Crown Conversations
Two partners telling the truth about money, and bringing real people in to do the same.
We're Sean Foote and Stephen Welch. We met in the same training program in 2008 and have been partners ever since. What we built together became Crownmark, Legacy Suite, and Plan Participant.
Not a webinar. Not a pitch. Not another boring finance podcast.
It's for the person who feels behind. The one who thinks building real wealth is for other people with a head start they never got. We made this for you specifically, because we were you.
You don't need permission. You don't need a seat someone saved for you. You can build your own table.
Crown Conversations
Building The Crown: The Untold Origin
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A $270,000 retirement account went to zero overnight, and a two minute interview in a lobby ended with a stranger in an elevator handing over a phone number: Sean Foote and Stephen Welch on the years nobody sees.
Sean Foote and Stephen Welch are the managing partners of Crownmark Wealth Advisors in Atlanta, and they have built together for close to twenty years.
Stephen started as a telemarketer at MCI at twenty-three. He picked his 401k contribution rate by looking at the paper of the man sitting next to him, put all of it into company stock for the twenty percent discount, and watched the balance go to zero when WorldCom filed the largest bankruptcy in US history. Sean produced music for Jennifer Lopez and Mary J. Blige before walking away from an industry he could not sleep in, then spent months trying to get a wealth management firm to return a phone call. They met in the same training program in 2008 and have been partners since.
They explain:
What actually happens to a 401k when the company behind the stock files for bankruptcy
How Stephen chose his contribution rate and his investments on his first day, and what that decision cost him years later
Why Sean turned down his first job offer out of college and what he did instead
What happened in the two minutes that were supposed to be an interview, and who was waiting in the elevator afterward
Why the two of them partnered as rookies after being told that is not how the business works
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Two Hundred Seventy Thousand Dollars, Gone Overnight
00:00:40 Welcome To Crown Conversations
00:02:23 Telemarketer At MCI, Twenty-Three Years Old
00:05:03 Picking A 401k Rate By Copying The Guy Next To Him
00:06:50 Everything Into Company Stock
00:08:11 Borrowing From The 401k For A First Home
00:08:43 WorldCom Files The Largest Bankruptcy In US History
00:09:34 The Day The Balance Went To Zero
00:10:16 The Advisor Laughed
00:11:25 Investing For Dummies, Cover To Cover
00:13:01 The Call That Made Him An Advisor
00:15:36 Seventeen Thousand Dollars A Year
00:17:39 Producing For Jennifer Lopez And Mary J. Blige
00:19:20 Atlanta, And A Job That Cost Him Sleep
00:21:44 Everything Is Sales
00:22:50 Best Suit, Day Off, Two Minutes In The Lobby
00:24:15 The Stranger In The Elevator
00:25:36 Sitting In The Car, Holding The Wheel
00:26:17 An Hour On The Phone With A Stranger
00:30:18 One Shot At The Series Seven
00:39:10 The Second Person He Called
00:41:20 The Coach Who Told Them To Do It
00:43:12 Two Decades As Equal Partners
Follow Sean Foote:
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Facebook: https://facebook.com/Iamseanfoote
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-foote-crpc%C2%AE-qpfc%C2%AE-4a597218/
Follow Stephen Welch:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwelch7/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/iamstephenwelch
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@iamstephenwelch
X: https://x.com/iamStephenWelch
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@iamstephenwelch
Where to go next:
Stephen's 401k story is the reason Plan Participant exists. If you have a workplace plan and have never opened the portal, start here: https://planparticipant.com
In the opening minute they both land on the same word, legacy, and they mean the version that outlives the account balance. If there are people who depend on you: https://legacysuite.com
If you are past the point where a portal answers your questions, Crownmark takes applications: https://www.crownmarkwealth.com
Remember I said when I started buying, it was at $25 a share. Less the 20% discount. So now the wealth had accumulated. I had roughly $270,000 the day before. The following day after the bankruptcy, I had zero. In hindsight, I understand how from their perspective, it might have been like this guy's clueless. He's got $270,000 in this 401k account and he doesn't realize that it's now worth nothing. It's worthless. Because for me, not only did it create in me the pain point that led me into this industry, but it also gave me a personal passion to make sure that what happened to me doesn't happen to participants on our watch. Welcome to Crown Conversations.
SPEAKER_01I'm Steven Welch. And I'm Sean Foot. This isn't a webinar. This is not a sales pitch, and definitely not another boring financial podcast. This is a place for conversations.
SPEAKER_00Conversations about wealth, about building businesses, about family, mistakes, retirement, about legacy, about decisions that shape our lives and the stories behind them.
SPEAKER_01Along the way, we'll talk with entrepreneurs, CPAs, tax planners, estate planning attorneys, business owners, athletes, and people who have built extraordinary lives and businesses.
SPEAKER_00Because wealth isn't just about money, it's about opportunity, family, purpose, and ultimately.
SPEAKER_01It's about legacy. And before we bring guests into the room, we thought we'd start by sharing our own personal story.
SPEAKER_00Because before Crown Mark, Legacy Suite, or Plan Participant, before any of the businesses, there were two people trying to figure out life and learning lessons and making mistakes.
SPEAKER_01Experiencing setbacks, discovering purpose, and looking back now, it's amazing how all the pieces came together. Welcome to Crown Conversations.
SPEAKER_00Man, um, if I had to break it down, you got to go back to the beginning for me. Um, I started working years ago for a company that's now out of business called MCI. Never heard of it. Yeah, right. Was in the telecom industry, and actually I started off as a telemarketer, like lowest of the low sales. But I, you know, I started, I would I'd always been in retail sales, kind of moved out of that because I didn't see a life and a future there. Moved into telecom sales um as a telemarketer, just you know, smiling and dialing, picking up the phones, calling businesses. But how how old were you at that time? 23. I was back then I was a young pup. I had hair. Um, you know, no grays. You know, life was was kind of easy. Um you had hair. I can't I had hair. I I can't even imagine that. Dude, even my kids can't imagine me without hair. With hair, rather. Um, because most people have only known me in the last 30 plus years without hair.
SPEAKER_01So wait, by the way, I've known you now for 18, 19 years. Yeah. And you've never showed me a picture with you with hair. So there's not many of them around. There's something you're trying to hide.
SPEAKER_00We got to go back to the Kodak days. And if you want pictures of me with hair, okay. I need the hard copies. You need hard copies for that. I need to see. Um, but yeah, I'll I'll bring some of those in. The kids, the kids will enjoy it. They do enjoy it when I pull out those those pictures. Um, but yeah, I mean, I was 23 years old. I started working for MCI, um, smiling and dialing, you know, just really doing you know, business to business, calling people, selling long distance over the phone.
SPEAKER_01You know, you talk about a tough job. You say long distance, and I'm like, yeah, now we live in a world of uh cell phones. This is sort of pre-mobile devices and such pre- all of that.
SPEAKER_00So you was you were you were slinging tech technol well telecommunications, you were swinging telecom over the phone across the country. Um and so the interesting thing was when I started there, I knew nothing about investing. I mean, as as most young 23-year-olds, and definitely didn't know or think anything of retirement. Back then, at 23, like my main focus was how I was gonna pay my rent, how I was gonna go out over the weekend. That was really the basis of everything. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, you're 23. That's that's that's the objective and the priority at that time.
SPEAKER_00And so, you know, so when when I started with the company, it was my first introduction into what was a 401k or a retirement plan. Um, and so that's where this story really begins. So I, not knowing anything about investing, about retirement plans, chose to do what I'd done through various points of my scholastic career. I cheated off the guy next to me. So I was like, well, you know, what did what did this person sitting next to me put down? Well, that person happened to put down 10%.
SPEAKER_01Well, first of all, uh kudos to you for even wanting to or or considering investing in you know the retirement plan at that time. It's because it's really hard. You're hard-pressed, you know, to try to get you know a young person at 23 years old to be thinking about the future in retirement. They're just starting to enter the the corporate world and starting to to their infancy is is you know in the corporate environment. Right. Oh, 100%. Retirement is like the last thing you're thinking about.
SPEAKER_00So far, you're not even considering like, hey, one day I'm gonna be 30, right? At that stage, you I mean, 23, you're not even really thinking, hey, one day I'll be 30, one day I'll have a family, one day I'll think about retirement. So you're off to the right, you know. I was off on the right foot. I was around the right people, or at least cheated off the right people, if you will. Um, looked off the guy's paper next to me, and he had put down 10%, so I put down 10%. And then came the question about mutual funds and you know, what stocks to buy or own. I knew nothing. So I just kind of asked someone else, like, hey, what do you what did you put down for the your investment option? And so that person had had essentially said to me, Hey, look, you know, you get a 20% discount off of the stock price if you buy the company stock.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00Well, coming from retail, I knew you know, 20% discount. I'll take it. You know, and so I chose the company stock 100%. Now, at the time the stock was trading, you know, in hindsight, the stock was trading at like $25 a share. As we fast forward, my career moves on, and I move out of the telemarketing world and into outside sales. I then move into global accounts, my salary and my income increases, but I'm still contributing 10%. Like most plan participants, not looking at my statements, not looking up, not really caring about my balance or even thinking about it. Because again, I still don't know anything about investments. It's what most people do. And so years later, I look up and I realize hey, I've got, you know, roughly 200,000, 250,000 in the account. Um, because now I'm thinking about buying my first home. The real estate agent tells me, hey, you know, do you have money in your 401k to borrow from? Yeah, I do, sure. I get then I remember, oh, I got this money sitting there. So I look up, I've got 250, I take a little bit out for the down payment for my first home. I'm 28 years old at that point buying my first home. Um and look as fate would have it, a few years later, MCI gets acquired by a company called WorldCom, which a year or so later, after the acquisition, files the largest you know, bankruptcy in US history. Oh, yeah, I remember it. So so MCI WorldCom files bankruptcy. And again, I'm still pretty ignorant about in terms of my knowledge of investing or wealth creation or anything, my account balance goes to zero. And what I recall very vividly is picking up the phone, looking at my statement, um, and calling Merrill Lynch at the time, who was the advisor for the plan, that was who was on my statements, and calling the advisor at Merrill Lynch and asking them, Well, when is my balance going to come back? How does this work? I didn't even understand that bankruptcy meant that my shares were now worth zero. At the time the shares, at the time of the bankruptcy, I think the shares were north of 100. Remember, I said when I started buying, it was at $25 a share, less the 20% discount. So now the wealth had accumulated. I had roughly 270,000 the day before. The following day after the bankruptcy, I had zero.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's insane.
SPEAKER_00It was what was more insane was I didn't even understand the complexity of what had happened. Right. And so when I look back now, I mean, I I asked the advisor when does this come back? I distinctly remember hearing an audible laugh from from this individual that was probably in a call center. Yeah. Um I would have laughed at you too. I I in hindsight, I understand how from their perspective, it might have been like this guy's clueless. He's got $270,000 in this 401k account, and he doesn't realize that it's now worth nothing. It's worthless.
SPEAKER_01I remember that environment and and that era very distinctly distinctively because at that time I was um in my master's program and we actually did a whole um report and study and case study on on the whole situation. So it it was it was a very, very, very, very high profile story and very, very unique to the business environment.
SPEAKER_00It was global news um that that debacled, but what it did for me is I I actually got angry. You know, and if if you know me long enough, you know, you know I I don't ever take hard things easily. I go in.
SPEAKER_01Well, I don't think anyone is really gonna take it easy if they lost 200, 300 grand pretty much overnight. So uh yeah, that's that's that's a hard pill to swallow.
SPEAKER_00So I mean, after I kind of like wiped my tears and and kind of figured out, okay, I gotta do something, I literally went to a library back when they had libraries, um, and pulled investment for dummies off the shelf and started reading cover to cover, read it more than once, um, and started to understand what had happened, you know, and why, what mistakes I had made. I really didn't have proper guidance. There were weren't back then, there weren't really plan advisors, financial plan advisors, or 401k retirement plan advisors back then. Um and so there was little or no guidance, there was no formal education process, no one to tell me, hey, you should diversify your portfolio. And so um, years later, when I got in the business, that's why I focused on retirement plans. Because for me, not only did it create in me the pain point that led me into this industry, but it also gave me a personal passion to make sure that what happened to me doesn't happen to participants on our watch. Right? We want to make sure that at any time that participants have access to information, the world has changed dramatically now, where it's it's a requirement that participants receive education. But that's literally that pain is what catapulted me into this industry.
SPEAKER_01Um that's a powerful story and a powerful motivator. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Years later, I get a call from someone from Merrill Lynch, um, you know, a guy that we still know to this very day, and um I was looking for an opportunity, and you know, at that point I had a little bit more education. He was telling me things about the market. This is circa 2007, um and right in front of the financial crisis, and he's trying to tell me what to do with my investments. And I, you know, as much as I knew at that point, told him, Hey, look, I don't think so. I think you know the banks are in trouble. Here's what I see happening. And he turns around and tells me, hey, I should become a financial advisor. Within a few months, he introduces me to his manager, and uh I have two interviews, and the rest is history. I started it at Merrill Lynch um in their training program in uh was that March of 2008?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so probably a month or so before we we first met.
SPEAKER_00That's right. That's right. Yeah, so I mean, and you know, for for me, it's it was interesting because I was you know clueless about a lot of this stuff, and then I find myself in a space where now I'm I'm taking on a responsibility or a job where I'm supposed to be a financial advisor leading people, helping them make decisions.
SPEAKER_01So it's like the blind leading the blind.
SPEAKER_00It it at that point I was less blind than I was before because I had read Investment for Dummies. Um, but you know, for the most part, it was really a journey for me to get to that point. And it was really a culmination of a lot of traumatic events that led me to that point where I felt like, hey, I want to help people avoid the mistakes that I'd made. So, you know, um, but enough about me. Like, what how did you get into the business? Because I, you know, we met, you know, probably a month into my tenure um in the training program of the industry, but you know, share with us, you know, how what led you to, because I know you've got a storied background getting back the normal route.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's very, very, very um non-traditional. But um, you know, I grew up in New York City, right? Represent the New York Knicks. That's why I'm wearing my orange and blue today.
SPEAKER_00Hey, yeah, at the moment of this shooting, the Knicks are are looking good right now. I I can I can definitely admit that. One game away is in the main.
SPEAKER_01But um but yeah, grew up in New York City, you know, went to traditional path, high school, uh, college, and graduated college, try to get my um first job opportunity in the real world. You know, you put in all that work, you you know, you study, you pay all this money. Um and at that particular point in time, I'm job hunting, I'm interviewing, and I finally get a call from a bank that said, Hey, we want to hire you, and um we're gonna offer you $17,000 a year. That's big money. That's big money for a month.
SPEAKER_00I mean, hey, listen, that's that's big money.
SPEAKER_01But that was the annual salary that they had offered me, and I said, That was your annual salary? Annual salary. What year is this, by the way? This is um 2000. No, excuse me, 2000, 1997. Because 17,000 for that is pretty below the bar. Below the bar by any standards. By any standards, right? So um here we are, and prior to that, I had been in, you know, as a hobby uh in the music industry, as a DJ, as a music producer, was something that was doing just during during my leisure time, um, was quite successful at it. And at that time, I said, you know what, I'm gonna pass on this because I'm actually making more money um doing that. And then the 17,000.
SPEAKER_00It's not hard to beat 17,000, is it's not a high bar. By the way, my starting salary when I was at MCI was 14,500, but I had commissions on top of that. You probably didn't have commission. So so yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_01Um, so that led me to kind of um follow my passion at that time. I'm young. Um I actually graduated college at like 20 years old. And um and essentially um got into the music industry, really kind of focused on uh music producing and ended up you know landing some great opportunities and was really, really, really successful in terms of working with artists like Jennifer Lopez and Mary J. Blige and um a lot of premier um uh artists at that time. And it went down that path for a few years, right? And what I discovered was that it wasn't necessarily for me. Um I didn't fit the culture of the industry.
SPEAKER_00So working with Jennifer Lopez and Mary J. Blige, icons of the industry wasn't didn't fit you? How how so?
SPEAKER_01No, it wasn't working with those artists that didn't fit me. It was the culture of the industry. And the music industry as a whole is a very, very, very dirty game. Um the income wasn't consistent, right? A lot of people don't understand the mechanics behind how you get paid, when you get paid. Um and you know, there's there's just a lot of um you know, desirables that work in that industry. And I'm not knocking the industry or the people, I'm sure there's plenty of good people that work in the game. Um, unfortunately, it just didn't fit me. So I got to the point where I got frustrated and I said, you know what? I'm gonna leave in New York City, I'm moving to Atlanta, I'm gonna start fresh, I'm gonna leverage my le my academic background and you know, uh get into corporate finance because I was always um really good with numbers, really good with math, really good with accounting. Um, you know, when when I was in in the industry, you know, we had a professional organization, I had healthcare benefits and all those things. I was a true entrepreneur. Um but it I came to Atlanta and started working for a corporation for I think it was probably somewhere around seven, eight years. And I got to the point where I was so dissatisfied. It was um so unfulfilling. I didn't feel like I had had any purpose. My job each and every day, uh and I call it a job, it really wasn't a career in my mind, but it was to crunch numbers and uh it was a public key traded company and you know process transactions and uh report the financials. And like what am I getting out of that? Right? I'm not having any impact on anyone or my were you making more than $17,000? I was I was making more than $17,000, but um, when I think about at that time it it seemed like it was great money, but um it just it's still yeah, it's still I didn't feel like I I mean it was the to the point where I was losing sleep at night. Like I would literally toss and turn all night because I was that dissatisfied, right? So I I I got to a point where I said, you know, I've got to um make a change in my life. I've gotta focus on finding something that would make me happy and more fulfilled. So I went through this process and this went down this rabbit hole in this journey to try to figure out, hey, what is next for me?
SPEAKER_00What's a career option? Yeah, what's the next move?
SPEAKER_01In doing that, um I was doing a whole lot of research. I came on, uh I I discovered this opportunity as a financial advisor, and I said, Hey, this seems interesting, but you know what? From what I'm reading, this is like a sales job. Like I'm not a salesman. I had no sales in the back. At least so I thought, right? But I kind of reconciled that and came to the point where I said, you know what? At the end of the day, I was selling music to artists. I was a salesperson. Everything is sales. Everything is sales, right? We have kids now. Everything is a sales person. We get sold every day.
SPEAKER_00Right? Right?
SPEAKER_01So it is everything is sales. I get that, and at that at that time, I had to go through the process of of really reconciling that coming to terms with it and I said okay maybe it is sales because yeah at the end of the day you know you explore this opportunity you don't have any clients you've gotta you know go out there and and and and and you know pick up and and and get people to to want to do business with you so I decided to circulate my resume and and and uh started interviewing with a couple large firms um one firm reached out to me and said you know we had a lot of back and forth and said hey we want you to come in you know come in for an interview okay great I literally took time off from the company I was working for and put on my best suit you know and you know left work early and went to the office and when I got there I got to the receptionist and hey I'm Sean Floyd I'm here for an interview like hey have a seat five minutes later the branch manager comes out from the back comes to the lobby and says hey uh hey Sean you're here for uh for for an interview by the way we still know this person oh yeah I'm gonna get to that part I'm gonna get to that part so he says oh you're here uh do you have your resume with you I said yeah sure I've got my resume card copy here he's like all right great I want to I'm gonna take a look at this and um you know we'll be in contact now wait you took the whole day off right to for this interview and and took time so you're I'm assuming at that point you're you're not getting paid for this this time off or you're taking vacation.
SPEAKER_00Listen so first of all they had my resume for months.
SPEAKER_01That's true. You called me in for an interview you know meaning you saw on my resume my background and you thought that I was qualified for the opportunity I get to the lobby now you're here now I'm here and we don't even make it to the back for the interview. The the interaction was all of two minutes if if if if I'm being generous so I then get you know I shake hands I I leave uh the office I get in the elevator and then someone from the office comes in the elevator behind me just happened to be walking out at the same time interestingly enough we ended up working together later on on in life but we'll get back to that um I get in the and I get in the elevator he's like hey are you uh you here for an interview I said yeah yeah I'm here for an interview you looked apart you had the tie on I had the tie on I had the suit it was my best suit by the way it's like you know I put my best my Sunday's best on and um I'm dejected I'm you know uh I'm I'm stunned that I didn't even have an opportunity to represent myself I've heard this story before and every time I hear it I'm still stunned that I it it just you know it was it was truly unbelievable right so I get in the inner uh in the elevator and this person hey yeah here for an interview yeah sure it's like hey um take out your phone uh take down this number give this guy a call like he didn't say hey how you doing what's your name um you know uh where what's your background what are you looking for none of that it was call this guy so I get to my car and I literally had a moment where I just held the steering wheel and just sat there and was you know had a little bit of a a semi-meltdown you know it's like hey what what just happened right and you know at first I was so pissed off I was frustrated I was like you know you know F this I'm you know I'm I'm done with that and I got up the next morning and I said you know what I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna give this guy a call you know what's the worst that can happen I'm in my vehicle and you know just processing what had just happened fuming fuming um and I said you know what next day I got up I said you know I'm just gonna give this guy a call right uh I give the guy a call and as it turns out um he really spent about an hour on the phone with me out of his busy schedule to really enlighten me about the industry you know what it takes to get in you know what his daily um routines are um really kind of just jumped in immediately in sort of a mentorship role and I wasn't even in the industry at that time told him what had happened and how and what my experience was and he said you know what send me your resume I'm you know I'm I I I'll I'll I'll submit it here and you know we'll see um about you trying to get an opportunity here so fast forward I'm down uh the rabbit hole of an interview process with that firm it's another big warehouse as it turns he used to work for the firm that didn't want to interview me and he is now um uh had transitioned to the new firm and you know I'm in the interview process we get to the point where uh they're making me an offer and the branch manager at that time got uh a promotion and was moving out of market so things got put on hold for quite a while so I decided to continue to do interview process or the um the job hunting process and I get a call from uh the firm that you were at at that time and they they essentially made me an offer um at that time I simultaneously got an offer for the firm and my mentor at that time um was working at and I made the decision he actually advised me he said hey we've got a decent training program here the other firm has a better training program if they're making your offer if I were you I would elect to go there at any particular point in time down the future after you've been in the business for a few years you could essentially you know take the leap and come over here and so that's what I did and then that led me to starting at the firm with you about a month a month later later yeah yeah yeah so this is 2008 you know you started April no I started April yeah you started March um fast forward I'm coming to work I start the you know we meet each other for the first time we're in the training program now right and so you're learning um you're a month ahead I'm you know we're in a licensing program we're trying to get our license in the industry and what you what we noticed yeah was that people were taking um or getting more attention than than we were at the time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah I mean even before that though I mean I I think you we could as I look back at where we are and where things went I mean there's just so many variables and you and I have talked about this right so at the time you're living on one end of town I'm living on the other end of town the office is kind of in the middle yeah um and I I think one of the things that initially connected us was you know for me I was old school coming to the office early first in last out that's kind of how I I was wired um and so for me is like okay I'm showing up to the office for that first month before you get there I'm turning the lights on turning them off at night you know I'm head down studying trying to absorb all this information I mean which is another conversation as well is is what that process is like of getting into the industry.
SPEAKER_01Right. So I think it's important that we we talk about that because the reason why I had that fire and the same reason you might have had that fire is I left a comfortable cushy salaried position to take a leap into an industry that was very very questionable right and um something I had never done before and I you know the way the rules of the game is that you have to get your licenses to be able to do the business. And the structure is at these big firms if you get one chance to study and pass these exams. If you got one shot what you do exactly a little MM for you but if you don't pass the exams you're out of you're out so think about I left a firm or company that I'd been with for eight nine years whatever it was and I took the leap and I'm you know you got eight weeks to pass this exam if you don't pass I'm I'm unemployed.
SPEAKER_00You're unemployed right so for me it was every day get up you know before the crack of dawn come in do the work pass this exam no that was the prior no no second chances I mean and it it definitely puts a fire in you I mean it's like your back is against the wall you know your number one job is to study and take this exam and everything's on the line. Losing friends losing friends you don't speak it to your family you can't go out you're you know your head down you're you're literally taking you know at least for from my perspective and I know you probably had the same perspective is you know I got no time to waste right no play time it is pass this exam so I can keep my job.
SPEAKER_01And that's what you saw from me is that fire and that motivation that this is this is it. Yeah and I have to I put everything on the line for this yeah and so we used to you know you had been there earlier turning the lights on early crack it off first in the office.
SPEAKER_00I show up and this guy's got the lights on I'm like wait a minute is this guy like what what is this and I said okay all right next day I'm like okay I'm gonna leave my house a little earlier so I can get there turn the lights on and you probably think I'm competing with you no no it it it for me it's just you know hey listen I I have a I have a standard right and and the standard is the standard as they say and and I was just like okay yeah I'm going to be first you know that that's just how I'm wired you being competitive I'm competitive yeah I'm a little competitive athletes like it's just how I'm wired win or go home right and so for me it was survival. Yeah and and and for me it was survival as well but there's also like okay you could survive or you could be first I always want to be first and so you know it and so that really for me it gave me a lot of visibility into your personality your drive you know because I'm showing up the earlier I show up the earlier you show up right and what what we've talked about before is the unique nature of that because the office was kind of in the middle you're living on one end of town I'm on the opposite end of town our commutes are completely different um and yet and still eventually we're showing up to the office at the same time before everybody at the same damn time right no and I mean I I was literally probably about an hour away in traffic is this Atlanta traffic right so an hour away and you're coming from the opposite direction and we got to the point where every day parking lot pulling up at the same time right in the first direction and you know you think about one stop light.
SPEAKER_01Yeah you know if you stop and and get a coffee on the way in it changes the equation traffic accident stop light you miss the light you don't get out of the house you know at right the exact time right you know Atlanta traffic if if you miss your window you're 20 minutes later um but so that was a very unique and serendipitous you know scenario where it's like hey we're we're showing up at the same time um we're we're we're very aligned in terms of our goals and our uh ambitions and our work ethic right and then um I think we were in rooms where we were studying and those people got you know past those exams and you came over to me one day and you were like hey man I passed my you know well I'm I'm about a month ahead of you um you know I know a little something more than you uh you know you're a little wet behind the ears so come and I could I could teach you a little something young man. Not not really but you like I could teach you something young man. But no it was more of the um really camaraderie and hey let's help support each other. I can help you out. You know I'm a little more you know ahead of the program I you know I I can help support you in a certain way and so we we we moved into the same room together and we would study every day.
SPEAKER_00Yeah um but uh those were those were those were really formative years if we when you look back at it man you you I mean we were learning together the grind started from the beginning right I mean we were working together I mean it was we were in the same room but it was pin drop quiet in there I mean because we were head down reading the only time that there was any conversation is you know hey I didn't understand something or you didn't understand something and we would go back and forth about methodology or how we how we would approach you know answering the questions or or studying and then it was back to work.
SPEAKER_01It was back to the you know read read study study test test practice practice and and you were ahead of you know me schedule wise and you had your first exam um and I'm sure there was a tremendous amount of anxiety around I remember that day I mean it it was it was you know any for anybody that's taken the exam the series seven um you know just never something you want to do twice.
SPEAKER_00As I've talked to people it's the equivalent of the CPA exam or the bar. You know and for me who was never a scholastic powerhouse this was a big journey for me to really kind of learn and understand and take all this material in and be able to really pass an exam. And so I remember the day before I took my exam I literally said to you because again it's winter go home right and so I remember saying to you hey look I'm taking the exam tomorrow morning I don't know if I'm gonna pass but if I don't I knew you were going to good luck. Well and and you had confidence in me but I was still a little shaky on my confidence um in in my ability to kind of pass this exam because you just never know it's it's an exam where it's high risk man you know 70 to 80 percent of the people fail their first time taking it and we had one shot. Yeah we had one and done right and we know we both know people that have taken it multiple times in order to to get over that threshold but at the time we were taking it it was you had one shot to win it and I remember exactly what you said to me um you said hey listen you're gonna do fine you've been putting in the work you know if we're gonna ride we're gonna ride together you know I'll see you tomorrow and I carried that home with me that day I got home took a little nap got up studied some more woke up the next morning because I was taking it in the morning kind of refreshed my notes um literally got to the the test location an hour ahead of time sat in the car studied some more and walked in took the exam passed the exam and you know how powerful the your statement was to me you were the second person I called first was my mom right I called my mother and told her I passed and the second person I called was you um and I was like I'll see you in the morning bro I was like I passed you know so so that was I think that was a definitely a a a powerful moment for me in the journey and in the construct of our relationship and you know decades later I still remember you know those words so that was that was powerful for me man.
SPEAKER_01Yeah and I you know I was I was a month behind you and I sort of managed to uh get over the hurdle myself and pass the exams and I think I was yeah I think I was quite successful at it. Um and then we get to the point where we're now you know um licensed advisors or you know at at the cusp of officially starting our journey of entrepreneurship and within or I should say entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship yeah we'll we'll draw that distinction out yeah yeah and so I remember us thinking you know we've watched other advisors go through the same journey in the same path and senior advisors come in knock on the door and say uh you know we're looking for someone to join our team you know um you seem like an ideal candidate let's have conversations and they would walk out you know get their license and you know jump right on a team and and really have mentorship and support and we didn't have that and um you know no one was knocking on our doors trying to get us to uh uh join that team and so we came to the point where we said hey listen the only way we're gonna be successful is if we uh um support each other and do this together and so um you know and I think I made the comment you know if we're gonna shine if we're gonna shine together we're gonna ride together and um I remember at that time we had a coach and he came in one late night and we're working it's probably seven eight o'clock and he happened to be in the office he's like hey what are you guys still doing here he comes in the office he closed the door and we're like hey coach um you know we pass our exams we're getting ready to um you know be full on fledged financial advisors but we're thinking about partnering with each other and and becoming a team and he just leaned up against the the wall with his arms crossed and I remember that he's like what do you mean he's like do you guys gonna partner I mean usually it's a junior advisor and a senior advisor.
SPEAKER_00That's how this game works yeah he's like you guys are two rookies you don't know nothing about you don't know anybody what are you talking about how you guys gonna make this work yeah and so um he leaned up and he like literally like just started like you know thinking and pondering about hey processing it all and he's like you know what you guys should do it yeah fuck it you should do it yeah no I mean the the interesting thing is I mean it it was it was really that moment of confidence that you know he he projected onto us and and from that point on it was there was no looking back it was we I think at that point we had come to the realization that no one was coming to save us um that you know you and I were bonding and bonded and if we were gonna make it through not only the testing phase but also into launching our practice that we were gonna very much have to rely upon each other um not only to to motivate but also to support each other and I I think that was one of the key things that that's always been central in our our success.
SPEAKER_01And that was the beginning of uh almost two decade journey of a partnership uh together which at the end of the day is you know quite frankly very very unique that we started out really from for at the same place. From Genesis really and um have taken this journey you know all the way through and has always you know been equal um partners from uh so many different uh on so many different levels but I think what's make uh made our partnership so unique is the yin and yang effect. Oh yeah there are certain skill sets that you have that I don't and vice versa that has made you know for a a perfect uh situation here in terms of our growth and our development um so that's that's that's how we got started in the industry and I think you know the next phase is for us to tell us how we how for to tell you know the audience and to tell everyone how did we build it right yeah that was that was the foundation but how did we build it?
SPEAKER_00That was definitely the foundation of of you know what has not only become a decades long two decades almost partnership but also you know I think one of the things and you talk about yin and yang is you know our bond as as as friends as family really our families are now super interconnected over all these years. We laugh all the time and and as we tell people you know we've probably spent more time together over the last two decades than we have with our spouses or even our kids in building this business. And you know but I know you know personally and I think you and I have talked about this in different conversations and different interviews and and different discussions I don't know that I would be here in this place if it wasn't for you and I think the sentiment is the same vice versa um because as you said you know the yin and the gang what you had I needed what I needed you had and vice versa um I think I got that right um but I mean it it was it was truly you know our desire to survive um and and to thrive that allowed us to to really kind of maximize our our our potential and and our growth. And then you know I think the other thing that has to get stated is that it's not the norm. It's not the norm. I mean we've seen teams form and disband and reform and oh yeah you know and and I think the thing that has kept us together over the years is is our trust and our commitment to each other and our practice and our clients. That's right what I was going to say anyway we can