Advisor Freedom

“I’m a helper by nature, but I also have a strategic brain. Advising was where those two things finally came together.” (1:10) “The biggest question I asked myself was: where would I want my own parents to be served?” (5:45) “There are two customers in this business, the client and the advisor. If your tech doesn’t feel like magic for both, you’re missing it.” (8:40) “The right technology today ca...

"I was making 300 calls a day. The guy next to me was bragging about selling Home Depot. I was just trying to set an appointment." (13:05) "They launched a fund based on my strategy… but didn’t make me the manager. That’s when I knew it was time to go." (20:00) "Mutual funds are the worst thing ever created. They're tax-inefficient and full of hidden costs." (27:3...

“If you try it and fail, that’s fine. But not trying it is way worse.” Clark Jeffries started his own RIA at 27 years old (love others doing this) Just vision, courage, and a bet on himself. He had a front-row seat to the entire advisory ecosystem during his time at Hidden Levers, the FinTech that ended up selling for nine figures without ever raising a dime. Clark watched from inside as the compa...

“Don't waste your time on people intentionally ignoring you." We had the absolute privilege speaking with Brad Johnson with Triad Partners. Brad started in the insurance brokerage world in 2007, cold calling nonstop. But he quickly realized that selling product was a commodity. The real opportunity was helping advisors become better business owners. He and his friend Sean became coaches....

Mendim Gecaj didn’t grow up around wealth. Quite the opposite. His parents immigrated from Kosovo with very little, and his father arrived in the U.S. with a negative net worth. Mendim saw early on just how hard money was to earn and how even harder it could be to manage. Those experiences shaped his view of financial planning not as a career, but as a calling. Today, he built a practice managing...

“I left a corporate accounting career, five months before my first child was born… with no clients, no salary, and no backup plan. Just belief that I was meant to be a financial advisor.” I talked to Ed Wildermuth , co-founder of Mosaic Wealth Advisors. His start as a financial advisor is much more different than almost everyone, taking a huge leap of faith right before having his first kid. From...

“I just felt like the long-term impact of financial planning outweighed the short-term impact I had as a nurse.” That line stuck with me. Because when you hear someone say it out loud, you realize how rare it is for people to change careers based on impact. I sat down with Shane Galante , Partner at CSG Financial. But not long ago, he was wearing scrubs. Shane worked as a nurse through the worst o...

“I saw a Doug Boneparth post on Twitter and he was looking to hire his first associate. I had no idea what I was getting into.” I talked to Cliff Cornell , Associate Advisor at Boneparth Wealth. He didn’t land his job through a recruiter or a formal application. He got it from a tweet. He saw Doug Boneparth post on Twitter that he was hiring his first associate. Cliff had just finished college, to...

“If you ask most women who inherited or earned their wealth, their biggest fear isn’t losing money, it’s being misunderstood.” Susan Jones didn’t come from wealth management. She came from tax law & estate planning. Years of helping clients build charitable vehicles, pass on their wealth, and navigate the IRS. But what she noticed over time was simple: People didn’t just need technical plannin...

Today's Guest: Jonathan Mitchell Senior Wealth Advisor, Mercer Advisors What we covered • Jonathan’s journey from construction work at 12 years old… to being top 10 in revenue at Mercer • The power of direct candor in financial advising • How his referral engine works (and why he tracks every ask) • Why “being polite” is not kindness in this profession • How he landed a $14M single referral fr...

“Because as a woman, I know you have had to work way harder than a man to get where you are in this business, in finance. And it helped me sell our firm.” If you're a woman in financial advising, you have to listen to this story. I talked to Megan Miller and Elise Foster. Mother & daughter / Business partners. And two of the most client-focused advisors I’ve met. But this wasn’t the plan....

"I was the only advisor now at a firm with $300M in assets..." 😳 What do you do when your boss gets suspended by the SEC and you just started financial advising? I talked to Adam Harding , founder of Harding Wealth, who got his start in the financial advising industry from a Craigslist ad. It was 2008. Phoenix housing market was collapsing. And Adam was making twelve bucks an hour shred...

“I told them I was leaving P&G to become a financial advisor. They looked at me sideways.” Brad Morgan had the job most people dream about. Engineer at Procter & Gamble. Six years in. Great salary. Total stability. But he couldn’t shake the feeling: This isn’t it. So he walked away. No CFP.No financial background. Just a hunch that planning was where he was supposed to be. That bet paid of...

“Over 80% of my revenue comes from LinkedIn.” That’s what Mondo told me. He meets most of these clients virtually.  But this wasn’t always the plan. Mondo Salavanti didn’t come from finance. He was a football guy. Med school was the dream. One phone call with his dad’s financial advisor changed the direction of everything. He got licensed. Started cold calling. Studied for his CFP at night. Built...

“When I moved to Knoxville 10 years ago, I literally knew nobody.” That’s how it started. Skee Orr didn’t just move cities. He left behind his network, his job, and his comfort zone. No clients. No warm leads. Just a CFP designation and a golf scramble invite. He said yes. That one yes turned into Rotary Club. Rotary turned into volunteer work. Then community boards. Then lunch invites. Then real...

What do you do if you're a CFP who gets fired? That's what happened to Colton Etherton. Former advisor. Now the founder of Slices Design. He built a financial planning firm from scratch. Then burned it all down. And pivoted into web design for advisors. No roadmap. No safety net. Just a sharp left turn. And it worked. Today, Colton’s brand stands out as the best in the industry. His design...

Should you marry your business partner? That's what Dave & Lauren Fischer did. Their love story turned business partners is almost as good as a certain Avril Lavigne song from the early 2000s.  Dave started in tech. Lauren started in hedge funds. Neither thought financial advising was in their future. But after late-night talks, big career shifts, and a lot of “are you sure about this?” fr...

Every advisor has to start somewhere, but what do you do when you move to a new city and have no personal market? That's what happened with Collin Osbahr from Beck Capital Management. He started his career straight out of college, building a financial practice from scratch. No safety net. No big book of clients. Just pure hustle. And he made it work. Today, he works with a mix of high-net-wort...

I talked to Chris Haigh, co-founder of Iconoclastic Capital. He started at Northwestern Mutual fresh out of college. Selling life insurance to anyone who would take a meeting. No safety net. No rich uncle. Just a mechanic’s son grinding his way through a broken system. He hit the top 10 producers in the country. Then spent years stuck in the captive model. Hidden fees. Moving goalposts. Compliance...

I talked to Patrick Shaw, co-founder of Fortitude Financial Partners . Unlike most financial advisors, he didn’t come from money. Not even close. He grew up with a scarcity mindset and finding meals at churches & food banks. He was the first in his family to go to college. And what did he study? "Basketball and teaching." But during his junior year, something clicked. He got a job wr...

Janitor turned CFP & CPA like he's 'Good Will Hunting' I sat down with Tom Corley ( LinkedIn ), bestselling author of Rich Habits and one of the rare professionals who is both a CPA and CFP. He started his career as a janitor in community college. Twenty hours a week just to pay for tuition. That grind became the foundation for a career helping hundreds of business owners build rea...

INVESTOR SPOTLIGHT! I talked to Ryan Henderson ( @CCM_Ryan ), co-host of one of the fastest-growing investing podcasts in the U.S: Chit Chat Stocks The best part? He is not a licensed financial advisor. No CFA. No CFP. No Wall Street pedigree. Just a love for researching stocks. And that obsession turned into a show ranked #3 on the U.S. investing charts. Ryan and his co-host Brett met as backup k...

What happens when your first client account crashes during Black Monday... and your client threatens to "blow you out of the water"? You learn fast. And that’s exactly what Steve Manuel did. This week’s guest has seen every market cycle since 1975. His first mentor started in 1926 and watched the ticker tape in person during the 1929 crash. Steve became a financial planner before most pe...

What happens when a college intern never leaves and ends up becoming a partner? That’s Matt Gotchall’s ( @matt_gottshall ) story. He started as a student at Ohio State, shadowing financial advisors. Now he’s helping lead a 12-person advisory team that’s reshaping what the client experience looks like. One firm. Whole career. He earned trust from the inside and built a book that now spans 90+ clien...

Thomas Kopelman ( @TKopelman ) has one of the fastest growing RIA firms today. And he built all of it off of doing what he does best: teaching people. Thomas ran into roadblocks in the BD world where he was limited on what he could say or post, so he left. And within 3 years had a massive social media following, a collab partnership with one of the industry's biggest vendors and an RIA firm wi...