We’ve launched a new podcast: Marked Unread, powered by Proxy Financial, hosted by CJ Davidson and Dom Henderson. Marked Unread features candid, behind-the-scenes conversations about the financial services industry—focused on the real-world decisions, tradeoffs, and career paths advisors navigate. In Episode 1, CJ and Dom discuss the idea of “renting vs. owning” client relationships, what “choice” can look like in an advisory career, and why “know thyself” matters before making a major move.
New episodes drop every Monday morning and are available on our website and wherever you get your podcasts.
Official Transcript:
Disclaimer
Securities offered through Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Proxy Advisory Group LLC, a Registered Investment Adviser. Cambridge and Proxy Advisory Group LLC are not affiliated.
Voice Over (00:20.512 – 00:20.512)
On today’s episode of Marked Unread.
CJ (00:23.286 – 00:23.286)
As a financial professional, instead of having to just decide which of these brands do I represent and the path is clear and I have to do these certain things and that’s it. There’s choice, right? You have the choice to be entrepreneurial. You have the choice to carve your own brand and your own identity, or you have the choice to use the infrastructure.
Dom (00:41.742 – 01:14.124)
When I sit back and notice and I’m watching a transition and I’m seeing all the dynamics, mental and otherwise that advisor is going through and they’re having these conversations with their client, they’re going through the paperwork process and when they’re frustrated, that frustration is because they’ve tilted too much to the side of own these relationships and it’s like, no, you don’t. You rent these relationships and therefore the owner in a lot of cases is trying to get them back or trying to keep them one of the two, right? And so… That’s what you’re fighting up against and that frustration is real.
Voice Over (01:14.124 – 01:14.124)
Welcome to Marked Dunn Red, powered by Proxy Financial, a podcast for advisors who’ve outgrown business as usual and want to clear a read on what’s next. Hosted by CJ Davidson, co-founder and CEO of Proxy Finan-
CJ (01:29.326 – 01:29.326)
You have to make a decision in your life that you want to live a way that people look to you and want to trust you because it makes their life better. And you can’t just say that. You have to do it and live it.
Voice Over (01:40.738 – 01:40.738)
Dom Henderson, Proxy Financials, Advisor Coaching Program Director.
Dom (01:45.496 – 01:46.156)
We sit in. For someone that the intersection of. Very sacred seed, right? know, life and money is, you know, it’s so interwoven, sometimes you can’t even tell the difference.
Voice Over (01:56.395 – 01:56.395)
Episode 1
CJ (01:57.966 – 03:30.579)
I did do a podcast yesterday. was interesting. The heat in the entire building was broken. So I got in and it was hot. It was a hot day as it is, but it was like 90 degrees in the building. I was like, thank goodness I wore a black shirt. I’m going to be sweating like a dog on this podcast. He’s going to think I’m nervous. The guy, you know what? It was really just a interview style. I think he interviews business leaders that are people first or doing something different to help societal issues, if you will. So I was. sneaking a peek at the person beforehand and also in the finance profession, but it was really more existential about business failures and getting back up again in the conversation with him. So I was, I was really interested in what direction it was going to go with us. It was a good conversation, but it was more like what does proxy do? You know, how do you handle the, the emotional capacity of the, the change of each individual and financial planning and the use of technology even. But I. I think the most interesting part of the conversation, which is fun for me, is the whole like control group versus the experiment and the scientific experiment. Like the guy has a phenomenal opportunity in life where he gets to just sit in a chair and ask very similar questions to multiple different people. And he gets to experience their perspective on life and what they deal with and how they’ve overcome things. Like if you really like people, like what a great job, you know, and he’s good at it. You can tell them listening and watching some of his YouTubes, like there’s a vibe that comes along with that conversation. So I was pleased.
Dom (03:30.579 – 04:36.3)
I think there’s a lot of, when you were talking about that, I was thinking about. how there’s been a couple, I’ve talked to two that have platforms like the one we’re on right now, YouTube or podcasts really blow up their firms. Like, he’s Kenoli, I’ve met him a couple of times and he’s, he’s crossed a billion with brute financial. He’s one that comes to mind and, but he totally, like, you know, Financial advisor. lies. growth wise. He approaches it totally different than I think a lot of people that are under, he’s like using the platform for what it’s intended to, which is to be relational, which is I just, I’m just kind of amazed that social media has been around for even the pocket. It sounds like that guy’s been, regardless of what his end. 100 subscribers. be related. so long past interview that you did yesterday where a guy like really social regard goal is monetization ads, blah, blah, blah, whatever. I think advisors are so they forget this social part of social media and they the relay part that makes everything kind of cook. You get to, know, whatever your goal is, but you can’t leave that obviously, right? I don’t know. National. So that.
CJ (04:41.57 – 06:01.102)
And I mean, think it’s kind of cool that you have this platform now. Like YouTube is television, right? You can create your own television show basically. And if people want to watch it, they’re going to watch it they’re going to find it. It’s amazing. The rabbit holes you can go down. If you’re interested in anything, it’s like, if you’re trying to learn something, we used to Google it, right? Let’s Google it and go through eight websites and-
Dom (05:00.736 – 05:03.586)
Hold on, hold on, I used to look it up in an encyclopedia. I’m- I’m right over here.
CJ (05:04.622 – 06:01.102)
All right, fair. We’re going put some beacons down. Let’s put some beacons down. All right, I see you. But like now you’re watching YouTube videos to learn everything, right? So the new television and it’s, it’s very close to free. That ability to go out and create the content, it’s a unique position that we’re in because we’re in an industry that Traditionally, we have to fight through the corporate golf commercial and the facade of what’s real and what they want us to be in the eyes of the consumer representing these companies. And it isn’t genuine to the uniqueness of the people that we are. Like how can 20,000 financial advisors be the same? Right? Like it’s just not the case. And that’s not why people work with people. Right? Like you have to be good at what you do. You have to be really good at what you do in our business. Right? You should not be touching people’s money unless you are. really good at the things that you represent yourself to do. It goes beyond that.
Dom (06:01.102 – 06:59.387)
Let’s be real. R4 becoming a financial advisor in air quotes is super low. me one idea that I think doesn’t get a A lot of, or people talk about a lot is this broker commission system and then then financial planning, financial advisory. You know, we had the. Broker in the late eighties into. started to become a thing. wasn’t even called that, but then this gold rush. of a type of RIA model kind of a lot of mediocre advisors. happened and we got a. coming into the space. And I think it’s kind of interesting just because everybody now has a form. platform to our point earlier about YouTube and just social media and all the different things and they can kind of just like spew out whatever you want. Well intentioned people out there but as far as their skills is about what you’re saying the. Now granted, there’s. You know, tens of thousands of advisors, how many of those people good at two to three and really help. are really getting things and being their tribe of people that they’re called.
CJ (07:06.206 – 07:06.206)
Maybe this use of social media and this medium that we’re talking on and sharing the things that we think that aren’t on the multi-billion dollar commercials. Maybe this is like that first stage of evolution where the voice of what’s real is actually starting to creep through that dam and the crack is starting to form where you can see what’s, what’s actually going on.
Dom (07:25.262 – 08:33.602)
Interestingly enough, I interviewed George Kinder, the father of life planning, a long time ago. through this, because he’s been through, you know, he’s sitting back and not straight to George Kinder, he’s earned it, but he’s sitting back in Maui or wherever he lives and he’s got his flip-flops on and he’s just like everything. And he’s… Soon. No. and he was walking me through story. No shame. telling me how the financial advisory industry started. to your point, there was the brokers were trying to keep people from getting their business fee based fee only movement started to happen. People weren’t even financial advisors. So the facade, think has some, that theory has some legs because at the end of the day, this idea that the commission. business and this whole. And these, cause they were just trying to. this all becomes about marketing. Let me walk that back. The billion dollar firms, the multi-billion dollar firms, this all comes about marketing because we’re just trying to client that was over here two years ago, we’re trying to him because we already know the life. get, two or three years, get them back because we already time value of a client relationship from an AUM standpoint is just ridiculous. done basically. for no work.
CJ (08:36.416 – 08:36.416)
It’s almost like they stumbled upon the policy. They’re like, this is how we’re going to keep the, the, the wheel turning. And they accidentally like opened up a concept that allowed people to do the right thing. Yeah. And now it’s happening. Yeah. Oops. Yeah.
Dom (08:50.894 – 09:19.37)
What are your thoughts on wire’s model? the water house because like, so before I met you guys, was in podcasting and I was coming up with the term that I because I just don’t think the model is sustainable. I think there are, you know, a handful of, mean, right now we’re really talking about a half a dozen or so regional broker. But from what they actually offer. I use. dealers that are kind of controlling everything. Offer the financial professional order to get about. See the wire house slash broker dealer model going. Does it, does it continue? Does it persist? Does it die out? There’s already been a lot of consolidation in the space. There’s maybe a half a dozen or so regional broker dealers that have that gobble up everything. We don’t have to name a bunch of names on this. What are your ideas there? in order to the job done that we’re talking about.
CJ (09:41.964 – 12:00.942)
And they’ll be around and they’ll be just as useful and viable and meaningful in our society and our, in our commerce as they’ve always been. think the difference is there’s now choice as a financial professional, instead of having to just decide which of these brands do I represent and the path is clear and I have to do these certain things and that’s it. There’s choice. Right. You have the choice to be entrepreneurial. You have the choice to carve your own brand and your own identity, or you have the choice to use the infrastructure. It’s always going to be there. I think the problem is to be great at this profession. You have to be genuine. And when you represent something that isn’t representing you, the way that you want to serve and the way that you want to treat people and the way you want to do things, it becomes a conflict and then you can’t be your best self. And our job is to be our best self for others. Like that’s, that’s our purpose. And. I use the analogy and I know you’re going to get into renting versus owning. want to go there, but I think about the analogy that’s floating around and it’s cynical where if you work at this big institution, it’s like having a grocery store, but only using, you know, aim your brand Kellogg’s, right? Kellogg’s is great for cereal, but you don’t buy your steak from them. You need different brands. need specialists that are really good in companies that specialize in just a few things or one thing. And you need the choice because that creates a better outcome. Right. For some, that choice is imperative to the success of what they’re creating and what they’re asked to do from their clients. But that doesn’t mean that the institutional model and those, those big banks that have incredible products and service models that have lasted a hundred years, aren’t going to be continually viable. We’re not going to have people taking mortgages from small RIAs anytime soon or big RIAs, I hope. Right? That balance of that institutional model and that teeter totter where they can be able to serve the public and be able to extend credit because of these other ways that they make money is imperative to our society. But that shouldn’t be the only model with which someone that wants to dedicate their life to serving others has to form into. It’s not genuine in some cases. The shift is going to continue to happen and that weight is going to continue to flow from 90 % institutional and just a few random independence to more of a balance.
CJ (12:00.942 – 12:00.942)
but that’s just the evolution we’re living in and we’re feeling that. That’s why it feels like, my gosh, it’s like the end is near. Nature corrects itself and it’s doing that right now, I think, which is why it’s such a great time to be in the industry.
Dom (12:12.558 – 13:59.246)
I think I’ll soften my stance. think this correlates with what I believe, which is like, you know, let’s just name New York Life has been. broken dealer then. doing life insurance for like 150 years, right? Like they have earned, be the Cadillac of the industry with a level of expertise. When you’re talking about like a whole life chassis for life insurance policy. They’ve earned the right to end their love. They’re in their zone of genius. but from them you wouldn’t get mortgages. And matter of fact, they wouldn’t try to do mortgages. They wouldn’t even try. So I think you raised a good point there. Yeah, so the renting versus owning. This is something I’ve been thinking about, like, because, you know, we’ve been doing transitions. I’ve done transitions. You’ve done transitions. Aha moments that I witnessed advisors having when they’re going through transition, conversation, like that’s kind of eye opening. I think before we go there, the pervading thought. that might be a whole nother com-. The pervasive thought here is that most advisors shouldn’t go independent. I don’t think they should. I think to be honest, I think a lot of people go independent for the wrong reasons. And I’ve had a lot of these conversations. They’re like, my great. Do you know, they have all these complaints, but to your point, have they really utilized every two things? Did they make a bad choice initially going with that firm because there’s just too much difference in vision and context to your. Payout sucks and the dude. point early. clear about it’s not genuine because that’s never going to work. Selling. then the second thing is how have you utilized the infrastructure there? Like Northwestern and Merrill, some of these have these, these places have some really great training programs. And if you’re coming right out of school, you don’t have a personal brain. You need to rely on somebody else’s brand equity to get you. I don’t care what your s-. going.
CJ (13:59.79 – 16:48.168)
That’s why the choice should exist. mean, it is a phenomenal career path to join a big institutional bank and to do the things that you need to do. And you can be a great advisor and incredibly successful counsel to hundreds or thousands of people if you have a team. Like that is a great pathway for certain individuals. It gets down to the choice. I call it know thyself, right? What are you great at? What do you want to do? Who do you want to become for those that you’re serving? Like we have a choice there and not… Many professionals in any industry have the choice to ask those questions of themselves and be able to pursue that. Once you understand who you are and what you want to be, then the, the apparatus with which you, you do that work under should compliment who you want to be. It’s like, what is the tail shouldn’t wag the dog, if you will. Right. And this choice that we’re opening up, it, it’s when people do things that are outside of what they should do. because of a lack of belief that they can do things that, that we under utilize the talent and the potential of what our industry has to offer. Right. Some people will hear this and be like, man, that is the most exciting thing I’ve ever heard. I didn’t know that there was a way to actually do that. And some people will be like, this is exactly why I’m in the institution. Right? We’ve done both. We’ve felt both. And there’s something to be said. And let’s not run over the fact that I think the one, one of the things that the institution has figured out is to, to train younger advisors. And I don’t want to, I don’t want to diminish the ability of amazing high performing, some of the best financial advisors that exist are with institutions, right? If, you know, maybe the best, but that doesn’t mean that what we’re saying is the institution is great for just advisors that are learning the business. It’s imperative for you to be in that environment that holds you accountable to that end that maybe says, prove it first before we give you too much attention because the industry standard and what we’ve been through, but the moment. you understand who you are is the moment you should be met with the respect of let’s help you get to where you want to go. And I think that there is a big gap between you given being given the opportunity. Like there’s, there’s very little grad school for our profession. Grad school is going and joining an institution and making very little money and deciding ethically and within yourself, are you capable of building trust with people and ethically can you do the right thing while you’re going to get your butt kicked and not make much money? when it’s easy to maybe do something that’s not appropriate to make money, to make ends meet. Those are your big tests when you’re young in the business. Like, can you get through the fact that you’re charged with handling millions of dollars and do it the right way? And how does that make you feel? And what does that make you want to be? Once you’ve experienced that, that’s grad school in our business. And that probably should have been in an institutional environment more often than not. But the moment you understand who you are is the moment you need to start letting those that, that. surround you as a business owner or as an individual working for an institution that are going to encourage and propel who you want to be. Like you have to be in that environment. It’s, it’s almost like, like you got to get in the shallow end of the pool to get comfortable with the pool. But as the moment you feel comfortable with the temperature, you need to be as deep as you can go and you to understand that quickly.
Dom (19:00.536 – 20:52.974)
This. Yeah, there’s a lot of stuff you said that I love that. Because like, your destiny is definitely going to be. be determined by the company you keep. And that’s, that’s professional and personal. think about, you know, what makes a good practice, client service, client acquisition, and then professional and personal development. You know, it’s a whole Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hours thing, right? mean, and then once you… speech nine thousand. You 500 hours, you need to start finding another room where, people have, you know, 10 times as much as, know, Like, how do you expect to get better if you’re not around people? He’s smarter than you. You know, one, one thing that I like about our environment is everybody has their own level. You Tom in the game is you. People that are way. of expertise that they’re bringing to the table and there’s a constant learning because that about this particular sleeve. You’re like, I didn’t even know that. And the cool thing about is if you value your time and you understand leverage, you’re like… I didn’t have to go on YouTube to. sit through 15 videos, try to find that information if you just brought it to the video. But you got to be willing to learn. So I think it’s like, you know, it’s one of those things where, I don’t know, I could be kind of a little old school when it comes to what I like, when I’m just thinking about the environment now where pretty much everybody has a microphone. As long as you have a phone, you have access to the world, 9 billion people telling them what you think. And I do get the whole meritocracy of, you know,. Thank you. people are only gonna listen if you have something to say, but also people listen if you don’t have something to say, right? And then some of that stuff gets out. What are your thoughts on what I’m pivoting kind of a bit, but it think it’s. there. I don’t know. in line with what we’re talking about, the scheme of what we’re talking about. What are your thoughts about advisors, intended or not, build their own? How important is that? Because at some point is Morgan Stanley’s or Fidelity’s or Vanguard’s or Merrill’s brand equity enough to take you to your next level? Personal brand.
CJ (21:04.994 – 23:28.758)
I, that’s a, comparing and contrasting is an interesting way to approach it, right? A lot of the institutions really mute your ability to have your own brand identity, or there’s a lot of hoops and a lot of difficulty being real time in your perspective. So if something breaking or something topical or something that’s maybe here for 48 hours and gone to be able to comment adequately on that stuff, it’s really difficult in some situations because they’re protecting the integrity of the institution, which powers. tens of thousands of people and their livelihood, right? It’s not a bad thing, but that infrastructure lends itself to the branding of oneself shouldn’t be a thought process. If you’re going with the institution, the institution is setting that foundation and your focus should be on the individual interactions and moments with the client so that you can accelerate that trust building. I’d like to think that the institution’s job is to say, don’t worry about this at our way, because we built this thing for a hundred years on this integrity and. focus on the client interaction, our client’s interaction that you’re working on, on our behalf. Very clearly. When you’re not representing something that’s got strength behind it, then you need to create the credibility and it becomes one of the most important things that you have to do. Right? Being great at what you do is not enough. You have to be great at what you do and you have to be someone that people want to work with. That definition of want to work with can come in a thousand different ways, shapes and forms. It’s one of the cool art sides of this business, right? But the ability to show people not in a performative nature, not when they’re, you’re asked to do the dance to build trust or to get to yes. But when people maybe aren’t looking or in this conversation, putting it out there in the world so that somebody I interact with that looks me up can say, what’s the behind what he says in this interaction where I know he was on. because he mentally prepared to come to that event. And of course he was impressive, right? If I’m my best self, I’m, I’m not impressive in a room, but is that performative? Is that just like for five minutes, when I take a deep breath and walk into a room, or is that how we live our life? People don’t want to do business with and rely on performative people. I don’t think, I think they want to rely on people that have integrity that’s built from habitual foundation of doing things that are with integrity.
CJ (23:28.758 – 23:28.758)
I don’t know any better way to say it, right? You have to make a decision in your life that you want to live a way that people look to you and want to trust you because it makes their life better. And you can’t just say that you have to do it and live it. If you don’t get that out there and show people that, then you’re not going to live your true potential as an advisor.
Dom (23:47.338 – 25:44.364)
No, I was just gonna interject. I think one good definition of character I’ve heard is who you are when no one’s looking, right? So it’s the stuff that no one sees. You’re not looking at watching either, right? That’s just who you are. that you’re looking around to see if anybody’s. Yeah. So you bring up an interesting point about the, so I was going through this exercise, mental exercise. But like, so if you work for a publicly traded wire, if you go look at your. a while ago and I. You’re a U4 or Fibra broker check. It’s. Kind of interesting, like you should, like anybody listening. If this is you and if you put your name in there, what you’ll see is not financial advisor. to this or watching this should go do this exercise. Is they’re not CFP. The industry calls us, which is registered representative. Not any of these things that you will see in. Cause that’s what you are. You have been registered with a self regulatory agency, usually FINRA, financial industry regulatory authority, as a representative of. Which is important because that it means a couple of things. has a lot of content. The first of which is that you don’t own anything. You’re, you’re rep. And so when you transition out of that role. that particular brand. which is presented, you’re, you are steward. Your perspective probably needs to be shifted to your steward and you don’t own the relationships. That’s what a lot of people going back to something we said earlier that that’s one of the biggest when I sit back and notice and I’m watching a transition and I’m seeing all the dynamics mental and otherwise that a advisor is going through and they’re having these conversations with their and they’re going through the paperwork process. And when they’re frustrated, that frustration is because they’ve tilted too much to the side of own these relationships. And it’s like, no, you don’t. you rent these relationships. And therefore the owner in a lot of cases is trying to get them back or trying to keep them one of the two, right? And so that’s what you’re fighting up against. And that frustration is real. I wonder if you have any thoughts about that. what you’ve seen.
CJ (25:45.496 – 25:45.496)
Well, it makes me, it makes me want to just ask a question too, if you’re listening to this, imagine being in a business where you think you own your business and somebody else in your shop thinks they own your business too. How do you actually perform at your highest potential? Like, how does that even work? Like we’re all like passing each other in the hall, like, good to see you. Like, but nothing is clear or it’s clear to each of you and you’re not aligned. That just got to be such a weird way to live one’s life.
Dom (26:13.71 – 27:03.086)
And so you bring up a great point we’re passing each other in the hall and it’s clear to the owner who the relationships is but there’s this There’s this idea Yeah Well, I mean in a lot of clients won’t even know though, right because that’s just that’s how vague and ambiguous our industry is I still I mean We will be a profession. Yeah, there’s a I mean. The day when I walk down the street and randomly ask 10 people, what is a financial advisor? What does a financial advisor do? And I don’t get 10 different answers. That will be the day when we get a physician, we have a profession. That happens for no other profession like accountants, attorneys. What is a physician? But financial advisor, it’s all over the map. Even certified financial. positions and basically get the same answer. The is all over the map. we have some work to do because the client in the example you just gave would probably think that, yeah, know, CJ is my guy, Dom’s my guy. But they don’t understand all the minutiae that goes through the, you know, non-solicit agreements and the employment contracts that actually mean that, you know, big branded.
CJ (27:23.558 – 27:23.558)
We are representing the advice of the institution on the institution’s behalf, which as an owner of an RIA is a weird feeling, right? Having people run around talking to people about their individual finances and knowing at the end of the day, they are a vessel that represents my opinion at the end of the day. That’s the buck stops. So to have that conflict where you are signing up to represent an institution and to serve their clients, but their clients. In many ways couldn’t even answer who the name of the institution is. They just know you as the advisor. And then the conflict that’s created when one decides to know thyself and perhaps take a different direction. It’s weird. It’s weird. the, and what the client must experience to get a phone call from an institution that they may or may not even know exists or who they are to say that your old person. that we hired to represent us on your behalf is no longer with us and we’re going to assign you to a new human. And then to have the advisor call and say, good news, I no longer have to serve this institution. I get to serve you in the way I want to serve you. And then for the client to sit back and be like, what in the heck is real? And then go online and not even get a true explanation of what a financial advisor is. talk about Googling or AI or YouTube videos. There’s none of that to understand what the heck that.
Dom (28:49.102 – 29:41.798)
Why are you were saying that I was I was going through that scene in my that scene in Jerry Maguire in my mind. Bob Sugar takes him to the to. place and fires them basically and then goes back and starts. I’m thinking about that, that scene because the advisor that leaves is like, you know, I’ve got all these new tools that I can serve you in a better way. And they’re very much having the Jerry McGuire moment where they had this awakening. This moment that I got, I’m climbing this ladder. It’s leaning against the wrong building. I’m going to make a change, right? That’s great. I’m calling all his clients. really conscious they’re like I am I’ve got her in it. Look, that is great, Admiral Bull, but that’s not to say it’s gonna be. It’s just to say that it’s great that now you’re walking in this path that. Be easy. will allow you to walk in integrity. To be honest, mean that. That’s kind of what The Awakening is. And it’s not to say previous life needs to be thrown away or any of that kind of stuff. It’s just to say that it’s a new season and it’s going to come with its challenges. It’s going to come with its challenges.
CJ (29:53.55 – 29:53.55)
All right, Dom, let’s not skip over that conversation on rent versus own. You’ve been talking about that a lot and I love it. Like, I think we should dive a little bit deeper. What do you, like, so when we’re talking about this, like, what is the definition of a financial advisor and a registered representative and who are you and your brand? Talk about the rent versus own. That is a weird, a weird thing when a client doesn’t know, like, what the heck’s going on, but what is the, what is the real, real behind these institutions and. the perspective from the advisor versus the client versus the institution. Yeah. Why in your opinion is that an issue?
Dom (30:28.046 – 33:44.01)
It’s like this three dimensional. chess game, I think we can tackle maybe one dimension because. I’ve always looked at financial services. A little differently mean that there is a perspective between the advisor, the practitioner and the client, then that perspective amongst practitioners within the industry. I’m, I’m team my answer here. They’re not for clients. There’s. district, for instance, before I end up financial designations are for the end. They’re for us. Just think about it. Like people going back to what I’d said earlier, you go down this, go down the street and say, what is a MD? What does that stand for? Oh, medical doctor. Like people know that. What is the CFP? What does the CFA? People might know C but financial designations, all 180 of them on Finner’s website are largely. And so. EPA. for us. When I say rent versus own, think they’re the dimension that probably makes the most sense to talk about is between the. first, the advisor, the practitioner and the client, right? The client doesn’t even know those terms. They don’t even know what that means. When you call them up and say, to your point, hey, Mr. and Mrs. Davison, I’m now able to offer you more. I’ve left the old institution. I’m able to do this, this, that, another, and so on. Well, that we’ve never, that you’ve never experienced. I think the first thing the client’s probably thinking is, I thought you were already doing that. Well, no. Then you get into the explaining on stuff that they don’t understand. And so the rent versus own concept from that standpoint, an advisor. at a level. probably fills me, but they’re like, my clients don’t feel that way. And then I think this is a lot of reasons why people think their clients are going to be more loyal to them when they leave than they actually are. Because the client doesn’t understand rent versus own didn’t understand that you weren’t always doing the best job and already didn’t already have goals. And they’re just going with the brand name unless you really built that trust. So there’s a, there’s a line and we, know this as advisors, there’s a line you cross during the client journey where that client is. the tool. wherever Dom goes, I’m going type of deal. And until you get there and earn that very well may not be as loyal as you think. I think that advisors have to start to think about this from a standpoint of if you want to be a career advisor, now we’re talking about practitioners now, if you want to be a career advisor, I think you have a couple of choices to articulate this earlier is it’s choice. You’re going to be dependent on something. There’s no real true. They. dimension. You really well. Right. independence anyway, right? You depend on your custodian to send brokerage statements. You depend on your tech stack to work, right? You’re in some way using those dependencies. software. You’re going to be dependent. It’s really kind of. Right. So do I choose to own my own R. Which means I can’t be as good as. Have to wear some other hats until that gets built up. But on the back end I’ll be able to sell it. That’s a choice versus someone that just wants to make a lot of money and not have to worry about anything. to IA. marketer or whatever I’m gonna do something. as an asset, right? talk to clients. rely on big brands firm equity and rent forever. It’s a great model for you if you don’t ever want to own. I think you nailed it earlier. It’s choice. You have to consciously go in and I think the biggest thing with people when we’re talking about rent versus own is they don’t realize they either don’t realize the choice is there or they haven’t consciously made one of the. A choice. Two things.
CJ (33:45.698 – 36:06.538)
Let me double click on another thing. The opportunity in your career at a certain point to test those waters of whether or not you’re renting or owning the relationship with the client. If the client is working with you because it’s easy for them to work with you, or are they working with you because of the council and what you’ve done to add value to their life financially or otherwise, if you’re lucky, right? Those things are incredibly important to learn, especially when you’re trying to make the big decision after you know thyself, right? It’s, it’s okay if you’re at an institution and when you leave, some of your clients don’t come with you. It’s okay. The best thing you can experience in that transition is understanding what you’ve actually been able to accomplish versus what you think you are. Like understanding how you’ve actually resonated, what things have done enough to say the institution or the, brand is not what I trust anymore. It’s you that I trust. And more importantly, if I can get all mushy for a minute, like being able to experience someone that you care about, that you’ve dedicated yourself to reciprocate that. Like you don’t, we don’t ask anything of our clients. We don’t ask them to tell us how they’re feeling about us. Like that doesn’t matter. What matters is helping them. Right. And maybe two or three times in the course of a 20 year relationship, you really get to check in and get an honest answer. And this is one of those times. Are they willing to do annoying stuff to move with you? And more importantly, when you ask, what does that conversation feel like? I’ve had a couple of moves in my day, but the most important were those early ones where I really wanted to continue to take care of certain people, but I was young in my career and I was worried about it. Is it me or is it the institution that drives this relationship that I have with this person? And you’re never going to know unless you ask them. And You can’t just ask out of nowhere. There needs to be a reason behind it. or else it’s just going to be complimentary. Chances are you’re working with people that, that like you and unless it’s asking them to do something, they’re going to reciprocate that they like you. But when you ask them to do something, which is very rare, that’s when you know what the honest truth is. And you need to know how great you are and you need to know why you’re successful and why people gravitate towards you. And this is one of the best opportunities to do it. It almost is the best part of going independent is that real check in and then you get to learn and you get to grow from that. It’s, but it’s scary as heck. And until you do it, there’s no way to replicate it in a, in a laboratory.
Dom (36:21.238 – 37:41.742)
No, I think under the theme of. know thyself. I think we’ve said that a couple times. You said that a couple of times. think that is definitely an underlying foundational truth because there’s there’s choices. There’s so many that will land you in different places. And I totally agree with you. Like it’s like, we sit in a very, right. You know, for someone, the intersection. A sacred seed. of life and money is, you know, it’s so interwoven. Sometimes you can’t even tell the difference. you are. are you’re really steering that ship right the client is the hero of the stereo no doubt but they’re relying on you. like you are the GPS, you’re the blueprint, you’re the Sherpa, right? You are the person that they’re coming to and back ideas off of hopefully, or that they feel, I feel. come and bounce in these in order to confidence, right? That’s what we sell. I like to think that we, I sell confidence. Like these people are intelligent. They can go find the answers if they wanted to and wanted to spend the time doing it. That’s not what it is. It’s not that I have more content or data. Like I allow for my clients to interact with me in a way. The sounding board allows them to really suss out what they want and gives them certainty. uncertainty. that. confidence in a particular area. I’m just empowering them. That’s what I’m. and then they can move forward. so, you know, if you’re trading that, if you’re selling that, I don’t know why people wouldn’t want to. with you, to be honest, because it… Visor, right? I trusted it. It takes a long time to find a vetted.
CJ (37:45.518 – 37:45.518)
It’s easy to hide when you’re renting. You know? I agree.