On this episode of the Circuit of Success Podcast, Brett Gilliland shares with you his appearance on the Diamond Consultants Podcast in 2021. Brett shares his journey and how Visionary Wealth Advisors was born. This includes his “Jerry Maguire-Style” resignation.

A Northwestern Mutual Advisor’s “Jerry Maguire-Style” Breakaway Story

Visionary Wealth Advisors: The Origin Story

The recurring theme of “incongruence” runs through the narratives of advisors who have transitioned between firms or models. The challenge arises when there is a mismatch between personal goals and those of the firm, making it difficult, if not impossible, to effectively serve clients and expand one’s business. Brett Gilliland, while serving as a Managing Director at Northwestern Mutual, experienced a noticeable lack of alignment with the firm’s goals as he achieved success. Juggling multiple roles, including financial advisor and recruiter, Brett increasingly felt restricted in his ability to provide unbiased advice and desired more autonomy in serving clients.

The episode delves into the drivers behind Visionary’s remarkable growth, highlighting the significant role relationships and referrals have played in their success. Brett encourages advisors and business owners to ask themselves a crucial question he posed to Tim before leaving Northwestern: “What keeps you here?”

Tune in for the valuable takeaways for both employee advisors and business owners.

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IT’S THIS FEELING OF MISALIGNMENT BETWEEN AN ADVISERS

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goals and that of their firm, which drives

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change more than any other motivator.

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Because when your vision is conflicting with that

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of your firm, it becomes difficult if not

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impossible

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to serve your clients and grow your business.

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As a managing director at Northwestern Mutual,

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Brett Gilliland found that the lack of alignment

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could not be more apparent nor more limiting.

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In his role, He wore multiple hats from

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serving as a financial advisor, plus a recruiter

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with the responsibility

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for the training and development of novice advisors.

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But as he became more successful,

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he also became less satisfied,

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and the feeling of being at odds with

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the goals Northwestern

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became more apparent.

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He wanted greater agency over how he served

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clients.

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He wanted to be able to freely market.

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He wanted to give unbiased

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unconflicted

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advice without feeling pigeonholed into selling insurance.

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And ultimately, as he put it, He wanted

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to play in a different sandbox.

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So after thirteen years with Northwestern,

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he decided it was time to build something

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that was more aligned with his vision.

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And in March of two thousand fourteen,

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RIA firm visionary wealth advisors was born.

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But it’s his Jerry Maguire exit story that’s

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really compelling.

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And a true testament

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to the respect and trust he developed with

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his team at Northwestern.

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Today, visionary manages some one point eight billion

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in assets and has thirty advisors on the

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team.

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In this episode, Brett talks with Lewis Diamond

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sharing details about the motivation behind his move.

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His unique perspective as a managing director at

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Northwestern

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how he is able to fully realize his

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vision as an independent business owner, and of

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course,

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shares a resignation

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story unlike any other. Plus much more. So

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let’s get to it.

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Brett, thanks

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so much joining us today.

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Absolutely. It’s good to be with you. Very

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good. Why don’t you tell us about yourself

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and how you got started in the business?

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Yeah. I went to Eastern Illinois University and

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right out of college. I decided I wanted

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to be in the financial planning business. So

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back then, this was the early two thousand,

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I guess, two thousand Gilliland they were called

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stock brokers back then. And and that’s what

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I wanted to do. I knew that right

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out of college, and it really goes back

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to when I was about fifteen years old,

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my My cousin Dean was actually a stockbroker.

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And I drove the gold BMW. You had

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the speakers in the headrest, and that was

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pretty cool. Right? When you’re fifteen years old,

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and so I thought for sure. I wanted

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to do that. And so I went to

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a job fair and and found the financial

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planning stockbroker Gilliland here we are almost twenty

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years later.

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Perfect. And your your most recent employment before

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launching your own RIA was as the Madington

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director at Northwestern Mutual. Can you talk a

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little bit about that role in your day

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to day? Because my understanding is you were

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in a full time advisor. You had some

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other duties and responsibilities as well. Absolutely. So

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I was a managing director at my previous

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firm, and we were responsible for recruiting. That’s

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a big recruiting world where I was at

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previously. And so we were in charge of

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recruiting advisors to what we call our district

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office. I was in Edwardsville, Illinois. We still

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have an office there to this day, but

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that’s what I was doing. I was recruiting

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advisors into this business. We also had a

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college internship program where we would have anywhere

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from twenty to twenty five interns. I had

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a team of people that will whether it

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was a college unit or field directors or

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mentors,

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recruiters, a great team of people around me,

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but that’s what we had to do. We

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had to go out and recruit new advisors

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to the firm. These weren’t, like, industry folks.

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These were people were brand new, just like

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myself, right out of college, didn’t have any

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experience. So there was tons of recruiting, training,

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development,

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mentor meetings, one off drive by meetings, maybe

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being about how do you prospect? How do

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you make more phone calls? How do you

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find more prospects? So on and so forth.

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But then also was a financial advisor and

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did that at a high level as well.

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So it was one of the things I

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really enjoyed because

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I was doing multiple things throughout the day

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wearing lots of different hats.

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Excellent. It sounds like the Northwestern model of

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recruiting, it’s kinda like churn and burn. You’re

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expecting that a lot of folks aren’t gonna

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make it through the program. So I’m curious

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what separated the advisors

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that ultimately made it and went on to

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have successful careers. Yeah. I mean, there’s so

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many different things we’ve looked at over the

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years. And so when I at the success

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that we had from a recruiting standpoint.

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I learned that they grew up with what

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I would call. I’m using air quotes here

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since you can’t see me, but a normal

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background. And what I mean by that is

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they were blessed with a great family life.

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They had support at home, whether that was

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growing up as a child, but also in

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their adult life. And what, again, what I

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just call this normal life, which is maybe

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that’s fair. Maybe it’s not fair, but it

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it just it it seemed like they had

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a lot of support around them from loved

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ones. And I think that’s so important. This

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business can be very lonely, especially when you’re

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twenty three, twenty two, twenty four years old,

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and you’re running around trying to fry prospects,

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and it was completely different. The ones that

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we found that were successful, a lot of

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them were career changers. We had a testing

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program. If they did a certain test on

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this personality, we found that did well, but

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I also saw an athletic background. I mean,

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at one time, we had, I think it

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was sixteen advisors that I had recruited that

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were all college athletes.

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And that doesn’t mean you’re gonna only be

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successful if you’re a college athlete, but for

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us, that’s what we found where the college

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athletes

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were working in that environment. Right? Because you

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had to go out and make a name

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for yourself. You had to go out and

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prospect. You had to be driven. You had

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to go out and make forty or fifty

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or sixty phone calls every single day, and

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you had to get twenty five referrals a

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week. And you all these activity drivers that

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you had to do that quite frankly, I

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probably wouldn’t be in this business if it

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wasn’t for those things when I was in

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my early twenties, but I had to do

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it. And I found the people that were

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competitive and wanted to be great in things

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at life, those were the ones that were

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the most successful.

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Very interesting. And, I mean, so much of

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the industry’s

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attention. I know our whole business,

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not to mention, is focused on recruiting experienced

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advisors, because obviously, they come with clients, they

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can hit the ground running, already pre trained.

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Do you have a viewpoint though on if

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someone is building a firm from the ground

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up, what do you think is a better

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approach? Is it bringing on experienced folks with

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books or kinda what you did at Northwestern,

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which was career changers, ex athletes, and entry

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level advisors

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Yeah. I think it’s a great question. And

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and what we did was and I don’t

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know if necessarily we meant to do this,

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and I say we, Tim Hammond, my business

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partner who co founded visionary wealth advisors with

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me when we started visionary. So he was

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just a and I said just, meaning he

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was a wealth management advisor. He was doing

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fee based financial planning at Northwestern,

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and I was doing the recruiting, developing, training,

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and still being a financial advisor as well.

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And so the of us came together

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and almost immediately thought we could do this

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differently. I always say the sandbox was I

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was playing in was let’s just say a

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size of a piece of paper and I

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wanted it to be the size of the

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football field.

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And that’s what I saw in the RIA

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space that was out there, that the sky

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is the limit, and you can do so

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much for your clients that I couldn’t do

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at that time at that role. And we

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immediately went to no longer doing any career

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changers

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no inexperienced

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people. We just, like, literally cold turkey. I

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just went to the starting to recruit experienced

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advisors. And

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what we found was that people were looking

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for a platform

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where they could go

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and have some independence,

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but also be interdependent.

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And so the advisors that we have now

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are just doing so well because there is

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an interdependent relationship with us with visionary aim

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with those advisors. They own their own book

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of business. They own their clients, but at

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the same time, they’re not in business by

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themselves. Right? They’re for themselves, but not by

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themselves. Gilliland we just found that there was

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a really a big market out there for

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experienced advisors that want that type of platform.

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Understood.

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And let’s go back to when you’re still

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at Northwestern. Of course, you could have just

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stayed at the firm. You sound like you’re

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a successful adviser in your own right. Kept

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recruiting, kept leveraging the infrastructure.

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But instead, you opted to transition to form

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your own RA firm back in twenty fourteen.

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Can you elaborate on what some of your

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frustrations were and maybe what you felt you

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couldn’t do for your clients there? For me,

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it was as I was becoming more and

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more successful, I was becoming less satisfied with

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my career. And really what did it for

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me is I was fortunate enough to make

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what they call forum inside of Northwestern Mutual,

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which is, I think it’s, I don’t know,

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top two hundred and fifty advisors, let’s call

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it. And I remember not being real, real

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happy, even though I just had a phenomenal

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year with production. We had just led the

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company in recruiting for managing directors.

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So there was a lot of things going

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well, but for some reason, I still wasn’t

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satisfied. And I didn’t know what that was.

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And so I just kept kinda looking internal

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for me, and I wanted that entrepreneurial spirit.

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Right? I wanted to go out and build

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something. I wanted to go out and build

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a brand. I wanted to build something

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that our clients were excited about and proud

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of and and who they were working with.

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And I say all this, and there is

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a ton of great people at Northwestern Mutual.

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I still have friends there to this day.

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They’re doing great work for people. So it

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wasn’t necessarily that. It was just more for

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me was I wanted to do something more.

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I wanted to, again, to build something. And

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I think there we were building a nice

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income, but we weren’t building an asset. We

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weren’t really building a firm. Cause you’re doing

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it for the mothership, if you will. And

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for me, it just became again that I

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wanted to play in a different sandbox. And

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whether it’s to have a podcast or do

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some things that we do now that you

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just couldn’t do there in comprehensive financial planning

00:10:05.000 –> 00:10:08.000

where you’re not biased on either a product

00:10:08.000 –> 00:10:10.000

or what avenue they need to go down

00:10:10.000 –> 00:10:12.000

as a client. We wanted to be unbiased

00:10:12.000 –> 00:10:14.000

and have this independent

00:10:14.000 –> 00:10:15.000

firm

00:10:15.000 –> 00:10:17.000

that we could just say, this is how

00:10:17.000 –> 00:10:19.000

we’re going to serve clients going forward.

00:10:19.000 –> 00:10:21.000

Definitely. And did being in more of a

00:10:21.000 –> 00:10:24.000

managerial role kinda seeing how the sausage was

00:10:24.000 –> 00:10:27.000

made, did that change your vantage point on

00:10:27.000 –> 00:10:29.000

and I guess your motivation to leave? And

00:10:29.000 –> 00:10:31.000

did you get a better look or a

00:10:31.000 –> 00:10:33.000

different look on what was slowing or limiting

00:10:33.000 –> 00:10:36.000

down the advisors that were under your tutelage?

00:10:37.000 –> 00:10:39.000

Yeah. But I I think too is and

00:10:39.000 –> 00:10:41.000

I can’t say this for the previous firm

00:10:41.000 –> 00:10:43.000

in every city around the country, obviously. And

00:10:43.000 –> 00:10:45.000

again, there’s great people everywhere. But for us,

00:10:45.000 –> 00:10:48.000

it was the stereotype as well as when

00:10:48.000 –> 00:10:50.000

I threw that business card down,

00:10:50.000 –> 00:10:52.000

people would automatically just, oh, I’m good. I

00:10:52.000 –> 00:10:55.000

don’t need insurance. And I got so tired

00:10:55.000 –> 00:10:57.000

for twelve and a half years of doing

00:10:57.000 –> 00:10:59.000

that, that’s that really drained on me over

00:10:59.000 –> 00:11:01.000

the years. And it got to a point

00:11:01.000 –> 00:11:03.000

where that’s not what I’m about. It’s not

00:11:03.000 –> 00:11:05.000

coming and just trying to sell you insurance.

00:11:05.000 –> 00:11:06.000

Is is insurance, certainly part of a financial

00:11:06.000 –> 00:11:08.000

plan. Of course, it is. I think we

00:11:08.000 –> 00:11:10.000

all know that. People that are doing comprehensive

00:11:10.000 –> 00:11:12.000

wealth management planning, but it’s not the only

00:11:12.000 –> 00:11:14.000

piece. Right? And I think that’s where I

00:11:14.000 –> 00:11:15.000

think we got pigeonholed

00:11:16.000 –> 00:11:18.000

into thinking you’re just the insurance person.

00:11:19.000 –> 00:11:22.000

And that feeling wasn’t great, again, even though

00:11:22.000 –> 00:11:24.000

it can have some good products, it wasn’t

00:11:24.000 –> 00:11:26.000

great. And so we wanted more. And we

00:11:26.000 –> 00:11:27.000

wanted to go out, and I keep saying

00:11:27.000 –> 00:11:29.000

comprehensive financial planning, but that’s what we wanted

00:11:29.000 –> 00:11:32.000

to do and where we weren’t pigeonholed into

00:11:32.000 –> 00:11:34.000

this corner of you’re just that sales guy.

00:11:34.000 –> 00:11:36.000

It was more about the relationship and the

00:11:36.000 –> 00:11:38.000

impact we’re having on the community and the

00:11:38.000 –> 00:11:41.000

impact we’re having on those clients’ lives on

00:11:41.000 –> 00:11:43.000

more ways than just a life insurance or

00:11:43.000 –> 00:11:44.000

a an investment

00:11:44.000 –> 00:11:46.000

and what have you, there’s more to it

00:11:46.000 –> 00:11:48.000

than that. And I think that’s really what

00:11:48.000 –> 00:11:50.000

we’re focused on is the whole person here

00:11:50.000 –> 00:11:52.000

visionary is is building that with the right

00:11:52.000 –> 00:11:54.000

people. I don’t know if we can cuss

00:11:54.000 –> 00:11:55.000

on here, Lewis, but we call it the

00:11:55.000 –> 00:11:57.000

no a hole rule. Right? So no a

00:11:57.000 –> 00:12:00.000

hole is the recruit criteria here. And and

00:12:00.000 –> 00:12:02.000

that’s the first step is making sure that

00:12:02.000 –> 00:12:04.000

we wanna be around you, you wanna be

00:12:04.000 –> 00:12:05.000

around us, and that we’re gonna be a

00:12:05.000 –> 00:12:07.000

good fit. And I found that you had

00:12:07.000 –> 00:12:10.000

you had more control over that as I

00:12:10.000 –> 00:12:12.000

was researching what this RIA thing was

00:12:12.000 –> 00:12:14.000

is I had control over that versus just

00:12:14.000 –> 00:12:17.000

having to recruit quite frankly, a bunch of

00:12:17.000 –> 00:12:19.000

kids like me. Right? Twenty two years old,

00:12:19.000 –> 00:12:20.000

right out of college. And I always joked

00:12:20.000 –> 00:12:22.000

that I couldn’t even spell investments or insurance

00:12:22.000 –> 00:12:24.000

when I started, but it was, like, I

00:12:24.000 –> 00:12:28.000

wanna do more with higher more sophisticated people

00:12:28.000 –> 00:12:30.000

because that’s what the community wants. Right? That’s

00:12:30.000 –> 00:12:32.000

what they want in their financial advisor. And

00:12:32.000 –> 00:12:34.000

I just, quite frankly, I always say my

00:12:34.000 –> 00:12:35.000

gray hair and the wrinkles aren’t from four

00:12:35.000 –> 00:12:38.000

kids. It’s from having to recruit people that

00:12:38.000 –> 00:12:40.000

hopefully one or two out of ten of

00:12:40.000 –> 00:12:41.000

those people would make it long term in

00:12:41.000 –> 00:12:43.000

the business. And I just couldn’t do that

00:12:43.000 –> 00:12:45.000

any longer. Yeah. Definitely. And I think what

00:12:45.000 –> 00:12:46.000

you’re mentioning around

00:12:47.000 –> 00:12:49.000

feeling like you and your practice were kind

00:12:49.000 –> 00:12:51.000

of at odds with the mantra or the

00:12:51.000 –> 00:12:54.000

reputation of Northwestern is the term incongruence.

00:12:54.000 –> 00:12:57.000

We hear it often from advisors at many

00:12:57.000 –> 00:12:59.000

different types of firms, whether they’re at a

00:12:59.000 –> 00:13:02.000

bank dominated firm saying I’m not a banker.

00:13:02.000 –> 00:13:04.000

I like recommending bank products where it makes

00:13:04.000 –> 00:13:07.000

sense similar to how you probably enjoy recommending

00:13:07.000 –> 00:13:10.000

insurance products where it makes sense, but you

00:13:10.000 –> 00:13:11.000

don’t want that to be the driving force.

00:13:11.000 –> 00:13:14.000

If you have a vision that’s different from

00:13:15.000 –> 00:13:17.000

what the firm really wants you to be,

00:13:17.000 –> 00:13:20.000

then many advisors look at it as a

00:13:20.000 –> 00:13:22.000

means to kind of escape that box and

00:13:22.000 –> 00:13:25.000

build their own. So that’s perfect pivot point

00:13:25.000 –> 00:13:27.000

here. Before we get to what you coined

00:13:27.000 –> 00:13:30.000

your Jerry Maguire style moment, kind of a

00:13:30.000 –> 00:13:31.000

teaser for what to come. And let’s talk

00:13:31.000 –> 00:13:32.000

first about

00:13:33.000 –> 00:13:36.000

your due diligence process back probably twenty 12:20

00:13:36.000 –> 00:13:39.000

thirteen before launching the firm. So you’ve you

00:13:39.000 –> 00:13:43.000

founded visionary wealth advisors as a RA hybrid,

00:13:43.000 –> 00:13:45.000

but what else did you look at before

00:13:45.000 –> 00:13:47.000

settling on this route It’s actually amazing because

00:13:47.000 –> 00:13:49.000

I didn’t really look at too many things.

00:13:49.000 –> 00:13:51.000

I I would literally go in my office.

00:13:51.000 –> 00:13:52.000

I can picture it to this day as

00:13:52.000 –> 00:13:54.000

clear as can be, and and I would

00:13:54.000 –> 00:13:56.000

look up independence, and I would type in

00:13:56.000 –> 00:13:58.000

the financial independence and different things. I knew

00:13:58.000 –> 00:14:00.000

I wanted to stay in this industry. I

00:14:00.000 –> 00:14:02.000

love what we get to do every day.

00:14:02.000 –> 00:14:03.000

I love that we get to help people

00:14:03.000 –> 00:14:05.000

achieve a future greater than their past. That’s

00:14:05.000 –> 00:14:07.000

our firm’s mission statement.

00:14:07.000 –> 00:14:09.000

And that is so critically important for me,

00:14:09.000 –> 00:14:11.000

for our advisors, and for the things that

00:14:11.000 –> 00:14:13.000

we do for people, but it was just

00:14:13.000 –> 00:14:14.000

one of those things that I kept coming

00:14:14.000 –> 00:14:16.000

back to this independent

00:14:16.000 –> 00:14:19.000

RIA registered investment adviser and growing up in

00:14:19.000 –> 00:14:21.000

the insurance Northwestern mutual world. I didn’t know

00:14:21.000 –> 00:14:24.000

even know what an RIA was. But everything

00:14:24.000 –> 00:14:26.000

I read, I’m like, I want that.

00:14:27.000 –> 00:14:28.000

And I kept reading it. And I kept

00:14:28.000 –> 00:14:30.000

studying it. And when I say kept, I

00:14:30.000 –> 00:14:32.000

mean, this went on from November of two

00:14:32.000 –> 00:14:35.000

thousand thirteen to January of two thousand fourteen.

00:14:35.000 –> 00:14:37.000

So this was about a month and a

00:14:37.000 –> 00:14:39.000

half I can’t even tell you how much

00:14:39.000 –> 00:14:41.000

stuff I read on an RIA and what

00:14:41.000 –> 00:14:43.000

it meant. I scheduled a meeting with one

00:14:43.000 –> 00:14:44.000

of our custodians,

00:14:44.000 –> 00:14:46.000

and they came to Saint Louis, and I

00:14:46.000 –> 00:14:48.000

went and had a meeting with them and

00:14:48.000 –> 00:14:49.000

that was with Tim, my business partner. And

00:14:49.000 –> 00:14:51.000

it was just one of those things when

00:14:51.000 –> 00:14:53.000

I called Tim, and I said, Hey, what

00:14:53.000 –> 00:14:54.000

keeps you here at Northwestern?

00:14:54.000 –> 00:14:56.000

I was hopeful that he was gonna give

00:14:56.000 –> 00:14:58.000

me this long drawn out reason and why

00:14:58.000 –> 00:15:00.000

it was the greatest place on earth. And

00:15:00.000 –> 00:15:02.000

what happened was four and a half hours

00:15:02.000 –> 00:15:04.000

later we got off the telephone.

00:15:04.000 –> 00:15:06.000

From one phone call four and a half

00:15:06.000 –> 00:15:08.000

hours later in January of two thousand fourteen,

00:15:08.000 –> 00:15:09.000

early January

00:15:09.000 –> 00:15:10.000

and said,

00:15:10.000 –> 00:15:12.000

okay. I can’t do this without you. You

00:15:12.000 –> 00:15:15.000

can’t do this without me. Let’s go build

00:15:15.000 –> 00:15:18.000

something great. And literally fast forward, not even

00:15:18.000 –> 00:15:21.000

ninety days later, visionary Wealth Advisors was started.

00:15:21.000 –> 00:15:24.000

It was an incredible ninety days, and it

00:15:24.000 –> 00:15:26.000

was a lot of fun and still a

00:15:26.000 –> 00:15:27.000

lot of fun to this day. And I

00:15:27.000 –> 00:15:29.000

just looked back at that and I’m just

00:15:29.000 –> 00:15:30.000

I’m glad we took the risk to make

00:15:30.000 –> 00:15:31.000

the jump.

00:15:36.000 –> 00:15:37.000

The ecosystem,

00:15:38.000 –> 00:15:40.000

seven, eight years ago, is very different than

00:15:40.000 –> 00:15:43.000

today. But did you consider either plugging into

00:15:43.000 –> 00:15:45.000

an existing infrastructure

00:15:45.000 –> 00:15:48.000

or hiring more of a platform or service

00:15:48.000 –> 00:15:48.000

provider?

00:15:49.000 –> 00:15:50.000

Didn’t know, did not even look at those

00:15:50.000 –> 00:15:53.000

opportunities at all, not one of them. I

00:15:53.000 –> 00:15:54.000

mean, it was just one of those things

00:15:54.000 –> 00:15:56.000

we knew early on. We wanted to build

00:15:56.000 –> 00:15:56.000

something.

00:15:57.000 –> 00:15:59.000

And we just went all in, kinda burned

00:15:59.000 –> 00:16:01.000

the ships. It’s let’s go. Let’s make it

00:16:01.000 –> 00:16:03.000

happen, and we did. And, like I said,

00:16:03.000 –> 00:16:05.000

met with our custodians, and

00:16:05.000 –> 00:16:08.000

hired our, you know, legal counsel firm and

00:16:08.000 –> 00:16:10.000

and to help us build the RIA and

00:16:10.000 –> 00:16:12.000

then literally just the way it went. Amazing.

00:16:13.000 –> 00:16:14.000

Okay. So this is the, I think, the

00:16:14.000 –> 00:16:16.000

exciting part of the interview. You told me

00:16:16.000 –> 00:16:18.000

that this story when we were preparing for

00:16:18.000 –> 00:16:21.000

this interview. I wanna hear the story in

00:16:21.000 –> 00:16:23.000

as much details you can share. About resignation

00:16:24.000 –> 00:16:26.000

day. You coined it your Jerry Maguire style

00:16:26.000 –> 00:16:28.000

moment, and I think it’s such a unique

00:16:28.000 –> 00:16:31.000

story. It’s very different than how I think

00:16:31.000 –> 00:16:34.000

many folks would approach this, but it’s instructive,

00:16:34.000 –> 00:16:36.000

and I think demonstrates your conviction

00:16:37.000 –> 00:16:38.000

for why this was the right move for

00:16:38.000 –> 00:16:40.000

you. Yeah. It’s one of those days I

00:16:40.000 –> 00:16:41.000

wish I would have just been able to

00:16:41.000 –> 00:16:44.000

film somehow. Like, had this camera above my

00:16:44.000 –> 00:16:46.000

head or something. It’s just the emotions that

00:16:46.000 –> 00:16:47.000

went into it. I remember it was March

00:16:47.000 –> 00:16:50.000

twenty fourth two thousand fourteen. It was a

00:16:50.000 –> 00:16:53.000

kind of a dreary Monday in Saint Louis

00:16:53.000 –> 00:16:56.000

and, our managing partner was in Saint Louis.

00:16:56.000 –> 00:16:58.000

I was about thirty minutes outside of it.

00:16:58.000 –> 00:17:00.000

And I remember texting him that morning and

00:17:00.000 –> 00:17:03.000

just saying, hey, I’m gonna swing by your

00:17:03.000 –> 00:17:05.000

office. I can’t remember. Seven or 07:30. Do

00:17:05.000 –> 00:17:06.000

you have a couple minutes? And he said,

00:17:06.000 –> 00:17:08.000

is everything okay? And I said, but with

00:17:08.000 –> 00:17:10.000

my health and with my family, everything is

00:17:10.000 –> 00:17:12.000

okay. And that was kind of the end

00:17:12.000 –> 00:17:13.000

of it. What you don’t know about me,

00:17:13.000 –> 00:17:15.000

Louis, I’m a very nervous person. I grew

00:17:15.000 –> 00:17:17.000

up very anxious, and I call it my

00:17:17.000 –> 00:17:20.000

comfort zone callus, calluses on your hands from

00:17:20.000 –> 00:17:21.000

playing golf or working in the yard or

00:17:21.000 –> 00:17:23.000

doing whatever you’re doing. And and I think

00:17:23.000 –> 00:17:26.000

that we as humans can get these calluses

00:17:26.000 –> 00:17:27.000

around our comfort zone, and we don’t wanna

00:17:27.000 –> 00:17:30.000

break through those. And I’ve tried now for

00:17:30.000 –> 00:17:32.000

twenty years to constantly break out of my

00:17:32.000 –> 00:17:34.000

comfort zone, and this was one of those

00:17:34.000 –> 00:17:36.000

defining moments. It was arguably one of the

00:17:36.000 –> 00:17:39.000

biggest decisions, professionally, if not probably the biggest

00:17:39.000 –> 00:17:41.000

decision, actually, that I’ve ever made in my

00:17:41.000 –> 00:17:42.000

life. And

00:17:43.000 –> 00:17:45.000

so I went and resigned, and it was

00:17:45.000 –> 00:17:47.000

splashing water on my face in the bathroom

00:17:47.000 –> 00:17:49.000

before I went in there. I was so

00:17:49.000 –> 00:17:50.000

nervous, and I walked down. Because again, I

00:17:50.000 –> 00:17:52.000

was doing what you needed to do. And

00:17:52.000 –> 00:17:54.000

I was on the board for the managing

00:17:54.000 –> 00:17:57.000

directors at their home office national headquarters. And

00:17:57.000 –> 00:17:58.000

I was doing the things that you needed

00:17:58.000 –> 00:18:00.000

to do to be successful, but I just

00:18:00.000 –> 00:18:01.000

wasn’t happy. And I thought at the time,

00:18:01.000 –> 00:18:03.000

I think I was thirty six, thirty seven,

00:18:03.000 –> 00:18:05.000

I didn’t wanna do that the rest of

00:18:05.000 –> 00:18:07.000

my life, and I needed to take this

00:18:07.000 –> 00:18:09.000

risk. And this risk was I had twenty

00:18:10.000 –> 00:18:12.000

three, twenty four advisors in my district office,

00:18:13.000 –> 00:18:14.000

I owned the building that I was in.

00:18:14.000 –> 00:18:16.000

So I had my own lease because Northwestern

00:18:16.000 –> 00:18:18.000

doesn’t sign the lease. At least they didn’t

00:18:18.000 –> 00:18:19.000

at that time. I had my own lease

00:18:19.000 –> 00:18:22.000

in my own building. And all these people,

00:18:22.000 –> 00:18:24.000

right, that worked with us. So it was

00:18:24.000 –> 00:18:26.000

very scary. It was a very big risk.

00:18:26.000 –> 00:18:28.000

And I went in. I resigned, and he

00:18:28.000 –> 00:18:29.000

said, what would you like to do? And

00:18:29.000 –> 00:18:30.000

I said, well, I feel like I would

00:18:30.000 –> 00:18:32.000

to go at least tell everybody in our

00:18:32.000 –> 00:18:34.000

office that I’m leaving. I’m resigning. I feel

00:18:34.000 –> 00:18:36.000

like I owe that to them. I’ve recruited

00:18:36.000 –> 00:18:38.000

and trained and developed every single one of

00:18:38.000 –> 00:18:41.000

these people, and I’ve spent countless hours and

00:18:41.000 –> 00:18:42.000

blood sweat and tears with these folks. I

00:18:42.000 –> 00:18:44.000

owe it to them. And he said, okay.

00:18:44.000 –> 00:18:46.000

I can be there at 11:30.

00:18:46.000 –> 00:18:47.000

So I went and kinda just sat in

00:18:47.000 –> 00:18:49.000

my car. For a couple hours and just

00:18:49.000 –> 00:18:52.000

what just happened kinda moment and then went

00:18:52.000 –> 00:18:54.000

into my own district office and had everybody

00:18:54.000 –> 00:18:56.000

in the firm there. I was able to

00:18:56.000 –> 00:18:58.000

tell them what I did and that I

00:18:58.000 –> 00:19:00.000

was leaving and that I started this place

00:19:00.000 –> 00:19:02.000

called visionary wealth advisors

00:19:02.000 –> 00:19:04.000

named probably like a week before that because

00:19:04.000 –> 00:19:07.000

everything was happening so quickly. So long story

00:19:07.000 –> 00:19:08.000

short, that was about an hour and twenty

00:19:08.000 –> 00:19:10.000

minute meeting. And a guy in the back

00:19:10.000 –> 00:19:11.000

of the room, Joe is his name, Joe

00:19:11.000 –> 00:19:13.000

Reininger, and he says, raises his hand. He

00:19:13.000 –> 00:19:15.000

says, what about all those people that wanna

00:19:15.000 –> 00:19:16.000

go with red.

00:19:16.000 –> 00:19:19.000

And then my internal body was screaming and

00:19:19.000 –> 00:19:21.000

jumping up and down, but I had to

00:19:21.000 –> 00:19:23.000

stay really calm and collective. Right? But I

00:19:23.000 –> 00:19:24.000

was just that was Joe and I still

00:19:24.000 –> 00:19:26.000

to this day who’s with us. We talk

00:19:26.000 –> 00:19:28.000

about that. And so it was just one

00:19:28.000 –> 00:19:30.000

of those moments. Right? It was like, wow.

00:19:30.000 –> 00:19:32.000

Hopefully this happens. This is my Jerry Maguire

00:19:32.000 –> 00:19:35.000

moment. I’m leaving who’s coming with me, and

00:19:35.000 –> 00:19:38.000

I literally left my own office went to

00:19:38.000 –> 00:19:40.000

a restaurant, and I got the biggest table

00:19:40.000 –> 00:19:42.000

that you could get. And I sat there

00:19:42.000 –> 00:19:44.000

for ten or fifteen minutes by myself. And

00:19:44.000 –> 00:19:47.000

I’m like, oh, goodness. This is not good.

00:19:47.000 –> 00:19:49.000

And then all of a sudden, and it

00:19:49.000 –> 00:19:50.000

gives me chills thinking about it. All of

00:19:50.000 –> 00:19:52.000

a sudden, one by one,

00:19:52.000 –> 00:19:54.000

in comes these advisors.

00:19:54.000 –> 00:19:56.000

And it it’s the big hug. It’s the

00:19:56.000 –> 00:19:58.000

big bear hug of, oh my gosh. Let

00:19:58.000 –> 00:20:00.000

me hear more. Let me hear more. And

00:20:00.000 –> 00:20:03.000

within twenty four to forty eight hours, fifteen

00:20:03.000 –> 00:20:05.000

of those visors left and came with us.

00:20:05.000 –> 00:20:07.000

Holy cow. And that was incredible.

00:20:07.000 –> 00:20:10.000

That is incredible. And what was the pitch?

00:20:10.000 –> 00:20:12.000

How did you? Obviously, you built up

00:20:12.000 –> 00:20:15.000

trust and respect and all of that. That’s

00:20:15.000 –> 00:20:18.000

earned. It’s not pitched. But, obviously, these advisors

00:20:18.000 –> 00:20:20.000

are trusting their life’s work to you and

00:20:20.000 –> 00:20:22.000

their families So what did you say to

00:20:22.000 –> 00:20:24.000

get them over the finish line?

00:20:25.000 –> 00:20:26.000

Yeah. It was painting a vision. I mean,

00:20:26.000 –> 00:20:28.000

hence the name visionary wealth advisors. I mean,

00:20:28.000 –> 00:20:30.000

it’s what the future can and will be

00:20:30.000 –> 00:20:32.000

if you look up the definition. And so

00:20:32.000 –> 00:20:34.000

we wanted to paint this picture for what

00:20:34.000 –> 00:20:36.000

the future will and could be like for

00:20:36.000 –> 00:20:39.000

these advisors. I mean, I think anybody that’s

00:20:39.000 –> 00:20:41.000

in a an environment where and this isn’t

00:20:41.000 –> 00:20:43.000

just a Northwestern thing. This is any environment

00:20:43.000 –> 00:20:44.000

where you start over. Every single month, you’re

00:20:44.000 –> 00:20:46.000

starting over at zero, and you gotta go

00:20:46.000 –> 00:20:48.000

out, eat what you Gilliland

00:20:48.000 –> 00:20:50.000

you gotta just stay on all day long

00:20:50.000 –> 00:20:53.000

every single day. And it’s hard to build

00:20:53.000 –> 00:20:57.000

true long lasting values based deep relationships with

00:20:57.000 –> 00:20:59.000

clients when you’re constantly in sales mode. And

00:20:59.000 –> 00:21:01.000

I think those advisors knew that. Some of

00:21:01.000 –> 00:21:04.000

those advisors at that time were seven years

00:21:04.000 –> 00:21:06.000

in the business. Some of them were two

00:21:06.000 –> 00:21:08.000

years in the business. And it goes back

00:21:08.000 –> 00:21:10.000

to, yes, you talked about trust and respect,

00:21:10.000 –> 00:21:12.000

but it also went back to a relationship.

00:21:12.000 –> 00:21:15.000

And that relationship was built over two, five,

00:21:15.000 –> 00:21:16.000

seven years

00:21:17.000 –> 00:21:19.000

of being in the trenches with them. And

00:21:19.000 –> 00:21:21.000

being with them every single morning, literally Monday

00:21:21.000 –> 00:21:24.000

through Friday, 07:30, we would have meetings and

00:21:24.000 –> 00:21:26.000

it was training meetings and just setting down

00:21:26.000 –> 00:21:29.000

and talking meetings. It was accountability meetings. It

00:21:29.000 –> 00:21:31.000

was idea sharing meetings.

00:21:31.000 –> 00:21:33.000

And you do that for that long, you

00:21:33.000 –> 00:21:34.000

build this relationship,

00:21:35.000 –> 00:21:37.000

and then they see a future that’s greater

00:21:37.000 –> 00:21:38.000

than their past.

00:21:38.000 –> 00:21:40.000

And then they just they literally and I

00:21:40.000 –> 00:21:43.000

don’t take this lightly. Right? They literally resigned

00:21:43.000 –> 00:21:44.000

from their careers

00:21:44.000 –> 00:21:46.000

to go and follow this vision in this

00:21:46.000 –> 00:21:47.000

dream.

00:21:47.000 –> 00:21:49.000

And I look at them now seven years

00:21:49.000 –> 00:21:51.000

later, seven plus years later,

00:21:51.000 –> 00:21:53.000

they’re all doing better than they were doing

00:21:53.000 –> 00:21:56.000

before. Every single one of them, is doing

00:21:56.000 –> 00:21:58.000

better than they were before. So their future

00:21:58.000 –> 00:22:00.000

is greater than their past. Their present is

00:22:00.000 –> 00:22:02.000

greater than their past. And it’s just cool

00:22:02.000 –> 00:22:04.000

to look back at that and see the

00:22:04.000 –> 00:22:05.000

things that are happening now in these people’s

00:22:05.000 –> 00:22:08.000

lives, and it’s just unreal to me that

00:22:08.000 –> 00:22:10.000

to think that people would put their trust

00:22:10.000 –> 00:22:12.000

in something like that. With literally no business

00:22:12.000 –> 00:22:15.000

cards, no website done, no logo done,

00:22:16.000 –> 00:22:18.000

nothing. And they said, let’s go. We’re all

00:22:18.000 –> 00:22:18.000

in.

00:22:19.000 –> 00:22:21.000

Just an idea. Yeah. And it’s so different

00:22:21.000 –> 00:22:25.000

than most advisors that are breaking away to

00:22:25.000 –> 00:22:28.000

establish their own independent firm. There’s likely the

00:22:28.000 –> 00:22:29.000

key advisors

00:22:29.000 –> 00:22:30.000

are on board.

00:22:31.000 –> 00:22:33.000

They’re probably involved in the due diligence or

00:22:33.000 –> 00:22:35.000

at least consulted throughout the process.

00:22:35.000 –> 00:22:38.000

It’s oftentimes, though, it’s the support team that’s

00:22:38.000 –> 00:22:40.000

kinda left in the dark just for confidentiality

00:22:40.000 –> 00:22:43.000

purposes. But you really took this confidentiality Gilliland

00:22:43.000 –> 00:22:46.000

discreteness to a whole new level. It’s a

00:22:46.000 –> 00:22:48.000

pretty insane story. And I’m curious too. I

00:22:48.000 –> 00:22:51.000

mean, anyone who goes independent is taking a

00:22:51.000 –> 00:22:53.000

risk. They’re taking the risk of what if

00:22:53.000 –> 00:22:55.000

my business doesn’t come, taking the risk of

00:22:56.000 –> 00:22:57.000

not having an income for a period of

00:22:57.000 –> 00:23:00.000

time, taking the risk of not getting a

00:23:00.000 –> 00:23:02.000

big check by going to a broker dealer

00:23:02.000 –> 00:23:03.000

firm. So you not only did you take

00:23:03.000 –> 00:23:05.000

that risk, but you also own the building

00:23:05.000 –> 00:23:08.000

you’re in and did this without really knowing

00:23:08.000 –> 00:23:10.000

what the base of the business will look

00:23:10.000 –> 00:23:12.000

like How did you reconcile doing this and

00:23:12.000 –> 00:23:13.000

just going for it?

00:23:14.000 –> 00:23:16.000

A lot of, faith and hope

00:23:17.000 –> 00:23:19.000

just I mean, literally just faith and hope

00:23:19.000 –> 00:23:23.000

and trust. And I believed in relationships. I

00:23:23.000 –> 00:23:25.000

believed in myself. I believed in what we

00:23:25.000 –> 00:23:27.000

were gonna go build. Believed in the advisors

00:23:27.000 –> 00:23:29.000

and our team and our staff that came

00:23:29.000 –> 00:23:31.000

with us as well. And that was just

00:23:31.000 –> 00:23:33.000

the advisors. We also had who’s now our

00:23:33.000 –> 00:23:35.000

COO, Kate hurt is her name now, but

00:23:35.000 –> 00:23:37.000

Kate Solburger, she came with us from day

00:23:37.000 –> 00:23:40.000

one and Robin Edwards and so many others

00:23:40.000 –> 00:23:42.000

that just came with us Lauren Hubert, they

00:23:42.000 –> 00:23:44.000

were with us from day one back at

00:23:44.000 –> 00:23:45.000

that firm, and they said, you know what?

00:23:45.000 –> 00:23:47.000

Yeah. We’re also gonna come with you as

00:23:47.000 –> 00:23:49.000

well. And so it just it was one

00:23:49.000 –> 00:23:51.000

of those things that I think in life,

00:23:51.000 –> 00:23:52.000

sometimes

00:23:53.000 –> 00:23:56.000

you don’t make that big decision until it

00:23:56.000 –> 00:23:57.000

hurts enough.

00:23:57.000 –> 00:24:00.000

And for me, the upside was so great

00:24:00.000 –> 00:24:02.000

the downside, I was just so less than

00:24:02.000 –> 00:24:04.000

worried about it because I thought if I

00:24:04.000 –> 00:24:07.000

can make a career and do this and

00:24:07.000 –> 00:24:09.000

the amount of sales and the activity and

00:24:09.000 –> 00:24:10.000

the grit that you have to do, which

00:24:10.000 –> 00:24:12.000

I’m thankful for. I thought, you know what,

00:24:12.000 –> 00:24:14.000

even if this thing doesn’t work, we’ll figure

00:24:14.000 –> 00:24:17.000

it out. But honestly, I mean, I bet

00:24:17.000 –> 00:24:18.000

you know, there was a few sleepless nights,

00:24:18.000 –> 00:24:19.000

but I would say

00:24:20.000 –> 00:24:22.000

ninety five percent of the thought

00:24:22.000 –> 00:24:23.000

was all positive

00:24:24.000 –> 00:24:27.000

and just the expectations of what would happen.

00:24:27.000 –> 00:24:29.000

Yeah. Just thinking about what’s possible.

00:24:29.000 –> 00:24:30.000

So

00:24:30.000 –> 00:24:32.000

end of your first year as visionary,

00:24:33.000 –> 00:24:35.000

you had around three hundred million in assets

00:24:35.000 –> 00:24:36.000

across twelve advisors.

00:24:37.000 –> 00:24:39.000

And today, you shared your north of one

00:24:39.000 –> 00:24:42.000

point eight billion in assets and about thirty

00:24:42.000 –> 00:24:44.000

advisors. How have you grown the advisor ranks

00:24:44.000 –> 00:24:47.000

and what’s responsible for the very impressive growth

00:24:47.000 –> 00:24:49.000

and assets? Yeah. I would just say it’s

00:24:49.000 –> 00:24:51.000

going out and what we call playing in

00:24:51.000 –> 00:24:53.000

traffic. It’s getting to know people in the

00:24:53.000 –> 00:24:55.000

industry. Getting referred to great people in the

00:24:55.000 –> 00:24:56.000

industry,

00:24:56.000 –> 00:24:58.000

and whether they’ve been at a bank channel,

00:24:59.000 –> 00:25:01.000

an insurance channel, a wire house channel, an

00:25:01.000 –> 00:25:02.000

independent channel,

00:25:03.000 –> 00:25:05.000

It’s just us going out and talking to

00:25:05.000 –> 00:25:06.000

other individuals,

00:25:06.000 –> 00:25:09.000

but also our advisors referring us to individuals.

00:25:09.000 –> 00:25:12.000

I mean, so our advisors, they’re they’re happy

00:25:12.000 –> 00:25:14.000

they are fine with referring us to people

00:25:14.000 –> 00:25:16.000

that they think would be other good advisors

00:25:16.000 –> 00:25:18.000

inside of our firm. And so it’s just

00:25:18.000 –> 00:25:21.000

a it’s a collaboration of of people coming

00:25:21.000 –> 00:25:23.000

together for the greater good and building a

00:25:23.000 –> 00:25:23.000

platform.

00:25:24.000 –> 00:25:26.000

And look, the better we do at visionary,

00:25:26.000 –> 00:25:28.000

the better the advisor does, because we can

00:25:28.000 –> 00:25:30.000

offer more and more to them that ultimately

00:25:31.000 –> 00:25:34.000

helps their bottom line become more profitable. And

00:25:34.000 –> 00:25:36.000

when you’re brand spanking new and you have

00:25:36.000 –> 00:25:39.000

three hundred million, well, you’re charging for technology.

00:25:39.000 –> 00:25:41.000

You’re doing this. You’re charging for that. Well,

00:25:41.000 –> 00:25:43.000

as we’ve grown, it’s so we made a

00:25:43.000 –> 00:25:46.000

major investment into a platform, into our technology

00:25:46.000 –> 00:25:48.000

platform, and we pay for that for our

00:25:48.000 –> 00:25:51.000

advisors. Well, seven years ago, there we couldn’t

00:25:51.000 –> 00:25:53.000

even think about doing that. But today, we

00:25:53.000 –> 00:25:54.000

can.

00:25:54.000 –> 00:25:56.000

And then, you know, what’s the next three

00:25:56.000 –> 00:25:57.000

years in the five years and seven years

00:25:57.000 –> 00:25:59.000

and ten years ahead of that? What does

00:25:59.000 –> 00:26:01.000

that look like? So our vision is not

00:26:01.000 –> 00:26:03.000

about size. It’s not about x billions of

00:26:03.000 –> 00:26:06.000

dollars under management. Our vision is the platform

00:26:07.000 –> 00:26:09.000

that we build, and what it ultimately does

00:26:09.000 –> 00:26:10.000

for the interdependent

00:26:10.000 –> 00:26:12.000

advisor that’s on our platform

00:26:13.000 –> 00:26:15.000

that chooses to partner with visionary wealth advisors.

00:26:15.000 –> 00:26:18.000

How efficient can we make their practice and

00:26:18.000 –> 00:26:19.000

give them the best platform boss.

00:26:23.000 –> 00:26:25.000

Can you explain this concept of interdependence

00:26:26.000 –> 00:26:28.000

versus independence? What does it mean to you?

00:26:28.000 –> 00:26:30.000

Yeah. It’s a great question. And just in

00:2