#Clockedin with Jordan Edwards

#249 - What Makes This $25 Billion Firm Different?

• Jordan Edwards • Season 5 • Episode 249

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Stan Gregor, the dynamic CEO of Summit Financial, reveals how his firm achieved an extraordinary tenfold growth in just eight years, building a $25 billion wealth management powerhouse by doing what others claimed was impossible.

At the heart of Summit's remarkable success lies a revolutionary approach to culture. Rather than adopting traditional employer-employee relationships, Gregor implemented what he calls the "family business model" — treating partners as family members rather than subordinates. "Build a business as if you're doing it with your children," he explains, eliminating bureaucratic middle management layers that filter truth and stifle innovation.

The conversation takes a fascinating turn as Gregor shares a pivotal moment that shaped his leadership philosophy. After spotting a subway advertisement that read, "If it wasn't for sports, people would not believe in miracles," he embraced the mindset that seemingly impossible challenges became his greatest motivation. "Every time somebody told me, 'Stan, your ideas are so crazy they're not going to work,' that's the adrenaline shot in the arm that makes you want to prove them wrong."

Greger distinguishes between what he calls "C players" and "O players" in business. Most people create what he terms "the C factor" — they draw the letter C but never complete the circle. True innovators like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg draw the full "O" by focusing on complete execution. This commitment to excellence helped Summit grow from $4 billion to over $25 billion in just four years, particularly thriving through the COVID-19 pandemic when other firms struggled.

Looking beyond financial success, Gregor emphasizes the importance of balancing mental health, physical wellness, and spiritual connection in leadership. His guidance for aspiring professionals? "Do not take a job just to make money. Whatever you do in life, make it a purpose to do something that you truly will enjoy — and then make sure you are financially rewarded for that."

Discover more about Summit Financial's innovative approach at summitfinancial.com, where they continue to redefine wealth management through their five specialized divisions.

To Learn more about Stan: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stan-gregor-2113465

To Reach Jordan:

Email: Jordan@Edwards.Consulting

Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9ejFXH1_BjdnxG4J8u93Zw

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jordan.edwards.7503

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordanfedwards/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanedwards5/



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Complimentary Edwards Consulting Session: https://calendly.com/jordan-edwardsconsulting/30min

Speaker 1:

Hey, what's going on, guys? We've got a special guest here today. We have Stan Greger. He's the CEO of Summit Financial, a $25 billion firm, a firm that's reshaping wealth management by combining next-gen technology with advisor independence From Wall Street to private wealth. He's seen it all and he's here to drop wisdom you won't find in your textbooks. So let's dive in, stan, we're so grateful to have you here. And for the first question you were telling me in eight years, you guys have 10x the firm. How were you able to do that when the rest of the market has been really struggling?

Speaker 2:

Well, it's the culture, jordan, so thank you for having me. Uh, the firm has been doing this for four decades, almost four and a half decades now, so there is a uh, there's a lesson that we learned along the way. Uh, there is a bit of a secret sauce and it's a combination of a number of things. Number one it's a culture. It's just a different culture and a philosophy. From day one, this has been a partnership structure that was focused on a multifamily office service model, so a much, much higher level of expectation with what we deliver for clients. We go deep, we go broad, and you cannot do that without having great people around you. You cannot do that without having great people around you.

Speaker 2:

So, from day one, the philosophy here has been invest in some of the brightest people that bring that specialty to market. And it's really what's what's taken this firm to your point, to a 10x growth rate, and a part of that growth rate was through acquisition. But I would say a larger part has come from growth, and that's the other piece that I would say is a different model. We're focused on making sure that the services that we give our advisors, they can grow. They can grow with their clients. They can go broader. They do come across as the genius in a room when they're meeting with their clients. They're winning an entire, I would say, wallet. Share in that philosophy. So there's a number of components in here, but it's on collaboration, culture and absolute focus on growth.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that because it makes it for everybody listening to realize hey, if you want to grow and you want to do these different things, it's going to be a team effort, it's not just one person, it's you bringing in the right players and it becomes a win-win scenario for everyone. So, stan, where did your journey begin? Because obviously you've worked with some of the biggest companies and you've decided to kind of make your way this way. So how has that journey been for you?

Speaker 2:

It's been a tough journey, to be honest with you, right, I mean, it's always myself.

Speaker 2:

Almost 40 years in this space and I've seen a lot.

Speaker 2:

I started as an individual advisor, I moved into management, was part of several large organizations, I've gone through the mergers and the acquisitions and we've gone through the financial crisis and it kind of go on and on and on, and what you realize is that when you look back at your career, you look at what you would do going forward, but I think the more important things are you know what things would I not repeat?

Speaker 2:

And those are some of the things that are really been, you know, in my mindset from a leader trying to look at what were some of the mistakes I made in the past, or what were some of the mistakes that some of the companies I was with you know we were making as a group and not to repeat those, and then, equally as important, focus on the things that truly made a difference and help the teams and clients have a better experience, and that's, you know, the combination of all those things. It's life's a lesson, right, it's a road of scars and bruises, but if you survive them and you learn and listen, usually, the right outcome you know comes forth.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, and you mentioned that you had some lessons that you learned. What are some of those lessons you learned? Just so the audience can sit there and hone in on their leadership skills or hone in on their experiences and they might not be in financial advising, but they might be just trying to grow their businesses or trying to be leaders in their own companies. What do they need to not mistake?

Speaker 2:

yeah, so, jordan I, I remember this specifically, probably about 20 somewhat years ago I was I was in new york city on the subway and I saw this banner on top and it was a great quote. It said if it wasn't for sports, people would not believe in miracles. And that, just like it, stayed with me Like, yeah, how many times have we watched a team that you know they're almost at the end of the game and they you'd assume they're going to lose, and somehow they pull it out and they make it happen? That's been my mindset business and in fact, every time somebody told me hey, stan, your, your, your ideas are so crazy that you know they're not going to work, it's impossible. Oh my God, that's the adrenaline, that that you know. You take that shot in the arm and you want to prove them wrong.

Speaker 2:

So it's been that win, win attitude. Right, I told my kids, you know, winning is hard, winning is hard. Pick a sport, pick anything in life, relationship, family, health Winning is hard. What's easy is to give up right, everybody can give up, but winning is hard. So I've always had that attitude of winning. And how do you win? And frankly, jordan, I don't know how you can win if you're not giving it your best, you may get lucky once in a while.

Speaker 2:

So in whatever, in whatever avenue or whatever direction, anybody goes in life you know, if you truly, truly give it your best and focused on completing what you start with, excellence, I have a feeling you're going to be successful. Right, it may not be easy, but it's a much better outcome than just going mediocre and just going average. So, uh, whatever you're doing, like, give it, give it 110, and who cares what anybody else says if, if somebody else could do it, why can't you do it?

Speaker 1:

yeah, I think that's a really true one, because a lot of us sit there and you you probably could have been very happy with just being an advisor, but, like, when you start to hear your journey, you're like you're helping advisors, you're guiding advisors, and it's. There's a lot of people who are just advisors and are very happy. But what caused you to want more? Because that's not, that's not normal, like most people aren't like like, give me more on my plate. How did you start to think about that? Were you always?

Speaker 2:

well, I, I guess, I guess I have a crazy gene inside of me that that is a bit of a ocd and a bit of a perfectionist component, right? So, um, every company I worked at, I've always looked at what we did. Well, but I also looked at, you know, if I was in charge, if I had, if I had the ability to change something, what would I do? And then somehow it just happens, you are in that position where you're a CEO and it's your job to make sure the company is going in the right direction.

Speaker 2:

And, frankly, one of my mentors taught me something super important it's not just about navigating the ship, you know, going straight it's it's, it's what's around the turn, and you have to be prepared for what that may look like, and you may not know what that looks like, but if, if you're blindly just coming around the turn and not expecting something to happen, that's usually where the casualties take place. So that mindset of take the risk, go build something that maybe is not out there so obvious, but also be prepared for what's around the turn so you can navigate, you can protect your firm yourself, and if you do that, you're going to excel.

Speaker 1:

And how do you think about that when things like COVID occurs or the tariffs, or there's been so much going on in the last few years? How do you think about that protection? Because there's two sides of it where we're an individual and it's like, oh, I might not be investing anymore, and then there's sometimes like, hey, we have to be investing so that we can see the growth of the people. How do you think about that?

Speaker 2:

So look, you have heard this throughout your life probably from a ton of people.

Speaker 2:

right, you have to separate emotions from reality. And the COVID situation, you know, every day reading, there's thousands of people that are dying and people that you know and neighborhoods that you know about. I mean, that was nothing but negativity and, frankly, scared the crap out of the whole world because we've never experienced something like that. Right, you know, this is a civilized society and what's happening to us was like something from an alien planet just coming upon us. So there was a bit of protectionism and I do remember we made a decision on that Wednesday to shut down. You know coming to the office and work remotely, and you know we were lucky in our strategy. We built out and spent a ton of money on technology so we can work remotely.

Speaker 2:

I'd love to tell you we were smart enough. We knew that we were going to have a pandemic. We did not, but we prepared the company for what was coming around the turn, and not in a bad way. We did it to elevate and excel the company. It turned out to be a godsend that we were able to service our clients. The advisors had access to their information and, frankly, it's the numbers. Have you know the numbers?

Speaker 1:

went up right after COVID, almost a seven X right so we took advantage.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we took, we took advantage. In 2020, the firm was roughly a $4 billion firm, so going from four to 20 plus in four years is is pretty exceptional. But we we took a situation where it was scary. There was a lot of unknown. We stayed close to our people. We communicated with our people, they communicated with their clients. It's that culture that I mentioned earlier. This is a partnership and what I've noticed is, in times of crisis or challenging times, good firms and good people find a way to bond, and I give it to some, but I mean, this is four and a half decades of doing this. I'm only here eight of those years, but companies survived many storms and situations in those 40 plus years and they stayed resilient, they stayed together, they had each other's backs and it was just a care for each other and the clients. That you can't put that into a textbook and say do X, y and Z. It's either in your heart and in your soul and spirit or it's not. Can't fake it. Can't fake that.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. So I got two questions here, no-transcript. Well, your first question why didn't I build my?

Speaker 2:

firm. I think I did build this firm with my partners. So when we first looked at what Summit was and who they were, frankly I was blown away. I didn't know that Summit Financial yeah, I mean, in my previous jobs I mean I probably had hundreds of bankers pitching us opportunities to acquire right. We always had big, big pocketbooks, big checkbooks to do that. I didn't know. This firm in Parsippany, new Jersey, called Summit Financial was even on the map.

Speaker 2:

But when I met some of the partners and I realized what they built, it was a oh my God like it would take us. You know myself, my partners on the investment side would take us probably five to seven years to build this. This is not. You don't just build a ship overnight. You can build an inflatable raft and fill it up with air, but to build this massive company that has so many different constituent parties and business lines and supporting mechanisms for advisors, it takes a long time and it's never easy. It's always, you know, you hire five people and you have three of them work out or two of them work out, so it's a pairing and pairing and pairing.

Speaker 2:

So when we saw Summit had the nucleus and had that foundation, it was an aha moment for us and we said okay, with our leadership, with our capital and with our experience, we think we can add to what they've already built as an amazing culture and an amazing company.

Speaker 2:

And, frankly, jordan, that's what took over three plus years to do so. Even though we had the head start, which I definitely appreciate, it still took us three and a half years to build out the technology, the integration with all the different constituents, custodians, the investment piece. We've partnered with some of the best technology companies in the world, from the Microsoft to the Adaparts, to the eMoneys, laserapp, docusign there are 30 plus different technologies. And then we took the various business departments that we had. We looked at our financial planning attorneys, our trust and estate team, our investment team, our insurance team, and we brought the best of the best together, leveraging communication and technology. And I believe if you bring the best players together on the same team and they work together, again, great things happen. So that's work together, again, great things happen. So that's how we got here and it was a team effort.

Speaker 1:

It wasn't just me. So how do you know if somebody's an A player? Because there's people listening who are like I think I have good employees, I might not. How do you know if it's an A player? Or how do you know if it's the leadership?

Speaker 2:

Well, what you said, I think I'm that guy. Yes, that's not an A player. An A player is a Tom Brady. He knows he's that guy, right? So a lot of it is attitude, a lot of it is drive. Right, I don't have the ability to force anybody to do something long term. Right, I can be a command and control boss for a couple of days, a couple of weeks, but nobody wants that for a career, right? So you have to have that innate drive, you know, inside of you and what I have seen, jordan I'm going to use this analogy Most people in the world today create what I call the C factor.

Speaker 2:

They draw the letter C, right? And the people that you can, no matter what industry you look at the people that are just rock stars and just like entrepreneurial leaders and they just accomplish so much they draw the letter O. The difference between the C and the O, that little section, is full execution and completion. So most of us, we're happy with the letter C, but when you look at the guys that have created the Microsoft, the Elon Musk of the world, the Zuckerbergs, pick an industry, pick a leader. They went through everything and that completion of that circle is the what's next piece. I've always shared that with my kids. You have an idea, great, you know.

Speaker 2:

They get to that letter C and I say, okay, how do you complete that circle? What is next? Think about okay, you think you're there, what else is there that I didn't think about? What else is there from a risk standpoint, what else is there that I can be a true innovative leader? What is it that I can create that the world goes? Oh my Lord, that is fantastic.

Speaker 2:

I didn't think about that, right. And then when you roll it out, it all sounds so simple. But you have to complete that circle, no matter what you do in life. You want to go to a diet, example, right. You start a program, a workout program, you work out for four weeks and you know you don't fit your 12,. You don't finish your 12 weeks. Well, it's the C factor, right? You quit and you didn't complete that circle. So that you know, I look at that in people. Where are they when they do something? Are they a C player? Do they complete that letter C or do they go full circle and write the letter O? And the ones that do the O piece truly excel just far and ahead of the rest of society.

Speaker 1:

It is what it is, absolutely. And the thing I noticed about you is that you are always asking better questions and asking more questions of yourself. So it's not hey, let me go through this process and complete it, but it's. How do we get better? How do we eliminate risk? How do we get asymmetric risk, where we have all the upside, none of the downside, and you start to think about these things differently. And I was reading a book this morning and it was basically saying how, through questions, we create clarity. You know what I mean, and it allows us to really understand what's going on. So I just wanted to give you props for that. And the other thing you have is that this culture you have a culture of building a business with children, or building a business that you give to your children. Where did you come up with that and how do you think about that? And with your partners, because it's not just hey, we're all, I'm the owner, we have employees here, it's everyone's a partner, which I found very unique.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, one of the core foundations that we looked at when when designing this model, was if, if we Four foundations that we looked at when designing this model was if you're building a business model, are you going to replicate what everybody else did? You can argue good, bad or indifferent I'm not here to criticize and just use that as an analogy or you could do something different. And when we were thinking about doing something different, it really was to do something better. So we said what's the highest bar and what does that look like? What kind of bar do we have to adhere to? And we said you know, something that most people admire and care about the most is their family, right? So then, if you're going to build a business, build a business as if you were doing it with your family. So, if you were bringing your children into the business your brothers and sisters would you be the dictator, right? Hey, do this and I'm the boss. Or would you be collaborative? Would you be abusive? Would you be taking advantage of people versus helping them, right? So everything that we did was on that plane of thinking build a business as if you're going into business with your children. And we looked at the reality of what the industry does today. They hire people as employees and you know how people feel about that. You can do different surveys. Different companies have high scores, low scores. But that's one model. The other model is you can buy somebody's company Now you're the command and control guy, or you can do what we decided to do. We said look, how do we structure something where, if we were working with our children and they have a long path of work ahead of them would we take advantage of them because we have the money and buy their whole company today and now become their bosses, versus saying, hey, son or daughter, let dad invest in your company, take some capital, do with that as you wish. Hopefully, you do smart things with that capital. And now that dad owns a piece of your company, leverage the resources that dad has, whether it's the people, the technology, my capital, my connections, whatever right, my spirituality, my guidance, whatever that is to help you grow. That's what I would do for my children. And then, sometime in the future, dad is going to find a way to monetize his hard work and his assets that he's built over time, and you have a chance and an opportunity to join him in that process if you wish to, but it's not a gun to the head, it's if you wish to. So that's been the model. That's how it's evolved.

Speaker 2:

I'd love to tell you we had some white paper that we spent months on designing. It really was not. It was truly doing something that you would do for your family and then, if it works for your family, it's going to absolutely work for your friends and your colleagues, and that's why we went with the partnership model versus an employee model. The other thing I will tell you is the large companies I worked at. One of the frustrating things for me was the bureaucratic layers, middle management, and in most of our companies, most of the companies that I was part of, I never heard the truth from the front line because it was filtered through a middle management person that was protecting their job and they didn't want the bad to come out, so they just kept it to themselves. And in our new structure there is yeah, there's no middle management. I I you know I hate to say, but the entire middle management piece is a complete waste of money, in my opinion, now that I'm older and see this.

Speaker 2:

So we built a culture where all of our partners act and call directly with the C-suite. There's nobody that's blocking them. They can call the head of operations, the head of technology, the head of financial planning, the head of insurance, I mean any one of those divisions. That's what a partner does. That's what I want my children to do. Hey son, if you have an issue, call your uncle directly. Who's running the department? Blah, blah, blah versus okay, put in a request, put a ticket request in there, and your uncle will get back to you at some point. I mean, come on, that is ridiculous.

Speaker 2:

So if you think of it from that way again, going back to the family culture and how would it run? That's what we did. We got rid of a lot of that stupidity that I think just the world created from a complexity standpoint. It came back to just do things the right way and the right things will happen. Then your earlier comment we keep testing ourselves. We keep saying I do it every day, is this the best way to do it? Is there a better way to do it? And you know you may say okay, when is enough?

Speaker 1:

enough.

Speaker 2:

It probably never is. If you want to continue to grow and be a leader of what you do, you always have to find a way to make yourself and the firm better. So I think it's a healthy pruning of you, know. Let's think of better ways to do this, and that's the model I mean. Just it's growth, doing it better and being humble. Hey, you need to be.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's really coming down to understanding the people and sitting in their shoes and being like, how did I like when I was treated like that, how do I like this? And you start to realize like you have the ability to create whatever you want. And maybe there's people listening who are like I didn't like how my parents might have done something. Cool, you can make your own life, you can do whatever you want. You can change these things, you can change the business. You can do all this stuff you want, which is the best part. So there's five pillars of edwards consulting. There's mental health, physical health, community service, philanthropy, spirituality and relationships, and something I've been introducing in the podcast recently and the people enjoy is asking people where they're at today. So for you, stan, what's your mental health like today and, if it's high, what are some of the scores that allow it to occur? If it's lower, what are some of those reasons it might be there?

Speaker 2:

on a one to ten. It is a great. I I love those five pillars because, uh, but I, I personally have gone through those many times like making sure all of those pillars are at at peak and look, uh, life throws things at you that that can bring you down. So it's it's critical to be aware, and you know it's critical to be aware you don't want to be an emotional zombie. Nothing affects me. You have to grieve, you have to have sorrow, you have to have excitement.

Speaker 2:

I would say I spend a lot of time every day on my mental health. The broader and more complex the business gets, it's a lot more things get thrown at you and, uh, you don't want to be in a position where you just become numb, right, you, you have to feel and see, otherwise you don't, you don't grow so, but you have to deal with that, right? So, whether it's through meditation or through yoga or through just having some alone time, right, there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, I get a lot of my therapeutic mental health when I work out. So I'm with a personal trainer and I'm lifting weights, or I'm doing my cardio and I'm in my zone and I'm pushing myself, and it's not easy, right, it's easy to say, let me just stop today, but you push yourself and those endorphins kick in. And then, when you're done, you're exhausted from the workout but you're refreshed.

Speaker 2:

So, uh, I I can't stress how important that private, personal investment in yourself is. Uh, it's so critical. You have to fill up that gas tank for yourself, right? You can't just keep driving and driving and driving without refilling and rechecking, and if you do, you're just not going to be an effective person to yourself. Your mental, your physical, your emotional health suffers. And then whatever you're doing in life, whether it's sports or business or teaching, whatever you're not going to perform. So I really admire that those five principles are what you focus on every day. It's so important.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely so the mental and physical health kind of go hand in hand a little bit, and taking a little bit of alone time For you. The community service, philanthropy aspect how are you doing in that area? And then, how do you think about that? Because that's a challenging one for a lot of the clients I speak with, because everyone's so woe is me, what about me?

Speaker 2:

It is. So, going back to our model, I don't want to say we're fighting with society, but the fact that we are in charge of our destiny within our company. We do control the outcomes that we put forth, and we just made conscious decisions that we want to do it right. So sometimes there's this vigilante card out there with us. That is you know what. We know the competition is doing it wrong and and we're going to stand up for our people, we're going to show our people the right way to do things.

Speaker 2:

And I think I have that, that that's another gene I have in my body. It bothers me when I see people being taken advantage of. It bothers me when I see people being lied to and misled. It bothers me when somebody is in control and is abusive of that power, whether it's a politician, a country leader or CEO of a company. So a lot of what we do is self-reflection on giving back giving back to our teams, giving back to our people, which then translates. It's a trickle-down effect.

Speaker 2:

If your employees and partners are feeling good, well, guess what? Their clients are feeling good, the clients and children are feeling good, I mean. So it cascades and the same thing happens on the flip side, right? If people are not happy, people know when people are not happy. So I think it's important to share when you know something of value, and sometimes it's good news or bad news, but that is something that I've always subscribed to, probably to my fault. I get excited when I learn something new, like I want to tell everybody about something exciting, but I think it's important. So the give back is important, the philanthropic piece is important, and I don't know of a better gift that you can give somebody than enriching them, right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Money is money's fungible Right. So if I make a donation, great, I don't know how that donation goes and where it goes, and you know if somebody embezzled it or handed it down to the last person, I don't know, right, but you know, if I, if I'm investing time with somebody and I teach them and I coach them on how to be more successful or more self-sufficient, and now that person becomes so much more dependent and successful on their own and they're building a business for themselves and a family, I mean, oh my God, that that's the best contribution I can make. It's better than writing a checkout, because that's how I'm going, that's not a one and done.

Speaker 1:

And the thing is that people don't realize what a 15 or 20 minute conversation it might be nothing to you, but it might be everything to that person. And there's times where that's happened to me where someone's like, hey, you brought this up over a year ago and it completely changed my. I was like I didn't even remember the conversation, but people remember exactly how you made them feel because you tried and you cared, which is the most important thing. And then for you, the spirituality aspect. I didn't even want to dive into the relationships because I you've kind of been encompassing all the relationships for people caring, but how do you think about spirituality?

Speaker 2:

it's the same thing. You have to believe in something, right, you? You cannot be this. I call it the emotional zombie, so disconnected, you know it's a narcissistic, sociopathic kind of society. Then, and I, I don't want to do that like he. If you're not going to believe in a spirituality component, I mean what, what, what? Then? It's just, it's binary. Every day it's black or white, right, it's like I did it, did that, so, uh, I think it's important. That's part of self caring, that's part of mental health, that's part of well-being, that's part of balance, that's part of of being a human being. Right of thinking about. You know how we got here and you know people have different beliefs and different religions. But you know, when I say spirituality, I'm saying in a broader sense. There's a bigger and broader being than just, you know, being successful in a business setting. There's more to it and I think it's critical Absolutely.

Speaker 1:

And for you, I appreciate you sharing all that because it makes a big difference and it really gets to see sides of the different people. So for you, one of the big things about yourself and your company is positioning yourself for the future. So what could people listening do financially and I know it's not financial advice, but what are some of the things that you've seen Because you have so many people Financially and I know it's not financial advice but what are some of the things that you've seen Because you have so many people, you have so many things that you're actually seeing that really move the needle for someone who might be struggling financially or might be making money. They might be making a couple hundred grand but they're spending a couple hundred grand. What are the tips and tricks to really have that great life and remove that stress element?

Speaker 2:

That's a great question. You know, jordan, in our industry it may not be the highest, highest monetarily rewarding profession, but it's probably one of them. And it doesn't make a difference which company I worked at. I've seen successful people at all the companies I've been part of and I've seen some of the numbers, the financial incomes that some of my experience has brought me with some of the people and you'd be shocked. You would assume somebody making X amount of money should have so much money saved.

Speaker 1:

And what would be like. X amount of money. So for the audience to understand a little bit better, so they're not like, hey, we're all, like there's people making.

Speaker 2:

I've seen people yeah, I mean money. Money doesn't make you happy. It should. It shouldn't be the only thing that makes you happy. It should be. It should make it easier for you to do certain things. But if all you're doing is focused on money, well, that's the oldest profession in the history of society, right? But I've seen people making $100,000 happy, and I've seen people making $50 million miserable, right. So it's been all over the map. So my advice to anybody out there and it's the same advice I gave my kids number one, do not take a job just to make money. That should not be it.

Speaker 2:

Whatever you do in life, make it a purpose to do something that you truly will enjoy. And then there's a big comma and make sure you are financially rewarded for that. Okay, and I'll give you my analogy. I mean, I love scuba diving, right, and I would have loved to been like a Marine biologist, or or just diving in the oceans, and, and you know, but I wouldn't make any money. I would, I would make a very little money, I'd have fun, you know, fun in the sun, so to say. But my family, myself, I would, I would not have been able to create what I've created financially by doing that.

Speaker 2:

So I think there needs to be a balance and for any of your younger listeners, make sure you're being honest with yourself. I don't know. What's probably one of the most miserable things you could be experiencing is loving what you do but your company does not pay you for that value and it gets pretty gray and it doesn't feel right. But that's just the world. I mean, you know, professions pay what they pay, based upon some kind of metric. So be honest with yourself. If, whatever you do in life, take that balance, you know, take, take them what I would love to do and make sure that it's also mirrored with a strong financial reward for what you do. If you get those two, oh my god, you have perfection.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, because you're absolutely right. I bet you there's guarantee, you there's times in your life where you did the advising and you're like I love this, but I might not even be at the right place. And you talked about that a little bit where some of the right places weren't even it wasn't a culture thing or they weren't financially helping you as much as you think you could have, and it just it's finding those right situations that work for you and and I'm going to be honest to everyone here You're not going to find it in the first spot, the second spot or the third. Some people get lucky, but people think if they didn't find it in the first three, they're like I'm a mess up and it's like, no, that's the journey.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you can't. That's a mistake too, with right as you're going through this journey being complacent. Mistake too with uh, right, as you're going through this journey being complacent. So, the same way you heard me say every day, I'm I'm criticizing myself every single day on how can we do things better, what can we do things differently? Uh, I would, I would encourage your audience to do the exact same thing. I'm in a role. What is this role going to look like in three years and five years? And is is that the role that I want to be in my vision, really expanding my knowledge base, my financial well-being, my mental well? So, if any of those answers are no, you got to put your butt in gear and think about okay, don't be complacent, what is it? How do I change this? Because only you can change yourself in the future.

Speaker 2:

You're not going to have, believe me, nobody's going to tap you on the shoulder and say, jordan, you've been here for 11 years, we haven't given you much of a pay raise and we really feel bad about this, so let's get you a promotion. I mean, that doesn't happen. That's on TV strips. That is not reality. Most employers will try to keep you there as long as they can and pay you as little as they can to get away with it from you quitting. It's pay you enough not to quit. Well, that's not invigorating. That's a difference. The other difference is we're getting into a society, jordan, where small businesses are becoming a much bigger piece of the GDP, world Interesting. So people are graduating colleges, or sometimes not even graduating colleges, and instead of going to work for that big company like when I graduated college, I was like all right, you work for that one firm till the end.

Speaker 2:

That's not the case anymore. So put your entrepreneurial hat on. Put your what if I can create something? Hat on and make that an investment. Don't do that as a drive-by, as you know, you're just jogging three miles and, okay, I'll think about it for a few minutes. Make that your job, right. Put time every week into taking out that whiteboard and saying, you know, let me, let me think about these five ideas and what's going to turn out to be the you know, the pot of gold or whatever, whatever you want as a goal, but you have to invest and you have to put that time.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and one of the biggest ones that I've seen with clients is the little little thing where it's hey, you got a business, you don't have to go out like Stan and go find a new business to purchase.

Speaker 1:

You could start your businesses because a lot of these very small, very low costs and could be massive like change your whole trajectory, kind of massive with social media, with all of these different ventures that people come up with, just start by how do you get your first client and see how that goes. And I say it simply like that because I think most of the time in business it's how do you make the first dollar? And there's these people who go on forever and ever and it's just like make a dollar man. Like if you make a dollar, someone pays you a dollar for the service, even if it's your mom probably not the best of it's your mom, but either way, that's it. That's a good direction for you to at least get started and it will give you that wherewithal and you won't feel so committed to. I have to be in this job and I'm dedicated to this thing and this is the only thing I want to do, so I think that's super important.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, progress builds confidence right. So, to your point, you know, you start having some wins, you start feeling better about this and, in a way, what you, what you may have thought about being a box of two by two, right, it becomes a box of four by four and it just keeps expanding. So, push, push, make it happen, make, make progress. You'll build the confidence and then, hopefully, you'll build creativity as you go along Absolutely so.

Speaker 1:

Stan, you've been absolutely incredible. Where can people learn more about you and Summit Financial if they want to be involved or get part of it or hear about you guys? How do people learn more about you guys?

Speaker 2:

Well, you can go online. Our website is summitfinancialcom. You'll see the history of the company, you'll read about us, you'll read about the various divisions, and we have five different companies under Summit. We have an investment management company, we have a financial planning company, an insurance company, a technology company and a full-fledged marketing company. Oh wow, company, a technology company and a full-fledged marketing company. Oh, wow, yes, as an advisor, it is pretty much a turnkey from beginning to end, very similar to that Verizon commercial where the guy standing behind them is a whole bunch of people. That's kind of where Summit is.

Speaker 2:

You're independent. We want you to be an independent thinker, but you're not alone. You have a team of resources and talent and education and knowledge behind you that help you be successful, and I think that's important. This is not a single player sport we're not playing golf right. This is a team effort. And go online. We just had our highest intern class ever. Young group of folks came in eager to learn. It's so refreshing to see that innocence and that desire and I'm really really excited that we keep investing in that and I'm really, really excited that we keep investing in that Employee base. I mean, we're probably, you know, between advisors, their staff and our staff. We're probably over 550 people in size now. It's companies grown dramatically over the last five to seven years, continues to grow. It seems like we're bringing in new partnerships every single week. Um, and you know, I I feel humble to be here and leading, leading the company, but I'm also very, very appreciative of so many friends I've met here. Just, it's just, it's an amazing culture, absolutely appreciate it.

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Jordan Edwards

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