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Why Brian Swilling Says Empathy Is a Wealth Advisor's Most Powerful Asset and What He Did About It · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:12
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. As you listen today, let one
0:17
idea shape what you do next. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
0:21
today's guest is Brian Swilling, Co founder and partner at
0:25
Navapath Wealth and partner at Navapath Advisory in Charlotte,
0:30
NC. For more than 20 years he has
0:33
helped practice owners and high achieving professionals build
0:37
tax efficient plans that match money with meaning.
0:41
Navapath Wealth is a boutique advisory firm launched in 2015
0:47
that delivers holistic financial planning, investment management
0:51
and retirement strategies. Backed by the digital Fetch
0:54
Financial Life Hub, It's sister company, Navapath Advisory
0:59
handles proactive tax planning, bookkeeping and outsourced CFO
1:03
work, especially for dentists and practice owners.
1:07
Brian created the Balanced Wealth Blueprint framework and
1:10
host the Oral Wealth, Prosperity and Practice podcast, extending
1:15
guidance to the dental community nationwide.
1:18
He also serves on alumni councils for UNC Charlotte and π
1:22
Kappa Phi, showing his commitment to give back.
1:26
Now before we get into all that good stuff, today's episode is
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Now back to our guest today, partner of Navipath Wealth and
2:30
Navipath Advisory, Brian Swilley.
2:33
Thanks for making the time to Share your story today.
2:35
I'm excited to be here. Thanks for having me, Anthony.
2:38
Yeah. So you started out at Bank of
2:40
America in hedge fund derivatives and later moved into
2:45
something called structured alternative investments.
2:49
Can you give a layman's explanation for these two
2:52
things? First, what are hedge fund
2:54
derivatives? Yeah.
2:56
So it was new to me when I started because that was my
2:59
first job out of college. But both of those are doing the
3:05
same thing with different names. The main, the main product we
3:11
sold was lending. So either a line of credit or a
3:19
leveraged position backed by hedge fund and private equity.
3:27
They were structured as derivatives because that was the
3:32
easiest way to do it, but it was traditional lending, so a lot of
3:37
our money. Backed by derivatives.
3:39
The derivatives were the collateral.
3:41
Yeah. So the hedge funds were the
3:43
collateral, the hedge fund and private equity LP interests were
3:47
the collateral and then we would structure the the loan as a a
3:54
swap and provide either a line of credit so that if they needed
4:00
to bridge their investors redemption.
4:03
So they was let's say example fund of hedge funds.
4:05
So they have their own investors which are pensions and large
4:10
institutions and then the hedge funds have their own liquidity.
4:15
So you have to bridge that gap. So that was one product and
4:19
prior to kind of the 2008, 2009, a lot of these companies ran
4:24
leverage on their hedge fund private equity portfolio to
4:29
juice up returns. There was a big appetite for
4:32
that prior to the financial crisis in 2008 and made off
4:39
giving people concern about some of that market.
4:44
So it was a good. It was a good.
4:46
Run. Yeah, Explain what you mean
4:47
there. What was going on prior to 2008
4:49
and 2009? How they were using this
4:52
leverage and how are they? Using derivatives, yeah.
4:55
So the, the company, like they say, you have a, you would set
4:59
up a, a company that would, there's a fund of hedge funds.
5:05
A lot of the institutions didn't have the capacity to do their
5:11
own due diligence on what hedge fund is best for their
5:16
portfolio. So these companies would do the
5:19
due diligence, build a, a, you know, a basket of hedge funds or
5:23
private equity and then give their clients access to that
5:27
basket. And then we would usually there
5:34
was 2 versions, if that we're talking about a leveraged
5:37
version, there would have been the unleveraged version and the
5:40
leveraged version. And returns for most hedge funds
5:45
in that time were smoother than the market, so less volatile
5:48
because they're hedged. So you could put leverage on it
5:54
up to three times and give that enhanced return to the client.
6:01
2008, there was the financial crisis of the mortgage market,
6:05
but at the same time there there was made off the Ponzi scheme,
6:11
which was a hedge fund. A lot of our clients had that
6:14
exposure to Madoff. So once that happened, a lot of
6:20
our clients, a lot of our competitors had clients we
6:23
actually didn't have any exposure to Madoff.
6:26
But at that point the there was just no appetite for a leveraged
6:32
product. So and we.
6:34
Started to leveraged product. Explain that for a lame a lame.
6:37
Person Oh yeah. So it's kind of like margin on
6:42
your, if you had margin in a brokerage account or just simple
6:48
terms, right? You have a, you have a just
6:51
straight investment, it averages 5% return a year, right?
6:57
If you put three times leverage on that, it's a lot more risky,
7:00
but returns this example 15%, right.
7:04
So obviously if you're comfortable with that extra
7:06
risk, you get more return that would that that's leverage.
7:11
You're basically using the same pile of cash or whatever the
7:15
collateral is to and borrowing money in a sense to make that
7:23
investment two or three times and it and if it gets that 5%
7:27
return each year, great. But if it goes down, oh baby,
7:32
right? Exactly.
7:34
And that's what that's what happened.
7:37
That's what happened. Some of these funds went down
7:41
and they lost the appetite. Got in for that.
7:46
So that was that was the start of my career, first to Bank of
7:51
America, then they sold the business to a French bank and
7:55
then I was recruited to start with three other my colleagues
7:59
to start the business at Credit Suisse.
8:02
And that's where I spent the 1st or the last eight years of my
8:07
time in New York City. So it was an exciting time to
8:11
grow a business from scratch for sure.
8:13
And you were recruited specifically to grow what kind
8:17
of business? That same business that we were
8:19
just discussing. Even though people's appetite
8:22
for this had kind of dried up at the time.
8:25
Yeah. So we started right.
8:27
We started a year before all the chaos.
8:31
So what happened was we were positioned with, we were a
8:35
newer, A newer entrant to the market.
8:39
So we had a lot less of the bad exposure.
8:43
So when our competitors had that exposure, they were getting out
8:47
of the business and shutting down South clients had the good,
8:52
the good business had some needed somewhere to go and we
8:55
were positioned right there to accept.
9:00
Even though you guys had very little runway, you had maybe 12
9:04
months or so of kind of establishing yourselves.
9:07
You had the name of this French bank, Credit Suisse, behind you.
9:10
And so as these other instruments, these, you know,
9:13
competitors kind of fell apart 'cause they were exposed to this
9:16
risk. People are like, oh, here's
9:18
another option. Pretty safe, pretty sound.
9:21
They're at that point, they were like, who can take us?
9:23
We can't not have this, you know, this functionality, Yeah,
9:28
this, this ability to borrow so it.
9:32
Was the business just blew up for you at that point, I
9:35
imagine? Yeah, yeah, it was a, it was a
9:37
very good run and I am really enjoyed the the growing part
9:43
building out the business under, under the new bank.
9:48
You know, at first it was, you know, we were building it out.
9:51
It was slow on purpose as we were building it up.
9:54
Then all of a sudden the floodgates opened and we were
9:57
running full steam ahead. It was it was a good time.
10:01
So you did that for eight years. I get that.
10:04
Eight years that Credit Suisse. And then at some point, you
10:07
decide, oh, the comfy confines of a corporate job don't suit me
10:13
anymore. What was the inspiration for
10:16
going off to do your own thing? Yeah, it would.
10:19
It was building up over time. So I really enjoyed the growth
10:23
part. It, it felt more
10:25
entrepreneurial, you know, even though it was a massive bank,
10:29
you know, we were a smaller group and we were growing fast
10:33
and I was taking on all these different responsibilities and,
10:36
you know, filling in wherever it needed to make this work.
10:39
And then as we grew, you know, there was more layers involved.
10:44
It became more of a of, of what you would think a bank structure
10:47
would be right. There's, you know, it was four
10:51
of us all kind of working at different levels, but all
10:54
working together. There was no hierarchy.
10:57
And then the traditional corporate hierarchy came in and
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I had been doing it for 11 years and I just wasn't enjoying it as
11:09
much as I was and was looking for other opportunities.
11:15
They are the, you know, the bank didn't make it very easy on me
11:20
to find those opportunities. You know, whether it was, oh,
11:24
well, you, you get paid too much to learn something new or, you
11:28
know, or, or we could take you over here, but we think, you
11:33
know, we'd have to cut your pay. I don't think you'd be happy,
11:35
right? Like, so there was a lot of that
11:37
for you for over a year. I was very transparent.
11:42
I was looking for something different.
11:44
It, it was, you know, we were doing great.
11:46
I was doing great, but I just fell out of love with the
11:50
business and I need, I'm somebody who needs to be
11:54
inspired to really do my best work and, and I lost that.
11:59
So I, I started looking around for what I wanted to do and the
12:07
entrepreneurial niche or itch kept coming back.
12:13
It's like, oh, do I take another cushy job with a similar salary
12:16
doing a similar thing just to keep going?
12:21
Kind of dabbled in that. But then ultimately I was like,
12:24
how do I use these skills and my knowledge of finance and
12:28
financial services to provide to help more people?
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And I kept coming back to financial planning, wealth
12:37
management. So.
12:40
So you decided. To hang up your own shingle.
12:42
Yep, I ended up leaving that company and moving back to the
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Charlotte area where I grew up to start the business.
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So at the time I was married with a three month old and just
12:56
picked up and came. Back.
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That's a great time to quit your job and start a new business.
13:01
Move to a new city. Yep.
13:02
Yeah, you always, I always look back on.
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I'm like, I could have done that way more strategically like it,
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you know, I could have worked there for years, you know,
13:15
without the inspiration, you know, a couple more years
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without the inspiration, get more settled, you know, get, get
13:21
ready. But I I felt like, I just felt
13:25
in my soul that this was the right thing to do.
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And so you move back to Charlotte, you start a financial
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wealth management company. What was the plan?
13:34
Who were you going to target? How?
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Are you going to get? Customers.
13:38
Yeah, I grew up in a family of dentists, so my dad is a dentist
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and then my younger sister also went into dentistry.
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I knew their unique and you knew I knew the uniqueness of that
13:53
profession. I knew a lot of them want to
13:56
become owners. I knew it would be AI understood
14:00
that group and I and there end up being a good client because
14:05
they earn a decent living and a lot of them become owners which
14:09
increases complexity. OK, so you had your dad, you had
14:15
your sister's clients out of the gate.
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Were they able to introduce a lot of their friends?
14:21
Yeah. So that that was a big part of
14:25
it early on. It was a lot of introductions
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to, you know, my sister did a great job of introducing me to
14:34
her friends. They were younger at that point.
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You know, earlier in your career as a dentist, you know,
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financial planning is should be a top priority, but you have
14:45
other things going on. So I got most of my success by
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connecting with other people who work with dentists.
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So dental bankers, you know, healthcare bankers, Cpas,
15:00
commercial real estate people that find.
15:03
So it was, it was always a referral based business.
15:08
Early on. I also got opportunities to
15:11
speak at the dental schools, which got me in front of a lot
15:15
of dentists that again, they were younger, so not the ideal
15:24
full financial planning client, usually protection planning, so
15:29
life insurance, disability to get started.
15:33
Bless you. So early growth was mostly from
15:41
referrals and that work trying to get in front of dentists.
15:46
And Brian, what were some things that were specific or unique to
15:50
dentists when it comes to the financial wealth planning
15:53
services that you were offering? Yeah, so the, you know,
15:59
dentists, doctors, lawyers, you know, they go, they have a lot
16:05
of school, right? They, you know, undergrad,
16:08
right, student loans, then you have dental school, then you
16:12
maybe you do, you know, a couple years and you know, in an
16:19
internship or AGPR at a hospital and then you get started.
16:24
So you come out with a lot of debt, a lot of schooling, a lot
16:29
of knowledge on how to be the best dentist, but not a lot of
16:34
knowledge on how on money, finances, how to run a business.
16:40
So I saw a lot of opportunity there and you know, that
16:45
expands. You know, dentists are unique in
16:48
the fact that they have they're highly educated and their
16:52
owners, but owners in general, like if you're a owner of a
16:57
business, you need you need a lot of help.
17:02
You realize you can't do everything.
17:05
So that, you know, that became something I, you know, Dennis
17:10
was, is a big part of my marketing.
17:12
But business owners in general have very they all have very
17:15
similar issues. And I realized that I have a
17:20
unique ability to help them at least get the financial side the
17:25
that picture built and give them comfort that they are moving in
17:31
the right direction. They're not just showing up to
17:33
earn money. So we've got two different
17:35
companies here today, Navipath Wealth and Navipath Advisory.
17:40
What are the different services that you're providing in each?
17:43
Yeah. So, so Navipath Wealth is the
17:45
financial planning, wealth management, investment
17:48
management, protection planning. So typical financial advisory
17:52
firm. That was the original company.
17:56
That was my passion. We did a lot of tax planning
18:01
over the years in Navrapath Wealth, so trying to find ways
18:06
to mitigate tax bills. And we always needed to
18:11
coordinate with Cpas to to agree on the strategy so they could
18:18
file the taxes right. So it needed to be a
18:20
collaborative experience early on.
18:24
We had good relationships. Through a lot of mergers and job
18:29
changes, we kind of lost that key person to kind of coordinate
18:34
with. So the opportunity fell.
18:39
A fraternity brother of mine from UNC Charlotte was looking
18:43
to start a tax accounting, bookkeeping, CFO business.
18:48
He was, you know, he's he, he's older than me.
18:51
He'd been doing it for 30 years, but was ready to do it for
18:54
himself. Didn't want to work for the man
18:56
anymore and reached out to me and we've been thinking about
19:01
how to fill that tax and accounting bookkeeping void and
19:05
be pro and have a proactive partner there.
19:08
So we ended up founding Navapath Advisory to support that.
19:14
And what was the time frame you started Navapath Wealth in what
19:21
year and then Navapath Advisory in what?
19:23
Year. So Navapath was started in 2015
19:27
and Nava Path Advisory was started two years ago so
19:33
20/20/24 at this point. OK, so it's still pretty new
19:39
yeah. So it's a newer company that's
19:42
operating as a startup. There's three partners there,
19:45
the CPA partner, JB Best, Brian Whitley and myself are all part
19:54
of that business. And my main responsibility there
19:59
is business development. So thank God I don't have to do
20:05
the tax and accounting and bookkeeping work, but it is a
20:11
great resource to have internally, right.
20:16
They've already, let's say they're already clients are on
20:18
the wealth on the nephmath well side.
20:20
They they've already built that trust.
20:25
They have some tax and accounting needs.
20:27
Either their current person is not doing a good enough job or
20:35
they're, you know, don't have the dental knowledge that we
20:38
have, you know, so we all we automatically have that trust
20:43
and it's, it's automatic. Everybody has to file taxes,
20:47
right. So, you know, so like it's a
20:50
good resource to have, but it it's really that tax planning,
20:54
that proactive tax planning on both sides of the business that
20:57
really move the needle for our clients.
21:00
So your primary responsibility in Navipath Advisory is business
21:03
development. Does that mostly look like
21:06
talking to the Navipath Wealth customers and saying, hey, we've
21:10
got something to offer over here, or are you knocking on
21:14
brand new doors as well? Yeah.
21:16
So it's, you know, obviously we announced it to all our clients,
21:22
but we were very, if you're happy with your current person,
21:26
like please stay. We'll we'll work
21:29
collaboratively, collaboratively with that person just as we
21:33
always have. But if you ever have a need, we
21:36
have this resource. So a lot of the growth has come
21:40
from introductions. Again, referrals from other
21:47
people working with dentists either from they're starting,
21:51
you know, they're only a start up practice or buying a practice
21:56
or they're just unhappy with the current person.
21:58
And because tax and accounting is so broad, we actually have,
22:02
you know, we talked a lot, I talked a lot about Dennis
22:05
because that is a big focus. But we have a broad spectrum of
22:10
business owners in that business and, and the Natpath advisory
22:13
business and the Natpath wealth. But again, every, everybody has
22:22
to file taxes. Everybody should do financial
22:25
planning and wealth management, but a lot of times they're not
22:29
ready yet. So we actually get a lot of
22:31
people new to Navipath on the tax and accounting side.
22:37
And then a year or two later or a year later, they realize they
22:42
need more help. And then we we get him as a
22:45
client on the navpath wealth side.
22:47
So I'm glad you said what you just said there because I
22:50
thought you were exclusively Dennis and you're like, Nope.
22:53
We serve a broad range of clients.
22:56
So who is a fit for you, Brian? Yeah, So the the generic answer
23:03
is successful business owners, right certain.
23:07
Industries, Geography, Sizes. I mean, obviously healthcare we
23:12
understand very well. It's really a profit for us.
23:19
It's a profitability bucket, right?
23:22
When we look at it as a whole, right?
23:24
The tax and accounting side, if you're willing, if you're at a
23:29
point in your business where you need to outsource bookkeeping,
23:33
accounting, tax work, you need a little bit more advice, right?
23:37
That's why I say successful. You know, it's not the services
23:41
are not cheap, right, because they're, you know, we're
23:45
proactive and, and engaged and, you know, best in, you know,
23:52
best in class, you know, we feel that we feel that we're that
23:56
way. So it's not cheap.
23:58
So you need to have at least established enough business to
24:03
want, you know, to, to want to outsource that right on the well
24:09
side. You know, we look at it like if
24:13
you're making, if you're making about $500,000 a year net,
24:19
you're going to be a great client on both sides of the
24:21
business. And we do our business a little
24:24
different than your traditional, you know, financial advisory
24:27
firm. And we do that on purpose to be
24:29
able to help these younger, you know, dentists, medical
24:35
professionals, business owners, you know, we don't have like a
24:39
specific asset minimum, we have revenue minimums.
24:44
So a lot of these younger business owners, younger
24:48
dentists, younger medical professionals don't realize they
24:50
can actually work with a true advisor, not just somebody who
24:54
is going to, you know, sell them some life insurance or some
24:57
disability, but like really work with, you know, the owner, the,
25:03
the owner and his family to build a full financial plan.
25:07
And again, that matches their values to make sure their money,
25:12
they're using their money for the purposes that bring them
25:16
joy. And, and it's not just to save,
25:20
right? Like there's a bigger purpose
25:22
there. So, so we don't have a minimum,
25:24
we just have a retainer based fee.
25:28
Yeah. You've highlighted that you just
25:29
specialize in this proactive tax planning kind of, you know, big
25:34
picture, holistic financial strategies.
25:36
What are some of the most common tax pitfalls that you've seen,
25:39
and how do you help your clients resolve them?
25:42
Yeah. I mean, most of the time it is
25:47
adding. It's not, it's not tax pitfalls.
25:49
It's just, we say, you know, there's a lot of Gray area in
25:55
tax law, right? And a lot of people just don't
26:00
know all the ways they can take advantage of tax deductions.
26:06
So, you know, the simplest thing is, you know, there's a lot of
26:13
credits and benefits the government has put out to
26:18
promote companies setting up four O 1 KS, right?
26:21
So you have a big tax bill, you're not providing A4O1K
26:26
benefit, profit sharing, sometimes cash balance plans,
26:31
but that's an enhanced retirement strategy.
26:33
But that's a good, that's an easy one, right?
26:35
You have money that's taxable to say you have money in your right
26:39
pocket that's taxable. Let's put it in a tax deferred
26:43
bucket and reduce your tax bill today.
26:47
So if you're a high earner, you know, it's, it makes a lot of
26:51
sense to add that benefit for you and your staff.
26:56
You know, there's strategies like paying, you know, paying
27:00
your kids right, Make sure you know, have they have, if they
27:04
have actual office duties, document the duties right.
27:08
And you know, you pay your kids a salary and then if it's under
27:14
whatever it is now, 15 ish thousand, they don't have to
27:17
file their own tax returns. So you get to deduct that the
27:20
kid gets, you know, that money. We usually recommend that that
27:26
you set up a custodial Roth if they're underage to start saving
27:30
for the kids. So they get that money tax free
27:33
and then it gets invested tax free in a Roth.
27:38
You know, there's the, there's a bunch of there's, it's usually
27:41
not a lot of the times it's not I made a huge tax issue.
27:44
It's more are you taking advantage of all the tax loop?
27:49
You know, the tax opportunities, there's the Augusta rule,
27:54
there's how you, you know, do you have a vehicle that is
27:58
solely for business purposes? So a lot of that, a lot of that,
28:03
a lot of adding things that they weren't aware of that have a
28:08
huge tax benefit. You know, it strikes me, Brian,
28:12
that you've now gone through, I'm still going through to some
28:15
extent, 2 start-ups in 11 years. What have you learned?
28:21
What did you learn from the NAV of Path Wealth Startup that now
28:26
you're able to apply those lessons to and kind of add some
28:30
shortcuts to your own business development with Natapath
28:32
Advisory? Yeah, I mean, you know, the
28:35
early on I realized like I tell my clients is it's hard to build
28:44
it in a on an island, right. So the first thing I did when I
28:50
started my own financial planning practice was partner
28:55
with another advisor who was Ryan Whitley, who was also
28:59
working in that dental field because he's married into a
29:03
family of dentists. So I was like, why?
29:05
You know, it looks better as a team, share ideas.
29:10
So we kind of work jointly on a lot of things together and then
29:13
decided to partner. So that was like the first
29:16
decision that we made is to try to build out that team, try to
29:20
be more robust and partnerships have their ups and downs,
29:28
differences in opinion how to do that.
29:31
So I learned a lot in that process, which gave me a lot
29:35
more comfort to to start up the Navrapath advisory, the tax and
29:41
accounting business. I already had that like
29:46
experience partnering and growing a business.
29:49
So I felt a lot more comfortable with the structure of how we
29:54
would start this new business and I knew it was going to be,
29:59
you know, that operated both of them operated as a as a start
30:02
up, right. So no revenue day one, not you
30:05
know, not paying yourself, but you still got expenses.
30:09
So I dealt with that on, you know, that growth trajectory on
30:14
the naval path wealth side. So I was very comfortable with
30:18
that process. Obviously finding partners that
30:21
are willing to take that risk with you is hard, but we were
30:25
able to find the right partner and that has been a very
30:29
successful business and and grown faster than the well side
30:34
did initially. Well, that's the benefit of
30:39
experience the second time around.
30:41
Yeah. So let's talk about your
30:42
balanced Wealth blueprint. As I understand it, this
30:46
integrates financial goals with personal values.
30:49
And I think maybe for our listeners, the best way to kind
30:52
of wrap their heads around this is if you could share a real
30:56
life example of how you layered this approach and created a
31:00
positive outcome for one of your clients.
31:03
Yeah. So the it's really the whole
31:07
idea is in structured and behavioral finance, right.
31:11
So as the world gets more commoditized, so our world, you
31:18
know, your world, the one thing that stands the test of time,
31:25
even with AI coming in, the one thing I'll stand the test of
31:28
time is that relationship with a another human, right?
31:34
Lot of the things will lot of the old, like I, I sell a
31:38
product, it's the best product. You know, our our world is
31:41
moving away from that to that more comprehensive, like let me
31:46
really understand you and your family.
31:49
You know, we I've added like a values exercise.
31:52
So I have AI, recently got the the behavioral financial advisor
31:58
certification. I didn't even know that was a
32:00
thing. Yeah, which is focused on
32:05
handling your own and client emotions and searching for the
32:11
best outcomes in those relationships.
32:15
Money is a very sensitive topic. Emotions usually, you know,
32:20
always come into play. You know, we're emotional
32:24
investors, like a lot of retail investors.
32:29
You know, most retail investors you can look at the statistics
32:32
are really bad at making good investment decisions.
32:36
Even if they know like that, they should buy, you know, buy
32:41
low, sell high, right emotion to get involved.
32:45
So you know, once you under psych.
32:47
So it starts with understanding the values like so you have a
32:51
client, let's say they they favor family, giving back and
32:57
vacation, right, and traveling, right?
33:00
That's, that's their core values, but they're spending all
33:04
their time at work and not traveling, you know, not
33:10
spending time with their family, right?
33:13
So we need to realign that financial plan needs to realign
33:18
their money with their actual values.
33:22
So it goes beyond just, hey, let's start saving for
33:26
retirement. It's like, let's, how can we
33:30
structure your business, your personal life to do more
33:36
traveling, to spend more time with family?
33:39
And how is money going to be the tool to reach those goals?
33:45
Obviously retire, retirement is, you know, some some form of
33:50
financial independence is always part of a plan.
33:54
But again, it's not what drives the plan and not just what
33:57
drives a client. So a lot of I've had a lot of
34:01
success with people finally understanding, putting it on
34:05
paper like yes, these are the things I value.
34:08
So it makes them makes them able to make decisions much better
34:14
that align with those values. Brian, was it difficult for you
34:19
to transition into this way of practicing?
34:22
You know, we typically think of people in silos, right?
34:26
We've got these finance guys, they're great with numbers.
34:29
They can connect the dots there, but they're not generally the
34:32
people that we think of as being, you know, good at
34:34
handling people's emotions. That's sort of a different
34:37
bucket of people. Yeah, yeah.
34:39
And it's, it's an interesting approach, right?
34:42
You can't just be like, I'm here to handle your emotions, right?
34:45
Like, you know, I was nervous about like looking at my
34:51
clients, which clients would like really be into this, you
34:56
know, looking at their values, right, aligning their values
35:00
with their goals and others ones like no, just talk to me about
35:05
the numbers, right. So you still have a lot of
35:08
those, but as technology improves, the, the numbers are
35:13
the commodity, right? It's again, it's the, if I can
35:17
really understand my clients and they feel that real, that they
35:23
know that I understand them better than most and have their
35:27
best interest at heart, We're able to achieve goals a lot
35:33
faster than somebody who's just trusting me with the, you know,
35:38
the number, the investing, right, the retirement plan,
35:42
right? So the main, the main success is
35:45
that building that trust because the technology is going to keep
35:48
improving and all that stuff's going to become easier, right,
35:52
More commoditized. So the relationship is the key
35:57
in those, you know. So will it, will it be a good
36:03
fit for everybody? No, but I'm at a point where I
36:10
want clients that value my services and I want, you know,
36:14
and I want to clients that appreciate how I deliver right.
36:19
So it, it has been a transition. It's early in that transition,
36:23
the balanced Wealth blueprint, which is the the name I've
36:28
called my new financial planning process incorporating these
36:31
behavioral finance aspects, the values, but it's clients have
36:37
really appreciated it. And some of my current clients
36:40
are like, Nah, I'm good. I'm good with status quo.
36:44
We don't need to go all this level.
36:46
But most of my new clients come in and and have that process and
36:49
have been happy, and I've seen accelerated adoption of my
36:54
recommendations because of it. Let's talk about technology that
36:58
you mentioned. AI is at the forefront of
37:01
everybody's minds. How are you guys using it today?
37:06
Using AI specifically yeah. So the first thing, which which
37:11
has been a game changer, we are in a very regulated field.
37:16
So random use of AI is, is frowned upon, right?
37:22
It has to be compliant. But the first thing that we
37:26
leveraged was using AAI note taker that's connected with our
37:31
CRM and our financial planning software and our asset
37:42
allocation tool, right? So it, it's incorporated with
37:45
all those tools. So it pulls in information that
37:48
we already have and it pushes out information, new information
37:52
that we get when we talk to them.
37:56
That's been a game changer because I don't have to sit and
37:58
take notes constantly and get distracted from the real client
38:05
conversation. So I can be more engaged with
38:07
clients and, you know, provides a massive amount of resource
38:13
that even taking notes wouldn't I would have missed a few
38:17
nuances, right? So it's been a huge game
38:20
changer. You know, I've used AI in to
38:27
help with marketing. That's always been a hard thing
38:30
for me to think of ideas and AI has been a huge resource to kind
38:38
of move that process forward. Yeah, the, you know, now we in
38:48
the in the meeting app, we also does meeting prep.
38:53
So it looks at old meetings and all the other connected systems
38:56
and also improves the meeting prep time.
38:59
So it reduces meeting prep time by a lot.
39:03
But that's just the start, right?
39:05
Soon, you know, the, you know, we're working on how, what other
39:10
ways can we use AI? Can we use AI to help the
39:16
integration between the different softwares, right?
39:18
Can we use AI to streamline a financial summary, right?
39:25
Could we upload a bunch of documents into AI and have it
39:32
put together a personal balance sheet and throw out suggestions
39:37
or issues? We're using another software, FP
39:45
Alpha, that analyzes tax returns using AI and your estate
39:49
planning documents. And now they've added insurance,
39:54
so commercial and property casualty insurance review.
40:00
So if you, if you get your declaration page and we upload
40:04
it and it can, you know, it'll spit out, you know, some, some
40:09
suggestions, you know, some are not relevant, some are.
40:13
So you still have, you know, you still need a human aspect to it.
40:16
And I think that's the biggest thing I've discovered is like, I
40:21
can't just throw it in AI and trust it.
40:24
I've got to verify it and use my own knowledge of the situation
40:29
of the person to see which suggestions are actually valid.
40:34
But I think we're just at the, you know, because we're
40:37
regulated adoption is slower, like our very regulated industry
40:41
adoption is slower, but it's, it's just a, you know, it's just
40:45
getting started, you know, and. So let me let me kind of peel
40:51
back layers of the onion there. I want to hear about a couple of
40:53
these use cases. This AI note taker.
40:56
Obviously this is an approved secure tool that you can, you
41:00
know, put the information into. And I think if I understand how
41:03
you're using this right, you can take transcripts from client
41:06
calls, you know, it helps to feed that information into ACRM
41:11
or maybe another tool that you're using to do some of the
41:14
financial analysis. It maybe it's also pulling an
41:18
e-mail communication with clients.
41:19
So it's got like a, you know, a full 360 view of the
41:23
conversation that's been taking place.
41:26
And then as you're getting ready for the next meeting with the
41:29
client, it's providing you some sort of talking points or a
41:32
summary of, hey, here's kind of what we said we were going to do
41:34
the next time so that you're coming in fully prepared.
41:38
You get to spend more time face to face with the client, less
41:41
time sort of behind a computer screen, you know, doing the data
41:45
entry on all these notes and, you know, going back through
41:47
everything. So it's sort of like the world's
41:49
best assistant. Yeah, I mean, that's exactly,
41:52
that's exactly what it does, right?
41:53
It join, you know, it'll join my virtual meetings, which a lot of
41:58
my clients are virtual because I have clients all across the US,
42:02
so I can work with clients anywhere, you know, I the phone
42:08
app. So if you meet in person, you
42:10
can just turn it on. Obviously you got to, you know,
42:13
always disclose. Hey, I'm going to use my app, my
42:16
AI note taker. And then it does all those
42:19
things. You, you know, you talked about
42:21
it. It's, it's feeding all that
42:23
information, you know, saving it in CRMS. You know, the, you
42:29
know, the next steps would ideally be like, hey, you know,
42:32
when we get a new document, automatically save it in this
42:34
folder. Or you know, if we get this, if
42:38
we get this, do that right. Like that's the next step I
42:43
think in the AI journey for us. And then marketing side of
42:48
things less regulated for you, right, You're not putting
42:51
sensitive client information in there.
42:53
You're just kind of using a chat function of an LLM and saying,
42:56
hey, here's my business. What are some ideas you can give
42:59
me? Yeah, you.
43:01
Yeah, usually it's directed at if I have a issue with a client
43:05
or a question that clients bring up more than once, that's
43:10
usually how my marketing is like.
43:12
My ideas come like if more than if more than one person has it
43:16
or if a client comes with an interesting idea that requires,
43:20
you know, that would require some kind of more information,
43:25
you know, and I think other people would have interest that
43:29
those are the ideas. So I keep a list of ideas that
43:31
come up and AI has just accelerated that process.
43:38
Because if I have the idea and it understands my business and
43:43
how I would write, you know, a social post or a blog, it does a
43:50
really good job of, of streamlining and, and making
43:54
that process a lot less less, lot less painful for me, right.
43:58
Sitting down lol. Have you found preference with?
44:01
Yes, I've tried a lot of them. I've used Google Gemini, I've
44:06
used ChatGPT. What was the I've used Microsoft
44:13
Copilot but I found for my purposes ChatGPT has been the
44:21
best. Actually have a friend coming
44:25
over tomorrow to show me all the stuff he's done and clawed he I
44:33
think for him it's a lot they do.
44:35
Cloud does a lot more coding. So it just depends on what
44:40
you're looking for it to do. For me, asking questions,
44:47
getting you know, and I use it as an enhanced Google, like when
44:51
you first, if you had a question about something, you might
44:53
Google it. You know, I've I've used ChatGPT
44:57
in a similar way or to draft, help me draft marketing stuff,
45:02
so. Let's talk about your podcast,
45:06
Oral Wealth Prosperity and Practice.
45:09
You know, obviously given the name, you could see this target
45:12
specifically the part of your business that, you know, we're
45:15
just working with dental practices.
45:17
What are some things that you talk about on the show, some
45:20
unique financial operational hurdles that maybe folks can
45:23
learn more about and how to resolve?
45:26
Yeah, so First off, oral wealth kind of always gets people like,
45:30
oh, that's a weird name. Obviously play on oral health,
45:33
right. So oral health, oral wealth.
45:36
So it the podcast was designed and originally with Co host
45:42
who's an oral surgeon locally. We did a bunch of the first
45:46
episodes together. He got too busy to keep going.
45:49
So the later episodes are are me and guests, myself and guests.
45:54
But we, we want to talk about the same way as like, what are
45:57
the biggest issues that dentists are facing?
46:03
You know, and we open it up to like, you know, dental, medical
46:07
healthcare, so adjacent, but it's, it's a heavy, obviously a
46:12
heavy dental, dental focus. But we want the the stories to
46:17
translate outside to others, you know, professions that have
46:22
similar issues. But you know, it's like student
46:25
loans, right? Understanding all the changes in
46:27
the student loan market, right? We'll have a podcast on how to
46:31
like, when to know when to buy a practice.
46:35
Like do you want to be an associate, like a lifetime
46:38
associate? Do you want to buy a practice?
46:40
Do you want to do a start up? What are the differences?
46:44
What are the hurdles? Like what financially do you
46:46
need to get together to to make that happen?
46:51
We talked about, you know, I had a guest on about selling a
46:54
practice. So it's really that life cycle
46:57
from dental student to I'm ready for the next chapter.
47:05
I'm going to sell my practice or retire or want to reach
47:09
financial independence. So it's everything in between
47:12
like hiring, you know, hiring staff.
47:14
So all the IT, it wants to be, you know, the, the goal there is
47:21
to have a story for all the different stages of what it's
47:25
like to be a dentist from young age where you're working as an
47:32
associate. It's just a job to paying off
47:34
student loans to, to starting your financial plan.
47:37
Like understanding, you know, I think we have one episode about
47:40
how to hire a financial, like what to look for in a financial
47:44
advisor, right? Like early stage stuff.
47:46
Do the OK, now I have a little bit more complex situation by
47:51
the practice, you know, starting a family, like there's a whole
47:57
lot, a lot of levels to that that we could talk about at
48:01
different levels. But it's, it's mainly that life
48:04
of a dentist from going to dentist school to what what it's
48:11
like after you hang up, you know, your smock or, you know,
48:16
sell your practice. So I think it, it could relate
48:20
to all business owners, but we, we are, you know, and, and
48:25
you're probably familiar with this, it's just niche marketing
48:28
works really well rather than I work with everybody like.
48:35
So that's still a big focus. I I still think that market is
48:40
underserved because either they're too busy to focus on
48:43
financial planning or they don't even realize before they have
48:48
that, you know, that 500,000 million dollars that they can
48:51
actually work with a, a real professional, you know, so we, I
48:57
still got work to do there. What?
48:59
Where can people find it? On all the big podcast platforms
49:02
or. Just on your SO it's on.
49:04
It's everywhere. You can listen to podcasts and
49:06
on YouTube. Great.
49:08
So we do video and audio. We'll make sure we get a link to
49:11
that and put it into the show notes for folks.
49:13
But I want to shift gears for a moment, Brian, and would like to
49:16
explore a very big, serious challenge that you've had to
49:20
overcome in your life, how you got through that and what you
49:23
learned going through the process.
49:25
Yeah, so I think that my first, my first challenge was, you
49:32
know, you know, my, I guess my first challenge was moving to
49:36
New York City for my first job out of college and not knowing
49:40
and knowing one person. Like I knew one person that
49:42
lived there. Never.
49:45
I'd been in the Charlotte area though the whole time before.
49:47
I grew up in a town called Gastonia, right outside of
49:50
Charlotte, went to UNC Charlotte and then got a job in New York
49:55
City. So that was different place.
50:00
First corporate job, lot of life, you know, some, you know,
50:05
some lonely time, some like, you know, what am I got myself into
50:08
times like can I really afford this rent?
50:11
Like do I need to get a roommate?
50:14
Then the next big, you know, and that you know, that was a
50:17
struggle for the first year and then then it you know, just
50:22
became home really. And then the next challenge was
50:27
like, can I really leave this job?
50:31
That's, you know, treated me so well and I've done well at I'm
50:36
really good at it. Am I being irrational for being,
50:40
you know, for losing that passion, right.
50:43
And that was, you know, so that was a big transition is like, am
50:46
I ready to go from the corporate world to, you know, starting my
50:52
own thing? And especially when it's it's
50:56
adjacent, but it's not the exact same thing I was doing.
51:01
So that was that was a hurdle and it took talking to a, you
51:05
know, my family, you know, the support of my wife, you know,
51:11
with a young kid, like she could have been like, absolutely not.
51:14
We've got to be safe. And you know, you're going to be
51:18
working this corporate job is, you know, and hate it for as
51:21
long as you want, but she's like, now I want you to be
51:22
happy. Whatever we got to do.
51:26
So that support system really got me through that.
51:30
And I probably wouldn't if, if without that support, I probably
51:35
would still be working and investment banking in New York
51:39
City and probably commuting from the burbs 2 hours and it
51:44
wouldn't have been very fun. But when when we're talking
51:48
about, you know, the practice, like growing a practice, I the
51:54
biggest struggle was I was overconfident in how fast I
51:58
could grow this because of my, because of my background.
52:03
I'm like, oh, everybody, you know, like I had to stop talking
52:08
about, oh, I spent, you know, 11 years in New York City.
52:11
Like, you know, people want to work with people they know like
52:14
and trust. They, you know, I learned very
52:18
fast that they could really care less about my, you know,
52:23
investment banking experience. Yes, it does give me more
52:27
knowledge than somebody who decide to become a financial
52:31
advisor without that background. But that did not accelerate my
52:35
growth. You know, I think early on it
52:39
turned some people off. You know, I've worked, you know,
52:44
Charlotte is still is Charlotte's a big city, but it's
52:46
still got the small town vibes. Like people want to work with
52:51
people they know, like and trust and they're not Googling your
52:55
background before they decide to work with you, right?
52:58
So that was a big, that was a big hurdle in realizing how hard
53:02
it is to grow a business when and how hard it is for people to
53:08
talk about money. Like it's still, that's still a
53:11
struggle to this day. Is is just making money, a
53:18
comfortable conversation, talking to a client in a way
53:22
they understand, you know, and not trying to be the smartest
53:26
person in the room, just like learn how to understand the
53:30
client. So I want to go back to the
53:32
first challenge that you started with moving to New York.
53:35
You knew one person lonely bills are high.
53:39
What did I do? But within a year you're like,
53:43
oh, this is home. Like, you know, like a a big
53:46
shift. What were some of the
53:48
incremental steps in between that got you from feeling very
53:52
lonely and did I make a mistake to now this feels like home?
53:56
Yeah, so I, you know, you when you're in that situation, like
54:01
early on, luckily I was working with a lot of other young
54:05
professionals, right? So I got, you know, I got close
54:10
and we worked very closely together because we were kind of
54:12
a small group. We've always, you know, we were
54:15
always a smaller group, even though the business was pretty
54:18
big. So first, you know, I started
54:21
off by the support of my Co workers, right?
54:25
You know, let's go out and, you know, hang out after work.
54:30
Then I started building, you know, through the one person I
54:34
knew. He mean he was working 95 hours
54:37
a week. So I didn't get to see him that
54:38
often. But when I did, like, you know,
54:41
oh, you should meet my friend. And then you just start building
54:44
out that network of support. And, you know, I say a year.
54:53
It might have not been that fast, but it, it was hard
54:57
initially, but got much better as I kind of fell into the flow.
55:04
You know, one of the things I did to, you know, start meeting
55:07
other people was I joined a group that was, you know, raised
55:11
money for Leukemia Lymphoma society and trained you for like
55:16
a marathon. So that's where I met my wife.
55:19
So I had my work, you know, hang out, you know, drink crew and
55:27
then I had my all we do is talk about running crew.
55:29
So those crews, you know, didn't really match very well.
55:32
But like I just found ways to build to meet people with with
55:38
similar interests. I actually wasn't a runner at
55:40
the point. I was like, let's just see if I
55:41
can do this. So, you know, it just took, it
55:46
took effort. It took effort and, and built,
55:49
you know, put myself out there to find that support and, you
55:54
know, and the business was going well.
55:56
Like I was getting paid well. It became easier to pay right.
56:00
Like the, you know, your first, the first like my contract that
56:07
I got out of, you know, college. My offer was like, dude, this is
56:11
like, I probably was the same. You would get offered to live in
56:15
Charlotte, but it was in New York City.
56:19
So it goes a lot farther. So luckily I was, you know,
56:23
there was growth in the company, in the, in our business and I
56:27
found success and I, you know, finally, like I initially was
56:31
like, I'll get paid enough to live and then, oh, I get paid
56:34
pretty well. So that, you know, obviously
56:38
money does help to a certain extent.
56:40
Well, and the other part of your story that I really like there
56:43
is, like, you, you didn't sit on the couch, right?
56:46
You were trying things. It's like, OK, like making the
56:49
extra effort to get to know the folks at work and, hey, let's go
56:52
out for drinks or dinner afterwards.
56:54
You know, you volunteer this leukemia association.
56:57
You, hey, I'm going to try to be a runner.
56:59
You know you just put yourself in different situations to try
57:02
to meet people rather than sitting there and feeling sorry
57:05
for yourself and hoping that the solution to your problem falls
57:08
in your lap, right? Yeah, and I and it's it's hard,
57:13
especially in a new city, in a big city like that, it's harder
57:19
to meet people. You have to put yourself out
57:21
there like you're just not, you know, you're not going to meet
57:23
your neighbors. Like a lot of them will won't
57:25
even make eye contact with you as you walk down the hall.
57:29
So yeah, yeah, I mean, I just yeah, like I if I wanted to
57:34
live, you know, live an enjoyable life, I had to put
57:36
myself out there. And that was, you know, that
57:39
that's every, that's that never ends, right?
57:42
Like got constantly have to put myself out there to get new
57:47
clients or to find ways to grow my business or, you know, to how
57:53
do I serve my clients better? Like, am I giving them the best
57:56
service? And you got to get uncomfortable
58:00
to grow, which I've, you know, keep having to remind myself
58:05
over and over again. Yeah, growth comes from being
58:08
really uncomfortable at times, doesn't it?
58:10
Yeah. I mean, that's, that's where,
58:12
you know, if everything comes easy, that's not where the
58:17
growth, you know, that's not where growth comes right,
58:20
personally or professionally. You know, the other interesting
58:22
part of your story there, Brian, is when you started the
58:25
business, you were overconfident about your ability to grow it
58:28
very quickly. I've, I've been there multiple
58:31
times, businesses I've started. Yeah, I hear a lot of that on
58:34
the show. Like if, you know, if, if you
58:36
had known how difficult it would have been, you might not have
58:40
done it. And you know, so in some ways
58:42
that that naivete can be a little bit powerful for you in
58:47
the end, right? Yeah, I mean, and that's why a
58:51
lot of people don't go into entrepreneurship or starting
58:54
their own business because they think of all the ways that
59:01
they're going to fail rather than the ways they're going to
59:04
achieve. So you're right.
59:05
Like you have to have a little bit of the same reason I just
59:10
quit my job and, you know, moved a three a three month old back
59:14
to Charlotte, you know, and then is the same reason I was just
59:19
like, let me just do this. I don't want to work for, you
59:21
know, a bigger company and start my practice that way.
59:25
I want to do it on my own. So I've been I've been
59:28
independent running an independent practice from day
59:32
one. I'm, I'm not, I've never had to
59:35
sell a company's products or I've never had to like meet
59:40
hurdles that a company provides, right?
59:44
So I don't have that support of the company to help me build my
59:47
business. But you know, I had, luckily I
59:51
had the overconfidence to think I could do it.
59:53
And I did, you know, it's, it's been a great run and, and I'm, I
1:00:00
feel like I'm just now getting started.
1:00:02
Yeah, it sounds like you're you found your stride and you're
1:00:05
you're getting ready to Sprint here.
1:00:07
What do you think your superpower is, Brian?
1:00:10
Man, you know, my wife might argue this point, but I think I
1:00:18
think empathy is my superpower and it doesn't always come easy
1:00:24
but just being genuinely empathetic about clients issues,
1:00:33
so non judgmental. You know, sometimes you want to
1:00:37
jump right to the, you know, oh, this is an easy fix.
1:00:40
Here it is, right? But as I've, as I've aged, I've
1:00:45
realized that my ability to truly be empathetic, understand
1:00:51
what they're going through, you know, really, really like, try
1:00:57
to like, try to understand how they're feeling.
1:01:00
It has been a big growth engine for me or a way to build that
1:01:06
lasting my lifetime client, right?
1:01:09
Most of my clients are not. Again, we're not just selling a
1:01:13
product, we're selling an experience around your money.
1:01:19
So we want our clients to be with us from the beginning all
1:01:24
the way to the end. So you got to really build that
1:01:27
trust and you want people to be able to come and talk to you
1:01:31
about, hey, I'm thinking about, you know, buying a vacation home
1:01:37
or thinking about kids sending my kids to private school or I
1:01:42
didn't want to tell you. I have a bunch of I'm I'm, you
1:01:45
know, we've been spending too much and I have a bunch of
1:01:48
credit card debt. I don't, you know, I didn't want
1:01:50
to tell you, but you, you know, you've been a good listener.
1:01:54
So like, yeah, I want to build that where even if they bring
1:01:57
stuff like, you know, I want them to come with any anything
1:02:03
money adjacent and be that first like resource for them.
1:02:08
And the superpower of empathy, I think, has given a lot of my
1:02:15
clients that comfort. Yeah, empathy is not the answer
1:02:18
you would expect from a wealth planner.
1:02:21
But I think this ties in with, you know, your interest in
1:02:24
behavioral finance, right? This is you want to go a layer
1:02:28
deeper than what most people are doing.
1:02:30
Yeah, I mean, again, I could say, you know, my superpower is,
1:02:35
you know, I'm getting the best return, but we can't even we
1:02:37
can't even say that because regulated industry can't even
1:02:40
claim. We can't even claim return.
1:02:42
I like, I'm the best at picking your, you know, insurance or I'm
1:02:46
best at picking your retirement plans.
1:02:47
But yeah, again, that's commoditized businesses.
1:02:50
How do I really grow that that balanced wealth blueprint idea?
1:02:55
And it is through empathy and I get that a lot.
1:02:57
It was like, why is it not numbers related, right?
1:03:02
It's like I'm trying to do my daughter's fifth grade math and
1:03:04
I'm like, I, I, I need Excel like to do that.
1:03:08
Like we have systems to do all that stuff now.
1:03:13
But yeah, I think that's my superpower.
1:03:15
Yeah, it's a good one. You know, I've just got one more
1:03:18
question for you today, Brian. But before I ask it, I want to
1:03:21
do 3 quick things for the audience.
1:03:23
First of all, if you want to get in touch with Brian Swelling got
1:03:26
a few options here. His websites are Navipath
1:03:30
advisory.com and Navipath wells.com.
1:03:33
We'll have both of those in the show notes.
1:03:35
You can find them on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook.
1:03:38
We'll have all those links too. And his e-mail address,
1:03:41
brianbrianbrian@navipathadvisory.com. And if you're enjoying the show
1:03:48
today, please take a moment to subscribe wherever you're
1:03:51
listening. It sends a signal that helps
1:03:54
others discover our show. So thank you for taking a quick
1:03:56
moment to do that right now. And as a reminder, you can be
1:04:00
the hero advisor that helps clients give their employees
1:04:03
access to therapists, doctors and prescription meds while
1:04:07
paradoxically increasing their net profits, real gains that can
1:04:11
change how a business is valued. Contact us today at AD back
1:04:14
benefits.com. So last question for you, Brian.
1:04:18
A year from now, what is 1 very specific thing that you hope to
1:04:21
be celebrating? IA year from now, I would like
1:04:30
to have a business that I feel fully supports my community,
1:04:41
which means growth, right? So ideally from a year from now,
1:04:47
you know, I've, you know, it's a big goal, but doubled in size,
1:04:52
you know, I'm able to hire more people, maybe bring in, you
1:04:58
know, people wanting to get into the industry and, you know,
1:05:02
teaching them the ropes. So building a, a true legacy
1:05:09
practice, which I've been doing, but like really see that coming,
1:05:17
see that picture actually happening in the year.
1:05:20
I think I think I'm easily on the trajectory to get there and
1:05:25
be able to help more clients and serve the clients that I do have
1:05:32
to the best of my ability. I think, I think growth is
1:05:36
needed to to be able to, you know, bring in the, bring in
1:05:42
more people into the industry and support my clients to the
1:05:45
best of my ability. Do you really think doubling
1:05:48
your growth in the next year is achievable?
1:05:51
I think I'm going to shoot for it.
1:05:55
I think it's going to be hard. I again, I'm going to have to
1:05:58
get out of my comfort zone. I spent, you know, early on, I
1:06:03
spent a lot of growth time focused on growth.
1:06:07
Then I'm like, you know, I've grown, but am I doing everything
1:06:13
the best of my ability in my practice and for my clients?
1:06:17
Like what can I, how can I serve my clients better?
1:06:21
So, you know, and I've formed the balance wealth Blueprint.
1:06:24
So I've done that all that legwork.
1:06:28
So I have the structure there to be able to, to be able to accept
1:06:35
that growth, right. So I've been refocused on that
1:06:38
growth, but it means getting out there, getting uncomfortable
1:06:42
and, and doing the things that get me in front of people who
1:06:47
might be interested in working. So doubling, doubling will be
1:06:51
hard, but I'm going to shoot. For it I'm going to go for it.
1:06:54
Love the confidence Brian Swelling from Navapath Wealth.
1:06:58
I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time
1:07:00
and your story with us today. I really appreciate.
1:07:02
You being here, I'm so glad to be on.
1:07:04
This has been a great conversation.
1:07:06
Other people are inspired by it. I'm sure they will be.
1:07:11
Folks. That's a wrap on another episode
1:07:13
of the Inspired Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us.
1:07:16
And if one thing stood out, put that into action today.