Episode 005: The Fearless Entrepreneur: Russell Stewart

Hey there, Fearless Family! This is Will checking in with you with the Fearless Entrepreneur Podcast, where I interview some of the most influential people who have conquered their fears to pursue their passion in entrepreneurship. So kick back, relax, and let's unleash your fearlessness. So what's up, Fearless Family? Today we're chatting it up with Russell. Russell is owner of Merrick Financial Group He helps families, business owners, and professional athletes accumulate and maintain and transfer wealth through customized investment strategies. Before we dive all the way into your business, Russell, um, I want you to tell us a little bit about who you were as a kid and what was your biggest fear back then.

Okay, basically who I was as a kid, man, I was always a person of joy, laughter, uh, the class clown, but always got my work done. I was really indulged in the sports. I was a triathlete, played basketball, football, and track. And I think my biggest fear was just not being good enough. That was one of the things that kind of held me back a lot of times, just the fear of not being good enough in anything that I perceived to be challenging.

And how did you get over that fear?

Basically what I did is started listing my fears and started attacking them one by one. Through practice and persistence. So over time, every fear that I faced, I end up overcoming it.

How old were you when you, uh, when you started to conquer that fear of yours?

I want to say about 13. Once I started playing middle school basketball, I got cut my 7th grade year. So right then and there, I felt that I wasn't good enough. So it was at that point where I started practicing because I wasn't always the biggest player on the court. I was always the smallest. So from there, I took the small person with a lot of— a heart of a lion, and, um, always took that mentality with me wherever I went.

Good stuff, good stuff, man. I appreciate you sharing that story with us. Tell us a little bit about your business today and how you make money in your business.

Okay, so basically what we do is we sit down with individuals. I have a 4-step process that I do with people. One, we go over their goals and their objectives. 2, we collect some data. 3rd, I form a financial plan. And then finally, we monitor the plan to make sure that they're staying on track every year, that they're hitting their financial goals and objectives. We take a customized, tailor-made approach to each client to make sure— because there's no one-size-fits-all solution. So everyone has their own tailor-made financial plan to achieve what their perception of financial success is. So basically, how I make money is finding the products that's going to provide solutions to plug in the holes of the problems of my clients.

How long have you been doing your business so far?

I've been in the financial services business for about 6 years now. Prior to that, I was working for the federal government in the Social Security Administration headquarters. So it kind of goes hand in hand because Social Security is one of the 3 sources of retirement income.

And tell us how you got transitioned into your business today? So from going from Social Security to being in business for yourself?

Basically, once I realized that I wanted to be in business for myself, I set a financial goal because I wanted to have at least 12 months of savings before I stepped out on faith. So that meant, you know, hanging out less, having a strict budget. And once I achieved that financial number, it started poking at me saying, okay, when are you going to step out on on this, uh, faith because money is no longer a problem. Um, and working for the government, it was a great opportunity, but I felt like every day that I was dying at my cubicle. So my fear of staying there or getting stuck in that government job was far more greater than me leaving.

Good deal. So Fearless Family, I got a few jewels out of that. You know, definitely put together a plan prior to taking that leap of faith. It kind of takes the sting out of taking that leap of faith, you know, and it puts you on a timeline to take your goal seriously. That's kind of what I gathered from, from what you said. And at the end of the day, even when you have— even when you've reached that plan and reached that, that milestone that you set for yourself to take that leap of faith, sometimes it's still just as challenging to go ahead and jump. You know, you've walked up, you walked up to the cliff, you see it, but you still got to take action. So even when you set those goals, it still can become a challenge to actually take the leap. But that's okay, because eventually you will, and it's better to do it sooner than later and then enjoy that journey. So good deal, man. Um, thank you for again sharing that, dude. What was the first thing that you had to figure out once you started being an entrepreneur?

With my business, I had to figure out who are the people that could benefit from my products and services. So the first thing I did was I made a list of all my family and all of my friends and some centers of influence, people who had some influence in the community that even if they didn't do business with me, they could direct me into, uh, the people who would do business with me or had the influence to, uh, help me in business. Um, so once I got that list, um, I, I started out with 100 people. Uh, typically when you start out with 100 early in your career, you're probably going to close somewhere between 2 to 3 out of every 10. And then from there, I just started getting referrals from each of those people who became clients of mine. And so I never did any door-to-door knocking, any mailouts, any advertisement. I built my business strictly off word of mouth.

Good deal. Word of mouth is still the number one marketing strategy. Like, at the end of the day, that's all marketing is, is referrals from other people, referrals from your clients.— and it's always going to be champ and king in the realm of any entrepreneur's business. So good deal. So again, lesson I learned from out of that deal is figuring out who your audience is and then penetrating those influential people in your network to try to get them to help you out with business as well. So it seems like that works well in your business. So we at The Fearless Entrepreneur talk a lot about the leap. Like we just talked about a moment ago, you know, you get close to it and you set your goals, and but you still got to take the leap into pursuing your dreams. Take us to a moment when you started your entrepreneurial journey, that point in your life where you realize, hey, I really want to be a financial advisor. What was the biggest fear you had to confront when taking that leap, and explain what that felt like for you?

I would say the biggest fear of taking that leap was everybody remembering who I was versus who I was trying to become. A lot of times when you step out on something, I always tell people that it's 3 stages when you start to be an entrepreneur. People are going to look at you like, okay, that's just a new thing that he's trying. And then the second stage is, okay, he's still doing that same thing. And the third stage is, hey dude, I see you've been doing this for a while. Tell me, how can I benefit from what you're doing? So I knew once I got to that third stage, it wouldn't be no problem winning the people over and making them advocates for what it was that I was doing.

Good deal, man. I like the way you put that. And I know there's a lot of entrepreneurs that are like that. See, me, I was a class clown too. So to have people take you seriously after you've been the class clown like forever, and, you know, always laughing, joking, being that guy, and then going out and actually helping people and getting results for people And then having them take you seriously. Never looked at it in the stages like that, but it makes sense. You go through those stages of convincing, you know, your inner circle that, hey man, take me seriously, this is what I'm doing as a profession now, and to get on board.

And I'll tell you another thing with that is, um, you know, I got so caught up in the changing everybody's way of thinking and how I was thinking, you know, thinking that everybody wants to be financially independent, so selling them on financial independence. But another thing that I did, I started to model what it was that I was trying to impose on people. And instead of changing the people around me, I started to change, and then the people around me started to change, and that helped out a lot as well.

Mm-hmm. It's the power of attraction, you know. When you become what you want to be, then you attract the type of clients that you want. So it makes sense, makes a whole lot of sense. So what are some tips you can give to those people who are having some of the same hesitations and fears that you, that you've had during that time?

I would say number one is make people respect you and your time. Recognize your target market at an early start in your career or in your entrepreneurship. In the beginning, everyone is the client at that point because you're trying to sustain, you're trying to build, so at that point everyone is a client. But you want to get to the point where you can be selective, and that way you can have quality over quantity. And then whenever you want to grow your business, you already know exactly who your target market is, so you just go after quality— quantity, you know, a large quantity of quality at that point, and that's how you continue to grow.

So I think you kind of leewayed into my next question, which is, you know, how did you get your business from just open to actually thriving? So kind of dive in a little bit more, um, on kind of how you were able to do that with your per— with your business right now.

Again, once I identified that target market, I started— when I asked for referrals, I started to describe the actual client that I like to work with. That way, because a lot of times when we ask for referrals, people give us what I call sympathy referrals. People who not necessarily fit the mold of what you're trying to do, but they— people like to refer you down versus up. So I always paint the picture of, hey, Who is doing well? And sometimes, or who do you admire that you feel is doing better than you are, or on the same lines of what you're doing? I never ask people to refer me down. It's not that I won't take clients that are below the people that I work with, but I like to describe exactly who I like to work with so people can identify and give you those good quality referrals.

Makes a lot of sense. When you have your target, it's easier to get, you know, some of this you can pick and choose what you want when it's not exactly your target at that point, but if you have it specifically, have specifically what you want, your ideal client, your avatar is what I usually call it, you know, that person that you've built to be exactly what your client should be, you can always take the scatter around. So you're going to continue to get those, but you have a main focus. So good stuff. Uh, what are you most excited about in your business today, man?

I'm most excited about the growth, the expansion, um, the wide range of the products that we can now offer. Um, we're now tapping into the business market where we're doing group plans and 401 plans for companies. We've tapped into the athlete, the professional athlete market. Um, we're now getting into the executive market. Uh, we're just growing a second office in a 1-year time span. Uh, the highest revenue of my career, um, the company's existence last year in the second year of the actual formation. I've been in financial services for 5 years, but I've had my company for 2 years. Um, so the second year was actually the most thriving. So, um, we're seeing big things. We're growing agent-wise. I have a total of 3 agents now. And looking forward to 2 interns coming up. So expansion is the key. Growth, growth, growth. I always liked the Walmart model. Walmart is everywhere. So in order to attract more clients, you have to be everywhere.

You're definitely right on that, man. And growth is needed in order to sustain any business. If you're not looking to grow, then that— you become stagnant. And when you become stagnant in entrepreneurship, you usually go out of business. So definitely, man, growth, major focus. So with all the good things, adversity still happens no matter what. So no matter how much achievements and success that you may have in life, and it's usually when you're able to get through that adversity that you're able to, you know, challenge yourself and become a new person, you know, and reveal a new person that you never knew that you were, or achieve things that you never knew that you could achieve. Take us to a time where you consider to be your pivotal moment where your business was, you know, went from stress to actually success and becoming that new growth into Merrick Financial.

Well, your business is always going to go through what I like to say cycles, almost like business cycles. You're going to have, um, the expansion cycle where you're going to go up, then you're gonna have that peak cycle where you're kind of having that peak moment, that thriving moment. And then you're going to have that little trough moment where it kind of slows down. And then again, you got to go through that, that sustainable moment where you're trying to reevaluate where you are. Every time that I get to that point where I come down from my peak, I start looking back on what it is that I did to get me to that peak moment, because usually when we get to that spot where we feel like we're successful or we're having some success, we get away from what got us there. So I always go back to what was I doing to get me to this point.

Cool. Do you, uh, do you set aside a time like every year to kind of do that, or do you kind of assess, or how do you usually do that?

Every year, Thanksgiving, uh, my family, we go to the beach for Thanksgiving, and that's my time where I sit down and I plan my 2017. I do my annual expenses, I do my 2017 strategies, and I look at what I did the previous years and what I'm doing now. A lot of times I look back at the activity that I did from the previous years and find out what did I do wrong and what did I do right, and I decipher that into my new plan for the next year.

Good deal. And you've been doing that ever since you started your business?

Absolutely. I have activity planners, which it tells me who we met with, What transactions did we do? Did we get something out of the deal? Because a lot of times you keep meeting with people and meeting with people and nothing really happens, and you find out either what did you do wrong, or was that the right client, right prospect, in retrospect. So I look at all of that and I paint that picture for the next year of exactly what it is I want to do. I speak my— I write my goals specifically clear. Of exactly what it is that I want to get done.

Good, good. That's awesome, man. Um, so Fearless Family, if you don't get anything else from that piece of information, is plan and always assess. It's good to reflect back on, um, the things that has happened, good and bad. Take that information, and you need to have some system to actually keep up with everything that's going on through your business. A lot of times you'll find that A lot of people just do business and have transactions, but don't really have a way to assess how they've been performing and what they've been doing throughout the year with each one of their clients. At the end of the day, if you're able to see those things and assess those things and analyze those things, you can start to change and tweak it so that you can be more profitable, so that you can grow more, so that you can expand, just as Russell did. So good stuff, man. Um, we have the Fearless Five questions coming up next, but before we do that, we're going to take a little time out to thank our sponsors. Fearless family, if you're looking to start a business, one of the things that you need to have is an online presence. Well, I have a secret for you. Right now you can go and purchase your first domain for 99 cents at GoDaddy.com. Just visit our link www.thefearless.co/godaddy and you'll have the opportunity to purchase your first .com for 99 cents. Again, that's thefearless.co/godaddy. So Russell, are you prepared for the Fearless Five?

Ready, let's get it.

Good stuff. Okay, what was holding you back from becoming an entrepreneur?

What was holding me back to become an entrepreneur was probably, uh, The fear of being able to provide for my son, um, that was the only thing that was holding me back, is that I was responsible for another human and I had to make sure that I could sustain for me and him.

What's the best advice you've ever received?

Um, basically make people respect your time and your knowledge, and it's better to be respected than it is to be liked.

Great. Well, one of the one books that kind of opened my mind, changed my mindset on business and life is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. If you could recommend one book that opened your eyes as well, what would that be and why?

That book was How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Um, it basically taught me how to deal with people, um, how people think when it comes to, uh, selling, uh, buying, and also the keys to success is that— is to help people get what they want.

Name one app resource you use the most as an entrepreneur.

X, that is like X-ray, Expense Tracker. As a business owner, not only are you going to make money, but at the same time, if you don't pay taxes during the year, you're going to be responsible for taxes at the end of the year. So that Expense Tracker helps me keep up with all my expenses, all my mileage, all my lodging, all my conference fees, all my licensing fees, everything right in that app. You can take a picture of receipts, load it up. It's the best iPhone app to help you keep up with your financials during the year.

Okay, this is the last question. Imagine you woke up one morning, except you're your younger self at that pivotal moment where you realize, hey, I really, really want to be an entrepreneur. All your bills are paid, you have food and shelter. Now you still have all the knowledge that you have, you know, of overcoming fear and all the knowledge of business. You have a laptop and you have $400. What would you do in the next 10 days?

The next 10 days, the first thing I would do, day 1, is develop that prospecting list of the who can benefit, what it is that I have to offer. That same day, after I developed that prospect list, I would set as many appointments with those people as possible. I wouldn't set no less than 20 appointments for that week, uh, whether that was lunch appointments, dinner appointments. Um, third, I would go on as many of those appointments that I could keep during that week and either get referrals from those people or get a sales transaction. Uh, most people think that once you get a sale, that is the end of the process, but the referrals is actually more important than the sale because that gives you another place to go. So from those people out of that 100 prospect list, If I've got 25 people to sit down with me and got them each to give me 3 referrals, that'd be 75 new places to go, which I would try to get 3 referrals from those people, which again would give me another 225 places to go for business.

Good deal. So Fearless Family, that's a great formula to have. Make sure that you follow up with your clients and get referrals from them as well. So awesome, awesome. So Russ, we've had an awesome interview. What we'll do next, I would like for you to give the people a piece of advice that you'd like for the Fearless Family to have, the best way they can connect with you, and then we'll say goodbye.

Okay, the best advice that I would have for people is believe in yourself within reason. Um, even when nobody else believes in you, um, you gotta know when to hold 'em, when to fold 'em. Always have an exit strategy, but stay focused on your actual plan for success. If you want to reach me, you can reach me on Instagram or Twitter. It's Russell Q Stewart. Those are the same handles for each one. Email russellstewart@outlook.com and also www.merrickfinancial.com.

Good deal. And you also had a book that you got, you have launched as well, right?

Right, right, right. Also, I have the book called The 30-Day Difference: Make It a Habit and Make It Happen. So basically what it does, it teaches you how to form a goal, How to Think Positive, Take Action, and Build Self-Confidence Over the Course of 30 Days. When I stepped out on faith, I actually used this formula. It was a 30-day process that I put together, used this formula, and exactly 60 days later, I was out on my own as an entrepreneur full-time from 30 days of actual working toward that actual goal.

Good stuff, man. So Felix Family, we'll make sure that we have, uh, those links in there so you guys can check out the book as well. Guys, you know, I end the podcast off the same way every time. The fear of unknown can kill your dreams and aspirations. You've been replacing fear with knowledge today with Russell and Will. You can head on over to thefearless.co and type in the name Russell in the search bar, and you'll see his show notes and everything that we talked about today. Russell, I want to thank you for sharing your journey with us. We look forward to seeing you continue. To create with no fear.

I appreciate you having me.

Fearless family, thank you for joining me for another episode of the Fearless Entrepreneur Podcast. Take a moment to visit thefearless.co/podcast, like, share, and comment On our channel.