it has been.

•Diversification can help your firm and your clients be less tied to the market fluctuations.

•Your business starts dying the moment you stop thinking about how it needs to change.

 "The future is going to be brightest for those advisors who have moved away from, or evolved beyond, an investment-centric focused business. I would want to be with a firm or a team that is trying to position itself as the trusted family counselor." — Sterling Shea

In this episode, Jeff and Brit discuss:

• How Brit evolved from a retail space to embracing her background and love of finances.

• The creation of SavviHer to better serve women in the financial advising world.

• The impact of women in the wealth management field.

• How financial advisors can utilize the resources provided by SavviHer to best serve their female clientele.

Key Takeaways:

• Women, historically, have felt underrepresented and misunderstood by the financial services space.

• Introducing girls and young women to the wealth management field early will give them an idea of a field that they may have known nothing about.

• Courses are currently available, with more to come, and there are more formats of content available through SavviHer to help everyone understand financial management.

• It pays to start now and learn and understand your options.

"The mission of SavviHer is to empower every woman to own her financial future. Women can, and should, do this." — Brit Leiser

*Connect with Brit Leiser:  *

Twitter: @_AdvisHER

Facebook: SavviHer

Website: FinanciallySavviHer.com

Pinterest: SavviHer | Personal Finance

YouTube: SavviHer

Instagram: @financially.savviher

LinkedIn: Brittan Leiser

Connect with Jeffrey Concepcion:

Website: https://www.stratoswealthpartners.com

Contact: https://www.stratoswealthpartners.com/contact

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Stratos_Wealth

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stratoswealthpartners

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffconcepcion1/

In this episode, Jeff and John discuss: 

• John’s professional journey and what lead him to the forming of Advisor Growth Strategies.

• Finding and retaining fantastic talent.

• The tactic of compensation and equity mandates.

• Thinking readiness and preparedness.

Key Takeaways:

• The single biggest consideration is how you come through to independence.

• Changing pricing through transition gives you a chance to reset and recalibrate the value.

• If your objective as a firm is to grow, you always have to be looking for talent.

• All firms have value, but 4% of the independent market controls 60% of the assets.

"You really have to have a strong conviction as to why you’re doing it." — John Furey

In this episode, Jeff and Jeff discuss:

• Jeff’s professional journey into financial advising and how he built his current business.
• Personal development and coaching.
• The three-step process of becoming a client.
• Creating boundaries and balance in your work and life.

Key Takeaways:

• Sell yourself, your process, and your abilities, not just your product.  
• Having a coach is the way to go – keeping you on point, focused, and becoming the best version of whatever you want to do.
• It is more enjoyable to work with a coach and you get better results than working by yourself.
• The planning is the most important thing done every day.

 "You don’t pay us to make the plan, you pay us to change the plan." - Jeff Brown

In this episode, Jeff and Ray discuss:

• Ray’s evolution from mailroom to entrepreneurial ventures.
• What it takes to be the best in the business.
• The detriments of failing to plan for your own business.
• Consulting closely-held businesses.

Key Takeaways:

• There are two triggers that you have to pull: the heart strings and the purse strings.

• It’s all about human capital – retention, acquisition of top talent, and developing leaders.

• Human capital is an asset, not a liability. The greatest asset on your balance sheet are your people.

• Develop a specialization and go deep with a very specific marketplace. It can be a great part of a client acquisition strategy.

"Founder focused firms are failures if they fail to plan beyond self." — Ray Sclafani

In this episode, Jeff and Michael discuss:

• Michael’s journey to where he is today as a well-known financial speaker and writer.

• How what’s old is new again pertains to the financial advisor world.

• Succession plans and continuity plans for your business.

• Making sure your client is a client, not just a pot of money.

Key Takeaways:

• It takes about a year to get through each phase of Know, Like, and Trust.

• Firms that now work with the most affluent clients today, started middle market back in the day.

• Build for what you do – it was done 20-30 years ago with less technology and less resources.

• If you want to serve a different clientele, build a different business to serve that clientele.

"Ask yourself, what would you do for work if the money didn’t matter." — Michael Kitces

In this episode, Jeff and Mark discuss:
• Mark’s professional journey to his current position as CEO at BNY Mellon | Pershing.
• How valuation has changed and evolved over the years and how it is moving into multiples of EBITDA.
• Understanding the demographics, your respected competitors, your core strengths, and your definition of success.
• Developing niche and emerging markets.

Key Takeaways:
• Develop a technical specialty, develop an industry specialty, get famous at both.
• There is still room in the financial advisory world for smaller organizations.
• How you do business today will not necessarily get you to where you want to go. Look at the developments in the marketplace and see how the demographics are changing.
• Become the employer of choice to a diverse sector of employees.

*"This is such an incredible time to be a financial advisor, but it’s also a very threatening time because it’s business built on the way Boomers wanted to be served, not the way in which subsequent generations want to be served."* — Mark Tibergien

Welcome to The Evolving Advisor Podcast! The theme of this podcast is going to be evolution. Like the spirit of Stratos, we will be evolving and focusing on people first and entrepreneurs supporting entrepreneurs.

Listen in and join the fun as we evolve and grow together. What got us to where we are, is not going to get us to where we are going.

This podcast will help you to avoid complacency, share ideas, and focus on where you are going so you won’t be left behind.

Join us as we have fun while we learn, grow, and evolve together.

"People first. People should matter more than business, they should matter more than platforms, they should matter more than bottom line." — Jeff Concepcion

**Connect with Jeffrey Concepcion: **