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Heart-Led Success in Finance with Andy Esser · The Heart-Led Business Show

• 0:01
  Speaker: Welcome to The Heart Led Business Show, where compassion meets commerce and leaders lead with love.
• 0:09
  Speaker: Join your host, Tom Jacobs, as he delves into the insightful conversations with visionary business leaders who defy the status quo, putting humanity first and profit second.
• 0:20
  Speaker: From heartfelt strategies to inspiring stories, this podcast is your compass in the world of conscious capitalism.
• 0:29
  Speaker: So buckle up and let's go.
• 0:31
  Speaker: Let your heart guide your business journey.
• 0:35
  Tom Jackobs: We're about to dive into a delightful discussion with the one and only Eagle Scout slash economic expert, the financial wizard with a heart, Andy Esser.
• 0:43
  Tom Jackobs: Grab your calculators and compasses folks, because Andy doesn't just juggle finances.
• 0:49
  Tom Jackobs: Oh, no.
• 0:50
  Tom Jackobs: He also juggles jingles, pastries, and parenting, all the while fostering family's fortunes.
• 0:56
  Tom Jackobs: So brace yourself for an enlightening escapade that's part Wall Street wisdom, part wildlife survival, and charmingly, all Andy.
• 1:04
  Tom Jackobs: Andy, welcome to the show.
• 1:05
  Andy Esser: Oh, thank you for having me.
• 1:06
  Tom Jackobs: No worries.
• 1:07
  Tom Jackobs: I'm really excited to talk to you today and get your take on kind of the heart-led business and, you know, making a profit and just the money side of that where a lot of business owners really struggle.
• 1:18
  Tom Jackobs: But before we do that, why don't you share with us your definition of what a heart-led business is?
• 1:23
  Tom Jackobs: One of my heroes growing up, we all come up with superheroes, thinking back to comic book stars.
• 1:29
  Tom Jackobs: My family was a little bit different insofar as we looked at business leaders and somebody who informed a lot of my understanding of what business is and also what it meant to have a heart was Peter Drucker.
• 1:39
  Tom Jackobs: Peter Drucker.
• 1:40
  Tom Jackobs: Not many people know the organization I'm working with, Edward Jones.
• 1:43
  Tom Jackobs: We actually hired Peter Drucker as our first outside business consultant.
• 1:47
  Tom Jackobs: And I'll never forget in growing up, I would hear stories.
• 1:50
  Tom Jackobs: My dad had been with Edward Jones for about 30 years, 38 years.
• 1:54
  Tom Jackobs: And so I was raised to hear all of the stories of the wisdom that he was able to learn while he was working the corporate life.
• 2:00
  Tom Jackobs: Bringing those home to our family life as well.
• 2:02
  Tom Jackobs: And
• 2:02
  Andy Esser: one of the lessons that I never forgot that dad passed on to me, that actually got passed on to our company from Peter Drucker was that the products are the by product.
• 2:10
  Andy Esser: of your business.
• 2:11
  Andy Esser: But what you actually need to do is lead with heart.
• 2:15
  Andy Esser: You need to lead with what the value is.
• 2:17
  Andy Esser: And I think the way that we have, according to legend, the way we've looked at that is to say, if you don't worry about the profits, you never have to worry about the profits.
• 2:26
  Andy Esser: Things come together because you're trying to add value to a person's situation.
• 2:29
  Andy Esser: You're trying to bring that genuineness and that sincerity.
• 2:32
  Andy Esser: So it's bringing that, embracing that spirit and partnering with another individual to help make sure that you're adding value, not just looking out for yourself, but looking out for all of society.
• 2:41
  Andy Esser: So I think that encapsulates what a heart-led business is.
• 2:44
  Andy Esser: Somebody who's leading and looking to add value rather than just extract a profit.
• 2:48
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 2:48
  Tom Jackobs: Wow.
• 2:49
  Tom Jackobs: I love that.
• 2:50
  Tom Jackobs: And I'm a big fan of Peter Drucker's as well.
• 2:53
  Tom Jackobs: And just, And what you said there, it is totally worth repeating several times, is you, if you're not worrying about profit, you don't have to worry about profit.
• 3:02
  Tom Jackobs: It's such, such a good phrase for people to remember that it's not just about the numbers, it's about that value that you're giving somebody.
• 3:09
  Tom Jackobs: And the more value give, the more value receive.
• 3:12
  Tom Jackobs: So that's, thank you for reminding me and reminding us about that.
• 3:15
  Tom Jackobs: That's great.
• 3:16
  Tom Jackobs: So tell us a little bit about your business and what inspired you to start a heart-led business?
• 3:20
  Andy Esser: Well, my path, as I mentioned, because my dad had been involved in the company, I was very familiar with kind of what the role was, what the business was.
• 3:28
  Andy Esser: And I was young upstart and talked about being the millennial.
• 3:32
  Andy Esser: And I thought it was special.
• 3:33
  Andy Esser: So I could just kind of blaze my own trail.
• 3:34
  Andy Esser: I had seen him be worn down sometimes by extrinsic circumstances outside of his control, the market, the clients, the regulators.
• 3:42
  Andy Esser: And I decided.
• 3:43
  Andy Esser: At an earlier age, at a formational age, coming out of college, that wasn't the life that I wanted for myself.
• 3:48
  Andy Esser: I wanted to blaze my own trail, try to forge my own path.
• 3:51
  Andy Esser: I read a couple of books, like the Rich Dad Poor Dad series, coming out of college.
• 3:54
  Andy Esser: And I decided, you know, maybe what I should do, instead of going into the plain vanilla investments, go into real estate.
• 3:59
  Andy Esser: They're making a lot more people that aren't making any more dirt.
• 4:01
  Andy Esser: So in the mid two thousands, I came out from college and went into law school, getting my hands on every real estate course that I could.
• 4:09
  Andy Esser: I had the highest grade of my law school class in real estate transactions, tried to master real estate tax, property law.
• 4:15
  Andy Esser: I wanted to go all in with real estate.
• 4:16
  Andy Esser: And I came out in the mid 20 mid two thousands found a job in, with a North Carolina based law firm that had a satellite office in Chapel Hill.
• 4:25
  Andy Esser: And I thought I had the brass ring.
• 4:26
  Andy Esser: I really was it was a real estate boutique law firm that was doing some property management, development, real estate transactions.
• 4:33
  Andy Esser: And nothing the firm had a sterling reputation in North Carolina.
• 4:37
  Andy Esser: It wasn't my fault or the firm's fault that I tried to launch a real estate practice in the middle of the great financial crisis where, you And what I came to appreciate about the financial crisis, it wasn't, nobody appreciated the crisis at the time, but it did lead to some lessons that got learned.
• 4:53
  Andy Esser: And one is that business and the world, frankly, can be a very ruthless environment.
• 4:58
  Andy Esser: It doesn't care about your feelings.
• 4:59
  Andy Esser: It doesn't care about your backstory.
• 5:01
  Andy Esser: It doesn't care about how special you might have been.
• 5:03
  Andy Esser: And As a result, despite all my credentials, despite all the work that I put into it, I came to appreciate that it's the connections that you make with people that matter.
• 5:11
  Andy Esser: It's how you're trying to pour into somebody else and how they can pour back into you.
• 5:16
  Andy Esser: And the, you know, call it a force of nature or The spirit of it, that law of reciprocity can come back around as long as you're actively participating in it.
• 5:26
  Andy Esser: You're trying to add value to other people's lives.
• 5:28
  Andy Esser: Other aspect of that is I realized that, well, so long story short, I ended up getting fired from the law firm.
• 5:33
  Andy Esser: It poor performance.
• 5:35
  Andy Esser: It wasn't I ended up finding that because the business cycle wasn't as conscientious or heartlit as I had thought it would be I ended up losing a lot of my enthusiasm for it.
• 5:44
  Andy Esser: And as a result, I've encountered one of the first significant failures of my life.
• 5:48
  Andy Esser: And as conscientious, as thoughtful as they were there nobody defies the law of gravity.
• 5:53
  Andy Esser: Gravity sort of pulls us all into one inexorable direction.
• 5:57
  Andy Esser: And when you're not adding value to the place where you're working, you're going to find yourself asked to leave that organization.
• 6:02
  Andy Esser: They have since gone on to great things.
• 6:04
  Andy Esser: I have no bones against them because I actually learned a tremendous lesson as one, If you think you're all that, with all your credentials, that doesn't help you.
• 6:12
  Andy Esser: What you actually need to do is find that way to take that bit of your soul and pour into other people which led me to finance.
• 6:18
  Andy Esser: It was during the financial crisis, people had their 401ks turned into 201ks virtually overnight.
• 6:24
  Andy Esser: Upset a lot of people's apple carts.
• 6:25
  Andy Esser: Frankly, pushed back a lot of people's goal posts by 10 years for the goals that they wanted to accomplish.
• 6:31
  Andy Esser: Be it retirement, or moving, or second properties.
• 6:33
  Andy Esser: I was an economics major in school.
• 6:35
  Andy Esser: I was not a slouch student, graduated magna cum laude, had this law degree.
• 6:39
  Andy Esser: And I said, is there a way that I can take what I feel people are longing for, which is someone to believe in them, someone to counsel them, someone to partner with them and walk one step along the path with them to help make sure they're pointed in the right direction, have some good balanced common sense approach to their investment philosophy to their stayed plan to their tax mitigation strategies, and ultimately.
• 7:01
  Andy Esser: Find a way to safeguard their legacy for their families and the causes that are important to them.
• 7:05
  Andy Esser: So this ended up unwittingly being my dream job, because I was able to take what I felt inside And help other people feel that.
• 7:12
  Tom Jackobs: That's awesome.
• 7:13
  Tom Jackobs: That's wow.
• 7:13
  Tom Jackobs: What a journey.
• 7:15
  Tom Jackobs: I didn't realize that you were an attorney as well.
• 7:17
  Tom Jackobs: So that's or ex recovering attorney, I guess.
• 7:20
  Tom Jackobs: What, like the 2008, like that I'd started my first my fitness business in 2008 as well.
• 7:26
  Tom Jackobs: And that you know, that really, what I found is there was the same amount of money just floating around the world.
• 7:31
  Tom Jackobs: Like the money didn't disappear.
• 7:33
  Tom Jackobs: It just went in different places.
• 7:34
  Tom Jackobs: And people were more picky about where they spent their money.
• 7:39
  Tom Jackobs: And so they were looking for that value that you're talking about and who's adding value, who's not adding value.
• 7:45
  Tom Jackobs: Well, it got rid of the weaker companies that weren't adding value, which I think, you know, we need to go through those cycles every once in a while so that we get those heartled businesses, the ones that really care about the value.
• 7:56
  Tom Jackobs: So that's really interesting.
• 7:57
  Tom Jackobs: So shifting over to the business side, because you're a money guy, probably deal with a lot of business owners as well.
• 8:02
  Tom Jackobs: What are some of those pitfalls that business owners that are heart-led, maybe you've gone through these as well, that, that come up often for heart-led business owners that they need to be careful about?
• 8:13
  Andy Esser: I can't speak to all businesses.
• 8:15
  Andy Esser: I don't know all businesses.
• 8:16
  Andy Esser: One of the things I've come to appreciate is I actually counsel a number of family business owners who know the infinitesimal details about their business in a way I can't even comprehend.
• 8:25
  Andy Esser: It's actually breathtaking how little I actually know about some But what I do understand if it's a family business, for example, they've created some real value there.
• 8:33
  Andy Esser: They've created value along the dimensions of what I call the four P's.
• 8:37
  Andy Esser: The people who are involved, the proprietary processes, the perception they have in the marketplace, and ultimately their profitability.
• 8:44
  Andy Esser: Those are things that can be, if they're properly packaged, if they're documented, if they're replicable, that's value that can be passed on to another business.
• 8:53
  Andy Esser: But then you think, consider what are the threats to those things?
• 8:56
  Andy Esser: Well, people, you could have somebody who's a key person in an organization, but if the bus comes for them that day, then how does that maybe upset their business as apple cart?
• 9:05
  Andy Esser: The process Those need to be defined, but they also need to be flexible because, and we're encountering this right now that we're going through kind of a heady time where the world is changing.
• 9:14
  Andy Esser: We have this new thing called AI and how is AI going to be a disruptor?
• 9:19
  Andy Esser: How can we leverage it?
• 9:20
  Andy Esser: How can we make sure we're not replaced by it?
• 9:22
  Andy Esser: These are some of the pitfalls and dangers that businesses, all businesses need to look at regardless of whether they're heart-led or profit-led The perception.
• 9:29
  Andy Esser: We live in an age where we are inundated by these little things we carry in our pockets.
• 9:34
  Andy Esser: And these can be incredibly helpful tools, but any tool can be misused.
• 9:38
  Andy Esser: So you talk about branding, reputation, perception.
• 9:42
  Andy Esser: One false fake news story out in the media is, can be the downfall of you.
• 9:47
  Andy Esser: And in the age of fusing AI with fake news, I'm frankly staggered that we haven't had more things just kind of run amok that have really caused people to sort of question what their sense of reality, what's real in the world today.
• 9:59
  Andy Esser: And finally, profitability.
• 10:00
  Andy Esser: Comes back to what you say, we're always trying to add value and it's not the, it's not the I think Jeff Bezos would say, your margin is my opportunity.
• 10:08
  Andy Esser: This is a matter of finding out where's the next opportunity that hasn't been tapped into.
• 10:13
  Andy Esser: And for me, for personal finance, I've talked to a lot of people I'm dealing with, I'm not dealing with, I'm actually helping people in their most tender moments of their lives.
• 10:22
  Andy Esser: They are dealing with the death of a spouse, frankly, a death of a child.
• 10:25
  Andy Esser: I mean, nothing more gut wrenching than trying to help a person walk through that journey together.
• 10:31
  Andy Esser: Dealing with people who might have had their entire business mode changed.
• 10:34
  Andy Esser: I have some, several successful realtors who are clients and with the new realtor commission settlement that's come out in the United States, how that might change their revenue model entirely.
• 10:43
  Andy Esser: First time in 60 years.
• 10:44
  Andy Esser: That the standard 6 percent rate on commissions for mortgages has really been kind of upended in court.
• 10:50
  Andy Esser: So how are we working through that to see to their profitability?
• 10:52
  Andy Esser: But to your point, Tom, and to the point of your book and the thrust of the podcast, it's all about how can you still find value to add.
• 11:00
  Andy Esser: And put that out there.
• 11:01
  Andy Esser: And for me, as I'm working one on one with clients, I am, my upfront commitment is for people who have met with success and they're looking to safeguard their family's significance forever, really see to their preserved wealth across generations.
• 11:14
  Andy Esser: I'm going to invest a few hours in the first few bits of our relationship, not billing by the hour, not billing by the conversation to get to know them.
• 11:21
  Andy Esser: Understand where they are at the crossroads in their lives and provide them some common sense, wisdom, and guidance to make sure, A, they're pointed in the right direction.
• 11:29
  Andy Esser: B, that if they are working with not even a financial entity, but if they have tax mitigation questions, real estate or risk questions, that they're working with the expert in our particular area, or if they have a national concern that we have a vetted panel of experts that we can turn them to, so they know that they can trust it and basically give them peace of mind and reassurance.
• 11:49
  Andy Esser: And if it turns out that there's a need that they have, and we're actually the best organization to solve it.
• 11:55
  Andy Esser: I'll show them what onboarding looks like and answer their questions.
• 11:57
  Andy Esser: Those are the upfront commitments I'm willing to make before any money changes hands to make sure that I'm adding value and it's a person where my time can be best leveraged to help accelerate somebody's journey.
• 12:08
  Tom Jackobs: Oh, that's great.
• 12:09
  Tom Jackobs: Like that's, you don't hear that too often for a lot of businesses that invest a lot in the prospect before they become a client.
• 12:17
  Tom Jackobs: And I think that is really beneficial for both parties to understand, is this a good fit?
• 12:22
  Tom Jackobs: Is this not a good fit?
• 12:23
  Tom Jackobs: Cause that, I mean, that goes along with like my whole theme with heartled and especially in sales, you know, you don't want to sell something to somebody that doesn't need it because that's not being heartled, you refer to them out.
• 12:34
  Tom Jackobs: So how do you handle like.
• 12:35
  Tom Jackobs: You go through one of these long consultations, you spend, you know, two hours and at the end of it, you're like, you know what, I don't think I can work with this person.
• 12:42
  Tom Jackobs: Like how does that kind of fit into the emotion about, you know, boy, I want to grow my practice, but I also don't want to bring on somebody that's not a good fit or I'm not a good fit for that person.
• 12:53
  Tom Jackobs: Like how does that kind of go through your brain?
• 12:55
  Andy Esser: This is where the advantage of being in a network of high caliber advisors helps.
• 12:59
  Andy Esser: And one of the things, frankly, I've appreciated about Edward Jones is it strikes me as a heart-led organization rather than a heartless organization.
• 13:06
  Andy Esser: There's several heartless organizations out there, but Having known Edward Jones since I was young, and to know not just the people who are involved, but the key leaders who are involved, who take it very sincerely and seriously to keep this culture and this spirit of partnership alive.
• 13:22
  Andy Esser: That we are, we're encountering a world that I wasn't trained to thrive in.
• 13:25
  Andy Esser: I was trained to thrive in a world that no longer exists.
• 13:28
  Andy Esser: I just happen to be trying to find my way in this and provide some common sense to find a way forward.
• 13:32
  Andy Esser: And so too with Edward Jones has a lot of things to be proud of.
• 13:36
  Andy Esser: And one of our most recent commitments is to innovate and to try to be the place where people can come to get financial advice among a network of 18, 19, potentially 20,000 financial advisors in North America.
• 13:49
  Andy Esser: So the advantage of us having this culture and the spirit of partnership is I know people who are at the organization.
• 13:55
  Andy Esser: I have helped onboard people in the organization, and I've been able to make sure that they have the right mindset first, before they're ever invited to become an advisor.
• 14:03
  Andy Esser: And so if somebody I imagine would gel well with me, I can show, and I think it'd be a good investment of both of our times to continue a relationship, I can show them what onboarding looks like at my practice.
• 14:13
  Andy Esser: But I'm not so mercurial to think that I'm the only person they can come to.
• 14:18
  Andy Esser: I can realize where my limits are.
• 14:20
  Andy Esser: For example, there are a certain select group of people who I know that I've had a history and not been able to really connect with and add value to, and because I know some of my peers locally and really frankly, across the country, if I suspect that they would gel well better with another advisor, I can facilitate that relationship.
• 14:38
  Andy Esser: And I have in the past, I've helped to take, to carve off a portion of my book of business relationships that were hard fought to earn their trust, to realize as we're getting on with this, you know, I've brought them to this point, but where they really need to go is this direction and I'm going this direction.
• 14:52
  Andy Esser: But I've been able to find the people who are going that direction to help facilitate that introduction and create a trust bound relationship.
• 14:59
  Andy Esser: So you can't commoditize a relationship.
• 15:01
  Andy Esser: Every relationship is a function of making sure you've got a blend of personalities, values, interests, and goals.
• 15:06
  Andy Esser: That's the clearing space for all of this, especially because ours is a trust based business.
• 15:12
  Andy Esser: So to try to find somebody who can accelerate that trust rather than someone who's just kind of hanging on and you hope that the trust is still there.
• 15:18
  Andy Esser: So it's a delicate balance, but one that thankfully, Edward Jones as a platform has allowed me to lean into so that I can continue going in a direction and finding people who can be on the bus with me.
• 15:28
  Tom Jackobs: That's cool.
• 15:28
  Tom Jackobs: But how does it feel though?
• 15:30
  Tom Jackobs: Having, you know, you have the clients that are going this way, but you're going this way, like, how does that affect, you know, kind of just your thoughts and beliefs about the business and, you know, you've worked really hard to bring that person up to a certain point and you're like, gosh, I really don't want to lose that client, but I know this is best for them.
• 15:45
  Tom Jackobs: But like, is there a angel devil that are like talking to you?
• 15:48
  Andy Esser: I can appreciate those who would feel that, but for me, I live by the mantra of I can help anyone, but I can't help everyone.
• 15:55
  Andy Esser: If I'm able to help accelerate that relationship and that trust building timeframe with somebody who's better suited in a better position in life, I realized I have my limits as well.
• 16:04
  Andy Esser: I didn't start out in the business with four children, but now I have four children.
• 16:08
  Andy Esser: And so I have, I get to pour into them as well.
• 16:12
  Andy Esser: And so there are greater demands on my time and attention and frankly, things that I'm trying to help make sure that our families, we're safeguarding our significance as well, because they have their host of blessings and we all have our host of challenges.
• 16:23
  Andy Esser: For example, I have one child who is on the autism spectrum.
• 16:26
  Andy Esser: So to help make sure that she is able to lean into her talents without fear that something that her own body and mind is going to sabotage her success, how to give her the guidance, especially as she's becoming in her teenage years, where there's a whole host of physiological changes that are taking root right now, where she needs And I mentioned to some clients, especially those who have kids, they get it, that sometimes as an advisor, I'm doing a little bit of low-key parenting with them as well.
• 16:49
  Andy Esser: Sometimes you need to be told to eat your vegetables.
• 16:51
  Andy Esser: You need to be told to contribute to your retirement account.
• 16:54
  Andy Esser: You might be told that you need to offload this risk by paying a life insurance premium.
• 16:59
  Andy Esser: This is not meant to be a specific financial advice context.
• 17:02
  Andy Esser: Everything is situational dependent, but what it underscores is that if we're trying to understand where a person's going, and clear that path for them, multiple different paths.
• 17:10
  Andy Esser: Then that's a person I can add value to.
• 17:12
  Andy Esser: There are frankly some people who need financial help.
• 17:14
  Andy Esser: They don't yet need a financial plan.
• 17:17
  Andy Esser: And I realized that they're better connected to a resource who can help take care of some of those foundational, formational things.
• 17:23
  Andy Esser: But even the people who need a financial plan, sometimes they need to be told, Hey, you're spending way too much in your budget.
• 17:28
  Andy Esser: Let's kind of sort out some of the junk in the budget.
• 17:30
  Andy Esser: A little belt tightening never hurt anybody.
• 17:31
  Andy Esser: But these are the conversations where I feel activated.
• 17:34
  Andy Esser: Where I can thrive if it's a good person, but, and they're providing terrific things to the bottom line.
• 17:39
  Andy Esser: That's not the end all be all.
• 17:41
  Andy Esser: The end all be all is to say, is this somewhere where I feel energized and activated by the relationship?
• 17:46
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 17:46
  Tom Jackobs: You know, a hundred percent agree with that because you know, when I had the fitness business, you know, I would get clients that weren't committed to doing what they wanted to do, or there just wasn't a good fit.
• 17:56
  Tom Jackobs: And while, especially in the beginning part of the business, it was difficult, obviously making a profit and you're trying to grow the business and all that.
• 18:03
  Tom Jackobs: And you get a client that, you know, is not a good fit and it's like this, how do I.
• 18:08
  Tom Jackobs: Kind of manage that.
• 18:09
  Tom Jackobs: And I always thought, well, if I do work with them and they don't get the results because they're not doing the work, it's just going to come back on me.
• 18:16
  Tom Jackobs: And they'll go and tell their friends what a bad experience they had.
• 18:20
  Tom Jackobs: And I was like, you know what?
• 18:21
  Tom Jackobs: That's not worth it.
• 18:21
  Tom Jackobs: To go through that.
• 18:22
  Tom Jackobs: And so the growth might be a little bit slower, but at least I felt good about it.
• 18:26
  Tom Jackobs: And I think a lot of heart-led business owners struggle a little bit with it, but because we are centered in the heart that it's like, you know what, I'm going to go the path that I believe is the best for everybody versus just, I'm in it for me, screw everybody else.
• 18:40
  Tom Jackobs: This is the path I'm going.
• 18:42
  Tom Jackobs: And I, it might be a little bit slower, but it's, you know, the tortoise and the hare, the tortoise is going to win.
• 18:46
  Tom Jackobs: Instead of steady and true.
• 18:47
  Andy Esser: Well, as you're mentioning this, I think it comes back to, is it a me focus or is it a we focus?
• 18:52
  Andy Esser: As a business leader, I try to take that servant leader mentality that I've grown up to the point where I realized that especially in parenting, I have created some success, but it's not for me.
• 19:02
  Andy Esser: I think one of the most beautiful stories I was chatting with a community contact who we were talking a little bit about my business and the value that I'm trying to add.
• 19:09
  Andy Esser: And he clarified it.
• 19:10
  Andy Esser: He said that when his, when he was still a teenager in his house, his parents sat him down.
• 19:14
  Andy Esser: They were having that one of those quiet, intimate family moments where they got a chance to kind of consider what is this all really about?
• 19:20
  Andy Esser: And his dad of the family, I think they had just had some sort of grandparent pass away.
• 19:25
  Andy Esser: But dad said, we received.
• 19:27
  Andy Esser: an inheritance from them.
• 19:28
  Andy Esser: And we want to caretake that inheritance because we want to pass that inheritance on to you.
• 19:33
  Andy Esser: And we want nothing more than for you to make sure that you pass that inheritance on to others.
• 19:38
  Andy Esser: So, to help raise people's mindset from it's out of me versus the world.
• 19:43
  Andy Esser: It's not even we versus the world.
• 19:44
  Andy Esser: It is where can we work to create a better world.
• 19:47
  Andy Esser: That's what I try to do with my heart-led business, to help pour into it, to add value to the people with whom I'm interacting.
• 19:53
  Andy Esser: It's an investment of their time as well, too, to screen things out.
• 19:56
  Andy Esser: So, if I'm not at my best, then I'm shortchanging not myself or my future, but their futures as well.
• 20:01
  Andy Esser: So it comes back to having, for me, it's that having that client centric focus.
• 20:05
  Andy Esser: How can I be sure that I'm bringing out the best of this time so I'm the best supporting character in their movie.
• 20:11
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah, that's great.
• 20:12
  Tom Jackobs: And I'm glad you brought back around the value proposition as well, because I think at the center of a heart-led business is that value exchange that we need to provide that value for the client, the best that we can, and.
• 20:24
  Tom Jackobs: That value will sometimes come back and sometimes it won't, but it feels really good when we're providing that value and somebody is actually benefiting.
• 20:32
  Tom Jackobs: You know, in my own experience, it's always come back tenfold anyway.
• 20:36
  Tom Jackobs: Maybe not today, but you know, at some point it will come back.
• 20:39
  Andy Esser: Well, at the end of the day I've got to look at the person in the mirror at the end of the day and at the beginning of the morning.
• 20:43
  Andy Esser: And there are several things that I want to be able to look that person in the eye in the mirror and echo what I was told when I was sitting in the church pew is like, well done, good and faithful servant.
• 20:53
  Andy Esser: It's not well done, good and faithful financial advisor.
• 20:56
  Andy Esser: It's not well done, good and faithful business leader.
• 20:58
  Andy Esser: It's well done, good and faithful servant, because we're all in this together and it is us trying to make sure that we're adding not just that value, but really raising other people up so that they can live their best lives.
• 21:08
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 21:08
  Tom Jackobs: And I love too that you're really thinking and prepping people for that generational wealth as well, because that's just going to help everybody on the lineage as well for that whole family.
• 21:18
  Tom Jackobs: So Andy, how can people learn more about you and all the great work that you're doing and potentially work with you?
• 21:25
  Andy Esser: Well, it's just a quick internet search of Andy Esser.
• 21:28
  Andy Esser: Thankfully if you search Andy Esser, I do come up both my Edward Jones professional profile page, my LinkedIn page.
• 21:34
  Andy Esser: And just coming to our website and getting a chance if a person wants to have that one-on-one conversation to understand a little bit of what our deep dive discovery process looks like, make sure they're pointed in the right direction.
• 21:44
  Andy Esser: I'm happy to make myself available as a resource to them.
• 21:47
  Tom Jackobs: And are you available across the nation or is just in North Carolina?
• 21:51
  Andy Esser: I'm licensed cross country.
• 21:52
  Andy Esser: Got some fun clients in California, some in the Midwest.
• 21:55
  Andy Esser: Some on the Eastern seaboard, Florida, Texas.
• 21:57
  Andy Esser: And regardless of whether we become a financial advisor relationship, advisor client relationship, I am trying to help make sure that people have the best resource and get cleared to the people who are going to add the most value for where they are in their journey.
• 22:08
  Tom Jackobs: Awesome.
• 22:08
  Tom Jackobs: Well, thank you for that.
• 22:10
  Tom Jackobs: And thanks for coming on the show today and sharing your wisdom about your own heart-led business and your observation of other heart-led businesses as well.
• 22:17
  Tom Jackobs: I certainly appreciate it.
• 22:18
  Tom Jackobs: And I know our listeners appreciate it as well.
• 22:20
  Tom Jackobs: So thank you very much.
• 22:21
  Andy Esser: Hope to do it again sometime.
• 22:22
  Andy Esser: Thank you so much, Tom.
• 22:23
  Tom Jackobs: Absolutely.
• 22:24
  Tom Jackobs: And to our show listeners, thank you so much for checking out the show today, listening or watching on your platform of choice.
• 22:31
  Tom Jackobs: I appreciate it.
• 22:32
  Tom Jackobs: I know Andy appreciates it as well.
• 22:33
  Tom Jackobs: Make sure you're checking out everything that Andy's doing.
• 22:36
  Tom Jackobs: We'll link all of that down into the show notes so you don't even have to go to Google.
• 22:39
  Tom Jackobs: You can just go to the show notes, click on the website and check out Andy's profile and everything that he's doing there as well.
• 22:45
  Tom Jackobs: And then if you could do me a favor while you're on the internet, just go ahead and give this show a rating and review that really helps spread the word and tells the systems to show the show to more people that could use the advice that was shared on today's show.
• 22:58
  Tom Jackobs: And until next time, lead with your heart.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: You've been listening to The Heart-Led Business Show, hosted by Tom Jackobs.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: Join us next time for another inspiring journey into the heart of business.