Eric Brotman on Building a Collaborative Culture, Targeting Business Development Channels, Sustaining Scale, and Learning to Grow by Letting Go
Release Date: 10/23/2024
My 3 Polarities for 2025
Between Now and Success
I discuss how well I executed on my 3 words from 2024 and then reveal why and how I’m changing the exercise for 2025. For 2025, I'm going to explore polarities—pairs of words that represent the tension and harmony between opposing yet complementary concepts. This shift feels like a natural evolution. Just as life is a balance of contrasts—action and rest, growth and reflection, giving and receiving—polarities allow for a more nuanced exploration of the rhythms that shape us. It’s not about choosing one over the other, but about navigating the balance between the two, finding wisdom...
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Helping Clients Thrive: Wealth-Building 'Permission to Prosper' Strategies With Dr. Preston Cherry
Between Now and Success
Guest: Dr. Preston Cherry, AFC®, CFT-I™, CFP®, Ph.D., an entrepreneur, coach and speaker. Dr. Cherry is the creator of the Life Money Balance™ approach and founder of Concurrent Financial Planning. His new book is Wealth in the Key of Life: Finding Your Financial Harmony. In a Nutshell: "Songs in the Key of Life" is one of Stevie Wonder's most famous albums. In a similar vein, Dr. Preston Cherry wants people to find that kind of harmony between their money, their values, and their lives. And advisors who can help folks create a financial life that really sings are going to connect more...
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Kendra Wright on "Finding" Great Copy and Revamping Your Website to Attract More Ideal Clients
Between Now and Success
Guest: Kendra Wright, owner of Rebel Media Agency, a marketing company specializing in financial professionals. In her prior life, Kendra worked in rock ‘n roll marketing for some of the biggest names in music (Willie Nelson, Motley Crue, Matchbox Twenty, and more). In a Nutshell: Great copy means you'll never experience a failure to communicate. Great copy is simple. Great copy is found and it comes from the mouths of your clients and prospects. Your job is to transfer what you find to your website and client communication. As important as social media, podcasting, YouTube, and email have...
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10 Insights From 10 Years of Podcasting
Between Now and Success
After I left Peak Advisor Alliance (now Carson Coaching), I settled on the idea of starting my Between Now and Success podcast as part of my next chapter. I figured podcasting would be a great way to stay in touch with people in our industry, keep networking, and learn from the best of the best. Now, 10 years later, across five separate podcasts, I've recorded more than 850 episodes, the vast majority of which are interview shows. Thanks to podcasting, I went from having a handful of trusted mentors to learning from hundreds of world-class teachers. While I could easily list dozens of unique...
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Mindy Diamond on Living Your Best Business Life, Building a Successful Firm, and Deciding Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Between Now and Success
Guest: Mindy Diamond, the founder and CEO of Diamond Consultants and the author of a fantastic new book called Should I Stay or Should I Go? In a Nutshell: Between the competition for top talent at large firms and the proliferation of smaller lifestyle RIAs, many advisors feel like they need to be constantly evaluating their career options. But the grass is not always greener, and FOMO should never be the lead driver of a major career decision. Instead, advisors should follow their internal compass towards opportunities that will help them accomplish what matters the most to them in their...
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Eric Brotman on Building a Collaborative Culture, Targeting Business Development Channels, Sustaining Scale, and Learning to Grow by Letting Go
Between Now and Success
Guest: Eric Brotman, CFP®, AEP®, CPWA®, is a Principal and the Chief Executive Officer of BFG Financial Advisors. Eric began his financial planning practice in Baltimore in 1994, and founded Brotman Financial Group in 2003, which later became BFG Financial Advisors. He and his team focus on supporting families and individuals by providing comprehensive financial planning and wealth management services. Eric is also the author of Don't Retire... Graduate!: Building a Path to Financial Freedom and Retirement at Any Age. In a Nutshell: As a founder/advisor, how does your role evolve over time?...
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The Step-By-Step YouTube Strategy Dave Zoller Used to Add 72,000 Subscribers and Generate 60 - 100 Qualified Leads a Month
Between Now and Success
Guest: Dave Zoller, CFP®, owner of Streamline Financial Services in Warrenville, IL. Streamline currently manages over $450 million in assets for 250 client households. In a Nutshell: Digital marketing isn't about trying to strike lighting and "go viral," although that certainly helps! The advisors I've talked to who have mastered YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook. email, and other channels turn clicks into clients through consistency, rigorous analytics, a personal touch that connects them to their audience, and yes, some luck of being in the right place at the right time. On today's show, Dave...
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Building an Authentic Brand Around His Personal Passion of Being an "Everyday Explorer" with Josh Self
Between Now and Success
Guest: Josh Self, CLU, ChFC, CFP®, Managing Partner of Ridgeline Wealth Advisors in Raleigh, NC. In a Nutshell: Do you serve your business or does it serve you? Josh Self decided to do a complete rebrand and design his business around his personal passion of being an everyday explorer. He wanted to attract other like-minded outdoor enthusiasts so his website and podcast are 100% geared toward that specific demographic. If you share your passions with your audience and tie them into a holistic approach to Life-Centered Planning, you're going to grow something more valuable and durable than a...
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Step-By-Step Process to Transition Your Clients to an Associate Advisor with Steve Sanduski and Amy Koenig
Between Now and Success
In a Nutshell: Steve and Amy Koenig, a financial advisor coach, are back for a deep dive on an issue every advisor will face at some point which is, how do you transition existing clients to another advisor and do it so the clients stay and there's no drop in service. Sometimes there's a personality mismatch. Sometimes goals aren't aligned. Sometimes advisors need new challenges. Or, as was the case for Heritage's Erin Scannell, sometimes an advisor has to clear the deck so that he can step into a leadership role and drive the vision for the company's growth. Whatever the reason, there will be...
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Separating Good RIA Firms From Great Ones: 5 Key Principles and Actionable Insights for Growth with Schwab's Lisa Salvi
Between Now and Success
Guest: Lisa Salvi, Managing Director, Advisor Services at Charles Schwab. In a Nutshell: If you could start from scratch and sketch out what the ideal advisory practice looks like, what would you come up with? Lisa Salvi and her team have developed just such a blueprint for what the most successful firms at Charles Schwab are doing to manage and grow their businesses. On today's show, Lisa and I dig into the details of Schwab's 2024 Benchmarking Study, paying particular attention to the five Guiding Principles for Advisory Firm Success that Lisa says separate good firms from the best of the...
info_outlineGuest: Eric Brotman, CFP®, AEP®, CPWA®, is a Principal and the Chief Executive Officer of BFG Financial Advisors. Eric began his financial planning practice in Baltimore in 1994, and founded Brotman Financial Group in 2003, which later became BFG Financial Advisors. He and his team focus on supporting families and individuals by providing comprehensive financial planning and wealth management services.
Eric is also the author of Don't Retire... Graduate!: Building a Path to Financial Freedom and Retirement at Any Age.
In a Nutshell: As a founder/advisor, how does your role evolve over time?
I frequently have these conversations with my coaching clients where we discuss what does the advisor want their role to be.
In the early stages of your career, you have to do everything, but as the business grows, you have to decide what you're going to double down on and what you're going to let go of. There's no one answer that fits every advisor. Some advisors naturally and easily segue into a leadership role and give up most, if not all of their lead advisor client relationships. Other advisors do not enjoy the management role of running the business, managing people, and they prefer the relationship side of the business and business development.
Regardless of which route you want to go, you have to figure out how to build the team and the infrastructure around you so that every function within the organization is getting taken care of at a high level such that you can focus on what you do best, what you enjoy the most, and that moves the needle for the company.
On today's show, Eric Brotman and I have a wide-ranging conversation that touches on evolving your role over time, succession planning, transitioning clients, teamwork, scalable processes, and how to accelerate organic growth without losing a human touch.