THE ULTIMATE ADVISOR PODCAST

Weekly Insights to Help You Craft the Ultimate Advising Practice

EPISODE 84:

Add Value To Your Business With Steve Sanduski

In this episode of The Ultimate Advisor Podcast, Brittany sits down with co-founder and CEO of ROL Advisor, Steve Sanduski.  We go over many practical methodologies and processes that you can implement to differentiate your business, break past ceilings of complexity, and stand out in a forever changing, competitive market. We discuss the importance of being vulnerable, getting to know, and connecting with your prospects and clients, as well as putting the focus on the discovery of your client’s wants, needs, and overall journey. Steve shares some of his tangible tools, ideologies, and frameworks to help move beyond the numbers and into defining your story, becoming more relatable, and developing your client relationships even deeper so that you can help them prepare and get the most out of their finances throughout all life stages. So, push PLAY and join us as we dive into adding immense value and differentiation to level up your business!

 

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Speaker 1:

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

Brittany Anderson:

Hello, and welcome back to your ultimate advisor podcast. This is Brittany Anderson. And with me today, I have an extra special guest, Mr. Steve Sanduski. With over 30 years of business experience growing companies by multiples, including one whose revenue grew 17 fold during his leadership, Steve is the founder and CEO of ROL Advisor, an international software and training company for financial advisors with more than 250 advisory firm clients in 11 countries. Steve is a New York Times best-selling author, launcher of a multi-billion dollar AUM RIA. And over 25 years in the business, you might want to pay attention to what he has to say. Steve, welcome. How are you?
 

Steve Sanduski:

I'm doing great for it now. Yeah, it's great to be on the show. I appreciate the nice intro there as well. So looking forward to our conversation.
 

Brittany Anderson:

Awesome. Well I know I gave a little highlight, but I would love for you to actually talk a little bit about your journey and your experience over the years.
 

Steve Sanduski:

Sure. Well, you may have heard of a book called Zero to One. It was written by Peter Thiel. And the gist of this book is that if you create something new, that's basically going from zero to one. But then if you take something that already exists and you improve upon it or you grow it, then that's going from what he says one to end, or I like to call it one to infinity. So as I think about my journey, about my career, I think of myself as more of this zero to one guy where I'm someone who likes to create things. So I'm someone who's always reading. I'm always learning. I'm always trying to look around the corner and connect the dots and see what's coming. 

 So if I look back on my career over the last three decades, going back to the early 1990s, I was with a broker dealer. And me and a couple other folks, we helped launch the company's corporate RIA. And over the course of about six and a half years in the '90s, we grew that from zero to just under 2 billion in assets under management. And then in the two thousands, I partnered with Ron Carson who I'm sure many of the folks listening to this are familiar with. And he and I launched a coaching program. And we grew that from zero to about 1,000 financial advisors that we were coaching over the course of 11 years. 

 And then in the past few years, I partnered with another gentleman and we created this company called ROL Advisor, which hopefully we'll get a chance to chat about here as well. And we've built that from zero to about 250 clients in 11 countries. And I've written a couple of books along the way. I also host and produce several podcasts. So yeah, so I'm all about learning. I'm all about the journey. I'm all about creating things and then turning around and sharing what it is that I've learned over the years.
 

Brittany Anderson:

Steve, the thing that I kept thinking about as you were sharing that journey is just the lifetime growth and the lifetime learning. And if you've been following us, listening to this podcast for any length of time, our audience members know that that is a huge value for ultimate advisors, just us as individuals. So I can appreciate that in you. And I think what's so amazing is you're truly the entrepreneurial spirit. You were put on this planet to add value to people, to add value to others. 

 So I know one way that you add value is you've got a term that's called being a life centered planner. So I would really love for you to share with the audience what that's about, what that entails, and just the details on that process.
 

Steve Sanduski:

Yeah. Life centered planning is a concept and a phrase that my business partner Mitch Anthony developed over the years. And Mitch is one of the early folks in the whole idea of life planning, financial life planning. There's a variety of different names around it. So Mitch and I partnered a few years ago and created this company ROL Advisor. And the idea behind it is that we think where the industry is shifting is that we should be putting the client's life at the center of the conversation, not the performance of their money. So we're just all about helping financial advisors really put a focus on the discovery process. And when we say discovery, we're talking about a life of the relationship process. This is not a one and done kind of thing. So we think your ability as an advisor to continue to learn more, and more, and more about who your clients are and what's important to them, that's going to be a key skill going forward. Not that it never was a key skill, but it's going to be even more important in this age of technology.

 So just very briefly, what we've developed is what we call the client's storyboard. And the idea there is that we really want to understand the client's journey through life, and how you as a financial advisor can help them in that. So we think of this as, the frame that we look at is we want to know where you've been, and that's about your past experiences. And we basically have a question that we ask is we want to understand how did you arrive at your perspectives on money? So we created a digital tool called the Fiscalosophy profile that helps us answer that. And then we want to know okay, well where are you today? What's your present situation? And the question we want to answer is how can I get the best life possible with the money I have? And we have a tool called the ROL index that helps answer that.

 And then the third frame is, well where are you going? What's the future going to be looking like? And the question we want to answer there is am I financially prepared for life's big transitions? And we have a tool called the financial lifeline. So over those three tools and through the dialogues and conversations that you have with your clients over the life of that relationship, you can really understand who the client is, what's important to them, help them clarify what's important to them and how that evolves over time. And then, you can help them figure out how to make smarter decisions with their money, and how to use their money to live their best life possible.
 

Brittany Anderson:

I think that is so genius. And Steve, in going through some of the ROL tools myself and looking at all the content and material that you've put out into the world, one thing that I think is interesting is we've heard before from advisors that, "Well, I'm not necessarily that warm, fuzzy, touchy feely person. It's hard for me to strike up that conversation." Or on the flip side, we've also heard the comment that, "My clients, I've noticed they have a hard time opening up in that capacity." So I think what you've done and what you've really mastered is you're putting tangible tools to help people get to that point. Don't you think, is that a fair statement?
 

Steve Sanduski:

It is. And I think that at our core as human beings, we want to be able to connect with other people. So I think one of the key roles of a financial advisor, it's moving beyond just the numbers, and it's into the relationship. Now we've heard for many, many years, it's like we're in a relationship business. Well, absolutely. But I think we have to get even better at developing those relationships. We have to get better at our emotional intelligence in having those conversations and dialogues. Because I believe almost every client, when they're working with a financial advisor, they want to have a good relationship. They want to have a trusting relationship. They want to have deep dialogues with someone. Because money is such a personal thing to all of us. And we need to know that we can talk to someone who can understand our fears around money, our biases around money, our shame around money. I mean, there's all kinds of hangups that we have around money.

 So I think if you're a financial advisor and you're saying to yourself, "I'm not good at having these conversations, I don't really like to have these conversations." Then I would encourage you to look for another business that you can go into. Because I think this is the kind of skill that the best financial advisors are going to have and going to improve. Because the business of the numbers of being a financial advisor, it's all being automated. So you don't want to be like a computer operator where you're just turning the dials of a person's financial plan. There's not a lot of value in that. The real value is in the one-to-one human relationship that you can engage in with another person.
 

Brittany Anderson:

I think that's so true. And one thing that we teach our advisors and just our general audience members even just through this podcast is along the topic of differentiation. And how important it is to go deep, just like you're talking about here, in really uncovering why do people save the way they do? Or why have they spent their years leading up to this point to decide what is it that we're going to do with our money and how are we going to live that fulfilled life? So I know you use the term, actually, I've seen this in some of your copy in your content, the retirement coach. So can you elaborate a little bit more on this and how that might actually shift the mindset of the advisor if they identify as a retirement coach versus just a financial advisor or a wealth planner?
 

Steve Sanduski:

Well, we use the word retirement because there's really not a better word out there. But I think the reality is baby boomers, and I'm one of them, I'm a young baby boomer. But I think baby boomers are really going to be the last generation that retires in the traditional sense of the word. Because what's happening is we've got two major trends that are happening at the same time right now. One of them is of course technology. We've got this accelerating pace of technological change. And then a second one is longevity. Partially it's because of technology, partially it's because of better medicines and those sorts of things that generally speaking, we're living longer. 

 But what we're finding is the pace of technology is so fast, that as humans, we don't really have the social construct that is enabling us to understand how our world is changing because of technology. So one of the big opportunities for advisors is to help clients make sense of all the stuff that's happening in our world as a result of technology, and as a result of living longer. And it really plays into the second idea too, which is we're moving away from a traditional three-stage life to a multi-stage life. And what I mean by hat is the three-stage life is simply, I spend the first 18 to 22 years of my life in school learning. And then I spend another 30 or 40 years in a career making money. And then I spend 20, 30, or 40 years in a retirement phase. That's the traditional three stage life model. Well now, because of longevity of living longer, we're moving to a multi-stage life where we're going to be zigging in and out of education. We're going to be zigging in and out of work and leisure, taking sabbaticals.

 We're going to have career jobs. Then we're going to take gig jobs. Then we're going to have encore careers. And this idea of retirement. I think it's just going to go away. I mean, we're going to take times as we're in our thirties and forties and fifties, we might take six months off. We might take a year off just to be with the family or to travel the world on a sailboat, whatever the case is. So I think how we think about retirement is going to be totally different with the next generation. So as a financial advisor, I think it's important to really understand how the world is changing, how technology is accelerating, and the impact of longevity that that's going to have on all of that. And again, I think it puts us in a position to be this life planner, because we can help people make sense of all these changes, and help them prepare financially for it, and help them have the money that they need to go back to school when they're in their forties, let's say, or have the money that they want to be able to take six months off or a year off when the kids are young and spend a lot of time with them. So those are all changes that I think really play into the hands of what a great financial advisor can help with.
 

Brittany Anderson:

And I think we're at a time where we have so many opportunities to serve as advisors. I think about all the things you just mentioned with longevity, and new education, and people just choosing to live in a different way, and times evolving. I mean I just look at it and see as a financial advisor, it's almost our duty to help people through these different transitions and to really help people to realize that you don't have to just have that end date of retirement where all of a sudden you worked and then the next day you don't. There tends to be. And Steve, I'm sure you've seen this that there used to be more so than maybe now kind of that identity crisis when people would go into that retirement stage where all my life I've identified with this, and now I'm going into this new chapter.

 Whereas what you're saying is there isn't necessarily going to be that definitive stop. So I think that we have such an opportunity to bring value. I think about something we've done for our advisors and even at Sweet Financial a lot of the questions that people ask they're aware of longevity and they talk about health, right? We hear clients talking about ways that they can improve their health, their mental state, their mindset, all of those good things. And we actually see that as an opportunity to add even more value that's not just numbers aligned. Because like you said, the number portion is becoming a commodity, or it is a commodity at this point. So I just think you brought up some really great points in what you were saying and how the world is changing.
 

Steve Sanduski:

Yeah, no question about it. And just the idea of health. It's not that we're going to turn financial advisors into doctors or healthcare professionals. But yeah, absolutely. We should be in a position where we can not tell people what to do on the health side, but we can raise the issues. We can shine a light on areas that they might not be thinking about. And then we can redirect, or we can refer them to other professionals. But I think as part of a holistic life planning relationship that a financial advisor can engage in, I think those are the kinds of things that need to be in our purview. And we need to know enough about it that we can quarterback it, and we can help guide clients. And then ultimately, they decide and they do the work, but we're in a position where we can see things that they may not be able to see and help them move forward in a very positive way.
 

Brittany Anderson:

Absolutely. And there's one phrase that we say a lot is that financial advisors in particular, we have to fall out of the trap of falling in love with our own ideas and our own message, and really pay more attention to what our clients want, what our prospects want. And they're screaming for that information. So I think just like you said, we don't necessarily have to be health experts by any means, but we should have the resource to be able to point them in the right direction. So again, it's just a testament to the trajectory change that we're seeing in our industry.

 So Steve, to shift gears, and I know you touched on this a bit, but I would love for you to talk a little bit more about your P3D approach, both the framework and how this impacts advisors who embrace it. Let's go a little deeper there.
 

Steve Sanduski:

Okay. Well, P3D, what that stands for is the P3, as in philosophy, people, and plan, which are three key components of building a successful advisory practice. And then the D is discipline. So my idea is that if you have a philosophy about how you do what you do, if you have the right people in place, and you have a plan that you're executing and following through on, and you multiply that by having the discipline to do the work, then that to me is a recipe for superior results.

 So just very briefly, when I think of philosophy, this is really the belief system that makes your firm unique. So it's really a combination of your thoughts, and your values, and your instincts, and purpose, and experiences that ultimately shape how you live your daily life. And it really underpins and drives your what, and your when, and your why, and how you do what it is that you do. So I've got an exercise there's really four parts to it. I'm happy to quickly go through those four parts if you want. But I think it really starts with what's my philosophy? What do I believe? And once you have that philosophy and you're clear on it, then that really shapes how you're going to build the business.
 

Brittany Anderson:

Steve, I would love for you to actually talk through those four parts. I think number one, it's really interesting. And I think our audience would be set to benefit.
 

Steve Sanduski:

Yeah. So the first part of this philosophy exercise is what I call your truth. And what I'm truly really trying to get at here is what is it that you really believe/ Because it's your belief system that's going to shape the business that you build. It's going to shape the people that you hire. It's going to shape the culture that you develop. It's going to shape the kinds of clients that you want to work with. So the way that I get at that is I have a question that I asked my advisor clients to answer. And the question is, what I know to be true is. And then you go through and answer that. And then you say because, and then you say, well, why is it that I believe this to be true? And then I ask you to do it 15 times.

 So I'm really trying to get at what do you believe and you believe that because of what? So again, it just helps you really clarify what is it that I strongly believe in? So that's really the first part. The second part is your values. And probably don't need to spend much time on this. It's just essentially a values clarification exercise to really help you zero in on your most important values. The third is what I call your non-negotiables. And these are things that you absolutely will not allow people to break. These are non-negotiables. When you're working with people in how you're running your business, in how you're conducting yourselves, in how you want the people around you to conduct themselves. So it's really understanding what are your standards? What are my expectations? Those are my non-negotiables. 

 And then the fourth is what I call your rallying cry. And this is simply a, I'll call it a motivational, or an aspirational, or a metaphorical statement that in a very few words encapsulates what really energizes you. And in my case, my rallying cry is just two words run uphill. And the way that I developed that was back in high school, well high school and college, I was a long distance runner. Well in high school, my first year of running cross country, I noticed pretty quickly that most people don't like running up hill. And then the second thing was if you pass somebody running up hill, they don't pass you back later in the race. So as I was reflecting on my rallying cry years later, I realized, and even back in high school and college, that became my trademark was I decided I'm going to pass people running uphill, because they get totally demoralized when you do that. So years later, as I was reflecting back on well, what's my rallying cry. This idea of run uphill really stuck with me. And the thinking for me is if I'm willing to do the things that other people won't, then I'll be able to achieve things that other people can't. So that's my rallying cry, and I encourage everyone listening to this to come up with one that makes sense for you as well.
 

Brittany Anderson:

So Steve, that's so inspiring. I love run uphill. That is absolutely brilliant. And I love that that's your rally cry. I think as you were speaking there, it made me think that advisors, while it's important for you to understand your purpose or understand your client's purpose, their value system, and all that makes them make decisions essentially. But it's also so important for you as the advisor to peel back the layers and to let your clients into your life too. So Steve, as you were talking about sharing your rally cry and going through those four components that you just shared, I think it's so important for an advisor to be able to articulate their own value system. What matters to them? What's their story. It helps you to be so much more relatable.

 Actually in one of our recent mastermind sessions, we did a deep dive talking about, and then it was all tied back to writing a book. I think every financial advisor out there that has a clientele, a client base should write a book and share their story. And the reason for that is because I think it opens up this level of vulnerability that allows people to connect with you on a deeper level. So can you just talk maybe a little bit about vulnerability in itself Steve, and how that really helps you differentiate as an advisor?
 

Steve Sanduski:

Yeah. Well, this idea of being vulnerable is something that I would say in the past five to 10 years has really gained a lot of prominence. And the fact is we're all human. And we want to know that the person that I'm working with is human as well. That they're not a robot, that they're not someone who is very mechanical and operational. So I think this idea of being vulnerable is just simply about, I want to show other people who I am. And the more that you can understand who I am, then the better relationship we're going to have. So when you're working as a financial advisor with a client, it's not just a one-way discovery process. It's not just the advisor trying to discover something about the client. It's the client wants to understand the advisor. They want to understand that hey, we're on the same wavelength here. We have maybe a similar worldview. 

 Now I will say, it can be a bit of a double-edged in that if you believe A, and the person you're talking to believes B, or you have worldview A and the other person has worldview B, and they're polar opposites, well then you're not going to connect. So the downside to that is I'm not sure that we want such a polarized world that we live in today. So on one sense, it's like you don't want to just work with people who look, and think, and talk just like you do. That's not going to be good for the world either. So I don't want to get too philosophical. But I think ultimately, the idea is that the more that we can each know about each other, I think the better we can understand each other, the better we can work together and get along with each other. And at the end of the day, I think that's going to be better for all of us.
 

Brittany Anderson:

I think there's so much truth to what you just said, Steve. And you think about polarization. I completely agree with you that we need diversity. I mean that's how we grow as human beings, and understanding, and looking at other people's thoughts, and approach, and all of those great things. I think that's what makes us well-rounded human beings. But I also believe in the power of attract and repel, right?

 So a lot of times, I think when you look at really doing that deep dive on yourself and deciding who are you best at to serve? What's the saying out there that the two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why. And I think that self-discovery allows you to understand what audience you're best set to serve, how you deliver value to them, and how you're different, right? And then that helps you articulate. It helps with your messaging strategy, all of that good stuff. So I completely agree with what you're saying there, Steve.

 So I would like to ask you, if you had a crystal ball, if you had a crystal ball, you could look forward say five years into the future. What do you think is going to be going on in our industry that may be a little bit different than it is today?
 

Steve Sanduski:

Well, one thing that I see happening is I think the way that we understand investing and how the economy works is changing. And what I mean by that is I bought my first stock back in the late 1970s. And back then, it was all about individual stocks. And then, you go into the 1980s and even into the early '90s, it was still about stocks. It was about tech shelters, that sort of thing.

 But then by the time we got to the mid 1990s to the early 2000s, it became all about mutual fund investing, and asset allocation. And asset allocation accounts for 93% of the variability of returns of a portfolio and all that good stuff. And then in the mid 200s, to today, we've got ETFs, and we've got passive investing. And that's all the rage. And everyone is using ETFs and passive investing low cost products. And that's the way we're going.

 But I think we're going to make a shift back to what is old is new again. I see this younger generation, they're all over individual stocks. They're buying Tesla, they're buying Apple, they're buying Amazon. I mean, they love owning individual stocks. It's almost like it's a status symbol to own this. And we've got the technology that enables people to do that easily. And I just look at my kids. I mean, my kids, they're buying these individual stocks on Robin Hood and they're having fun with it. And I'm encouraging it because I want them to learn how to invest and when you make mistakes, and that sort of thing.

 So one thing I see happening is that we're going to start seeing a shift where more advisors are going to be using individual stocks. And two other components to that. One is it's not just going to be stocks and bonds, and cash, and real estate. We're going to go even more into alternative investments. And yes, I'm talking Bitcoin for example. As we're having our conversation today, it's getting close to new all-time records again. So I think that is part of a bigger trend. Bitcoin is part of a bigger trend, which is another big issue that advisors need to be thinking about, which is we have lived in a Keynesian world for the past 50 to 70 years in terms of that economic framework. Well now, we've got MMT, we've got Bitcoin. And those for example are two very polarized ideas. MMT is all about we can spend, spend, spend money and rack up all these debts, and it's not an issue unless and until we have inflation. And then you've got Bitcoin, which is just the opposite, which is we need some type of currency store value that cannot be inflated away. So I think you're going to see this creative tension between MMT on one end, and the whole concept behind what supports Bitcoin on the other end. So I think that's going to be an interesting dynamic. 

 And my point in saying all that is as a financial advisor, I think it's important that you understand what is going on in this area. Because how we think about the economy, how we think about the stock market I think is changing rapidly. And technology is a huge component of it because of our ability to have things like Bitcoin, to tokenize securities. This idea of the self-sovereign. I mean, there's all kinds of stuff going on there. So I think five years from now, the investing scene could look very different from where we're at today. And I think advisors need to really get schooled on that now, because your clients are going to be asking about it.
 

Brittany Anderson:

And Steve, I think that the underlying theme I kept thinking about as you were sharing there is just paying attention, right? Paying attention to again, what the future client is going to want and what the needs are of the next generation. Then that's going to you with relevancy, with staying relevant. And I think these are things too, because a lot of the advisors we talk to just because of the average age of the current financial advisor, they're looking at succession plans, and they're looking at that next generation of advisor. And I think it's important that as you are aligning with that next gen of not only clients, but also advisors, looking to people who are forward thinking.

 I think Steve, one thing that's been kind of amazing about your career is just how you have had the ability to look forward into the future, and how you have helped things grow to meet that future demand. So I would love for you to kind of spin this a little bit. A lot of the advisors that end up coming through our programs, at Ultimate Advisor, whether it's our accelerator program, it's the mastermind. Some of the one-off coaching that we've done, the people that come through are typically those that have just broke that seven figure production mark. And as Dan Sullivan, a strategic coach would say that that new ceiling of complexity that comes with having that revenue jump. So what would be something that you recommend to an advisor who just broke through that seven figure Mark and is hitting that ceiling of complexity, what piece of advice could you give to that person?
 

Steve Sanduski:

Well, I would say a couple of things, and I think they're related. So let me go back to what I said earlier, when I talked about this idea of being a zero to one or a one to infinity. So I would say look, stand in front of a mirror and ask yourself am I a zero to one kind of guy, or am I a one to infinity type person? And what I mean by that is if you're zero to one, that means you're someone who likes to start things, who likes to build things. But you're not someone who likes to run things. So if that's the case, if that's that ceiling of complexity that you're bumping up against, then you need to do the second piece here, which I said is connected, which is you need to make yourself obsolete. And what I mean by that is you need to put the people in place. You need to put the systems in place so that the business can run without you. And you become obsolete. So again, if you're the zero to one, it's about really making yourself obsolete and getting back to focusing on the kind of stuff that you like, which is the zero to one stuff. 

 On the other hand, if you say, "Well, I'm a one to infinity kind of guy. Yeah, I got the business started, but I really love the business of the business. I love running stuff. I love managing people. I love putting systems in place." Well, if that's the case, then you just need to get better at what you do. You need to be that continuous learner, that lifelong learner. And I think that's a theme to what we're talking about here today. And I think what you guys teach as well, which is just this importance of being a lifelong learner. So I think that's really how I think about it is figure out, if you're a zero to one or to infinity. And then if you're zero to one, make yourself obsolete. If you're one to infinity, keep learning.
 

Brittany Anderson:

So you're speaking my love language there Steve. We could have a whole other session on just this topic alone. I think there's a couple of things that came to mind. One is that if you are that zero to one as you called it and you love the build, but you don't like the actual run about how it can actually be dangerous to your business to stay in the company too long, or to stay too active too long because you should be build. So I think that's just such an interesting concept. And I think that's brilliant advice for the advisor that has kind of reached that pivotal point of you've broke that seven figure mark, and you're looking at the what's next. And really identifying, I love the analogy you gave of looking at yourself in the mirror and really deciding who you are.

 We talk a lot about being lifelong learners. And myself, Bryan, and Draye all fully believe in that. And that continued growth as an individual. And there's this saying Steve, that if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room and we fully embrace that. So I would love to kind of round us out here, talk about how you have positioned yourself in the right room and how maybe other advisors could go about doing that and really finding people that help them stretch and maybe the importance of that as well.
 

Steve Sanduski:

Yeah. Well, you become who you surround yourself with and what you listened to. I mean, we've seen that so much here in the past few years that you start believing what you read, and who you listen to, and what media sources you gobble up. So I think we have to be super intentional about our inputs. And what I mean by that is who are we listening to? Who are we spending time with? What are we reading? And I think it's critically important that we listen to a wide variety of input sources. And then where we as humans, as individuals, as financial advisors, our skills are going to come to the fore through discernment. So we have to be able to take a wide variety of inputs, run it through our internal filters, and figure out what makes sense, what doesn't make sense. How can I connect what I heard over here to this thing that I heard over there, or I saw over this other place, or I read in this book? How can I put all these pieces together, the pieces of a puzzle, and create this new symphony? And I think that's what's going to be important. And for me personally, I think a couple of things that I do. One is I'm reading all the time, and I'm reading a variety of input sources, and I'm also listening to a lot of different podcasts.

 And I know I'm kind of talking to my book here because here we are in a podcast and I host and produce podcasts, but I think podcasts are one of the most amazing things. Because no matter what topic you want to learn about, there's a podcast on it or there's hundreds of podcasts on it. So I'm listening to podcasts every day. I mean, I'm probably listening to an hour or two hours a day with podcasts. And it's like, I'm just absorbing all this information. I'm trying to synthesize. I'm trying to discern how does this all make sense? So I think that's a key thing is diversifying your input sources, run it through your discernment filter, and then move forward and take action on it.
 

Brittany Anderson:

Steve, that is absolutely so brilliant. So before I ask my final question, you've dropped a ton of value here today. So if somebody wants to get ahold of you, wants to learn more about everything that you have really talked about today and all that you offer advisors, how could they do that?
 

Steve Sanduski:

Yeah. Well, let me share a couple of things. Well, three things. One is you can connect with me on social media so you can follow me on Twitter. And my Twitter handle is @SteveSanduski. And the last name is S-A-N-D-U-S-K-I. I'm on LinkedIn as well. Happy to connect with you there. Second thing is to visit a couple of my websites. One is roladvisor.com and that's the life centered planning site that we've developed. And that's where we have our digital tools and our training programs. So you can join that program and become a life center planner. And then the third is the other website, which is my coaching site and that's stevesanduski.com. And that's where you can get information about the coaching services as well as get access to my podcast, which is called Between Now and Success.
 

Brittany Anderson:

Awesome and amazing. And I will tell you, I have been listening to Between Now and Success for a very long time and your podcast is amazing. So I highly encourage anybody that's listening to go download that you are just going to get dropped with immense value, so many great practical things you can implement in your business and just ways to think outside the box. So Steve, my final question, is there anything that I didn't ask you that I should have?
 

Steve Sanduski:

Well, I would just end with a couple of quotes here. And these are two quotes that have been very meaningful to me for quite a few years now. And they're quotes that I lean on when I have to make an important decision in life. And the first quote is from Andre Gide. And he wrote, "Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." And then the second quote is from Marcel Proust and he wrote, "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Now what's interesting about these two quotes is they're diametrically opposed to each other.

 So the first quote from Gide says hey, you got to find a new shore. You got to sail something new. Whereas Proust is saying you don't have to necessarily find a new landscape, but you just have to look at what you're doing right now with new eyes. And I like the juxtaposition of that. So when I have an important decision to make, I think about these two quotes in that do I want to break free from what I'm doing right now? Do I need to do something brand new, the zero to one type thing? Well then that's the Andre Gide quote. If I want to do the one to infinity, if I want to improve what I'm currently doing, but view it through a different lens through new eyes, that's the Proust quote there.

 So I think we can use that in a variety of domains. And one of which is your business plan. So as you're thinking about your business, ask yourself, what's something new that I need to do? What's the new shore I need to sail toward? And then the second is well, what am I already doing that's working, but maybe not working as well as it could? And if I put more effort into it, if I doubled down, if I tweaked some things I could do even better than let's do some of those. So I think we need a combination of both of those. And I think these two quotes have been really helpful to me in terms of trying to understand those two opportunities.
 

Brittany Anderson:

Steve, those are beautiful quotes. And thank you for ending on that note. Thank you for your time today. We know time is the most precious commodity we have, so we are forever grateful to you and can't thank you enough for joining us.
 

Steve Sanduski:

Well, thank you, Brittany. This has been awesome. And appreciate you having me on and congratulations on the great show that you guys have put together.
 

Brittany Anderson:

Thanks, Steve. And this rounds out our Ultimate Advisor Podcast. We will catch you right back here next week.

 Hey there, Brittany Anderson here. If you are loving what you're hearing on our Ultimate Advisor Podcast, don't keep us a secret. Share us with other advisors that you think would benefit from the messages that you are hearing. The easiest way to do that is just simply send them to ultimateadvisorpodcast.com. And if you want to learn a few other ways that we could potentially serve you as an advisor, go check out ultimateadvisormastermind.com. As always, we are so happy to have you here with us as part of the Ultimate Advisor community. And we look forward to a continued relationship.

ABOUT THE

PODCAST

The Ultimate Advisor Podcast was specifically created to help financial advisors unlock their ultimate potential by providing invaluable information and resources to improve your income, and the management, marketing and operations of your financial advising practice

The Ultimate Advisor podcast is a business podcast for financial advisors who are looking to grow their advising practices with greater ease and effectiveness. Ultimate Advisor was developed to help financial advisors master their marketing, sell their services with greater authority, generate repeat clients, and additional revenue in their business.

 

Each week, your hosts Draye Redfern, Bryan Sweet, and Brittany Anderson will share some of the closest guarded secrets from successful financial advising practices across the U.S.  

YOUR HOSTS:

DRAYE REDFERN

Draye is the founder of Redfern Media, a direct response marketing agency that helps professionals to improve their marketing, attract new clients, generate more referrals and consistently "WOW" their clients. 

BRYAN SWEET

Founder of Sweet Financial, CEO, Wealth Advisor, RJFS,  Creator of The Dream Architect™

Co-founder of Dare to Dream Enterprises

Creator of Elite Wealth Advisor Symposium

Author of 3 books – Dare to Dream: Design the Retirement You Can’t Wait to Wake Up To, Imagine. Act. Inspire. A Daily Journal and Give & Grow: Proven Strategies for Starting an Running and Effective Study Group

BRITTANY ANDERSON

Director of Operations at Sweet Financial, Office Manager, RJFS,  Co-founder of Dare to Dream Enterprises Author of two books – Imagine. Act. Inspire. A Daily Journal & Dare to Dream: Design the Retirement You Can’t Wait to Wake Up To

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Ultimate Advisor is NOT a financial advising firm and does not provide financial services.

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PRODUCT DESIGNER

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