Episode 217 – The World of Marketing for Financial Professionals with Skyler Mills

Episode Transcription

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 to 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 1:06

Welcome back to The Ultimate Advisor Podcast today I have with me a special guest who we’re gonna get to know here in just a minute. But before I do that, I’m gonna give some proper introduction here I have with me Skylar Mills, who is the founder of Valley consulting, a marketing consulting and strategy firm for financial advisors. What a perfect space to be in previous to valley consulting, Skyler was the head of digital content at Lifeworks Advisors, a modern RIA, that grew from $0 and managed assets to nearly 200 million in a short three years all with custom digital marketing strategies. So I don’t know about everybody else. But I am excited to learn more about how you did this what you do. Welcome to the show, Skyler.

Skyler Mills 1:55

Thanks, Brittany,happy to be here.

BA 1:57

Awesome. Well, you know, I want to kind of cut to the chase here. Obviously, you have some proof in the pudding with what you have built and helped others build in the past. So can you just talk a little bit about what brought you to this point? Why digital marketing? And what made it feel successful?

SM 2:13

Sure, definitely. So I don’t come from the financial services industry, there’s a number of things in this industry, as I’m sure you know, that feel a bit outdated. Primarily one of them being marketing. So I came from a digital marketing background, I spent, I’ve spent eight years shooting professional video and I forever was stuck and focused on the video aspect of things for other companies. And it just so happened that about five years ago, I had a video client of mine wasn’t actual Ria, it was a couple of guys who had broke away from a large insurance firm in the in the, across the country. And then it settled in on Grand Rapids, Michigan to start in Ria. And so I had talked to them, I shot some initial video for them, we started talking about marketing strategy, which is really where my main focus is, a lot of videographers tend to be focused on the creative aspects of things. And I always make the joke of like the beanie and the coffee shop. That’s very true for a lot of creatives. It’s not me, I love marketing strategy. And I love how video inserts into that. So we got to talking and what ended up being the end result was us deciding let’s work together. And let’s try to figure out how to take it’s a very simple concept, there’s got to be a way for a financial advisor to take the thing that they do well for their clients, that thing that the clients like about them broadcast that through a national ad and to bring clients to them that they want to work with. It works well for the advisor, because the advisor gets to grow their firm digitally and nationally, works great for the prospect and the client because they actually get to work with an advisor who might specialize or have specific pain points related to what that person is dealing with. And so we bang our head against the wall multiple times over multiple years trying to figure out how do we actually do this. And we’ve done it, we did it very successfully for three to four years and grew the firm significantly. And when when COVID happened, we had just had a number of advisors who had heard our story, we had a bit of publicity, a lot of advisors are trying to figure out how to do digital and this just had this philosophy that a lot of marketing firms in this industry waste advisors dollars they just don’t deliver in a way that really builds the advisors business and the thing I find a lot of joy in is helping advisors tell their stories through video, build them digital campaigns that really win them clients grow their business and then they can rely on for the future. So that’s that’s the full circle how we got here.

BA 4:43

You know, I think this topic is fascinating because depending upon who you talk to, you know people say you know, social media ads are dead or video is has to shift this way because now this is dead and this is the new thing and I think Part of the problem, especially with an entrepreneurial advisor, is that they tend to chase the shiny objects, I have a guilty party here. So I’m not putting this off on anybody else. And I actually have your website in front of me. And I’m looking at this. And it talks about how financial advisors have been sold the idea that marketing is really hard to measure. So I want you to talk about because the advisor world loves ROI, love it. So I want you to talk a little bit about those measurable some of the things that you’re paying attention to and how you’re helping advisors set that up to be a simplified measure something they don’t have to feel like they are the marketing guru to really know going on.

SM 5:38

A great way to measure this product is to look at it and just when we sit down with an advisor, we ask them, what marketing firms have you used? What marketing tools have you used, and you know, a lot of them will be excited about to use this, this and this and it all shiny objects, and I don’t want to name names, but there’s a ton of them out there. And I will ultimately ask, so what was the success on your what was the result in your business that you see success? Did you see more dollars coming in the door than you spent on marketing? And could you measure it specifically to that action? Our focus is trying to get advisors to think about their advisory little book of business, like an actual operation, and an actual operation, we’ll look at what’s our marketing dollars out the door? What is it bringing in terms of revenue? How do we measure this thing? How do we scale it? Is it predictable? That kind of thing. So I look solely at the ROI. And I tell a lot of advisors like when you work with us, if we don’t see an ROI within six months, we need to have conversations about what it looks like to move forward or will will work for free for the advisor until we see the ROI happening. What I mean by our allies. This we will look at primarily we run ads to a baby boomer audience, Baby Baby Boomer audience, we tend to see of all the ads we run we tend to see prospects who are engaging with the advisors that we work with anywhere in the asset range from about 600,000 of investable assets to about 2 million. Of course, there’s outliers on either side, right, but that’s generally what we see. So if I’m backtracking this, I’m just saying let’s, let’s say the advisor charges 1%. Okay, so on a million dollar investment portfolio you’d make let’s keep it easy, $10,000 year over year type thing, right? So we want to look at it from like, Okay, what does it take then to acquire a million dollar client? What is the advertising costs, including services for marketing provider? What is your all in cost to acquire a client of that would that would bring you $10,000 of recurring revenue year after year? What is your cost one time for that. And we really make sure that we keep this thing really dialed in. And you can, you know, a lot of advisors will get sold a lot of different data points by marketing firms. It’s all about the impressions, it’s all about the reach. It’s all about the clicks. And when I ask like how many clients have been generated, of course, there’s always like, crickets. So we’ll look at what is the cost to get a meeting of a prospect that you’d like to work with? Meaning you have a phone call or video call with them. And you’re saying, this is a good prospect? And what is the cost then to acquire a client? And then the only other data point we will look at is what is the revenue per client that we’re seeing here. And that all makes sense, you have a working marketing strategy, but for so many advisors, they haven’t thought about it that way. And as a result, it’s hard to approach marketing that way.

BA 8:20

You know, I think one thing that I really see with you in particular, and where you guys are going is you make this very simple. And you know, I think straightforward as well. Now, I’m thinking back to the first time that I got on video, and you know, you’re kind of feeling awkward, and you’ve got your camera set up and you’re watching your hands going, where do I put up? And I’m talking? And am I talking to the camera through the camera, whatever? What would you say to them to kind of coach them through this?

SM 8:52

Well, they’re they’re an advisor, they work in front of people, they clearly have some sort of personal skills in order to have a book of business, right. And so we don’t really work with any advisors. There’s been a couple of them, but very rarely is it someone who’s just starting off in this business, usually, it’s someone who’s been in the business 1520 years, and they’re like, I want to make sure this thing runs like an operation. So if you’re going to find people, we can make sure you’re good on video, one of the things we don’t ask the advisor to do is record it all on their own. Our model is to sit down with the advisor and my partner, Derek and I use in this business as well. We sit down with them, we’ll do it over a zoom call, we can do it over dinner if we want to get together in person, but what we end up doing is figuring out how specifically that advisor works with their clients, what is their kind of magic sauce and it’s doesn’t have to be some crazy investment strategy or some crazy approach to the industry. A lot of it’s very personable, easy, straightforward stuff that we want to communicate on video. So then we take the advisor and part of the cost of engaging with us. We have them fly to us. We have studios that we shoot in here in West Michigan, or occasionally we’ll fly to the viser we have to shoot a really well done professional video. That is I will say we look at all the numbers over what works for marketing, that is going to be the thing that differentiates people, we see a huge jump in the amount of prospects and clients a advisor would want to work with and win. Because we’re doing really well done video. So we make it really easy on them, I tell every advisor, you can’t possibly mess this up. I’ve shot corporate video for the last eight years, I know how to put people in positions to make sure that they’re really relatable on camera. And by the time you leave the shoot with us, it you aren’t going to be happy with what the end result is. And I would tell you if it isn’t because I don’t want to be, you know, I don’t want to, you know, tell you something that isn’t true. So that’s ultimately what we end up doing. If you’re good in front of people, you’re great on video,

BA 10:47

you know, and I think that’s, I think that’s so true. And you know, it’s one of those things where I think anything that’s unfamiliar, because a lot of advisors, they got into this business for relationships, they love that one on one interaction, they thoroughly enjoy it. And so sometimes stepping outside the box can be a little bit scary and putting yourself out there where you know, that your face is going to be in front of. So, you know, I think about your journey. And I think about that, you know, major success, story of growing 200 million and assets in just a few short years. We all also on the other side of that have challenges. So I’d be curious, Skylar, what is one of the most difficult challenges that you’ve overcome as you grown, you know, in your business or businesses?

SM 11:33

Yeah. So I will talk about this more from the advisors side of things. One of the challenges we’ve seen that we did not originally foresee when we first started digital marketing way back at the RIA was that we all including myself, and the advisor, assumed that the sales process for a cold prospect to a scheduled meeting on a calendar after seeing a video would be similar to that of the referral, where a referral comes in. It’s one meeting, it’s easy, they’re planning on working with you, they start to start to work together, what we realized was that enormous challenge at first, and we have a bunch of resources around this now was you’ve got to establish trust. And you got to establish a clear path forward service when I say sales, because sales, I think is service. But we need to make sure that we are strategic and how we go about handling these phone calls and video calls and a process to lead these people through because you don’t need a huge process when it’s just referrals, if they come from a good source, and it’s someone who wants to start working, that’s easy to do. But the big challenge for us initially was trying to figure out, okay, how do we teach advisors who say I want to do a digital campaign, we get a digital campaign working with booking all kinds of meetings at great costs for them. Now we’re trying to figure out how do we get that cost per client lower and lower and lower. And we’ve been able to do that successfully by coaching them through that we have a bunch of resources, a lot of advisors we work with who have had success doing the digital sales, will then we’ll put them on the phone with other clients of ours, other advisor clients of ours to then share best practices, etc. That’s been a huge challenge. But we are really turning the corner there and happy with where we’re at.
Yeah, you know, I think that there’s so much that’s tied to processes in general. And, you know, that’s one thing too, you know, when we were introduced to thinking about how you guys have a systematic, systematic process for all that you do, and can help support kind of that back end success. I think that’s a major differentiator. And I also think, again, speaking from experience, you know, we have tried within our wealth planning firm, we’ve tried many different methods of growth. And I think there’s one key thing that’s missing in the times where it wasn’t a success. And it’s when the time wasn’t spent to build that back end system, and to make sure that you’re consciously making those consistent tweaks. So I would be curious to kind of, you know, press on that a little bit more, when you engage with an adviser just from what you’re seeing. Are you seeing a lot of advisors coming to you with already preconceived kind of processes? Or are you helping build from the ground up? You know, to help ensure that success?

BA 13:09

Yeah, you know, I think that there’s so much that’s tied to processes in general. And, you know, that’s one thing too, you know, when we were introduced to thinking about how you guys have a systematic, systematic process for all that you do, and can help support kind of that back end success. I think that’s a major differentiator. And I also think, again, speaking from experience, you know, we have tried within our wealth planning firm, we’ve tried many different methods of growth. And I think there’s one key thing that’s missing in the times where it wasn’t a success. And it’s when the time wasn’t spent to build that back end system, and to make sure that you’re consciously making those consistent tweaks. So I would be curious to kind of, you know, press on that a little bit more, when you engage with an adviser just from what you’re seeing. Are you seeing a lot of advisors coming to you with already preconceived kind of processes? Or are you helping build from the ground up? You know, to help ensure that success?

SM 14:08

Great question. As you know, I know your your brain is where this way because I’ve watched a lot of your stuff processes run businesses, right. And so we want to make sure that those things are really dialed in. I will say there’s a lot of quote unquote, sales coaches out there for advisors who will teach them, you know, here’s how to kind of like operate. That’s, you know, sometimes they’re useful, but we need processes, beyond sales that would run the businesses. So, you know, what does a new client onboarding flow look like? How does email fit into that? How does custom video fit into that beyond the digital campaign? How do we make sure that the touchpoints that we have with prospects and clients even our staff is as as RAs are small groups of advisors tucked into bigger firms? How do we make sure that that’s smooth So most advisors we work with, they have some sort of process, of course, for working with clients, they often don’t have a process for working with prospects, which is something we usually are able to uncover and work on. And if you don’t have one, it ends up being something that you’ll you’ll probably waste money on if you don’t have a process. And so, so much of what we’re doing, I jokingly will call us, the advisors advisor in many senses, because like we are helping them, talk them through marketing processes. But also, you know, Britney, if you are a client of ours, you engaged with us, we would have to have clear processes and clear communication as well, because we are the product, right? A lot of the things that we’re doing, we’re teaching. So we want to make sure that those things are smooth, and a lot of advisors don’t always have that when they first engage with us.

BA 15:48

You know, I think this is such an important point to push on. And you said something here, I wasn’t even expecting it to go in this direction. But I think it’s really important to push on is, you know, within ultimate advisor coaching, but then our business as a whole, whether it’s our mastermind, whether you come in through some of the online resources, more self guided, one of the things we talk about all the time is how important it is to learn from people who were actually in the space and or have been in the space or truly have dove in and you know, defined kind of the niche within the adviser world. And I think that’s one thing that I can appreciate about where you’re coming from is that it’s been there done that. It’s not all hypothetical. It’s not like, oh, well, yes, I’ve worked with online marketers, and this works over here. And then you’re trying to dabble into the adviser world. So you know, I think that’s so important, just mindset wise for our listeners, if you’re gonna invest with somebody, and you’re gonna let them help you grow your business, having that tried and true kind of proof in the pudding is so darn important. And I think that’s something that can be missed. And where you talked at the beginning of this conversation, where money kind of gets thrown out the window,

SM 16:58

money gets thrown out the window, it’s a great point, Joe, and Iowa City is who we’re ended up marketing to, for the most part, we’re looking at someone who doesn’t really think about the markets doesn’t think about their money all the time has usually done a good job saving or building a business, etc. And we’re trying to figure out how do we relate to this person in a way that this guy can say, I have saved my whole life for this moment? And how do I then feel confident and a professional to take me from this moment, to the next, you know, two decades and moments three decades and moments pass on a legacy, there are a number of things that you have to do from a marketing perspective, not not from manipulation, but just from a standpoint of doing it in order to communicate transparently. I had heard this from Joe Duran, who is just a huge voice in the industry. A lot of people just wonder am I going to be okay, and we have to start from that standpoint. And so, so much of telling the advisors story is not the data and the charts and all the little things that go into the great things that they do as professionals. But from the front end of the sphere, it has to be simple, it has to be relatable, and it has to be specific to this industry. And if it’s not, it ends up being something that’s a waste of money.

BA 18:09

You know, it’s funny Skyler, because we’ve had so many conversations internally here too, about, you know, what’s the number one question that you’re hearing, when we talk to our advisors, you know, we have five advisors on the team at Sweet financial, and it’s consistently the same thing is, am I going to be okay, we talked to the advisors in our coaching and mastermind, their clients are saying the same thing. So I think that’s so relevant. And it’s such a shift of mindset to, and I just have to make this comment here is, I think one of the things that advisors can fall privy to, is falling in love with their own process. You know, we talked about differentiation, and we talked about the importance of capturing your capital, per se. So trademarking your process, having something that’s different, and that stands out. And I think one mistake that’s often made, because we’ve made it too, is that we get so caught up in talking about, you know, the how, how we solve the problem, when really we need to get to the core of the what and the why. So can you talk just a little bit more about that in how you can help set somebody up to really solve that problem while backing into the differentiation of the company?

SM 19:15

Well, let me try to poke the bear a little bit more. There’s a lot of talk in this industry about niching down to a specific individual, a specific industry. But if I if I back off, and I asked the advisor, okay, that’s great that you are an advisor to dental owners, that’s great. What about if, like, Could another advisor do the same thing for a quote unquote, general business owner and if that’s the same thing, then there’s not a huge value and use claiming that you’re just the dental guy, if there are specific needs within either a company’s specific retirement portfolio options, or there are really specific industries where you really actually need to know and you haven’t greater knowledge of what’s going on there, then another adviser could do. That is that is the legitimate niche. But I think there’s so many advisors who have been told, you got to niche down, you got to niche down, you got to niche down. Whereas in many times, we sit down with every advisor, and we, it looks like an hour long video call. And we sit down, and we just say, tell me about how you got into this business. What do you like? What do you like doing? We’ve had a number of stories, let me just list some of them. One guy we work with who’s just got an amazing marketing campaign. He had a young family 2013, his wife died of breast cancer, he he had to deal with two young kids and his life was in total financial mess, he became an advisor to help people not go through unexpected life events where they’re not prepared. That’s a great story. So anybody who’s experienced an unexpected life event, or if they’re thinking about an unexpected life event, this guy’s invite to you is to just schedule a call with him because he’s got he does a really great job planning for events like this. We have other people who are CPAs and financial advisors, they’re the same that you know, they have the both designations and they would say, when’s the last time your CPA and financial advisor talk to each other? I do both. And one system, a ton of people see a lot of value there. We also have people who said, I’ve been in this industry for 2530 years, I’ve seen every kind of market, what what we need to look at is like the markets that will lead into your retirement, how do we plan for that we’ve seen that work on the younger side of things. We’ve had guys who we market for and women we market for who have said, I’ve worked at a large national firm, I’ve seen the way that they treat, you know, retirees I’ve seen the way they approach it. It’s just not a personalized experience and what they can offer is it really personalized experience. So that said, we work with about 25 Different advisors, we have campaigns are running all over the place, I will say this, we run them all to the same audience, we have a huge audience built of this baby boomer, I should say now we run probably 85% of them to the same audience because some advisors want to work with, you know, younger, more upwardly mobile, younger families, couples, etc. So there’s certainly a space for that we can talk about. But generally, every advisor has a differentiating message, not one person has had the same stuff. And so for us to sit down, and to assume that the advisor does the exact same thing that other advisors do is incorrect of us. We want to hear from the advisor, what do you do? What are your clients like? And we’ll we’ll write marketing pieces, we’ll write scripts for videos, that will then detail this person, what this person does, and then we’ll go back to the advisor and we’ll say, before we shoot this video, we’ll script this thing out or we’ll have certain questions we’re going to ask you is this in your voice does this does this sound like you because if we don’t sound like you on video, and they schedule a phone call or video call with you, it’s a completely different experience, we got issues there. So we want to make sure this is just as completely transparent as possible. And if I can add one more thing I just don’t foresee when I look at the future of this industry, I just don’t foresee a better way for an advisor to attract clients and prospects they want to work with, then custom video, image ads are not going to work compared to custom video, audio ads are not going to work compared to custom video, you have to have some sort of relatability piece that sets you apart, that is going to be the thing that does it. And if you can find something better at better cost, please please do it. We just haven’t found it. And that’s why we do what we do.

BA 23:20

You know, those are such great examples. And of course, as you’re talking, I’m going through my head thinking, wow, each advisor in our office has such a different and differentiated story. And I know for our listeners, that the same thing is likely going through their head. Wow, what’s my story? What’s my differentiation? And I love your your take on niching down, right, because I think that you’re so dead on there that I know many advisors. Yeah, I know the ones that work with the dentists. I know the ones that work with the engineers, I know the ones that work with. I’m sort of trying to think about aviation, you know, that’s one field that we’ve seen before too. And to your point, unless you have something that can truly help you stand out to solve their problem. It’s really not a niche. It’s just choosing, you know, I’m choosing these are the people I serve, but how do you actually attract them? Because other people have that niches?

SM 24:13

you can have a host of engineers you work with. And that’s great. I’m sure that would attract other engineers. But if you’re saying to other engineers, like here’s the specific things you’re looking for, as an engineer, I’m not so sure that that person is going to take that as completely true because in the back of their mind, they have to think there are other industries or other professionals who have these same needs. And that’s great. You work with engineers, that’s very relatable, but it’s not exactly like the absolute specialty that sets the advisor apart. I’ll also say this one more thing I want to add because I one more thought I have. It’s not always the smartest advisor. In fact, it’s almost never the smartest advisor that wins the business, or the best investment manager. It is often the advisor that communicates the simplest and the clearest to that audience and If you’re able to nail the messaging, and that’s what we work with advisers on, you will have business and you will have a future in this business. But if you come at it and you’re like, I got all these designations behind my name, I got all this schooling, I know how to I know the all these models for the market, that’s great. If you can’t relate it, you can’t message it, the person who messages it better than you, depending on what their doesn’t even matter what their experience is, in all honesty, they will get the conversations they will typically get the business if if they’re able to just communicate as clearly as they possibly can.

BA 25:34

And in that, I mean, isn’t that the magic to any long lasting relationship is communication, and being clear, and simplifying? So I think that’s such a perfect example. So before I asked my last couple questions, I have a hunch that people are wondering how the heck do I get a hold of this guy? So somebody wants to know how to move forward with you had to learn more about your process? Where should they go? What should they do?

SM 25:57

Yep, Vali Consulting is a great place for them to go. There’s a huge button on there, it’s a very simple website, button says schedule a meeting, you can schedule a meeting, we’d love to talk to anybody happy to talk through what you’re looking to do, and kind of what we might be able to do to help fix the problem. There’s also very, it’s very possible that we’re not a good fit. And we’re not able to solve the problem, we tell you that up front, we want to be as transparent as possible. We’re trying to build a business in which this industry can look at it and say, every advisor we work with, has either had a ton of success for us or with us where we work for free until they have success, or we pay them back one way or another. We don’t want an advisor to have a bad experience. And so Valley consulting V as in Victor, a LI consulting.com, you can click the big schedule meeting button, and we can talk to them there. We’d be happy to talk. 

BA 26:46

we will make sure that is in the show notes as well. So a couple of last question before we wrap up here, Skylar, when you think about your own kind of past and the things we’re gonna get all personal here, because I like to peel back the layers on the human that’s behind the genius. So give me a time where you have strategically overcame fear. And it actually catapulted you into something even greater than you could have imagined. 

SM 27:16

Yeah,I think, I think generally fear as as if I could break down fear, we actually look at fairly try to dissect why is this a fear? It’s usually because there’s a there’s a, there’s either a process or a checklist that hasn’t been checked or something is stolen, that hasn’t been turned, or some knowledge you may not have, a lot of times I think fear ends up becoming more of a heightened emotional response, as opposed to looking at it from a practical perspective. So for me, when I in all honesty, when I first started this business, there was there was fear that okay, I’ve done this inside of an RIA, would this work, you know, would this work for any any advisor we work with. And ultimately, what ended up solving that fear was just throwing myself into it, figuring out the mistakes, making sure that I was able to offer a service to the advisor or the advisor, you know, our whole thing going when we first started, was, if this doesn’t work, we’ll pay you back. Because we wanted, we wanted people to work with us, we wanted people to try this thing out. And we wanted to cut our teeth. And so we had to just approach fear, I just I don’t believe that fear is something that we should run from I do believe that fear is something we should address. Because if we’re able to address that, and do believe it makes us stronger, certainly made me stronger. I know, we all have scenarios where when we look back at situations in which we’ve been fearful that we’ve overcome, we feel great about it, and it makes us want to attack the next year with even more vigor. So that has been something that’s that I’ve learned. But it’s so much of it is just what is the plan? Do you have a plan? You don’t have a plan? Often, that’s when fear sneaks in, right? And then let’s let’s map out every area of what a plan might look like, what happens if this goes wrong? What happens if this goes wrong? How do I respond? Right, having a game plan for how to approach that fear, I think is going to be the most beneficial thing you could do.

BA 29:10

You know, and I think something you said kind of in the beginning of that there is just being aware of why that fear is creeping in and I think there’s a differentiator there you talk about the leap from good to great is the people who are good, they might be able to overcome or move through the fears. But I think the people who truly achieve achieve a certain level of excellence, they’re able to name that fear to identify it to call it to the forefront when it’s creeping up so that you’re able to tackle it head on and create that plan. So I think that is just such valuable advice. So as we wrap up here, Skylar, if you were only able to give one piece of advice to the advisor world these are your last words you’re ever able to speak to the advisor community, what would that be?

SM 29:57

It would be to think about your your Could business like an actual business? Think about it like an operation. So much of the adviser has been so focused on, you know, getting a small book of clients, and this is how I work. And, you know, so little has been focused on okay, how do I best serve these people? What are the what are the best ways to actually create a firm that would create really happy clients, as opposed to people who just say like, I guess my advisor really called me once per year, and he asked how the grandkids are doing. I don’t believe that’s the firm of the future, I just don’t. So I would say think about think about your business like a business. And once you start doing that, there’s a lot of strings you can pull. But it’s ultimately going to end up leading you in the correct place. As long as that client experience is front and center. We don’t want you to put profits front and center. We don’t want you to put personal growth or anything like that at the center. We believe in serving the client serving them wholeheartedly. Keep them at the center of it. But ask if I were a client at this firm today. What I like the experience and we have to look at it, map it out. Feel free to read, you know, draw it out or ask a friend or family member or a business partner to look at this thing. Because ultimately, it’ll make it better but you have to think about your business like a business. Because if you don’t, there’s a lot of things that you’ll miss.

BA 31:09

That is exceptional advice. Schuyler, thank you so much for coming onto the show. It has been a great pleasure having this conversation with you.
Thanks, Brittany. It was it was great to be here and really fun opportunity.

SM 31:17

Thanks, Brittany. It was it was great to be here and really fun opportunity.
Awesome. Well, hop on over to ValiConsulting.com V A Li consulting.com To learn more about Skylar and how they could support your business. That wraps up today’s episode of The Ultimate advisor podcast. We’ll catch you right here next time.

BA 31:22

Awesome. Well, hop on over to ValiConsulting.com V-A-L-I consulting.com To learn more about Skylar and how they could support your business. That wraps up today’s episode of The Ultimate advisor podcast. We’ll catch you right here next time.