Speaker 1 0:08

This is the Ultimate Advisor Podcast, the podcast for financial advisors who want to create a thriving, successful and scalable practice. Each week we’ll uncover the ways that you can improve your referrals, your team, your marketing, and your business operations, helping you to level up your advising practice, bring in more assets and create the advising practice that you’ve dreamed of. You’ll be joined by our hosts Bryan Sweet, who is moving fast towards a billion dollars in assets under management, Brittany Anderson, the driving force for advisors looking to improve their operations and company culture, and Draye Redfern who can help you systematize and automate your practices marketing to effortlessly attract new clients. So what do you say? Let’s jump in to another amazing episode of The Ultimate Advisor podcast.

Brittany Anderson 1:07

Hello, and welcome back to your Ultimate Advisor Podcast. This is Brittany Anderson. And once again I have with me Draye Redfern and Bryan Sweet. Now, last week, we referenced Darren Hardy and a couple examples from his Darren Daily, we have no affiliation with him highly recommend you check it out, though, it’s really good stuff, really great ideas to kind of stimulate your brain and how you can even serve your team your clients better. But I wanted to continue with a concept that actually came from him. And it’s the theme of today. That particular theme is that if you want to stand out, you want to be a mission with a business versus a business with a mission. And the problem is, is that so many businesses actually do this backwards. So many businesses are like, You know what I’ve gotten to the point now where I think I can actually have a mission, I think I can have something that’s you know, bigger than what I thought originally. And I think this whole methodology, or this whole mindset is a really big shift. But I think it can be really impactful and actually help you keep your focus in your business versus doing it the other way. So if you think about this for a minute, I’m going to use sweet financial as an example. You know, we all know well, Wealth Management is what we do. inspiring people to realize their dreams are possible, is actually who we are. And that helps us to really focus and say, You know what, yes, we do wealth services. Yes, we are financial advisors. But even bigger than that our mission is to change people’s lives in the factor and the essence that we want them to reach for their biggest goals and dreams. And we want to be that cheerleader for them. We want to be that person, that positive influence in their life, that helps them think about things in a whole different way, helps them stretch their minds, help them you know, get back to having an imagination, but talking about how imagination, you know, when you’re a kid, you have big imaginations, when I think about my kids and the stuff that they come up with when they’re playing house or whatever they’re doing. I mean, I’ve just scratched my head sometimes because I don’t know where they come up with it. But over time, as adults, it’s actually proven that that that that imagination does not go away, we just find a way to kind of stifle it to kind of make it kind of, you know, be depressed or be, you know, hidden somewhere, we get become embarrassed at some point that that thing comes up, you know, when you’re five, you don’t really have embarrassment in you. But if you think about this, if you’re really striving for something that’s bigger than you something that feels you know, a little uncomfortable, something that feels like, Man, if I could reach this big goal, this big dream, that would be a game changer for me. So for us our mission, our mission is to help people dream big, and to help them get there. And to give them a plan and traction to actually accomplish what they want. The business is kind of a cool side effect. You know, you get paid to do things that you actually are passionate about and that you love. So Bryan, because you have a huge passion around this. I mean, this has been we’ve had many, many, probably hundreds, if not 1000s of conversations over the years, just around this concept. And I think this really hits home, I know it hits home for you. So I’d love for you to share a little bit about the dream architect and what that’s done for our business and how we’ve really been a mission with the business.

Bryan Sweet 4:15

Yeah, excellent point, Brittany. And and when we created the Dream Architect, the purpose was really to be able to make a difference in people’s lives, and maybe even take it a little bit further and create a movement that got people thinking differently, and then consequently, acting differently. And so everything that we do and everything that we promote, and all of our content is really relating around, how do you get your dreams? How do you think about them? How do you go about engaging and getting them accomplished? And one of the things as you alluded to Brittany is when you’re little you think big and you can be come anything you want in life, and when you’re little, you could be an astronaut or firemen or whatever it happened to be. And I’m not sure exactly what happens. But over time, we kind of get older and pretty soon, it’s the day to day and trying to get through. And maybe it’s the stress of daily living, but pretty soon our imagination is gone. And we’re just trying to get through the next day and, you know, try to get to the end of the week. So the weekend shows up, and it’s really a sad state. And part of it is, maybe, you know, people, you know, are, as we like to say, shooting on you. And, and so you want, you know, you say you want to do something big, and somebody says, Well, you really can’t do that, or what were you thinking, and we have that kind of thing going on. And so we wanted to be that resource that guide, that difference in your life that helped you get through that. And beyond that, because as we all know, you only get one shot at this, and why not make it the best life you can possibly have. And literally anything that you’d ever like to accomplish, just set your mind to it and make it happen. Sometimes you need some help and guidance and you know, the who’s in your life versus how do I do it. And hopefully we serve as that who. But it’s an amazing thing that if you can get people to start focusing on their mission, and what’s important to them and their dreams and their goals. Some of these things just start happening to them, because one, they’re thinking about it. And you start finding things that help promote and overcome some of the concerns that you’ve had. And the more you think about it, the more you talk to others about it, the more you help them. By giving them books or resources or individuals that can help them move through it, it’s really been an absolute delight, and there’s no better feeling in life than to help somebody overcome that I can’t get beyond the week two, I can do really anything and accomplish anything. And then, you know, watching their reactions when those things actually occur. And so I would just encourage you to think a little bit differently, as Brittany alluded to about what’s the mission of your business? And then are you telling your clients about it? And how is that explained to them. Because if you’re not, you’re one not being unique, and you look like every other financial adviser out in the street, and as we talk about virtual him, but every time we’re on a podcast, that’s so important, because otherwise, everything else we do is so commoditized and I think one thing I wanted to get Draye involved here, in that I think there’s a great marketing opportunity in getting some free PR in some of these bigger callings and, and some of these unique thought processes and missions that each business might have.

Brittany Anderson 8:12

Hey, Brittany here, stopping and pausing for a moment to talk about something that we’ve had so many of you inquire about and that is our Ultimate Advisor Mastermind. Now, I’m going to start by saying if you are not a growth minded individual, if you are not somebody who’s focused on taking your business to the next level, if you’re not focused on engaging your team, and helping them to help you in turn, level up the business, the service model, how you provide that wow experience to clients. If those things are not your focus, just fast forward right now, because the ultimate advisor mastermind would not then be for you. However, if you are looking to take your business to the next level, if you want to experience exponential growth and feel supported along the way, if you want to start working smarter and not harder, if you want to help your team members to work within the God given talents that they were provided, and use those skill sets in a way they haven’t yet to help support you in your business to help them realize their biggest goals, their biggest dreams. If you want creative approaches to marketing, I know that can be an intimidating word. But we’re not talking here about the fancy Facebook stuff or you know the latest and greatest but rather looking at how you can market what you do, how you can express how you’re different and how you can truly differentiate yourselves in a crowded market space. If those are problems you’re looking to solve, then you Absol literally want to go check out ultimateadvisormastermind.com To learn more about how we can help you on your path and journey to growth.

Draye Redfern 10:11

Yeah, so there’s, it’s funny you say that Bryan, there’s actually a term for this, what we call in the marketing world called cause marketing. And so you can use a cause or a belief or a benefit to actually use that as a marketing engine, to to help your business. And so some of the things that we’ve done a couple examples from, from clients and things like, as an organization, and as an as an individual leading an organization, I highly benefit and see the value and believe in education and knowledge, massive benefit, it completely changed my life, how I look at things, there’s a variety of other examples like that the Sweet team, they didn’t even tell you about this, but the Sweet team had Chris Gardner, who you may not know him by his his name, but you know, him maybe by his character, from the Will Smith movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, and the Sweet team had Chris Gardner come out and speak to like all of Fairmont practically in the in the high school gym, I don’t even know like 1000s of people ended up showing up. And it was a great way to give back to the community and help inspire them. And who knows, like the ripple effect that something like that could have over years and decades and potentially even generations. So it’s things like that, when it’s not just good platitudes. Or it’s not just good concepts or theories like these are things that actually like they are, and then in us as well are putting into reality. And in effect, during the COVID crisis and craziness, there’s a lot of uncertainty, especially in lower income areas with individuals who may not have access to a computer, maybe they couldn’t afford a computer. So we had another client, buy 500 tablets, and give them to one of the local school systems in order to help out some of the underprivileged kids. And that ended up getting some great PR attention, that ended up getting into several mentions on Facebook and a local news story and things that picked it up. And you’re not doing it strictly for that reason. But there’s also PR about the suite event with Chris Gardner other people start writing about these things, if you make big moves, as our friend brilliant mentioned earlier, Dr. Benjamin Hardy, if you make power moves, other people see that and they see you being a leader, they want to latch on to that and they want to write about it, or they want to be a part of it, or they want to attend it. And it is creates cause marketing, where your cause your mission, could help to obviously fuel your mission, but also help your business at the same time. So huge fan of it, I believe in it, I think it’s something that really is one of those drivers or strategies inside of business these days that isn’t talked about enough, but I think it really can be an a massive, massive needle mover for you, your business and your community. Brittany,

Brittany Anderson 12:54

You know, I think this just brings up a really interesting point. And you know, Draye, as you were talking about some of these, you know, bigger missions that pull on the heartstrings, basically, that come deeper than just surface level, the thing that I want to make crystal clear here is that you have to truly believe in the mission, you cannot just do this because of the PR because of the recognition because of you know, being seen or being known. So I really want you to dig down and really figure out what it is that drives you like what are the things that have contributed to your, you know, it, maybe it’s your own success? Or what are the things that you’ve experienced in your life that, you know, maybe you can help others to not experience the bad or experience more of the good. So those are the things I really think you should get to the core of. And one of the things that we wrote down is that for us, it’s our mission is to truly impact lives when it comes to helping people fulfill their dreams, and helping people realize what’s possible. And part of that is that we want to be nationally known for the Dream Architect process, which is our planning process at Sweet Financial, not because we are so proud of ourselves, not because we’re just you know, the the best thing since sliced bread, but because we’ve seen the impact it makes on people. And we’ve seen this shift and how people even behave or live their lives are carried out after they’ve gone through it. So for us, we’re actually like accomplishing this in a really different way than what we originally thought. So yes, we’re able to do this with our clients. But we’re actually working behind the scenes as we speak at creating this this thing, this dream architect process, where advisors across the US can actually plug into it, and they can help people live their dreams as well. So we understand that we can’t serve all of the millions of people across the across the globe, but you know what others can reach more, you know, the best of the best advisors want to do more for people. They want to be that mission. And the common theme that comes out is they want to help people accomplish what matters most. So we got to thinking more like well, rather than having people reinvent the wheel. Let’s give them what we’ve already created, right? Let’s make this available to people so that we can indirectly impact more lives. This controls every decision that we make now. I mean, it’s crazy. So I think too, you know, Bryan, you have established the the Maryland suite Burkhart Education Foundation. So Bryan was raised by a single mom, and he looks at it, he’s like, Oh, my goodness, my mom, you know, she made sure I had everything I needed. And you know what, I don’t know, she never complained. But maybe she sacrificed, maybe she didn’t, you know, get to accomplish all of her dreams that she maybe wanted, because she cared about me so much. And now Bryan’s able to turn around and give money to single moms who are busting their butts, who want to put their kids in college, and he’s able to do a give back. And that’s something that you know, as a mom, I’m not a single mom, I’m married. And I’m fortunate in that in that regard. But I look at my kids, and I’m like, my goodness, having them go to school, and to really shoot for an aim for what they want. I’m the same as Draye. When it comes to education, that’s a huge thing for my life to this day. I don’t think education never stops. So Bryan’s able to take this and give back to people who are maybe in a in a spot in life, where dreaming big and seeing that happen, maybe wouldn’t feel as real if he wasn’t there to help. So you’ll see like, these are the things like you become this mission, and everything that you do starts to spill into this common theme. Yeah, that’s again, you won’t talk about differentiation. That’s truly living with purpose and living for a bigger cause that’s much bigger than yourself. That’s much bigger than offering investment advice. Because let’s face it, that’s a commodity, you have to do something different. And you may as well make it fun and make it something that actually pulls on your heartstrings. And that makes you feel fulfilled, because that’s where the impact matters. That’s what’s actually going to get you further in life, and the PR and all that awesome stuff that comes with it. That’s just a bonus. Right? That’s something that’s just like a cool thing that happens that helps you in your business. The other stuff is what fills your cup. Right. So I think that’s important to know. And that’s important to just recognize. So Bryan Draye, is there anything you want to say before I round us out?

Bryan Sweet 17:05

Brittany, you said pull on your heartstrings. And it made me think of having Chris Gardner and Draye thanks for bringing that up. That was seriously, we got so much more out of it than probably the audience. But I’m just thinking back in that when you were talking, the kids that were in the audience that came up and met Chris, and the things that their parents told us afterwards on the impact that his message had on them, and how they were thinking different and how they were going to accomplish things that they had never thought of before was, you know, it almost brings tears to your eyes. But it’s just one of the great side benefits of trying to add value to other people. And if you can get people to think out of the box or Think Big, and they can go on and you can affect one person and they go on and do something big because of something you did. Boy, wouldn’t that be a great experience. And this was such a impactful thing for our firm, that we made a commitment to the schools, that we are going to bring in a speaker of that caliber every single year to drill into the kids that yes, you can do it. Life is short, whatever you want to do and become you can actually do that. And every time I think about that, I get chills, because I know that’s the right thing. And we’re going to help a lot of people do a lot of great things that otherwise may never have had those thoughts. But because we’re bringing this into the schools, they now have an opportunity to be much better than they were.

Brittany Anderson 18:46

That is so so good. And, you know, every time we talk about this stuff, I agree, Bryan, it’s just goosebumps, like you just think, you know, like within your whole being, you know, when you’re doing something that is right, and that’s congruent and aligned with what you truly believe in decide what your mission is, you know, make that decision. And you know, sometimes people get a little hung up on this, or they’re like, Well, gosh, is it the right 1am? I going after the right cause? I mean, I’ve heard this when people are talking about charitable, charitable giving, well, am I giving you the right thing, I’ve done my research, it’s like, man, just give, just do something. So really decide what it is that your mission is, and then make the commitment. I think that’s really the next step is to make the commitment that you are going to be a mission with the business versus a business with a mission. Just having that mentality and passing that onto your team. It just makes them feel like they are part of something much, much bigger than just a job. And if you think about it from your clients perspective, they’re not doing business with something that is much much bigger than just a financial adviser. So again, we’re talking differentiation here we’re talking about how you can stand out. These are great things you can put into play immediately to really help you differentiate and help you feel good doing it? I mean, that’s important. And then finally, I think, you know, just looking at it, I love that term Draye about cause marketing. And I think that it’s important because it helps you decide, what do you market? And what do you what do you not like? What do you put out there? And what do you not? If it’s not tied around this concept of mission and what you’re really trying to put onto the world, then why are you doing it? So I think it’s having a mindset there that whatever it is that you’re committing to whatever that bigger mission is, let’s talk about that, you know, that’s energy and that’s where you’re true, you’re going to see that natural energy come out of you. So when you’re talking, when you’re presenting, when you’re engaging with clients, when you’re engaging with prospects, if that whole mission is the center of what you build your business on, you’re gonna have endless energy, and they’re gonna feel it and they’re gonna want to jump on that train. So I’m gonna leave it at that and I’m gonna close out because I think this is so powerful, but really go after that mission, make the commitment to it, and we’re gonna go ahead and round out this episode of The Ultimate Advisor Podcast. We’ll catch you back here next week.