Visionary Wealth Advisors: The Origin Story

On this episode of the Circuit of Success Podcast, Brett Gilliland shares with you his appearance on the Diamond Consultants Podcast in 2021. Brett shares his journey and how Visionary Wealth Advisors was born. This includes his “Jerry Maguire-Style” resignation. A Northwestern Mutual Advisor’s “Jerry Maguire-Style” Breakaway Story Visionary Wealth Advisors: The Origin Story The recurring theme of “incongruence” runs through the narratives of advisors who have transitioned between firms or models. The challenge arises when there is a mismatch between personal goals and those of the firm, making it difficult, if not impossible, to effectively serve clients and expand one’s business. Brett Gilliland, while serving as a Managing Director at Northwestern Mutual, experienced a noticeable lack of alignment with the firm’s goals as he achieved success. Juggling multiple roles, including financial advisor and recruiter, Brett increasingly felt restricted in his ability to provide unbiased advice and desired more autonomy in serving clients. The episode delves into the drivers behind Visionary’s remarkable growth, highlighting the significant role relationships and referrals have played in their success. Brett encourages advisors and business owners to ask themselves a crucial question he posed to Tim before leaving Northwestern: “What keeps you here?” Tune in for the valuable takeaways for both employee advisors and business owners. 00:00:14.000 –> 00:00:17.000 IT’S THIS FEELING OF MISALIGNMENT BETWEEN AN ADVISERS 00:00:17.000 –> 00:00:20.000 goals and that of their firm, which drives 00:00:20.000 –> 00:00:22.000 change more than any other motivator. 00:00:23.000 –> 00:00:25.000 Because when your vision is conflicting with that 00:00:25.000 –> 00:00:28.000 of your firm, it becomes difficult if not 00:00:28.000 –> 00:00:28.000 impossible 00:00:28.000 –> 00:00:31.000 to serve your clients and grow your business. 00:00:31.000 –> 00:00:34.000 As a managing director at Northwestern Mutual, 00:00:34.000 –> 00:00:37.000 Brett Gilliland found that the lack of alignment 00:00:37.000 –> 00:00:40.000 could not be more apparent nor more limiting. 00:00:40.000 –> 00:00:43.000 In his role, He wore multiple hats from 00:00:43.000 –> 00:00:46.000 serving as a financial advisor, plus a recruiter 00:00:46.000 –> 00:00:47.000 with the responsibility 00:00:47.000 –> 00:00:50.000 for the training and development of novice advisors. 00:00:51.000 –> 00:00:53.000 But as he became more successful, 00:00:53.000 –> 00:00:55.000 he also became less satisfied, 00:00:55.000 –> 00:00:57.000 and the feeling of being at odds with 00:00:57.000 –> 00:00:58.000 the goals Northwestern 00:00:59.000 –> 00:01:00.000 became more apparent. 00:01:01.000 –> 00:01:04.000 He wanted greater agency over how he served 00:01:04.000 –> 00:01:04.000 clients. 00:01:05.000 –> 00:01:07.000 He wanted to be able to freely market. 00:01:07.000 –> 00:01:09.000 He wanted to give unbiased 00:01:09.000 –> 00:01:10.000 unconflicted 00:01:10.000 –> 00:01:14.000 advice without feeling pigeonholed into selling insurance. 00:01:15.000 –> 00:01:17.000 And ultimately, as he put it, He wanted 00:01:17.000 –> 00:01:19.000 to play in a different sandbox. 00:01:20.000 –> 00:01:22.000 So after thirteen years with Northwestern, 00:01:22.000 –> 00:01:25.000 he decided it was time to build something 00:01:25.000 –> 00:01:26.000 that was more aligned with his vision. 00:01:27.000 –> 00:01:29.000 And in March of two thousand fourteen, 00:01:29.000 –> 00:01:33.000 RIA firm visionary wealth advisors was born. 00:01:33.000 –> 00:01:36.000 But it’s his Jerry Maguire exit story that’s 00:01:36.000 –> 00:01:37.000 really compelling. 00:01:37.000 –> 00:01:39.000 And a true testament 00:01:39.000 –> 00:01:41.000 to the respect and trust he developed with 00:01:41.000 –> 00:01:42.000 his team at Northwestern. 00:01:43.000 –> 00:01:47.000 Today, visionary manages some one point eight billion 00:01:47.000 –> 00:01:49.000 in assets and has thirty advisors on the 00:01:49.000 –> 00:01:50.000 team. 00:01:50.000 –> 00:01:53.000 In this episode, Brett talks with Lewis Diamond 00:01:53.000 –> 00:01:57.000 sharing details about the motivation behind his move. 00:01:57.000 –> 00:01:59.000 His unique perspective as a managing director at 00:01:59.000 –> 00:02:00.000 Northwestern 00:02:00.000 –> 00:02:02.000 how he is able to fully realize his 00:02:02.000 –> 00:02:05.000 vision as an independent business owner, and of 00:02:05.000 –> 00:02:06.000 course, 00:02:06.000 –> 00:02:07.000 shares a resignation 00:02:07.000 –> 00:02:11.000 story unlike any other. Plus much more. So 00:02:11.000 –> 00:02:12.000 let’s get to it. 00:02:14.000 –> 00:02:15.000 Brett, thanks 00:02:19.000 –> 00:02:20.000 so much joining us today. 00:02:20.000 –> 00:02:23.000 Absolutely. It’s good to be with you. Very 00:02:23.000 –> 00:02:24.000 good. Why don’t you tell us about yourself 00:02:24.000 –> 00:02:26.000 and how you got started in the business? 00:02:27.000 –> 00:02:29.000 Yeah. I went to Eastern Illinois University and 00:02:29.000 –> 00:02:31.000 right out of college. I decided I wanted 00:02:31.000 –> 00:02:33.000 to be in the financial planning business. So 00:02:33.000 –> 00:02:35.000 back then, this was the early two thousand, 00:02:35.000 –> 00:02:37.000 I guess, two thousand Gilliland they were called 00:02:37.000 –> 00:02:39.000 stock brokers back then. And and that’s what 00:02:39.000 –> 00:02:41.000 I wanted to do. I knew that right 00:02:41.000 –> 00:02:42.000 out of college, and it really goes back 00:02:42.000 –> 00:02:44.000 to when I was about fifteen years old, 00:02:44.000 –> 00:02:47.000 my My cousin Dean was actually a stockbroker. 00:02:48.000 –> 00:02:49.000 And I drove the gold BMW. You had 00:02:49.000 –> 00:02:52.000 the speakers in the headrest, and that was 00:02:52.000 –> 00:02:53.000 pretty cool. Right? When you’re fifteen years old, 00:02:53.000 –> 00:02:55.000 and so I thought for sure. I wanted 00:02:55.000 –> 00:02:57.000 to do that. And so I went to 00:02:57.000 –> 00:02:59.000 a job fair and and found the financial 00:02:59.000 –> 00:03:02.000 planning stockbroker Gilliland here we are almost twenty 00:03:02.000 –> 00:03:03.000 years later. 00:03:03.000 –> 00:03:07.000 Perfect. And your your most recent employment before 00:03:07.000 –> 00:03:09.000 launching your own RIA was as the Madington 00:03:09.000 –> 00:03:12.000 director at Northwestern Mutual. Can you talk a 00:03:12.000 –> 00:03:14.000 little bit about that role in your day 00:03:14.000 –> 00:03:16.000 to day? Because my understanding is you were 00:03:16.000 –> 00:03:19.000 in a full time advisor. You had some 00:03:19.000 –> 00:03:22.000 other duties and responsibilities as well. Absolutely. So 00:03:22.000 –> 00:03:24.000 I was a managing director at my previous 00:03:24.000 –> 00:03:26.000 firm, and we were responsible for recruiting. That’s 00:03:26.000 –> 00:03:28.000 a big recruiting world where I was at 00:03:28.000 –> 00:03:30.000 previously. And so we were in charge of 00:03:30.000 –> 00:03:32.000 recruiting advisors to what we call our district 00:03:32.000 –> 00:03:34.000 office. I was in Edwardsville, Illinois. We still 00:03:34.000 –> 00:03:36.000 have an office there to this day, but 00:03:36.000 –> 00:03:38.000 that’s what I was doing. I was recruiting 00:03:38.000 –> 00:03:40.000 advisors into this business. We also had a 00:03:40.000 –> 00:03:42.000 college internship program where we would have anywhere 00:03:42.000 –> 00:03:45.000 from twenty to twenty five interns. I had 00:03:45.000 –> 00:03:46.000 a team of people that will whether it 00:03:46.000 –> 00:03:49.000 was a college unit or field directors or 00:03:49.000 –> 00:03:49.000 mentors, 00:03:50.000 –> 00:03:52.000 recruiters, a great team of people around me, 00:03:52.000 –> 00:03:53.000 but that’s what we had to do. We 00:03:53.000 –> 00:03:55.000 had to go out and recruit new advisors 00:03:55.000 –> 00:03:57.000 to the firm. These weren’t, like, industry folks. 00:03:57.000 –> 00:03:58.000 These were people were brand new, just like 00:03:58.000 –> 00:04:01.000 myself, right out of college, didn’t have any 00:04:01.000 –> 00:04:03.000 experience. So there was tons of recruiting, training, 00:04:03.000 –> 00:04:04.000 development, 00:04:05.000 –> 00:04:09.000 mentor meetings, one off drive by meetings, maybe 00:04:09.000 –> 00:04:10.000 being about how do you prospect? How do 00:04:10.000 –> 00:04:12.000 you make more phone calls? How do you 00:04:12.000 –> 00:04:14.000 find more prospects? So on and so forth. 00:04:14.000 –> 00:04:16.000 But then also was a financial advisor and 00:04:16.000 –> 00:04:17.000 did that at a high level as well. 00:04:17.000 –> 00:04:19.000 So it was one of the things I 00:04:19.000 –> 00:04:20.000 really enjoyed because 00:04:20.000 –> 00:04:23.000 I was doing multiple things throughout the day 00:04:23.000 –> 00:04:24.000 wearing lots of different hats. 00:04:25.000 –> 00:04:28.000 Excellent. It sounds like the Northwestern model of 00:04:28.000 –> 00:04:30.000 recruiting, it’s kinda like churn and burn. You’re 00:04:30.000 –> 00:04:33.000 expecting that a lot of folks aren’t gonna 00:04:33.000 –> 00:04:35.000 make it through the program. So I’m curious 00:04:35.000 –> 00:04:37.000 what separated the advisors 00:04:37.000 –> 00:04:39.000 that ultimately made it and went on to 00:04:39.000 –> 00:04:42.000 have successful careers. Yeah. I mean, there’s so 00:04:42.000 –> 00:04:43.000 many different things we’ve looked at over the 00:04:43.000 –> 00:04:45.000 years. And so when I at the success 00:04:45.000 –> 00:04:47.000 that we had from a recruiting standpoint. 00:04:47.000 –> 00:04:49.000 I learned that they grew up with what 00:04:49.000 –> 00:04:50.000 I would call. I’m using air quotes here 00:04:50.000 –> 00:04:52.000 since you can’t see me, but a normal 00:04:52.000 –> 00:04:54.000 background. And what I mean by that is 00:04:54.000 –> 00:04:57.000 they were blessed with a great family life. 00:04:57.000 –> 00:05:00.000 They had support at home, whether that was 00:05:00.000 –> 00:05:02.000 growing up as a child, but also in 00:05:02.000 –> 00:05:05.000 their adult life. And what, again, what I 00:05:05.000 –> 00:05:07.000 just call this normal life, which is maybe 00:05:07.000 –> 00:05:08.000 that’s fair. Maybe it’s not fair, but it 00:05:08.000 –> 00:05:10.000 it just it it seemed like they had 00:05:10.000 –> 00:05:12.000 a lot of support around them from loved 00:05:12.000 –> 00:05:14.000 ones. And I think that’s so important. This 00:05:14.000 –> 00:05:17.000 business can be very lonely, especially when you’re 00:05:17.000 –> 00:05:19.000 twenty three, twenty two, twenty four years old, 00:05:19.000 –> 00:05:21.000 and you’re running around trying to fry prospects, 00:05:21.000 –> 00:05:23.000 and it was completely different. The ones that 00:05:23.000 –> 00:05:25.000 we found that were successful, a lot of 00:05:25.000 –> 00:05:27.000 them were career changers. We had a testing 00:05:27.000 –> 00:05:29.000 program. If they did a certain test on 00:05:29.000 –> 00:05:32.000 this personality, we found that did well, but 00:05:32.000 –> 00:05:34.000 I also saw an athletic background. I mean, 00:05:34.000 –> 00:05:36.000 at one time, we had, I think it 00:05:36.000 –> 00:05:38.000 was sixteen advisors that I had recruited that 00:05:38.000 –> 00:05:39.000 were all college athletes. 00:05:40.000 –> 00:05:42.000 And that doesn’t mean you’re gonna only be 00:05:42.000 –> 00:05:44.000 successful if you’re a college athlete, but for 00:05:44.000 –> 00:05:46.000 us, that’s what we found where the college 00:05:46.000 –> 00:05:47.000 athletes 00:05:47.000 –> 00:05:50.000 were working in that environment. Right? Because you 00:05:50.000 –> 00:05:51.000 had to go out and make a name 00:05:51.000 –> 00:05:52.000 for yourself. You had to go out and 00:05:52.000 –> 00:05:54.000 prospect. You had to be driven. You had 00:05:54.000 –> 00:05:56.000 to go out and make forty or fifty 00:05:56.000 –> 00:05:58.000 or sixty phone calls every single day, and 00:05:58.000 –> 00:06:00.000 you had to get twenty five referrals a 00:06:00.000 –> 00:06:02.000 week. And you all these activity drivers that 00:06:02.000 –> 00:06:04.000 you had to do that quite frankly, I 00:06:04.000 –> 00:06:06.000 probably wouldn’t be in this business if it 00:06:06.000 –> 00:06:07.000 wasn’t for those things when I was in 00:06:07.000 –> 00:06:09.000 my early twenties, but I had to do 00:06:09.000 –> 00:06:11.000 it. And I found the people that were 00:06:12.000 –> 00:06:15.000 competitive and wanted to be great in things 00:06:15.000 –> 00:06:16.000 at life, those were the ones that were 00:06:16.000 –> 00:06:17.000 the most successful. 00:06:18.000 –> 00:06:19.000 Very interesting. And, I mean, so much of 00:06:19.000 –> 00:06:20.000 the industry’s 00:06:21.000 –> 00:06:23.000 attention. I know our whole business, 00:06:23.000 –> 00:06:27.000 not to mention, is focused on recruiting experienced 00:06:27.000 –> 00:06:30.000 advisors, because obviously, they come with clients, they 00:06:30.000 –> 00:06:32.000 can hit the ground running, already pre trained. 00:06:32.000 –> 00:06:34.000 Do you have a viewpoint though on if 00:06:34.000 –> 00:06:36.000 someone is building a firm from the ground 00:06:36.000 –> 00:06:38.000 up, what do you think is a better 00:06:38.000 –> 00:06:41.000 approach? Is it bringing on experienced folks with 00:06:41.000 –> 00:06:43.000 books or kinda what you did at Northwestern, 00:06:43.000 –> 00:06:46.000 which was career changers, ex athletes, and entry 00:06:46.000 –> 00:06:47.000 level advisors 00:06:48.000 –> 00:06:50.000 Yeah. I think it’s a great question. And 00:06:50.000 –> 00:06:52.000 and what we did was and I don’t 00:06:52.000 –> 00:06:53.000 know if necessarily we meant to do this, 00:06:53.000 –> 00:06:55.000 and I say we, Tim Hammond, my business 00:06:55.000 –> 00:06:58.000 partner who co founded visionary wealth advisors with 00:06:58.000 –> 00:07:00.000 me when we started visionary. So he was 00:07:00.000 –> 00:07:02.000 just a and I said just, meaning he 00:07:02.000 –> 00:07:05.000 was a wealth management advisor. He was doing 00:07:05.000 –> 00:07:07.000 fee based financial planning at Northwestern, 00:07:07.000 –> 00:07:11.000 and I was doing the recruiting, developing, training, 00:07:11.000 –> 00:07:13.000 and still being a financial advisor as well. 00:07:13.000 –> 00:07:15.000 And so the of us came together 00:07:15.000 –> 00:07:18.000 and almost immediately thought we could do this 00:07:18.000 –> 00:07:20.000 differently. I always say the sandbox was I 00:07:20.000 –> 00:07:22.000 was playing in was let’s just say a 00:07:22.000 –> 00:07:24.000 size of a piece of paper and I 00:07:24.000 –> 00:07:25.000 wanted it to be the size of the 00:07:25.000 –> 00:07:26.000 football field. 00:07:27.000 –> 00:07:29.000 And that’s what I saw in the RIA 00:07:29.000 –> 00:07:31.000 space that was out there, that the sky 00:07:31.000 –> 00:07:33.000 is the limit, and you can do so 00:07:33.000 –> 00:07:35.000 much for your clients that I couldn’t do 00:07:35.000 –> 00:07:37.000 at that time at that role. And we 00:07:37.000 –> 00:07:40.000 immediately went to no longer doing any career 00:07:40.000 –> 00:07:40.000 changers 00:07:41.000 –> 00:07:41.000 no inexperienced 00:07:42.000 –> 00:07:44.000 people. We just, like, literally cold turkey. I 00:07:44.000 –> 00:07:46.000 just went to the starting to recruit experienced 00:07:46.000 –> 00:07:48.000 advisors. And 00:07:48.000 –> 00:07:50.000 what we found was that people were looking 00:07:50.000 –> 00:07:51.000 for a platform 00:07:52.000 –> 00:07:53.000 where they could go 00:07:53.000 –> 00:07:55.000 and have some independence, 00:07:55.000 –> 00:07:57.000 but also be interdependent. 00:07:57.000 –> 00:08:00.000 And so the advisors that we have now 00:08:00.000 –> 00:08:02.000 are just doing so well because there is 00:08:02.000 –> 00:08:05.000 an interdependent relationship with us with visionary aim 00:08:05.000 –> 00:08:06.000 with those advisors. They own their own book 00:08:06.000 –> 00:08:09.000 of business. They own their clients, but at 00:08:09.000 –> 00:08:11.000 the same time, they’re not in business by 00:08:11.000 –> 00:08:13.000 themselves. Right? They’re for themselves, but not by 00:08:13.000 –> 00:08:15.000 themselves. Gilliland we just found that there was 00:08:15.000 –> 00:08:16.000 a really a big market out there for 00:08:16.000 –> 00:08:19.000 experienced advisors that want that type of platform. 00:08:20.000 –> 00:08:21.000 Understood. 00:08:21.000 –> 00:08:23.000 And let’s go back to when you’re still 00:08:23.000 –> 00:08:25.000 at Northwestern. Of course, you could have just 00:08:25.000 –> 00:08:28.000 stayed at the firm. You sound like you’re 00:08:28.000 –> 00:08:30.000 a successful adviser in your own right. Kept 00:08:30.000 –> 00:08:32.000 recruiting, kept leveraging the infrastructure. 00:08:33.000 –> 00:08:36.000 But instead, you opted to transition to form 00:08:36.000 –> 00:08:38.000 your own RA firm back in twenty fourteen. 00:08:38.000 –> 00:08:40.000 Can you elaborate on what some of your 00:08:40.000 –> 00:08:43.000 frustrations were and maybe what you felt you 00:08:43.000 –> 00:08:45.000 couldn’t do for your clients there? For me, 00:08:45.000 –> 00:08:46.000 it was as I was becoming more and 00:08:46.000 –> 00:08:49.000 more successful, I was becoming less satisfied with 00:08:49.000 –> 00:08:51.000 my career. And really what did it for 00:08:51.000 –> 00:08:53.000 me is I was fortunate enough to make 00:08:53.000 –> 00:08:56.000 what they call forum inside of Northwestern Mutual, 00:08:56.000 –> 00:08:57.000 which is, I think it’s, I don’t know, 00:08:57.000 –> 00:08:59.000 top two hundred and fifty advisors, let’s call 00:08:59.000 –> 00:09:02.000 it. And I remember not being real, real 00:09:02.000 –> 00:09:03.000 happy, even though I just had a phenomenal 00:09:03.000 –> 00:09:05.000 year with production. We had just led the 00:09:05.000 –> 00:09:07.000 company in recruiting for managing directors. 00:09:07.000 –> 00:09:09.000 So there was a lot of things going 00:09:09.000 –> 00:09:11.000 well, but for some reason, I still wasn’t 00:09:11.000 –> 00:09:13.000 satisfied. And I didn’t know what that was. 00:09:13.000 –> 00:09:16.000 And so I just kept kinda looking internal 00:09:16.000 –> 00:09:19.000 for me, and I wanted that entrepreneurial spirit. 00:09:19.000 –> 00:09:20.000 Right? I wanted to go out and build 00:09:20.000 –> 00:09:22.000 something. I wanted to go out and build 00:09:22.000 –> 00:09:23.000 a brand. I wanted to build something 00:09:24.000 –> 00:09:27.000 that our clients were excited about and proud 00:09:27.000 –> 00:09:29.000 of and and who they were working with. 00:09:29.000 –> 00:09:30.000 And I say all this, and there is 00:09:30.000 –> 00:09:32.000 a ton of great people at Northwestern Mutual. 00:09:32.000 –> 00:09:35.000 I still have friends there to this day. 00:09:35.000 –> 00:09:37.000 They’re doing great work for people. So it 00:09:37.000 –> 00:09:39.000 wasn’t necessarily that. It was just more for 00:09:39.000 –> 00:09:42.000 me was I wanted to do something more. 00:09:42.000 –> 00:09:45.000 I wanted to, again, to build something. And 00:09:45.000 –> 00:09:47.000 I think there we were building a nice 00:09:47.000 –> 00:09:49.000 income, but we weren’t building an asset. We 00:09:49.000 –> 00:09:52.000 weren’t really building a firm. Cause you’re doing 00:09:52.000 –> 00:09:54.000 it for the mothership, if you will. And 00:09:54.000 –> 00:09:55.000 for me, it just became again that I 00:09:55.000 –> 00:09:58.000 wanted to play in a different sandbox. And 00:09:58.000 –> 00:10:00.000 whether it’s to have a podcast or do 00:10:00.000 –> 00:10:02.000 some things that we do now that you 00:10:02.000 –> 00:10:05.000 just couldn’t do there in comprehensive financial planning 00:10:05.000 –> 00:10:08.000 where you’re not biased on either a product 00:10:08.000 –> 00:10:10.000 or what avenue they need to go down 00:10:10.000 –> 00:10:12.000 as a client. We wanted to be unbiased 00:10:12.000 –> 00:10:14.000 and have this independent 00:10:14.000 –> 00:10:15.000 firm 00:10:15.000 –> 00:10:17.000 that we could just say, this is how 00:10:17.000 –> 00:10:19.000 we’re going to serve clients going forward. 00:10:19.000 –> 00:10:21.000 Definitely. And did being in more of a 00:10:21.000 –> 00:10:24.000 managerial role kinda seeing how the sausage was 00:10:24.000 –> 00:10:27.000 made, did that change your vantage point on 00:10:27.000 –> 00:10:29.000 and I guess your motivation to leave? And 00:10:29.000 –> 00:10:31.000 did you get a better look or a 00:10:31.000 –> 00:10:33.000 different look on what was slowing or limiting 00:10:33.000 –> 00:10:36.000 down the advisors that were under your tutelage? 00:10:37.000 –> 00:10:39.000 Yeah. But I I think too is and 00:10:39.000 –> 00:10:41.000 I can’t say this for the previous firm 00:10:41.000 –> 00:10:43.000 in every city around the country, obviously. And 00:10:43.000 –> 00:10:45.000 again, there’s great people everywhere. But for us, 00:10:45.000 –> 00:10:48.000 it was the stereotype as well as when 00:10:48.000 –> 00:10:50.000 I threw that business card down, 00:10:50.000 –> 00:10:52.000 people would automatically just, oh, I’m good. I 00:10:52.000 –> 00:10:55.000 don’t need insurance. And I got so tired 00:10:55.000 –> 00:10:57.000 for twelve and a half years of doing 00:10:57.000 –> 00:10:59.000 that, that’s that really drained on me over 00:10:59.000 –> 00:11:01.000 the years. And it got to a point 00:11:01.000 –> 00:11:03.000 where that’s not what I’m about. It’s not 00:11:03.000 –> 00:11:05.000 coming and just trying to sell you insurance. 00:11:05.000 –> 00:11:06.000 Is is insurance, certainly part of a financial 00:11:06.000 –> 00:11:08.000 plan. Of course, it is. I think we 00:11:08.000 –> 00:11:10.000 all know that. People that are doing comprehensive 00:11:10.000 –> 00:11:12.000 wealth management planning, but it’s not the only 00:11:12.000 –> 00:11:14.000 piece. Right? And I think that’s where I 00:11:14.000 –> 00:11:15.000 think we got pigeonholed 00:11:16.000 –> 00:11:18.000 into thinking you’re just the insurance person. 00:11:19.000 –> 00:11:22.000 And that feeling wasn’t great, again, even though 00:11:22.000 –> 00:11:24.000 it can have some good products, it wasn’t 00:11:24.000 –> 00:11:26.000 great. And so we wanted more. And we 00:11:26.000 –> 00:11:27.000 wanted to go out, and I keep saying 00:11:27.000 –> 00:11:29.000 comprehensive financial planning, but that’s what we wanted 00:11:29.000 –> 00:11:32.000 to do and where we weren’t pigeonholed into 00:11:32.000 –> 00:11:34.000 this corner of you’re just that sales guy. 00:11:34.000 –> 00:11:36.000 It was more about the relationship and the 00:11:36.000 –> 00:11:38.000 impact we’re having on the community and the 00:11:38.000 –> 00:11:41.000 impact we’re having on those clients’ lives on 00:11:41.000 –> 00:11:43.000 more ways than just a life insurance or 00:11:43.000 –> 00:11:44.000 a an investment 00:11:44.000 –> 00:11:46.000 and what have you, there’s more to it 00:11:46.000 –> 00:11:48.000 than that. And I think that’s really what 00:11:48.000 –> 00:11:50.000 we’re focused on is the whole person here 00:11:50.000 –> 00:11:52.000 visionary is is building that with the right 00:11:52.000 –> 00:11:54.000 people. I don’t know if we can cuss 00:11:54.000 –> 00:11:55.000 on here, Lewis, but we call it the 00:11:55.000 –> 00:11:57.000 no a hole rule. Right? So no a 00:11:57.000 –> 00:12:00.000 hole is the recruit criteria here. And and 00:12:00.000 –> 00:12:02.000 that’s the first step is making sure that 00:12:02.000 –> 00:12:04.000 we wanna be around you, you wanna be 00:12:04.000 –> 00:12:05.000 around us, and that we’re gonna be a 00:12:05.000 –> 00:12:07.000 good fit. And I found that you had 00:12:07.000 –> 00:12:10.000 you had more control over that as I 00:12:10.000 –> 00:12:12.000 was researching what this RIA thing was 00:12:12.000 –> 00:12:14.000 is I had control over that versus just 00:12:14.000 –> 00:12:17.000 having to recruit quite frankly, a bunch of 00:12:17.000 –> 00:12:19.000 kids like me. Right? Twenty two years old, 00:12:19.000 –> 00:12:20.000 right out of college. And I always joked 00:12:20.000 –> 00:12:22.000 that I couldn’t even spell investments or insurance 00:12:22.000 –> 00:12:24.000 when I started, but it was, like, I 00:12:24.000 –> 00:12:28.000 wanna do more with higher more sophisticated people 00:12:28.000 –> 00:12:30.000 because that’s what the community wants. Right? That’s 00:12:30.000 –> 00:12:32.000 what they want in their financial advisor. And 00:12:32.000 –> 00:12:34.000 I just, quite frankly, I always say my 00:12:34.000 –> 00:12:35.000 gray hair and the wrinkles aren’t from four 00:12:35.000 –> 00:12:38.000 kids. It’s from having to recruit people that 00:12:38.000 –> 00:12:40.000 hopefully one or two out of ten of 00:12:40.000 –> 00:12:41.000 those people would make it long term in 00:12:41.000 –> 00:12:43.000 the business. And I just couldn’t do that 00:12:43.000 –> 00:12:45.000 any longer. Yeah. Definitely. And I think what 00:12:45.000 –> 00:12:46.000 you’re mentioning around 00:12:47.000 –> 00:12:49.000 feeling like you and your practice were kind 00:12:49.000 –> 00:12:51.000 of at odds with the mantra or the 00:12:51.000 –> 00:12:54.000 reputation of Northwestern is the term incongruence. 00:12:54.000 –> 00:12:57.000 We hear it often from advisors at many 00:12:57.000 –> 00:12:59.000 different types of firms, whether they’re at a 00:12:59.000 –> 00:13:02.000 bank dominated firm saying I’m not a banker. 00:13:02.000 –> 00:13:04.000 I like recommending bank products where it makes 00:13:04.000 –> 00:13:07.000 sense similar to how you probably enjoy recommending 00:13:07.000 –> 00:13:10.000 insurance products where it makes sense, but you 00:13:10.000 –> 00:13:11.000 don’t want that to be the driving force. 00:13:11.000 –> 00:13:14.000 If you have a vision that’s different from 00:13:15.000 –> 00:13:17.000 what the firm really wants you to be, 00:13:17.000 –> 00:13:20.000 then many advisors look at it as a 00:13:20.000 –> 00:13:22.000 means to kind of escape that box and 00:13:22.000 –> 00:13:25.000 build their own. So that’s perfect pivot point 00:13:25.000 –> 00:13:27.000 here. Before we get to what you coined 00:13:27.000 –> 00:13:30.000 your Jerry Maguire style moment, kind of a 00:13:30.000 –> 00:13:31.000 teaser for what to come. And let’s talk 00:13:31.000 –> 00:13:32.000 first about 00:13:33.000 –> 00:13:36.000 your due diligence process back probably twenty 12:20 00:13:36.000 –> 00:13:39.000 thirteen before launching the firm. So you’ve you 00:13:39.000 –> 00:13:43.000 founded visionary wealth advisors as a RA hybrid, 00:13:43.000 –> 00:13:45.000 but what else did you look at before 00:13:45.000 –> 00:13:47.000 settling on this route It’s actually amazing because 00:13:47.000 –> 00:13:49.000 I didn’t really look at too many things. 00:13:49.000 –> 00:13:51.000 I I would literally go in my office. 00:13:51.000 –> 00:13:52.000 I can picture it to this day as 00:13:52.000 –> 00:13:54.000 clear as can be, and and I would 00:13:54.000 –> 00:13:56.000 look up independence, and I would type in 00:13:56.000 –> 00:13:58.000 the financial independence and different things. I knew 00:13:58.000 –> 00:14:00.000 I wanted to stay in this industry. I 00:14:00.000 –> 00:14:02.000 love what we get to do every day. 00:14:02.000 –> 00:14:03.000 I love that we get to help people 00:14:03.000 –> 00:14:05.000 achieve a future greater than their past. That’s 00:14:05.000 –> 00:14:07.000 our firm’s mission statement. 00:14:07.000 –> 00:14:09.000 And that is so critically important for me, 00:14:09.000 –> 00:14:11.000 for our advisors, and for the things that 00:14:11.000 –> 00:14:13.000 we do for people, but it was just 00:14:13.000 –> 00:14:14.000 one of those things that I kept coming 00:14:14.000 –> 00:14:16.000 back to this independent 00:14:16.000 –> 00:14:19.000 RIA registered investment adviser and growing up in 00:14:19.000 –> 00:14:21.000 the insurance Northwestern mutual world. I didn’t know 00:14:21.000 –> 00:14:24.000 even know what an RIA was. But everything 00:14:24.000 –> 00:14:26.000 I read, I’m like, I want that. 00:14:27.000 –> 00:14:28.000 And I kept reading it. And I kept 00:14:28.000 –> 00:14:30.000 studying it. And when I say kept, I 00:14:30.000 –> 00:14:32.000 mean, this went on from November of two 00:14:32.000 –> 00:14:35.000 thousand thirteen to January of two thousand fourteen. 00:14:35.000 –> 00:14:37.000 So this was about a month and a 00:14:37.000 –> 00:14:39.000 half I can’t even tell you how much 00:14:39.000 –> 00:14:41.000 stuff I read on an RIA and what 00:14:41.000 –> 00:14:43.000 it meant. I scheduled a meeting with one 00:14:43.000 –> 00:14:44.000 of our custodians, 00:14:44.000 –> 00:14:46.000 and they came to Saint Louis, and I 00:14:46.000 –> 00:14:48.000 went and had a meeting with them and 00:14:48.000 –> 00:14:49.000 that was with Tim, my business partner. And 00:14:49.000 –> 00:14:51.000 it was just one of those things when 00:14:51.000 –> 00:14:53.000 I called Tim, and I said, Hey, what 00:14:53.000 –> 00:14:54.000 keeps you here at Northwestern? 00:14:54.000 –> 00:14:56.000 I was hopeful that he was gonna give 00:14:56.000 –> 00:14:58.000 me this long drawn out reason and why 00:14:58.000 –> 00:15:00.000 it was the greatest place on earth. And 00:15:00.000 –> 00:15:02.000 what happened was four and a half hours 00:15:02.000 –> 00:15:04.000 later we got off the telephone. 00:15:04.000 –> 00:15:06.000 From one phone call four and a half 00:15:06.000 –> 00:15:08.000 hours later in January of two thousand fourteen, 00:15:08.000 –> 00:15:09.000 early January 00:15:09.000 –> 00:15:10.000 and said, 00:15:10.000 –> 00:15:12.000 okay. I can’t do this without you. You 00:15:12.000 –> 00:15:15.000 can’t do this without me. Let’s go build 00:15:15.000 –> 00:15:18.000 something great. And literally fast forward, not even 00:15:18.000 –> 00:15:21.000 ninety days later, visionary Wealth Advisors was started. 00:15:21.000 –> 00:15:24.000 It was an incredible ninety days, and it 00:15:24.000 –> 00:15:26.000 was a lot of fun and still a 00:15:26.000 –> 00:15:27.000 lot of fun to this day. And I 00:15:27.000 –> 00:15:29.000 just looked back at that and I’m just 00:15:29.000 –> 00:15:30.000 I’m glad we took the risk to make 00:15:30.000 –> 00:15:31.000 the jump. 00:15:36.000 –> 00:15:37.000 The ecosystem, 00:15:38.000 –> 00:15:40.000 seven, eight years ago, is very different than 00:15:40.000 –> 00:15:43.000 today. But did you consider either plugging into 00:15:43.000 –> 00:15:45.000 an existing infrastructure 00:15:45.000 –> 00:15:48.000 or hiring more of a platform or service 00:15:48.000 –> 00:15:48.000 provider? 00:15:49.000 –> 00:15:50.000 Didn’t know, did not even look at those 00:15:50.000 –> 00:15:53.000 opportunities at all, not one of them. I 00:15:53.000 –> 00:15:54.000 mean, it was just one of those things 00:15:54.000 –> 00:15:56.000 we knew early on. We wanted to build 00:15:56.000 –> 00:15:56.000 something. 00:15:57.000 –> 00:15:59.000 And we just went all in, kinda burned 00:15:59.000 –> 00:16:01.000 the ships. It’s let’s go. Let’s make it 00:16:01.000 –> 00:16:03.000 happen, and we did. And, like I said, 00:16:03.000 –> 00:16:05.000 met with our custodians, and 00:16:05.000 –> 00:16:08.000 hired our, you know, legal counsel firm and 00:16:08.000 –> 00:16:10.000 and to help us build the RIA and 00:16:10.000 –> 00:16:12.000 then literally just the way it went. Amazing. 00:16:13.000 –> 00:16:14.000 Okay. So this is the, I think, the 00:16:14.000 –> 00:16:16.000 exciting part of the interview. You told me 00:16:16.000 –> 00:16:18.000 that this story when we were preparing for 00:16:18.000 –> 00:16:21.000 this interview. I wanna hear the story in 00:16:21.000 –> 00:16:23.000 as much details you can share. About resignation 00:16:24.000 –> 00:16:26.000 day. You coined it your Jerry Maguire style 00:16:26.000 –> 00:16:28.000 moment, and I think it’s such a unique 00:16:28.000 –> 00:16:31.000 story. It’s very different than how I think 00:16:31.000 –> 00:16:34.000 many folks would approach this, but it’s instructive, 00:16:34.000 –> 00:16:36.000 and I think demonstrates your conviction 00:16:37.000 –> 00:16:38.000 for why this was the right move for 00:16:38.000 –> 00:16:40.000 you. Yeah. It’s one of those days I 00:16:40.000 –> 00:16:41.000 wish I would have just been able to 00:16:41.000 –> 00:16:44.000 film somehow. Like, had this camera above my 00:16:44.000 –> 00:16:46.000 head or something. It’s just the emotions that 00:16:46.000 –> 00:16:47.000 went into it. I remember it was March 00:16:47.000 –> 00:16:50.000 twenty fourth two thousand fourteen. It was a 00:16:50.000 –> 00:16:53.000 kind of a dreary Monday in Saint Louis 00:16:53.000 –> 00:16:56.000 and, our managing partner was in Saint Louis. 00:16:56.000 –> 00:16:58.000 I was about thirty minutes outside of it. 00:16:58.000 –> 00:17:00.000 And I remember texting him that morning and 00:17:00.000 –> 00:17:03.000 just saying, hey, I’m gonna swing by your 00:17:03.000 –> 00:17:05.000 office. I can’t remember. Seven or 07:30. Do 00:17:05.000 –> 00:17:06.000 you have a couple minutes? And he said, 00:17:06.000 –> 00:17:08.000 is everything okay? And I said, but with 00:17:08.000 –> 00:17:10.000 my health and with my family, everything is 00:17:10.000 –> 00:17:12.000 okay. And that was kind of the end 00:17:12.000 –> 00:17:13.000 of it. What you don’t know about me, 00:17:13.000 –> 00:17:15.000 Louis, I’m a very nervous person. I grew 00:17:15.000 –> 00:17:17.000 up very anxious, and I call it my 00:17:17.000 –> 00:17:20.000 comfort zone callus, calluses on your hands from 00:17:20.000 –> 00:17:21.000 playing golf or working in the yard or 00:17:21.000 –> 00:17:23.000 doing whatever you’re doing. And and I think 00:17:23.000 –> 00:17:26.000 that we as humans can get these calluses 00:17:26.000 –> 00:17:27.000 around our comfort zone, and we don’t wanna 00:17:27.000 –> 00:17:30.000 break through those. And I’ve tried now for 00:17:30.000 –> 00:17:32.000 twenty years to constantly break out of my 00:17:32.000 –> 00:17:34.000 comfort zone, and this was one of those 00:17:34.000 –> 00:17:36.000 defining moments. It was arguably one of the 00:17:36.000 –> 00:17:39.000 biggest decisions, professionally, if not probably the biggest 00:17:39.000 –> 00:17:41.000 decision, actually, that I’ve ever made in my 00:17:41.000 –> 00:17:42.000 life. And 00:17:43.000 –> 00:17:45.000 so I went and resigned, and it was 00:17:45.000 –> 00:17:47.000 splashing water on my face in the bathroom 00:17:47.000 –> 00:17:49.000 before I went in there. I was so 00:17:49.000 –> 00:17:50.000 nervous, and I walked down. Because again, I 00:17:50.000 –> 00:17:52.000 was doing what you needed to do. And 00:17:52.000 –> 00:17:54.000 I was on the board for the managing 00:17:54.000 –> 00:17:57.000 directors at their home office national headquarters. And 00:17:57.000 –> 00:17:58.000 I was doing the things that you needed 00:17:58.000 –> 00:18:00.000 to do to be successful, but I just 00:18:00.000 –> 00:18:01.000 wasn’t happy. And I thought at the time, 00:18:01.000 –> 00:18:03.000 I think I was thirty six, thirty seven, 00:18:03.000 –> 00:18:05.000 I didn’t wanna do that the rest of 00:18:05.000 –> 00:18:07.000 my life, and I needed to take this 00:18:07.000 –> 00:18:09.000 risk. And this risk was I had twenty 00:18:10.000 –> 00:18:12.000 three, twenty four advisors in my district office, 00:18:13.000 –> 00:18:14.000 I owned the building that I was in. 00:18:14.000 –> 00:18:16.000 So I had my own lease because Northwestern 00:18:16.000 –> 00:18:18.000 doesn’t sign the lease. At least they didn’t 00:18:18.000 –> 00:18:19.000 at that time. I had my own lease 00:18:19.000 –> 00:18:22.000 in my own building. And all these people, 00:18:22.000 –> 00:18:24.000 right, that worked with us. So it was 00:18:24.000 –> 00:18:26.000 very scary. It was a very big risk. 00:18:26.000 –> 00:18:28.000 And I went in. I resigned, and he 00:18:28.000 –> 00:18:29.000 said, what would you like to do? And 00:18:29.000 –> 00:18:30.000 I said, well, I feel like I would 00:18:30.000 –> 00:18:32.000 to go at least tell everybody in our 00:18:32.000 –> 00:18:34.000 office that I’m leaving. I’m resigning. I feel 00:18:34.000 –> 00:18:36.000 like I owe that to them. I’ve recruited 00:18:36.000 –> 00:18:38.000 and trained and developed every single one of 00:18:38.000 –> 00:18:41.000 these people, and I’ve spent countless hours and 00:18:41.000 –> 00:18:42.000 blood sweat and tears with these folks. I 00:18:42.000 –> 00:18:44.000 owe it to them. And he said, okay. 00:18:44.000 –> 00:18:46.000 I can be there at 11:30. 00:18:46.000 –> 00:18:47.000 So I went and kinda just sat in 00:18:47.000 –> 00:18:49.000 my car. For a couple hours and just 00:18:49.000 –> 00:18:52.000 what just happened kinda moment and then went 00:18:52.000 –> 00:18:54.000 into my own district office and had everybody 00:18:54.000 –> 00:18:56.000 in the firm there. I was able to 00:18:56.000 –> 00:18:58.000 tell them what I did and that I 00:18:58.000 –> 00:19:00.000 was leaving and that I started this place 00:19:00.000 –> 00:19:02.000 called visionary wealth advisors 00:19:02.000 –> 00:19:04.000 named probably like a week before that because 00:19:04.000 –> 00:19:07.000 everything was happening so quickly. So long story 00:19:07.000 –> 00:19:08.000 short, that was about an hour and twenty 00:19:08.000 –> 00:19:10.000 minute meeting. And a guy in the back 00:19:10.000 –> 00:19:11.000 of the room, Joe is his name, Joe 00:19:11.000 –> 00:19:13.000 Reininger, and he says, raises his hand. He 00:19:13.000 –> 00:19:15.000 says, what about all those people that wanna 00:19:15.000 –> 00:19:16.000 go with red. 00:19:16.000 –> 00:19:19.000 And then my internal body was screaming and 00:19:19.000 –> 00:19:21.000 jumping up and down, but I had to 00:19:21.000 –> 00:19:23.000 stay really calm and collective. Right? But I 00:19:23.000 –> 00:19:24.000 was just that was Joe and I still 00:19:24.000 –> 00:19:26.000 to this day who’s with us. We talk 00:19:26.000 –> 00:19:28.000 about that. And so it was just one 00:19:28.000 –> 00:19:30.000 of those moments. Right? It was like, wow. 00:19:30.000 –> 00:19:32.000 Hopefully this happens. This is my Jerry Maguire 00:19:32.000 –> 00:19:35.000 moment. I’m leaving who’s coming with me, and 00:19:35.000 –> 00:19:38.000 I literally left my own office went to 00:19:38.000 –> 00:19:40.000 a restaurant, and I got the biggest table 00:19:40.000 –> 00:19:42.000 that you could get. And I sat there 00:19:42.000 –> 00:19:44.000 for ten or fifteen minutes by myself. And 00:19:44.000 –> 00:19:47.000 I’m like, oh, goodness. This is not good. 00:19:47.000 –> 00:19:49.000 And then all of a sudden, and it 00:19:49.000 –> 00:19:50.000 gives me chills thinking about it. All of 00:19:50.000 –> 00:19:52.000 a sudden, one by one, 00:19:52.000 –> 00:19:54.000 in comes these advisors. 00:19:54.000 –> 00:19:56.000 And it it’s the big hug. It’s the 00:19:56.000 –> 00:19:58.000 big bear hug of, oh my gosh. Let 00:19:58.000 –> 00:20:00.000 me hear more. Let me hear more. And 00:20:00.000 –> 00:20:03.000 within twenty four to forty eight hours, fifteen 00:20:03.000 –> 00:20:05.000 of those visors left and came with us. 00:20:05.000 –> 00:20:07.000 Holy cow. And that was incredible. 00:20:07.000 –> 00:20:10.000 That is incredible. And what was the pitch? 00:20:10.000 –> 00:20:12.000 How did you? Obviously, you built up 00:20:12.000 –> 00:20:15.000 trust and respect and all of that. That’s 00:20:15.000 –> 00:20:18.000 earned. It’s not pitched. But, obviously, these advisors 00:20:18.000 –> 00:20:20.000 are trusting their life’s work to you and 00:20:20.000 –> 00:20:22.000 their families So what did you say to 00:20:22.000 –> 00:20:24.000 get them over the finish line? 00:20:25.000 –> 00:20:26.000 Yeah. It was painting a vision. I mean, 00:20:26.000 –> 00:20:28.000 hence the name visionary wealth advisors. I mean, 00:20:28.000 –> 00:20:30.000 it’s what the future can and will be 00:20:30.000 –> 00:20:32.000 if you look up the definition. And so 00:20:32.000 –> 00:20:34.000 we wanted to paint this picture for what 00:20:34.000 –> 00:20:36.000 the future will and could be like for 00:20:36.000 –> 00:20:39.000 these advisors. I mean, I think anybody that’s 00:20:39.000 –> 00:20:41.000 in a an environment where and this isn’t 00:20:41.000 –> 00:20:43.000 just a Northwestern thing. This is any environment 00:20:43.000 –> 00:20:44.000 where you start over. Every single month, you’re 00:20:44.000 –> 00:20:46.000 starting over at zero, and you gotta go 00:20:46.000 –> 00:20:48.000 out, eat what you Gilliland 00:20:48.000 –> 00:20:50.000 you gotta just stay on all day long 00:20:50.000 –> 00:20:53.000 every single day. And it’s hard to build 00:20:53.000 –> 00:20:57.000 true long lasting values based deep relationships with 00:20:57.000 –> 00:20:59.000 clients when you’re constantly in sales mode. And 00:20:59.000 –> 00:21:01.000 I think those advisors knew that. Some of 00:21:01.000 –> 00:21:04.000 those advisors at that time were seven years 00:21:04.000 –> 00:21:06.000 in the business. Some of them were two 00:21:06.000 –> 00:21:08.000 years in the business. And it goes back 00:21:08.000 –> 00:21:10.000 to, yes, you talked about trust and respect, 00:21:10.000 –> 00:21:12.000 but it also went back to a relationship. 00:21:12.000 –> 00:21:15.000 And that relationship was built over two, five, 00:21:15.000 –> 00:21:16.000 seven years 00:21:17.000 –> 00:21:19.000 of being in the trenches with them. And 00:21:19.000 –> 00:21:21.000 being with them every single morning, literally Monday 00:21:21.000 –> 00:21:24.000 through Friday, 07:30, we would have meetings and 00:21:24.000 –> 00:21:26.000 it was training meetings and just setting down 00:21:26.000 –> 00:21:29.000 and talking meetings. It was accountability meetings. It 00:21:29.000 –> 00:21:31.000 was idea sharing meetings. 00:21:31.000 –> 00:21:33.000 And you do that for that long, you 00:21:33.000 –> 00:21:34.000 build this relationship, 00:21:35.000 –> 00:21:37.000 and then they see a future that’s greater 00:21:37.000 –> 00:21:38.000 than their past. 00:21:38.000 –> 00:21:40.000 And then they just they literally and I 00:21:40.000 –> 00:21:43.000 don’t take this lightly. Right? They literally resigned 00:21:43.000 –> 00:21:44.000 from their careers 00:21:44.000 –> 00:21:46.000 to go and follow this vision in this 00:21:46.000 –> 00:21:47.000 dream. 00:21:47.000 –> 00:21:49.000 And I look at them now seven years 00:21:49.000 –> 00:21:51.000 later, seven plus years later, 00:21:51.000 –> 00:21:53.000 they’re all doing better than they were doing 00:21:53.000 –> 00:21:56.000 before. Every single one of them, is doing 00:21:56.000 –> 00:21:58.000 better than they were before. So their future 00:21:58.000 –> 00:22:00.000 is greater than their past. Their present is 00:22:00.000 –> 00:22:02.000 greater than their past. And it’s just cool 00:22:02.000 –> 00:22:04.000 to look back at that and see the 00:22:04.000 –> 00:22:05.000 things that are happening now in these people’s 00:22:05.000 –> 00:22:08.000 lives, and it’s just unreal to me that 00:22:08.000 –> 00:22:10.000 to think that people would put their trust 00:22:10.000 –> 00:22:12.000 in something like that. With literally no business 00:22:12.000 –> 00:22:15.000 cards, no website done, no logo done, 00:22:16.000 –> 00:22:18.000 nothing. And they said, let’s go. We’re all 00:22:18.000 –> 00:22:18.000 in. 00:22:19.000 –> 00:22:21.000 Just an idea. Yeah. And it’s so different 00:22:21.000 –> 00:22:25.000 than most advisors that are breaking away to 00:22:25.000 –> 00:22:28.000 establish their own independent firm. There’s likely the 00:22:28.000 –> 00:22:29.000 key advisors 00:22:29.000 –> 00:22:30.000 are on board. 00:22:31.000 –> 00:22:33.000 They’re probably involved in the due diligence or 00:22:33.000 –> 00:22:35.000 at least consulted throughout the process. 00:22:35.000 –> 00:22:38.000 It’s oftentimes, though, it’s the support team that’s 00:22:38.000 –> 00:22:40.000 kinda left in the dark just for confidentiality 00:22:40.000 –> 00:22:43.000 purposes. But you really took this confidentiality Gilliland 00:22:43.000 –> 00:22:46.000 discreteness to a whole new level. It’s a 00:22:46.000 –> 00:22:48.000 pretty insane story. And I’m curious too. I 00:22:48.000 –> 00:22:51.000 mean, anyone who goes independent is taking a 00:22:51.000 –> 00:22:53.000 risk. They’re taking the risk of what if 00:22:53.000 –> 00:22:55.000 my business doesn’t come, taking the risk of 00:22:56.000 –> 00:22:57.000 not having an income for a period of 00:22:57.000 –> 00:23:00.000 time, taking the risk of not getting a 00:23:00.000 –> 00:23:02.000 big check by going to a broker dealer 00:23:02.000 –> 00:23:03.000 firm. So you not only did you take 00:23:03.000 –> 00:23:05.000 that risk, but you also own the building 00:23:05.000 –> 00:23:08.000 you’re in and did this without really knowing 00:23:08.000 –> 00:23:10.000 what the base of the business will look 00:23:10.000 –> 00:23:12.000 like How did you reconcile doing this and 00:23:12.000 –> 00:23:13.000 just going for it? 00:23:14.000 –> 00:23:16.000 A lot of, faith and hope 00:23:17.000 –> 00:23:19.000 just I mean, literally just faith and hope 00:23:19.000 –> 00:23:23.000 and trust. And I believed in relationships. I 00:23:23.000 –> 00:23:25.000 believed in myself. I believed in what we 00:23:25.000 –> 00:23:27.000 were gonna go build. Believed in the advisors 00:23:27.000 –> 00:23:29.000 and our team and our staff that came 00:23:29.000 –> 00:23:31.000 with us as well. And that was just 00:23:31.000 –> 00:23:33.000 the advisors. We also had who’s now our 00:23:33.000 –> 00:23:35.000 COO, Kate hurt is her name now, but 00:23:35.000 –> 00:23:37.000 Kate Solburger, she came with us from day 00:23:37.000 –> 00:23:40.000 one and Robin Edwards and so many others 00:23:40.000 –> 00:23:42.000 that just came with us Lauren Hubert, they 00:23:42.000 –> 00:23:44.000 were with us from day one back at 00:23:44.000 –> 00:23:45.000 that firm, and they said, you know what? 00:23:45.000 –> 00:23:47.000 Yeah. We’re also gonna come with you as 00:23:47.000 –> 00:23:49.000 well. And so it just it was one 00:23:49.000 –> 00:23:51.000 of those things that I think in life, 00:23:51.000 –> 00:23:52.000 sometimes 00:23:53.000 –> 00:23:56.000 you don’t make that big decision until it 00:23:56.000 –> 00:23:57.000 hurts enough. 00:23:57.000 –> 00:24:00.000 And for me, the upside was so great 00:24:00.000 –> 00:24:02.000 the downside, I was just so less than 00:24:02.000 –> 00:24:04.000 worried about it because I thought if I 00:24:04.000 –> 00:24:07.000 can make a career and do this and 00:24:07.000 –> 00:24:09.000 the amount of sales and the activity and 00:24:09.000 –> 00:24:10.000 the grit that you have to do, which 00:24:10.000 –> 00:24:12.000 I’m thankful for. I thought, you know what, 00:24:12.000 –> 00:24:14.000 even if this thing doesn’t work, we’ll figure 00:24:14.000 –> 00:24:17.000 it out. But honestly, I mean, I bet 00:24:17.000 –> 00:24:18.000 you know, there was a few sleepless nights, 00:24:18.000 –> 00:24:19.000 but I would say 00:24:20.000 –> 00:24:22.000 ninety five percent of the thought 00:24:22.000 –> 00:24:23.000 was all positive 00:24:24.000 –> 00:24:27.000 and just the expectations of what would happen. 00:24:27.000 –> 00:24:29.000 Yeah. Just thinking about what’s possible. 00:24:29.000 –> 00:24:30.000 So 00:24:30.000 –> 00:24:32.000 end of your first year as visionary, 00:24:33.000 –> 00:24:35.000 you had around three hundred million in assets 00:24:35.000 –> 00:24:36.000 across twelve advisors. 00:24:37.000 –> 00:24:39.000 And today, you shared your north of one 00:24:39.000 –> 00:24:42.000 point eight billion in assets and about thirty 00:24:42.000 –> 00:24:44.000 advisors. How have you grown the advisor ranks 00:24:44.000 –> 00:24:47.000 and what’s responsible for the very impressive growth 00:24:47.000 –> 00:24:49.000 and assets? Yeah. I would just say it’s 00:24:49.000 –> 00:24:51.000 going out and what we call playing in 00:24:51.000 –> 00:24:53.000 traffic. It’s getting to know people in the 00:24:53.000 –> 00:24:55.000 industry. Getting referred to great people in the 00:24:55.000 –> 00:24:56.000 industry, 00:24:56.000 –> 00:24:58.000 and whether they’ve been at a bank channel, 00:24:59.000 –> 00:25:01.000 an insurance channel, a wire house channel, an 00:25:01.000 –> 00:25:02.000 independent channel, 00:25:03.000 –> 00:25:05.000 It’s just us going out and talking to 00:25:05.000 –> 00:25:06.000 other individuals, 00:25:06.000 –> 00:25:09.000 but also our advisors referring us to individuals. 00:25:09.000 –> 00:25:12.000 I mean, so our advisors, they’re they’re happy 00:25:12.000 –> 00:25:14.000 they are fine with referring us to people 00:25:14.000 –> 00:25:16.000 that they think would be other good advisors 00:25:16.000 –> 00:25:18.000 inside of our firm. And so it’s just 00:25:18.000 –> 00:25:21.000 a it’s a collaboration of of people coming 00:25:21.000 –> 00:25:23.000 together for the greater good and building a 00:25:23.000 –> 00:25:23.000 platform. 00:25:24.000 –> 00:25:26.000 And look, the better we do at visionary, 00:25:26.000 –> 00:25:28.000 the better the advisor does, because we can 00:25:28.000 –> 00:25:30.000 offer more and more to them that ultimately 00:25:31.000 –> 00:25:34.000 helps their bottom line become more profitable. And 00:25:34.000 –> 00:25:36.000 when you’re brand spanking new and you have 00:25:36.000 –> 00:25:39.000 three hundred million, well, you’re charging for technology. 00:25:39.000 –> 00:25:41.000 You’re doing this. You’re charging for that. Well, 00:25:41.000 –> 00:25:43.000 as we’ve grown, it’s so we made a 00:25:43.000 –> 00:25:46.000 major investment into a platform, into our technology 00:25:46.000 –> 00:25:48.000 platform, and we pay for that for our 00:25:48.000 –> 00:25:51.000 advisors. Well, seven years ago, there we couldn’t 00:25:51.000 –> 00:25:53.000 even think about doing that. But today, we 00:25:53.000 –> 00:25:54.000 can. 00:25:54.000 –> 00:25:56.000 And then, you know, what’s the next three 00:25:56.000 –> 00:25:57.000 years in the five years and seven years 00:25:57.000 –> 00:25:59.000 and ten years ahead of that? What does 00:25:59.000 –> 00:26:01.000 that look like? So our vision is not 00:26:01.000 –> 00:26:03.000 about size. It’s not about x billions of 00:26:03.000 –> 00:26:06.000 dollars under management. Our vision is the platform 00:26:07.000 –> 00:26:09.000 that we build, and what it ultimately does 00:26:09.000 –> 00:26:10.000 for the interdependent 00:26:10.000 –> 00:26:12.000 advisor that’s on our platform 00:26:13.000 –> 00:26:15.000 that chooses to partner with visionary wealth advisors. 00:26:15.000 –> 00:26:18.000 How efficient can we make their practice and 00:26:18.000 –> 00:26:19.000 give them the best platform boss. 00:26:23.000 –> 00:26:25.000 Can you explain this concept of interdependence 00:26:26.000 –> 00:26:28.000 versus independence? What does it mean to you? 00:26:28.000 –> 00:26:30.000 Yeah. It’s a great question. And just in 00:26:30.000 –> 00:26:33.000 all transparency, I think if affirms, you will 00:26:33.000 –> 00:26:34.000 have people come on, especially a firm like 00:26:34.000 –> 00:26:37.000 ours where you individual advisors coming in to 00:26:37.000 –> 00:26:40.000 the firm, we’ve lost a couple of advisors. 00:26:40.000 –> 00:26:42.000 And so what happens is those advisors 00:26:43.000 –> 00:26:44.000 as they grow, 00:26:45.000 –> 00:26:47.000 they see the greatness in running and doing 00:26:47.000 –> 00:26:49.000 your own thing as well. Right? So I 00:26:49.000 –> 00:26:51.000 can’t blame those advisors for that. Now what 00:26:51.000 –> 00:26:53.000 can I learn from it? But I can’t 00:26:53.000 –> 00:26:55.000 blame them for wanting to do their thing 00:26:55.000 –> 00:26:57.000 and have their name on the wall. And 00:26:57.000 –> 00:26:59.000 that’s what some of these advisors, a couple 00:26:59.000 –> 00:27:00.000 that have left, that’s what’s happened. 00:27:01.000 –> 00:27:02.000 But the interdependent 00:27:02.000 –> 00:27:05.000 relationship is I know the cost that it 00:27:05.000 –> 00:27:07.000 takes, and the time that it takes, and 00:27:07.000 –> 00:27:09.000 the compliance, and the marketing, the branding, the 00:27:09.000 –> 00:27:10.000 web site, the cybersecurity, 00:27:11.000 –> 00:27:13.000 all the stuff that goes along with it, 00:27:13.000 –> 00:27:16.000 most advisors don’t wanna have to worry about 00:27:16.000 –> 00:27:18.000 things like a lease on a printer. 00:27:18.000 –> 00:27:20.000 Right? They don’t wanna sign their lease and 00:27:20.000 –> 00:27:22.000 and personally guarantee a lease on a commercial 00:27:22.000 –> 00:27:25.000 building. They don’t wanna do that. And so 00:27:25.000 –> 00:27:27.000 what we want is the adviser that’s interdependent 00:27:28.000 –> 00:27:30.000 that wants to be independent, 00:27:30.000 –> 00:27:33.000 but doesn’t wanna be in business by themselves. 00:27:33.000 –> 00:27:35.000 They want a platform. They want people. They 00:27:35.000 –> 00:27:36.000 want teams. 00:27:36.000 –> 00:27:38.000 Right? And that’s what we provide. And that’s 00:27:38.000 –> 00:27:39.000 what I think we’re really good at, is 00:27:39.000 –> 00:27:41.000 providing that for our advisors. 00:27:42.000 –> 00:27:44.000 And I think each advisor who joins you, 00:27:44.000 –> 00:27:46.000 even though they own their book of business, 00:27:46.000 –> 00:27:49.000 they all adopt the visionary brand. Is that 00:27:49.000 –> 00:27:52.000 correct? Yeah. So ninety something percent of them 00:27:52.000 –> 00:27:55.000 have visionary, just visionary only, but a few 00:27:55.000 –> 00:27:57.000 have visionary advisors and then, like, the insight 00:27:57.000 –> 00:28:00.000 group, for example, which is a team here 00:28:00.000 –> 00:28:02.000 with two of our advisors. They’re the insight 00:28:02.000 –> 00:28:05.000 group of visionary wealth advisors or the Verigieg 00:28:05.000 –> 00:28:07.000 group of visionary wealth advisors. 00:28:07.000 –> 00:28:10.000 And what’s the benefit of doing it that 00:28:10.000 –> 00:28:12.000 way? Can and the advisors that join you 00:28:12.000 –> 00:28:15.000 course, they have the option of having their 00:28:15.000 –> 00:28:17.000 own brand. And many people are excited by 00:28:17.000 –> 00:28:20.000 creating their own DNA and building their own 00:28:20.000 –> 00:28:23.000 own identity versus helping build something existing. So 00:28:23.000 –> 00:28:25.000 what’s the rationale for that? Yeah. And and 00:28:25.000 –> 00:28:26.000 look, I don’t think there’s a right or 00:28:26.000 –> 00:28:28.000 wrong. I think it’s just gonna, again, find 00:28:28.000 –> 00:28:31.000 that person that wants to be interdependent versus 00:28:31.000 –> 00:28:34.000 independent is what we’re looking for is the 00:28:34.000 –> 00:28:36.000 rationale behind that is, in my opinion, take 00:28:36.000 –> 00:28:38.000 Apple, for example, they don’t have the Diamond 00:28:38.000 –> 00:28:41.000 Apple store. They don’t have the Gilliland Apple 00:28:41.000 –> 00:28:43.000 store in Saint Louis. And in Brooklyn, New 00:28:43.000 –> 00:28:45.000 York, it’s the Diamond Apple store. Right? It’s 00:28:45.000 –> 00:28:47.000 Apple. And what do you know about Apple? 00:28:47.000 –> 00:28:49.000 It stands for a great product 00:28:50.000 –> 00:28:51.000 with efficiency, 00:28:51.000 –> 00:28:52.000 easy to use, 00:28:53.000 –> 00:28:55.000 good looking, right, all those things. You understand 00:28:56.000 –> 00:28:58.000 just using Apple’s the analogy here, you understand 00:28:58.000 –> 00:28:59.000 what Apple stands for. 00:29:00.000 –> 00:29:02.000 No different than what what I see and 00:29:02.000 –> 00:29:03.000 what we see is what we call the 00:29:03.000 –> 00:29:06.000 impossible company is we’re trying to build this 00:29:06.000 –> 00:29:07.000 impossible company. Don’t say I can 00:29:08.000 –> 00:29:09.000 say, how do we do it? How do 00:29:09.000 –> 00:29:11.000 we build this? And we’re getting feedback from 00:29:11.000 –> 00:29:13.000 our advisors and our team and our executive 00:29:13.000 –> 00:29:15.000 team. And and so how do we build 00:29:15.000 –> 00:29:16.000 this impossible company? How do we build the 00:29:16.000 –> 00:29:20.000 quote unquote Apple of financial planning. And so 00:29:20.000 –> 00:29:20.000 visionary, 00:29:21.000 –> 00:29:23.000 my vision, our vision is when I see 00:29:23.000 –> 00:29:24.000 that logo 00:29:24.000 –> 00:29:26.000 of somebody in the community sees that logo, 00:29:26.000 –> 00:29:29.000 they know what it stands for. They know 00:29:29.000 –> 00:29:30.000 that they do comprehensive 00:29:30.000 –> 00:29:31.000 high 00:29:31.000 –> 00:29:33.000 end white glove service, 00:29:33.000 –> 00:29:35.000 high touch, financial planning. 00:29:36.000 –> 00:29:38.000 They know they are really good people in 00:29:38.000 –> 00:29:41.000 the community. They give back, whether it’s their 00:29:41.000 –> 00:29:43.000 place of worship, or it’s a charity for 00:29:43.000 –> 00:29:45.000 cancer, or it’s their kid’s school, or their 00:29:45.000 –> 00:29:47.000 coaching in their kid’s baseball team in the 00:29:47.000 –> 00:29:47.000 community, 00:29:48.000 –> 00:29:50.000 they know what that stands for, and that’s 00:29:50.000 –> 00:29:52.000 what it’s about for people in my opinion. 00:29:53.000 –> 00:29:56.000 Amazing. And that’s a a good segue into 00:29:56.000 –> 00:29:59.000 my next question, which is about visionary’s mission 00:29:59.000 –> 00:30:01.000 and how this flows into your business. 00:30:03.000 –> 00:30:05.000 Yeah. So our mission statement is is to 00:30:05.000 –> 00:30:07.000 help people achieve future greater than their past. 00:30:07.000 –> 00:30:08.000 I mean, if if I had everybody that 00:30:08.000 –> 00:30:10.000 was listening to your show right now, Lewis, 00:30:10.000 –> 00:30:11.000 and I said, to raise your hand if 00:30:11.000 –> 00:30:13.000 you want a future greater than your past, 00:30:14.000 –> 00:30:16.000 I would assume most everybody listening would raise 00:30:16.000 –> 00:30:18.000 their hand. Right? Everybody wants a future greater 00:30:18.000 –> 00:30:21.000 than your past. And so our job is 00:30:21.000 –> 00:30:23.000 to slow down with our clients take them 00:30:23.000 –> 00:30:26.000 off the treadmill of life, set them down 00:30:26.000 –> 00:30:28.000 for an hour, three hours, ten hours a 00:30:28.000 –> 00:30:30.000 year, whatever it takes for that client, and 00:30:30.000 –> 00:30:33.000 really open that Pandora’s box and find out 00:30:33.000 –> 00:30:35.000 internally in their soul, what is important to 00:30:35.000 –> 00:30:38.000 them, what what makes them tick, it’s our 00:30:38.000 –> 00:30:40.000 job to unlock that. And then help all 00:30:40.000 –> 00:30:42.000 those things come out. And so then it’s, 00:30:42.000 –> 00:30:44.000 again, to help those people achieve a future 00:30:44.000 –> 00:30:45.000 greater than their past. And I know a 00:30:45.000 –> 00:30:47.000 lot of people say that and they do 00:30:47.000 –> 00:30:48.000 that. They’re doing great jobs in our industry 00:30:48.000 –> 00:30:50.000 of doing that, but that’s just to our 00:30:50.000 –> 00:30:52.000 core. That’s what we believe is to see 00:30:52.000 –> 00:30:53.000 that future be greater. 00:30:54.000 –> 00:30:57.000 And helping them daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, whatever 00:30:57.000 –> 00:30:59.000 it may be, helping them achieve that. 00:31:00.000 –> 00:31:02.000 Love it. And how about charity work and 00:31:02.000 –> 00:31:03.000 community engagement? 00:31:04.000 –> 00:31:06.000 Yeah. That’s huge. I mean, we have a 00:31:06.000 –> 00:31:08.000 lot of people involved in tons of charities, 00:31:08.000 –> 00:31:10.000 and whether they’re setting on boards, it’s being 00:31:10.000 –> 00:31:13.000 on, involved running events. And my wife and 00:31:13.000 –> 00:31:16.000 I, personally, we have a a charity of 00:31:16.000 –> 00:31:18.000 foundation. We started fourteen years ago called swing 00:31:18.000 –> 00:31:20.000 four Hope. F o r e because I’m 00:31:20.000 –> 00:31:22.000 a big golfer. It’s a swing for hope, 00:31:22.000 –> 00:31:25.000 and we raise money every single year to 00:31:25.000 –> 00:31:27.000 give back to those that have been affected 00:31:27.000 –> 00:31:29.000 by cancer. My mother-in-law, 00:31:29.000 –> 00:31:32.000 three of her sisters or mom and and 00:31:32.000 –> 00:31:34.000 two of her sisters all got diagnosed with 00:31:34.000 –> 00:31:36.000 cancer. My dad was six weeks after we 00:31:36.000 –> 00:31:38.000 started the foundation, had cancer. 00:31:38.000 –> 00:31:40.000 Her dad a year after that got cancer. 00:31:40.000 –> 00:31:42.000 So three of our four parents have cancer 00:31:42.000 –> 00:31:45.000 and or had cancer and think thankfully so 00:31:45.000 –> 00:31:47.000 far they beat that disease. And so we 00:31:47.000 –> 00:31:49.000 just make it our mission is that we 00:31:49.000 –> 00:31:51.000 feel like if we’ve been putting this earth 00:31:51.000 –> 00:31:53.000 to get, right, we all make great money 00:31:53.000 –> 00:31:55.000 from our wonderful clients, but we also have 00:31:55.000 –> 00:31:57.000 to give back to that community. And that’s 00:31:57.000 –> 00:31:59.000 just what we believe as a firm, but 00:31:59.000 –> 00:32:02.000 just individually as well for swing for hope. 00:32:02.000 –> 00:32:03.000 It’s a passion of ours that we just 00:32:03.000 –> 00:32:05.000 wanna help as many people as we possibly 00:32:05.000 –> 00:32:07.000 can And we help, you know, pay mortgages, 00:32:07.000 –> 00:32:09.000 pay their power bill, pay for them to 00:32:09.000 –> 00:32:11.000 get to and from chemo, whatever it may 00:32:11.000 –> 00:32:14.000 be, that’s what we’re about. It’s amazing. Our 00:32:14.000 –> 00:32:16.000 clients come out, our advisors come out, support 00:32:16.000 –> 00:32:18.000 the cause, and we just have a three 00:32:18.000 –> 00:32:19.000 or four events a year to really make 00:32:19.000 –> 00:32:20.000 a big impact. 00:32:21.000 –> 00:32:23.000 That’s incredible. We’ll put the link to 00:32:23.000 –> 00:32:26.000 the charity on the episode page. So folks 00:32:26.000 –> 00:32:28.000 can check it out and hopefully contribute. 00:32:29.000 –> 00:32:31.000 A really cool initiative. So two more questions 00:32:31.000 –> 00:32:33.000 for you. I know you’re the host of 00:32:33.000 –> 00:32:36.000 the Circative Success podcast. You’ve been doing it 00:32:36.000 –> 00:32:37.000 for four to four and a half years. 00:32:37.000 –> 00:32:39.000 So why didn’t you give a plug for 00:32:39.000 –> 00:32:40.000 it? What do you talk about? Why’d you 00:32:40.000 –> 00:32:43.000 do it? And ultimately, how does it impact 00:32:43.000 –> 00:32:44.000 your business? 00:32:44.000 –> 00:32:46.000 Yeah. Yes. So thanks for talking about that. 00:32:46.000 –> 00:32:48.000 Yeah. The circle of success, it’s been around 00:32:48.000 –> 00:32:51.000 for since February of two thousand sixteen, I 00:32:51.000 –> 00:32:53.000 think. And so we’ve had lots of shows 00:32:53.000 –> 00:32:55.000 and lots of great Gilliland and really What 00:32:55.000 –> 00:32:57.000 it’s about, I always say it’s the it’s 00:32:57.000 –> 00:32:59.000 to give people the best tips and tools 00:32:59.000 –> 00:33:01.000 for their life, right, whether that’s through wealth 00:33:01.000 –> 00:33:04.000 management, it’s through mindset, it’s through business topics, 00:33:04.000 –> 00:33:05.000 it’s through goal planning. 00:33:06.000 –> 00:33:08.000 All the things that we wanna do, we’ve 00:33:08.000 –> 00:33:10.000 had hall of fame athletes to big time 00:33:10.000 –> 00:33:13.000 business people to your normal everyday business owner 00:33:13.000 –> 00:33:15.000 running around on the streets we can learn 00:33:15.000 –> 00:33:18.000 from. And it’s really picking their brains and 00:33:18.000 –> 00:33:20.000 finding out what’s made them tick for the 00:33:20.000 –> 00:33:22.000 over their lifetime, over their career and what’s 00:33:22.000 –> 00:33:24.000 made them successful. It really, for me, it 00:33:24.000 –> 00:33:26.000 comes down to the four things that are 00:33:26.000 –> 00:33:28.000 the circuits of success. And it’s your attitude, 00:33:29.000 –> 00:33:30.000 your belief system, 00:33:30.000 –> 00:33:33.000 the actions that you have to take every 00:33:33.000 –> 00:33:35.000 single day, ultimately get your results. 00:33:35.000 –> 00:33:37.000 And when you follow those beliefs and those 00:33:37.000 –> 00:33:40.000 attitudes and that action, you will get results 00:33:40.000 –> 00:33:42.000 in your life. And so it’s really kind 00:33:42.000 –> 00:33:44.000 of peeling the onion layers back on so 00:33:44.000 –> 00:33:46.000 many great people from the men and women 00:33:46.000 –> 00:33:48.000 around the world and finding out what’s made 00:33:48.000 –> 00:33:50.000 them successful in those areas and how it’s 00:33:50.000 –> 00:33:54.000 helped them personally, professionally, emotionally, intellectually, financially, 00:33:54.000 –> 00:33:57.000 etcetera, to really live the life of their 00:33:57.000 –> 00:33:58.000 dreams. And, again, to help people achieve a 00:33:58.000 –> 00:34:01.000 future greater than their I mean, of course, 00:34:01.000 –> 00:34:03.000 you’re doing that podcast because it’s something you’re 00:34:03.000 –> 00:34:05.000 passionate about. You’re not getting paid to do 00:34:05.000 –> 00:34:08.000 it. So as a business person, have you 00:34:08.000 –> 00:34:10.000 been able to track it all? What’s sort 00:34:10.000 –> 00:34:12.000 of growth it’s it’s led to. And I’m 00:34:12.000 –> 00:34:14.000 asking because a lot of our adviser listeners, 00:34:14.000 –> 00:34:16.000 one of the things they envision is having 00:34:16.000 –> 00:34:18.000 a podcast or at least having the ability 00:34:18.000 –> 00:34:22.000 to and being able to generate business in 00:34:22.000 –> 00:34:24.000 a different way, scaled communication. What’s been your 00:34:24.000 –> 00:34:27.000 experience with that? Yeah. There certainly has been 00:34:27.000 –> 00:34:29.000 business from that. There’s no doubt about it. 00:34:29.000 –> 00:34:31.000 I mean, it’s one of those things you 00:34:31.000 –> 00:34:33.000 get done having a conversation with somebody for 00:34:33.000 –> 00:34:34.000 forty five minutes 00:34:34.000 –> 00:34:36.000 and getting deep into their life and their 00:34:36.000 –> 00:34:38.000 story and their Gilliland 00:34:38.000 –> 00:34:40.000 what’s made them tick, as I always say, 00:34:41.000 –> 00:34:43.000 I’ve just built a different relationship with that 00:34:43.000 –> 00:34:45.000 person. Right? Versus me just wanted having coffee 00:34:45.000 –> 00:34:48.000 and having a nice coffee meeting and talking 00:34:48.000 –> 00:34:49.000 about whatever, 00:34:49.000 –> 00:34:51.000 I have found that people that I and 00:34:51.000 –> 00:34:53.000 I’m not doing it to try to get 00:34:53.000 –> 00:34:54.000 them as a client. I’m really not. I’m 00:34:54.000 –> 00:34:57.000 doing it because for me, I jokingly call 00:34:57.000 –> 00:34:58.000 it my weekly therapy. 00:34:58.000 –> 00:35:00.000 I’m setting down with some of the best 00:35:00.000 –> 00:35:02.000 people in our world 00:35:02.000 –> 00:35:03.000 on leadership 00:35:03.000 –> 00:35:05.000 and the books they’ve read and the the 00:35:05.000 –> 00:35:07.000 failures they’ve had, the successes that they’ve had, 00:35:07.000 –> 00:35:09.000 what do they do from an exercise How 00:35:09.000 –> 00:35:11.000 do they eat better? How do they become 00:35:11.000 –> 00:35:12.000 a better dad or a husband or a 00:35:12.000 –> 00:35:14.000 wife? Whatever it may be. 00:35:14.000 –> 00:35:16.000 I selfishly get to do that every single 00:35:16.000 –> 00:35:17.000 week. 00:35:17.000 –> 00:35:19.000 With these people. Right? I’m learning. I’m going 00:35:19.000 –> 00:35:21.000 through therapy, but what does that do? That 00:35:21.000 –> 00:35:23.000 allows me, in my opinion, to give more 00:35:23.000 –> 00:35:24.000 to our advisors. 00:35:25.000 –> 00:35:27.000 I’m learning. Right? I’m growing. I’m in the 00:35:27.000 –> 00:35:29.000 trenches as well as an advisor. So I 00:35:29.000 –> 00:35:30.000 know what’s going on out there. I know 00:35:30.000 –> 00:35:33.000 the questions we’re getting from people. It allows 00:35:33.000 –> 00:35:34.000 me to be better for our advisors. It 00:35:34.000 –> 00:35:36.000 allows me to be better for my family. 00:35:36.000 –> 00:35:37.000 It allows me to be better for the 00:35:37.000 –> 00:35:38.000 community. 00:35:38.000 –> 00:35:40.000 And if we’re continually getting better day in 00:35:40.000 –> 00:35:43.000 and day out, we’re all gonna win. And, 00:35:43.000 –> 00:35:45.000 yes, do we get clients? Absolutely. Do I 00:35:45.000 –> 00:35:47.000 track it? No. Because the point of that 00:35:47.000 –> 00:35:50.000 is I wanna get better I want other 00:35:50.000 –> 00:35:52.000 people to get better that are listening to 00:35:52.000 –> 00:35:54.000 it. And our following, our listenership continues to 00:35:54.000 –> 00:35:56.000 grow week after week, and it’s just one 00:35:56.000 –> 00:35:58.000 of those things that I know we’re helping 00:35:58.000 –> 00:36:00.000 people get better. And then if I’m at 00:36:00.000 –> 00:36:01.000 a board meeting or I’m somewhere in the 00:36:01.000 –> 00:36:04.000 community, it I mean, weekly, something comes up 00:36:04.000 –> 00:36:06.000 about the podcast and people wanna talk about 00:36:06.000 –> 00:36:08.000 it. So it’s a great conversation starter as 00:36:08.000 –> 00:36:09.000 well. 00:36:14.000 –> 00:36:16.000 Final question that will let you get on 00:36:16.000 –> 00:36:18.000 with your day, something we always ask, any 00:36:18.000 –> 00:36:21.000 advice to advisors who may be thinking about 00:36:21.000 –> 00:36:22.000 making the leap independence? 00:36:23.000 –> 00:36:24.000 Absolutely. I would say, 00:36:25.000 –> 00:36:27.000 trust your your gut is usually right. And 00:36:27.000 –> 00:36:29.000 I shouldn’t say use it. For me, it’s 00:36:29.000 –> 00:36:31.000 always right. Maybe not at the level you 00:36:31.000 –> 00:36:33.000 think it will be as quick as you 00:36:33.000 –> 00:36:35.000 think it will be, but I do believe 00:36:35.000 –> 00:36:37.000 whatever your gut is telling you is what 00:36:37.000 –> 00:36:38.000 you should follow. Because 00:36:39.000 –> 00:36:40.000 if you go to your head, right, to 00:36:40.000 –> 00:36:43.000 your actual brain, your brain is gonna give 00:36:43.000 –> 00:36:44.000 you reasons. It’s wired to tell us why 00:36:44.000 –> 00:36:47.000 it’s gonna be so difficult, and it’s gonna 00:36:47.000 –> 00:36:50.000 tell us why you shouldn’t make that leap. 00:36:50.000 –> 00:36:52.000 Why all of your clients won’t come with 00:36:52.000 –> 00:36:54.000 you, why this won’t happen, and why that 00:36:54.000 –> 00:36:56.000 won’t happen. But what your gut’s telling you 00:36:56.000 –> 00:36:58.000 is I want more. I wanna be part 00:36:58.000 –> 00:37:00.000 of an interdependent an independent relationship. 00:37:00.000 –> 00:37:01.000 That’s what I’m seeking. 00:37:02.000 –> 00:37:05.000 And trust me, you will have more clients 00:37:05.000 –> 00:37:06.000 come with you than you think we’ll have 00:37:06.000 –> 00:37:08.000 come with you. We’ve seen it happen 00:37:09.000 –> 00:37:12.000 time and time again. And the number one 00:37:12.000 –> 00:37:13.000 fear people have, and I’m sure you see 00:37:13.000 –> 00:37:14.000 this, Lewis, is what? 00:37:15.000 –> 00:37:17.000 My clients won’t go with me. My clients 00:37:17.000 –> 00:37:19.000 don’t wanna move. My old firm or the 00:37:19.000 –> 00:37:22.000 firm I’m at is they’re the reason they’re 00:37:22.000 –> 00:37:22.000 my client. 00:37:23.000 –> 00:37:25.000 Oh, that’s just not true. They’re with you 00:37:25.000 –> 00:37:28.000 because of who you are. Even as a 00:37:28.000 –> 00:37:29.000 leader of visionary wealth advisors, 00:37:30.000 –> 00:37:32.000 I’m not naive to think the only reason 00:37:32.000 –> 00:37:34.000 somebody’s a client of a guy or a 00:37:34.000 –> 00:37:36.000 gal at our firm is because of visionary. 00:37:36.000 –> 00:37:38.000 No. It’s because of that adviser. 00:37:39.000 –> 00:37:41.000 They own the relationship. And if you truly 00:37:41.000 –> 00:37:42.000 own your relationship, 00:37:43.000 –> 00:37:45.000 I say take the jump because you’re gonna 00:37:45.000 –> 00:37:45.000 be very successful, 00:37:46.000 –> 00:37:47.000 and your mind will be blown 00:37:48.000 –> 00:37:50.000 six months from now when you make that 00:37:50.000 –> 00:37:51.000 jump of what actually happened. 00:37:52.000 –> 00:37:55.000 Yeah. Powerful advice. Brett, this has been a 00:37:55.000 –> 00:37:58.000 really cool interview. Thank you for enlightening us 00:37:58.000 –> 00:38:01.000 sharing your Jerry Maguire moment, and also just 00:38:01.000 –> 00:38:03.000 giving us some great parting words of wisdom. 00:38:03.000 –> 00:38:06.000 Absolutely, Lewis. Always good to be with you 00:38:06.000 –> 00:38:07.000 and, love what you guys are doing and 00:38:07.000 –> 00:38:10.000 you’re helping tons of people Gilliland just absolutely 00:38:10.000 –> 00:38:11.000 love it. So keep up the great work 00:38:11.000 –> 00:38:13.000 and appreciate you having me on the show.