Ep #7: Every Role Matters for a Firm’s Growth

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Hi, Colleen. Welcome to the Advisor Summit. We're so excited to have you and thank you for joining us today.

Good morning. How are you both?

We are good, ready to rock and roll and kind of just learn from you and your knowledge. And we're excited to kind of share your experience on this platform. So wanted to kind of first start by just having you share your backstory and how you really became the director of operations at Oxford Retirement and Estate Planning.

Good question. I was a stay at home mom for 12 years with my two children who are now 30 and 24. So if you can imagine, that was quite some time ago into the workforce. And because I had been in the car industry before, I had a really good friend. They had a need at one of the dealerships around here for a customer relations director, which is just kind of what I do here. I'm kind of the mom of everything, you know, fixing problems, making sure everybody happy. So I slid right in. So, you know, thankful for that. I did that for about eight years and then I decided, you know, this isn't for me anymore. So I jumped out in 2020 and said, you know what, I'm just going to try my skills somewhere else. Let me just get my feet wet. And then Covid happened. So I started just being a scheduler for water processing systems just to kind of bridge the gap. And I kind of got stuck in that for about four months. And then I got a call on the phone from Jen. I don't know if you guys remember Jen here. She said, we have an opening for a marketing director and we really think you'd be a good fit. So I came in and I interviewed with Landon and Mike and they said, well, what is your ideal job? And I said, well, I'm kind of the mom.

And.

And they said, jen's leaving in three weeks. Do you want her job? So I said, which is great because the girl I was working with doing the scheduling, Lexi, is now our marketing coordinator. She said, don't leave me here. I don't want to be stuck here, stuck alone. I didn't get the marketing position, but I got the director of operations, so.

Yeah.

And we've been working together ever since.

I feel like that's also such a mom move, like there's a need. We're just going to jump in, like, no questions asked. You're just going to full force go for it. And that's how we do it. So.

So that's awesome.

So you've always started kind of in that role, that operations role. Was it hard to learn? I mean, you didn't come from the financial advisory background, so was it difficult to kind of learn the nuances of the industry? Because it is a very niche industry, very different than what we would say is water or even dealerships as well?

Yeah, I think I had the management and kind of the mothering skills down that it takes to be kind of a manager and a director. The rest of it was just kind of figuring out the language, figuring out a difference between a security and an annuity. What the differences were just kind of working with ae. Their online training is really good about teaching exactly what it all is. So I'm somebody that if I don't know it, I Google it. I find people who know it. I will sit with them for as long as I can. It did help that Jen was still there for three weeks and kind of walked me through everything. So it was an easier transition than just kind of being put in a role and having to figure it out. So, like, here you go. That we had that transition.

I think that's so key though, and I think this speaks a lot to your character, is if you don't know something, you go figure it out. And that's something I really want to encourage everybody, you know, listening to the podcast or, you know, in their roles or in this industry, go figure it out or ask someone, what have we found? I mean, like yourself, I think everybody is so willing to share knowledge and so kind. Of course we have a couple of apples, but it's. We don't want to talk about those. You know, it's just most people are willing to share. So I think that's really kind that, that you're. You are willing to as well. So.

And that helps me. I, throughout my job time here, just, I have a really great relationship with Kayla, who's our marketing team director on Team Synergy. When I didn't know something, I call her, I asked her, I sent her an email. And our relationship, she comes out here to visit. So we're really good friends at this point. I feel like it helps build relationships. They want to Help you whenever you need it. And just like with us, I love Colton. I love you and Erica.

Shout out to Colton.

Don't feel shy to ask because there are people that want to help.

Yeah, truly. And I think that's huge. And it's.

It's.

I think utilizing and tapping into like your strategist or your VP or utilizing those resources is big. So it sounds like you've definitely done that. But I also want to ask. Okay, how did. I mean, this is very unique to Oxford, but how did the concept of dare to retire was. How was it born? Because I love this saying. I think it's so ba. I think it's so cool. So I had. I just want to know the backstory of, like, how that came to be.

So my Mike Oxford is the founder of Oxford Retirement, and Landon's been working with him since he got out of the Navy. And, you know, he had one of those really crazy. He was a. He was a combat search and rescue on a. On a helicopter. So he just had this kind of high volume, crazy, daring job. And I think that's just him to a tee, right?

A hundred percent. Like, knowing Landon, that's him all the way through. There's no better way to describe it.

I think he had this in his mind the whole time because he want. He saw the need that people kind of are trepidatious about retiring. They're not really sure. So instead of making it, okay, I guess I will retire you, he's like, I want to dare people to do it. So when he took over the business in 2021, he had had it hatched for a while, and as soon as 21 happened, he bought the business. He said, this is what I want to launch. And he went into it full on.

Full fledged, very Landon. A hundred percent, all in, no questions. Yeah. Was there any, like, hesitation from the team? Was anyone like. I just think in general, advisors, and we love them, they typically will have these, like, big ideas. And sometimes the team takes a little bit of time to actually get on board with that. Was there hesitation or was everyone like, no, we're ready to go. This is awesome.

I think Landon is a very easy leader to follow. Right. So when he puts passion into something, when he brought it to us, he. You can see it. You could see how he described it. You could see how he felt like this was the move that he wanted. And the way he helps people and clients, whether they're just coming in for advice and he just sets them on the right path. Sometimes they don't even become clients. He just wants to make sure that they're helped and they're educated. Knowing that he just wanted to put his spin on how he felt like it was exciting to retire, not something you were kind of dreading. He wanted them to feel that excitement and yeah, it was easy to follow.

Yep, yep. I love that. I especially feel like it's so funny that people in their 30s and 40s feel very excited to retire. And then as you kind of inch closer to that, you know, end line, there's a lot of hesitation within that retirement. So. And it's true. I think Oxford does a great job from start to finish. From Lexi Scheduling to you, you know, speaking to them, to Landon. I think you through and through really do well in that process of making people feel comfortable. So kudos. So I also want to ask, okay, so for new firms, I mean, you've been in this role for a little bit now. You obviously excel at it. What are some advice you could give those. Just maybe starting out, maybe in the marketing role as well, as for someone that's just become a director or maybe a C suite type of person. What's some advice for those that are newer to those roles?

I gotta go back to learn as much as you possibly can and be adaptable. Don't stay in your lane. There's so many things that I do here as a director of operations that you wouldn't think would be on kind of a job list. I mean, I've redecorated the entire office to match kind of Landon's esthetic. It's a little strange, but that I could put that on my resume.

No, I remember I called you one time and you're like, oh, sorry, I'm actually just finishing up painting. Can I call you back? And I was like, yes, you can. But I think that's so true. It's really diving in and showing people, hey, like, you really need to do it all. So, yeah, yeah.

It's one of those things where, because these financial boutique firms, people have a lot of hats and a lot of roles to play. I think if you're open to that and just don't stay in your lane and you learn as much as possible and you really, really try to do as much as you can to learn every single role that is in marketing. Lexi and Janai can kind of hop in and do reception. They can do front desk. They can help me out. We all kind of cross train in a lot of ways, which helps their knowledge because if they get on the phone with Somebody and they need to know it. They can't just be like, I'm just in marketing. That's not my job. That is a view we have here. Don't ever say that's not my job. Right. Let me get somebody better to help you that can understand that. But never say it's not my job.

Well, disqualifies, like, trust in the firm. It's like, okay, if they don't even know within their own firm what's happening, how am I supposed to trust them with assets and finances that are huge for people? Retirement? I mean, they're not. They're not just getting a car wash from you, you know, they're getting something massive from you, and they want to trust that. I love that. Do you feel like, especially for those that maybe are in a position like a marketer, for example, and there's no. By no means is that like lesser than or more than, but someone that's wanting to move to maybe a higher C suite role, would that be the same advice that you would give them? Just learn everything, or is there anything else that you can kind of add to that? Yes.

And that's kind of the direction that me and Landon are thinking for. For myself, because I said, okay, what's the next step for me? Because I always want to constantly grow a hundred. You know, being a C suite employee also gets you into certain trainings, like at ae, the women's trainings, and things like that. So I'm like, you just kind of. If you really want that situation, talk to your financial advisor because they know exactly who goes to what and what that entails. So that's kind of put me in. Into a direction of. I want to. He's told me, if you want to be in that position, you're not just a director of operations where, yes, you are managing. Yes, you are doing a director thing. But I need to know where my financials are at. I need to know where. Where my spend is.

I.

So I've put together all. And it started actually with using Track that advisor, because I use kind of the same template just to lay out our financials. So I'm kind of dialing in and I think about track that Advisor a lot because Data driven like Erica.

Yeah.

Now I'm like, okay, what do I need to have him understand? He needs somebody right behind him to say, hey, look, spend more money on advertising, spend more money here, or this college isn't working. Let's cut them out. Let's look at another place to have some educational classes. So I'm kind of learning along the way, listening to a lot of audiobooks that Christina Gilbert has has recommended for the ops candidates Connect. I was listening to one of the ones this morning, and it was just talking about how you really have to be very compassionate and. And listen, but you kind of have to also look towards the future and what you need to be doing for your financial advisor. So it's kind of nice that we're set up that way. On the marketing side, Lexi obviously had no marketing experience. She knew when she got into the job that I was more of the creative because we kind of split the job that way since we didn't have a marketing person, her and I, I did all the creative and all the ideas. And she really is data driven, right?

Yeah.

Likes doing all of the spreadsheets, all of the creative things with the pamphlets and all of that. So she found a niche and that's why we hired Janai, because she had a marketing background and now she edits all of our videos. And Lexi's like, good, now I can forge forward with that side because marketing isn't just creative. You have to be data driven as well.

I think that's.

And it's nice, too, that you can find people that all work together in that. I think it can synchronize and have synergies in that, because I feel like a lot of teams, and we've seen it. I mean, a majority of our teams are super successful. Awesome. But you know when some teams are a little bit off kilter and they're not speaking to each other, so I think that's a big thing. Also communication, like, what are you good at? What am I good at?

What?

How can we work together to accomplish this? Because I think about video editing, not my role. No, thank you. I'll do the podcast all day, but I am not going to video edit. And it's similar. Like, maybe you want to do the creative, but you don't necessarily want to do the pamphlet side. So what's so nice about these firms is there's really so much to do that you can really take shape and find the right people. Even Erica and I were talking this morning about finding the right people in the right place and giving them permissions to own that job. And if you don't have capacity to own that job or own that position, let's find the right person that does. You know, and even within the firm, like, okay, you like 80% of your job. Awesome. Let's find where that 20% could fit. And maybe you could take an additional 20% elsewhere. So it sounds like you guys at Oxford really have it down. And we feel that. We know it. It's not a secret. It's like, oh, man, this is a very good team.

So, yeah, we're very.

I have a question about the dance that you do with the owner advisor. So you're working towards that C suite position. You know, you're probably in limbo there, but talk to me just about. I mean, it's been five years now, so you know Landon really well. For the people listening, they're not the owner of the company. Right. They work within the company. Maybe they'd love to be in the C suite position sometime, talk about the dance and the relationship that has to happen with these strong leaders that are within your firm. And sometimes they have a lot of ideas. Sometimes it's like their way or the highway.

How.

How do you navigate that? I think that that's a hard thing to do for. For a lot of people who are in a support role. So I'm. I'm curious about that from you. I mean, you guys have great teams. So how does that dance work?

I think we're very lucky that me and Landon just see eye to eye on so many things. We challenge each other too, though, so that is very important. When he comes up with, oh, we're going to order more things, I have to say, hey, we don't have any room here. So where are we going next? Like, Heath is forward thinking. I'm like, where are we going to put it all? Where it's just kind of the way. Me using that example is the way he goes. I want him focused on the building of the business and how he's going to start to delegate to some of the other advisors here. He wants to hang on to how it used to be because he knows he can do it right. I have to keep encouraging him and he pushes me to be better and wants me to do better things. So our relationship is very unique. I think people can tell that we just have this. He knows he can rely on me. He knows I'm going to get him prepared. He knows that if he has an issue, he can bring it to me and I can handle it with grace. But that took, like I said, like a while for him to understand and it's experiences.

Right.

He has to see how I handle something and then he knows that he can. So he can. It's almost like they have a checklist. Can I rely on her for that? Yep. And then they just kind of go Down. And it seems even though the advisors that we have and we have five now, they're all very different. If you want to do the disc assessment, they're all Ds, but they're all a different type of D. I don't know how to describe it. Landon's very forward thinking, very entrepreneurial. Some other guys, we have two CFPs here, very data driven, very methodical, analytical. They want to sell the product. Then there's Chris, who just is going to climb and do whatever he can to learn everything he can to be a financial advisor. And Mike's kind of like, hey, I've been here. I'm just gonna check out. You have to kind of find that. That way of speaking to each one of them. And I. I can just say that it's. It's very great that Landon gives me the capabilities to talk to each one, find out how they best function and how I can help them be the best advisor they can be.

Yeah, that's awesome. I feel like too, it's a lot of. And I think having a lot of different personalities in the office can be hard to navigate and manage. But also from the client perspective, every client is going to naturally kind of side with a different type of personality. I think about, I have a twin brother, and I'm like, the type of advisor I would want is drastically different than the type of advisor he would want. And we could not be more opposite. So it's like you could have two very, you know, same family people, but it's very different advisors for different people. So it helps you.

And when Mike is now starting to transition out and retire, he had a securities list of clients that we wanted to do a retirement analyzer for because he was never using the technology. Right. He just wrote it down to them, showed them what he thought, but kind of makes it a broad, cool thing that is this new thing that now that these clients are thinking they're going to be, you know, handed over to somebody, and how do I have a relationship with them? This opens it up. So we do second meetings with them, we call them in, have an annual review, and then either Austin or Dane will do the retirement analyzer with them, which I think is so great. And sometimes they've come out of that meeting and said, you know, I think Austin may be a little too serious for me.

Sure.

Is there any way I can meet Dane? And so they meet Dane, and Dane's a talker, and a dude wants to talk about his kids. And Austin, Gary, let me tell you how you're gonna retirement, right? Yeah. For us. And we want clients know, hey, you're coming from Mike, who, you know, is. Is really experienced and has a lot of knowledge to these younger guys in their 30s with these people are maybe in their 50s and 60s going, you're going to tell me how to retire?

Yes.

Why should I trust you? So Mike has given them. These are the guys that are going to do it for you, and they can pick whatever personality they want. And it's. We've given them the choice, and I think that has helped us retain all of our clients. Because Landon was nervous, or are they going to want to see other people? Are they going to then jump ship and go try to find somebody like Mike's age that isn't retiring, that, you know, and we haven't lost any clients at all?

That's amazing. I think it speaks a lot to your processes also, like just having, you know, and. And I think maybe for firms that are in kind of that transition period, giving them permission to be nervous, but also to expect if you have your processes in place, you have advisors that are similar, but also, you know, knowledgeable, then you can retain all of your client base. Because I feel like that's coming. I feel like we have had so many. So many firms just that we've seen in the industry, it's like almost transitioning a lot of, you know, fathers to sons or even like founders to kind of new owners. We've seen that a lot coming. So there's. There's grace and kind of encouragement in that as well.

So it's been nice, too, because Landon has been here for so long that they're used to seeing him. They know that he's here. They know he's the basis. And then not just having Mike just say sia and then. And not just drop people. Now we consider him a consultant.

Right.

Okay.

He can come in. He can still meet with the clients. It's. Some clients need a little bit more finessing to accept that they're going to Dane and Austin. But because they're also what we call here as wealth managers, they'll meet with Mike, and Dane will be in that meeting. He'll do all the analysis running. He'll do all the paperwork. He'll do all that stuff. So eventually they start to just meet with Dane so that trust gets built. Some people are like, great, I want a new set of eyes on it anyways, so thank you for showing me that. It's so we. It's. It's very nice how they've Nuanced it with each client.

So with each person. No, when I feel that each. Yeah, everyone's going to need something different for sure. You talked about this risk allies. Is that something that you have or. Sorry, potentially. That's not the word for it, but talk me through kind of. Is that like something that you've recently incorporated into your business or is that something that you've been utilizing for a long time? Kind of walk me through some new things that you're doing as a firm.

So Landon has always used retirement analyzer. Riskalyze is now nitrogen. So that's kind of like another analysis that they run just to give them kind of a view on everything that they're doing. Mike didn't really like the technological side of it. So when it was just Mike and Landon, I feel like Landon's clients kind of had a really clear view of exactly what they were to expect. Mike's was kind of like on a handshake and a smile, right?

Yeah. Yeah.

Not that it was everything. It works, works for different people. But now they're being introduced to some really great reports that show, hey, if I did this and my rate of return is this, what can I expect? When am I going to run out of money in retirement? So that's been really helpful and just kind of an eye opener and a tool that they never saw before.

Yeah.

So I feel like it just brings such a different dimension to what we're doing here. And like I said, when it was just Mike and Landon, it was an easy process. We had two client service reps, we had one marketing person, one front desk person. That was it. Now we're up to 13 people and five advisors. We have to bring something new to the table. We have to do something different. And it made us re. Really rethink our processes. Right. How are we doing this whole. Who is taking over what? And I've heard from different offices, especially kind of on our. Our VP marketing team, just how different offices are structuring their office. Right. So there's some director of operations that also do annuities and aum, here in our office, we have one dedicated client service person for annuities. So from top to bottom, she does everything right. She doesn't know anything about security. She knows about it, but she can go from A to Z with annuities. Right on. And our aum, we have two girls that just, they just stick with that advisor. So if they have any questions. I hear some offices are doing well. Monica does A through A through N. And then I Do M through Z. And I'm like, whoa. Like our advisors know I'm handing it to Jessica or I'm handing it to Crystal. And I know she's going to handle the client, she's going to handle the write up, she's going to handle everything. So. So it's so different how every office is ran too, I think too.

There's not necessarily like a right or wrong way. But I would also encourage offices that if it's not working or it's not efficient to change, like to pivot, to try something new. Because maybe, you know, the first person is getting confused A through end. And then by the time the person M through Z gets it, they're like, this isn't even done. Now we're having to go back, et cetera. So I would just give permissions there. Like it's okay to change, okay to pivot, it's okay to try something different. It's not one size fits all. Which is funny too. In this industry, I find that a lot of times, you know, different. Like industry leaders are trying to kind of say, yeah, this is the best platform, this is the best thing you can do, whether it's a vendor or, you know, mailhouse or something. It's actually not the best thing for you is what's best for your firm specifically and how it's going to make you more capable in the long run. So I love it.

Yeah. When Landon first started, we had, he had a really great friend say, oh my gosh, all my processes are great. I automate all of these things. He said, well, come over to our office and show us what you're doing. And he came to our office and he goes, why do you have so much staff? And Landon started to kind of doubt, well, why do I have so many people? And then he's like, well, you need to do this and you need to put this in place and you need to have this app and you need to. It did not work for us at all because we're our sales force and we are hardcore calendar driven on there. And we tried to put in calendly. You can only put one advisor at a time. And they could. We couldn't differentiate between the advisors. We tried for a year and we tried to do sleep and we tried to do all of these different automations. That worked perfectly for his office because he had one advisor.

Right.

And the way he does it is he doesn't take first meetings. He has all of his team meet with him first and then when they need to send out A calendar invite for that next meeting. It was him. So of course it made sense for us. It doesn't. So, no, it's.

Is there any different offices? Yeah, absolutely. Is there anything tried and true, like a vendor or an app or something that you feel like could work for a majority of offices that you've really put into place at Oxford that you love? Like, is there anything that's made it efficient, saved you time?

We. I. If I must say, we. We started training, which is really great.

Okay.

Yeah, that's a really great one. I was going to start off with Track that Advisor because. And I know, I know, I know we kind of took a little turn. I know when we first started with Track that Advisor, the. The instructions, I guess that we were kind of following along were you need to have one person doing all the information at once. And I said, there is no way to be any. Any use for us. So we kind of took it and I said, okay, we're going to split this up. So I sat in the room with the. With the staff and said, okay, marketing, you need to put in your costs and annuities you need to put in, and you need to do it weekly, if not daily. Right? So, yep, the when and the why and the how needed to. They. At first it was bumpy because they didn't really understand the numbers of it all. And of course, it was adding something that they never had to track before. I was tracking commissions and all the advisors and all the business they needed. It also helped them to kind of know where everything was going in and out and where along the pipeline. They were so splitting it up. I know I felt like I was going against the waves and going against the grain, but I was like, this is going to work. I want everybody to take ownership of it. And that really worked for us. Just everybody having a hand. The front desk person, front desk coordinator that we have, she puts in all of the coaching sessions, where they came from, what date their appointments are. She's the one that keeps up with if they've come to a second meeting. If not, she tasks on Salesforce, the advisor who had that last meeting, and we track it down. Right. It's helped us to kind of really get our first meeting folders and first meeting attempts a little bit more honed in. We're still on that ripple of making sure that they get touched. Because all I can see is these manila folders back there going. One of these people, they might want to come.

That's a lot of money.

That's all I See, right? So I'm already starting to talk like a C suite, right? You are to me. And I'm like, how do we get that? So, yeah, just even little changes like that and knowing that those are being tracked and then the security side, you know, just having them track exactly what it is. And having Landon have a dashboard, because everybody knows the Salesforce dashboard. We've never used it. We've tried to get it adjusted to what we can see. And he was like, can I just pull something up that shows me where I'm at, shows me who's producing, shows me who's whatever. And he. You've seen him kind of take off. He's like, each individual advisor has one, so now he can train and teach. I'm really trying to get him in the CEO role.

Right.

You've got to start delegating because what do I do? And I go, you maybe take off Mondays and then don't do Fridays, and then that's your training days. And he'll always. He'll always book over those training meetings.

So I try.

I try.

And that's all you can do. It's that classic. Advisors, you know, are not. They're. It's so funny. They're so fearless about so many things, and I so appreciate that about the advisor world. But then that scary D word, delegate comes, and they're like, gosh, I just don't know. And I get it, right? I mean, I always think of it back in mom perspective. It's the first time you pass off your baby to a babysitter. You know, you're like, gosh, are they going to do the same thing as me? Are they going to do it as well as me? And then after about your third kid, you're probably like, yes, bye. We're good. So hopefully, as you get a little bit more in there, he'll start to delegate more.

No, I always say I have to tell Landon 10 times before he actually hears me. He'll listen. But he also has empowered me. When I tell my team, we always have. We have operations meetings, we have marketing meetings. Lennon understands that they're the ones that. With their boots on the ground, Right?

Yeah.

What is going to make this easier for you? And he's never told us no. If they want to go to a training, he says yes. If it has. If they want to learn something new or try something new, done, have at it.

You.

You guys are the ones that do that. If you want to do slim a process or do something different. Yeah, he's got to Start doing that with his advisors. He's never had to train underneath him.

Yeah, right.

He's always just been the guy coming up and doing everything. And I'm like, you have got to start taking a breath. He doesn't want to let his clients down, and he feels that if he takes a step back, that that's what he's doing. And I'm like, they're gonna understand. They're gonna understand. You have got to start delegating you. They've. They know that you trust these guys. You hired them. They trust you. The trust for Landon is immense. So if he can just let that go and understand that people get it, I think he'll be able to start thinking in that CEO mentality. And I just keep pushing it. I just keep telling him, got to start thinking like, CEO. You're no longer. Yeah, you're CEO.

Casual. Like, just, you know, post it, note. Hey, you're actually.

But I think it's on his coach.

So I'm. And I think every office needs that. Every office needs someone that has that relationship with the advisor. And I think step one is to build that relationship, because you and Landon obviously have that. And then from there, you can really start to push. And. And that's only going to make your firm grow and advance and move into a space that you want to be in. And I mean, you guys have been so successful in the past, and that's from every single person on your team. I also want to touch on. I think it's an immense, huge character trait of a leader to just say yes if you want to go learn if you want to do this. Like, the answer is always yes. I always feel that with Erica, too. We have two people on our team getting. And I am not techie, so I don't even know some. Some developmental. Of computers, you know, certificate, and they're like this. And it's like, yes. If you. If you feel that's going to help you in your role, go do it. Like, that's. And it's not even just about the technical side. It's about the people side, too. I think anybody, like, trying to pursue to become a better leader or better role teammate in your team is always going to be advantageous, no matter what they're learning or doing. So agree 100%. Yes. Well, last thing. I mean, this is a huge one. We love trekking. We love. This is a big concept of ours this year. Erica and I are both very. Erica Moore. She's done a lot more accomplishments. I will not preten. Uh, but just tracking, like, where are you going this year? What's your biggest goal? It can be personal or professional, but what's the summit and the peak that you're trying to reach this year?

So professionally, like, I. You touched on way earlier that I was expecting, but I'm glad we talked about it. Yeah, I do want to reach for that. Everybody knows Ali Braun. Right. I went to an elite training and I said, that's who I strive to be. When she said she started as a receptionist and then moved up to marketing and then moved up and got her licensing, that trajectory for me, it made it more real that I could be whatever I wanted to be here. I've even said to Lennon, do you want me to get my license? He goes, you could get your license. And I know you could do well at it, but I really. I really like you in the spot that you're in. And that was really empowering to me because there's always that, keep going, keep climbing, but it might not be the right thing that you should do if you really need it in the space that you're in. And that made me feel really great because I'm where I'm supposed to be.

Yes.

But I want to expand on that. I know Allie did get her series 65, and she then decided that she wasn't. She didn't want to have to be the advisor. I don't want to quote her wrong, but that's kind of what I got from it. When she said, I want to do the planning, I want to help Merkle grow as a business, that's kind of my. My hill that I'm climbing.

Okay.

Anything I can do to make Landon and this place more successful, because everybody here, I just adore, Like, I want their lives to be better, and Landon feels the same way. If we can make their lives better, then that's for us.

Your passion, like, really shines through, Colleen. And I want you to say, like, you are your own alley in so many senses. Like, I. And I can't. And there are so many people that are like, I just want to be a Colleen. Like, I just want to be a Colleen also. So just know that you are where you're supposed to be. And this is. I mean, you've climbed huge mountains already, and your passion is so wonderful in that. So anything personal? What are we doing personal?

Well, Landon keeps pushing me to move closer to work. Right. So like I said, I have a 24 year old.

Yeah.

My daughter Madeline, she's always wants to be downtown Phoenix, so We're kind of in the north Phoenix area. He keeps saying, when are you gonna move to this side? When are you gonna get close?

Yeah.

Be up here so we can spend time with our families. And I'm like, yes. All right. So I'm kind of looking for that. Okay. Too hard. Because, you know, the housing market here, as you guys know, in the Valley.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

That's on my radar. I was married for a long time, and I've bought houses before, but this is.

Yeah.

On my own. I do have a boyfriend, but I always made it to where I'm going to go ahead and do it myself. And he's excited for that, too. So just doing that show my kids that you can do it by yourself. You don't. You don't, like, set you down. That's kind of my personal goal.

I love it. Well, we're rooting for you, so. Both personally and professionally. Always. So it's good. So, Colleen, thank you so much for coming on the Advisor Summit. This is huge.

Us.

We so appreciate your time. You've been a rock star. I know you've just spent a lot of knowledge for maybe newer firms as well as those that are trying to scale and move to more the CEO role, too. I think that that's huge. And a lot of firms are in that position. So we just appreciate you. Always rooting for you, and thanks for your time.

Oh, thank you so much, you guys.

Bye, everyone.