44: $1.5B RIA Founder Chad Willardson of Pacific Capital on Entrepreneurship | How Your Authentic Story Can Fuel Growth | Why Mindset in Money Matters
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The impressively bold mindset that drove Chad Willardson to leave behind a million-dollar salary and a top 1% client base to build his own firm from scratch is the same mindset that grew his firm to $1.5B AUM and earned him the status of 5X bestselling author.
In fact, Chad’s story is proof that thinking like an entrepreneur can take you far in the fund world–and beyond. But can this mindset be learned and developed? Find out in today’s episode.
Plus, hear Chad’s full backstory and learn:
Why advisors who think like entrepreneurs stand out to high-net-worth clients
The hidden benefit of his LinkedIn presence: how he’s able to pass off sales meetings to his team almost entirely thanks to the strong trust he’s built on social
His tips and tricks for balancing entrepreneurship and family life
About Chad Willardson:
Chad Willardson is the President and Founder of Platinum Elevated, an exclusive coaching program where he helps entrepreneurs enjoy increased lifestyle and financial freedom by removing their stress about money, increasing their cash flow, and freeing up a ton of their time.
In 2011, Chad founded Pacific Capital, a family office specializing in wealth management for high-net-worth entrepreneurs. Chad's currently responsible for investing $1.5 billion dollars as a fiduciary. Before founding Pacific Capital, he spent nine years at Merrill Lynch, ranking in the top 2% of over 16,000 advisors nationwide.
Chad is a 5X best-selling author and Co-Host of The Smart Money Parenting Show, a podcast ranking in at #2 Apple for Parenting, Kids & Family. He is a Certified Financial Fiduciary® and Accredited Wealth Manager who also writes for Entrepreneur and Forbes. Chad earned his degree in Economics from Brigham Young University
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Books: Wealth Wired Differently by Chad Willardson,10x Is Easier than 2x: by Dan Sullivan, Dr. Benjamin Hardy, et al.
Songs: Imagine Dragons - Thunder, Guns N' Roses - Paradise City
TRANSCRIPT
Below is an AI-generated transcript and therefore it may contain errors.
[00:00:00] Chad Willardson: We have another client who just got like a 6 million deal the day after the event. Where we were talking about putting yourself in a different mindset to dream big.
[00:00:10] Stacy Havener: Hey, my name is Stacey Havener. I'm obsessed with startups, stories, and sales. Storytelling has fueled my success as a female founder in the toughest boys club, Wall Street.
[00:00:22] Stacy Havener: I've raised over 8 billion that has led to 30 billion in follow on assets for investment boutiques. You could say against the odds. Yeah. understatement. I share stories of the people behind the portfolios while teaching you how to use story to shape outcomes. It's real talk here. Money, authenticity, growth, setbacks, sales, and marketing are all topics we discuss.
[00:00:48] Stacy Havener: Think of this as the capital raising class you wish you had in college mixed with happy hour, pull up a seat, grab your notebook and get ready to be inspired and challenged [00:01:00] while you learn. This is the billion dollar backstory podcast.
[00:01:07] Stacy Havener: Some entrepreneurs know their stripes from the beginning. They've got the lemonade stand, the baseball card biz, or the side hustles in middle school. Some entrepreneurs are a slow burn. The fire is there, but it's lying in wait. That's the case for today's guest. My friend, Chad Willardson. Chad is a multi preneur.
[00:01:29] Stacy Havener: He is the founder of a one and a half billion dollar wealth management firm, a coaching platform that both serve entrepreneurs. He's an author, a podcaster. He's built an incredible personal brand that powers his businesses. His story is both inspiring as a leader in financial services, but also as a leading entrepreneur.
[00:01:52] Stacy Havener: Chad's story reminds us that our entrepreneurial fire can only be contained for so long until one day, you know, like on a [00:02:00] Monday morning, we leave a million dollar salary and a big book of business to follow our founder hearts. This one is good. Meet my friend, Chad. Chad, thank you so much for being here today.
[00:02:15] Stacy Havener: This is a joy for me on a couple levels. One, you're in the finance biz, so that's amazing. But also we're friends and entrepreneurs in strategic coach. So this is just wonderful. Thank you for being here.
[00:02:28] Chad Willardson: Lots of synergy. I'm, I'm happy to be here, Stacey. Thank you.
[00:02:31] Stacy Havener: Yes. So I want to start with your backstory and.
[00:02:36] Stacy Havener: I kind of want to do two pieces to this because I'm curious before we get to the financial advisor, kind of part of the backstory. Was there a moment in your childhood or some event at which point you knew you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
[00:02:52] Chad Willardson: Oh, that's a great question that I have a non traditional answer for because I was not an entrepreneur as a [00:03:00] kid at all.
[00:03:00] Stacy Havener: Okay.
[00:03:01] Chad Willardson: I can't go back to any cool stories. Oops. And I just dropped my microphone. Sorry. You can't go back to any cool stories. Real
[00:03:08] Stacy Havener: life. Real life. Yeah.
[00:03:09] Chad Willardson: Yeah. I didn't have like a lemonade stand or any bunch of small businesses. I did have jobs as a kid. And I think I had the entrepreneurial DNA because I was a little bit rebellious against overly being, you know, being like ruled and told what I can and can't do and sit down and be quiet and stuff.
[00:03:27] Chad Willardson: So it was in me for sure. But I actually never started a business until Pacific Capital in 2011. That was my first business ever.
[00:03:37] Stacy Havener: And how many do you have now?
[00:03:39] Chad Willardson: Oh, shoot. Um, I probably, that's what my wife always says. She's like, how many businesses do we have? I'm like, well, some of them went out of business.
[00:03:49] Chad Willardson: Some of them were short lived, but primarily four right now.
[00:03:53] Stacy Havener: Four. Okay. All right. So then let's dive in on the financial side of it. So you had a lot of jobs as a kid, no [00:04:00] lemonades, Dan ditto, but what drew you to the financial business and talk about that path.
[00:04:06] Chad Willardson: Yeah, yeah, that path was, I was in college, I was getting my degree in economics with a minor in business and I've grew up in Orange County, California, Southern California, but I was up at school at BYU in Utah and beautiful, beautiful place, great campus, amazing education, but it had winter and I did not like winter very much, so I wanted to be back near the beach and so I remember I was a senior and it was January and I was graduating at the end of April.
[00:04:33] Chad Willardson: And I was already married. My wife and I were married young in college. So I was, I got married at 22. She was 20. And so here I was, you know, married and kind of on my own and making 6 and 25 cents an hour in a basement apartment, sharing a old beat up car. I was taking the public transportation to work at a marketing call center.
[00:04:54] Chad Willardson: And my mom said, you graduate in three months. What are your plans to [00:05:00] provide for your family? What are your job? What's your career going to be? And I said, I have no idea, mom, but I know one thing it's going to be in Southern California, because I want to get back to the beach. And also I believe that it will be dealing with people and something to do with money and finance, just because I'm fascinated by investing in money.
[00:05:22] Chad Willardson: I did an internship for a portfolio manager, a 10 billion fund. I was the right hand guy to the CEO. He happened to be my cousin. So he gave me the internship as a favor. Cause I needed to figure out what to do with my life. And I loved it so much. I was like, man, this is really interesting. So my mom's like, it's not going to be that easy.
[00:05:39] Chad Willardson: You can't just say, I'm going to move to California and get a career in finance and the rest is history. And I said, sure, sure it can. She's like, no, it can't. I was like, all right, well now I've got a challenge. So I'm like, how do I figure this out? And there was a career fair at the end of February up on campus.
[00:05:55] Chad Willardson: And. Hundreds and hundreds of booths, all different industries. And [00:06:00] so I went over to the financial section of the career fair, and there was Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, and I just went to the booths and I didn't know a ton about them. I just knew they were in the investment world.
[00:06:11] Chad Willardson: So I started talking to the people and I got one interview at Merrill Lynch. They said we would be hiring after graduation. And I got an interview, got a job offer and I took the job. So as I, as my mom and I laugh about it, kind of like I did, I actually manifested that to happen, fortunately. And I only had one job interview and I got one job offer and came straight back down.
[00:06:33] Chad Willardson: So it worked out. That's how I got into finance. And I showed up, Stacey, I knew nothing. I realized right away. I don't know anything. The manager was asking us about our favorite stocks, all the tickers and all these different things. And like he was using words I didn't understand on day one. And I was like, Oh man, I don't know anything.
[00:06:52] Chad Willardson: Like I've got to really dive deep to figure this out or I'm going to be like left behind. And so that put me on a mission of just [00:07:00] learning, learning, reading, reading, learning, learning, like as much as I could. That's really when it clicked for me.
[00:07:05] Stacy Havener: Another challenge, right? Because you were like, Oh, another challenge.
[00:07:08] Stacy Havener: And the cool part of this story, of course, is here you sit as the founder of your own RIA. So how did Merrill Lynch evolve into entrepreneurship?
[00:07:22] Chad Willardson: I say this. With a lot of respect and admiration for the people I worked with and where I worked. I never planned to leave Merrill Lynch. I thought I would work there for 40 or 50 years and retire.
[00:07:34] Chad Willardson: I'm a pretty loyal guy. And I, I liked where I worked and I really enjoyed what I was learning. And I never saw myself leaving. It was very entrepreneurial within a big wall street bank until 2008 came. Then the great recession came. Then our stock price went down. From 103 to three, and we got overtaken by bank of America in the middle of the night and everything changed.
[00:07:57] Chad Willardson: It became bureaucratic. It became to [00:08:00] me. It became like a financial DMV.
[00:08:02] Stacy Havener: I
[00:08:02] Chad Willardson: couldn't use the restroom without getting a permission slip sign. So I was just like, I can't, you know, I couldn't function anymore. It wasn't fun. I was like, let's see 2008. I was 29 years old. And I was earning over a million dollars a year, things seemed to be like, I had the perfect corner office, they were traveling me around to speak, and I hated it, I couldn't stand it, I felt trapped, I felt bored, I felt just strangled by the bureaucracy, and so, on 11 11 11, I just picked up my stuff like Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise, and I walked out and I was like, Monday morning.
[00:08:37] Chad Willardson: I'm like, I'll see you later. I'm out of here. So I started over from scratch after, um, building up a 330 million base of clients from scratch, which put me in the top 1%. And I literally started over and walked away from that. And happy to say I've far surpassed that on my own. But it sure was scary to do that at age 32 with married with [00:09:00] three kids, five kids total on the way and a big mortgage.
[00:09:03] Chad Willardson: And most people were worried about the recession. So it was kind of a wild decision, but I'm so glad I did it.
[00:09:10] Stacy Havener: Yeah. So I want to tie this all together because now with Pacific Capital, the bulk of your clients are entrepreneurs like you.
[00:09:19] Chad Willardson: Yes.
[00:09:19] Stacy Havener: And was that the case at Merrill?
[00:09:23] Chad Willardson: No, not completely.
[00:09:24] Stacy Havener: Okay.
[00:09:25] Chad Willardson: We had a mix at Merrill Lynch.
[00:09:27] Chad Willardson: I had retirees. I had big corporate executives. We would do their stock option planning. I had doctors, lawyers. I had some entrepreneurs. I had some professional athletes. So it was like a real mix. And I didn't love that because I felt like I wanted to be a specialist in one area. Also, I felt like most financial advisors just, they say one thing, but they really try to be all things to all people.
[00:09:53] Chad Willardson: And if you look at their websites, most of them, it's like, we serve everyone, individuals, families, business owners, [00:10:00] athletes, it's like pretty much every human being on planet earth. So
[00:10:03] Stacy Havener: if you have money, we serve you.
[00:10:05] Chad Willardson: That's right.
[00:10:06] Stacy Havener: That's really the
[00:10:06] Chad Willardson: criteria. And so now I think back to like last week, I got referred to a professional basketball player.
[00:10:13] Chad Willardson: It was very, very high income. And it was via text from a friend who knows him well. And I was like, I said, you know what, to be honest, I don't want to work with professional athletes. I don't specialize in them. It's just not my thing. Like I just work with entrepreneurs and that's it. And he was just like, are you serious?
[00:10:30] Chad Willardson: And I said, yeah, I said, if you want me to talk to him as a buddy, that's fine, but I don't want him as a client. And five years ago, 10 years ago, definitely 20 years ago, I never would have dreamed to turn down. A professional basketball player. I love basketball. I love the NBA. And so I just think that it's, we've evolved to be very specialized in whom we serve and we know whom we serve and we're very honest about it.
[00:10:54] Chad Willardson: So I'm willing to turn down potential revenue by just staying true to whom we serve best.
[00:10:59] Stacy Havener: [00:11:00] And how did that evolution go for you? So when you walk out of Merrill, you Jerry Maguire, the whole thing, you come out, you set up your firm. How did you build, like, that first couple hundred million must have been really challenging.
[00:11:12] Chad Willardson: It was. I really just thought about, like, I mean, the entrepreneurs I worked with at Merrill Lynch were the ones I got along with the best and my personal friends outside of work were entrepreneurs. And so I realized like my personality fits with these people. I like the way they think about freedom and innovation and growth.
[00:11:34] Chad Willardson: So I was always a very high growth goal setter and very ambitious. And I found that in the entrepreneurial community. So I just realized like, these are my people. So what are these people? What are their challenges? Why don't I design my new company to be just completely built to serve that one group entrepreneurs who are growth focused?
[00:11:54] Chad Willardson: And so piece by piece, we've just added things that serve their needs [00:12:00] and are probably not a fit for 99 percent of the world. And because we've done that when we have a first meeting, it's like we just had a first meeting with a couple out of state. So it was on zoom and they're selling a portion of a very big business.
[00:12:14] Chad Willardson: And the wife, I said to the husband, wife, I said, basically what you need to hear, you need to see the plan. You need to see some of the, uh, Cashflow planning. You need to understand where the security is. You need to know that he's not going to overly risk in the new ventures and on. You need to feel unrestricted.
[00:12:30] Chad Willardson: You need to feel like you've got some money to do some adventurous entrepreneurial things with. And I went through that in a much deeper. Conversation and the wife goes, man, in like five minutes, you completely figured out our 30 years of marriage, what we struggle with, what our conflicts are. And I was like, man, that feels awesome because we clearly know entrepreneurial couples.
[00:12:53] Chad Willardson: We know the dynamics, we know the conversations, the challenges. And I think that comes when you just. Put [00:13:00] your flag in the ground and say, this is who I'm going to serve and focus
[00:13:02] Stacy Havener: on. It's a great example of attract and repel.
[00:13:06] Chad Willardson: Yeah.
[00:13:07] Stacy Havener: And I think until you're willing to repel, like your example with the basketball player, until you're brave enough to do that, you really can't attract The people you do want to serve because you kind of, you waffle and you try to be vanilla and you don't want to have sharp edges and you know, you're like, well, if that professional athlete calls, I'm going to say yes.
[00:13:27] Stacy Havener: So I can't, you know, so when you started, I know what you do now for marketing. And I want to talk about your personal brand and just kind of how you really lean into building the books, all of it. Then what did you do then? Like when you were starting for that first couple hundred million, It was probably pre LinkedIn, pre Instagram.
[00:13:50] Stacy Havener: Like, how did you do it?
[00:13:52] Chad Willardson: Yeah, I had just started on LinkedIn in 2011, 2012.
[00:13:56] Stacy Havener: Okay.
[00:13:57] Chad Willardson: So that was, it was not like a big new [00:14:00] client lead generator, but I was starting to be a little bit active on LinkedIn in 2011, 2012. I had a newsletter.
[00:14:07] Stacy Havener: Okay.
[00:14:08] Chad Willardson: I had a decent amount of subscribers on a newsletter. It wasn't really a thing back then, but I had a newsletter that I wrote at Merrill Lynch.
[00:14:16] Chad Willardson: And so a lot of those people resubscribed to my new newsletter when I left. And I said, Hey, I started a newsletter. If you want to follow me over here, you know, I'm not at the big bank anymore. It's a good question. I reached out to many entrepreneurs and just ask for advice. That was like one of the main things that I think got me some good referral introductions.
[00:14:35] Chad Willardson: Cause I was like, Hey, here's what I'm doing. I really want to serve entrepreneurs. Who do you know that is looking maybe for a second opinion on their wealth management strategies? Are there any entrepreneurs, you know, that are. Complaining about their taxes or their investment returns. Like, I'd love to just have a lunch meeting and see what we can do to help people.
[00:14:53] Chad Willardson: And I made that offering many, many, many times. And there were a few times where it actually turned into something. So little by little, [00:15:00] it started to grow.
[00:15:01] Stacy Havener: Yeah. Kind of the old school classic build. Let's take that to today. Because I think you've done something that a lot of people in financial services Are afraid of.
[00:15:11] Stacy Havener: And oh, by the way, probably something you never would have been able to do had you stayed at a bank, right? With all the regulation and compliance.
[00:15:20] Chad Willardson: No, no, I couldn't do anything of the things that I do.
[00:15:24] Stacy Havener: And so now you have a great linkedin following. You have a podcast, you write books, you're active on instagram.
[00:15:31] Stacy Havener: I mean, you really have built, you've given pacific capital a face and a heart and a soul. And you've Yet when you look around financial services or investment management, so many people are scared of that. Talk about that journey for you. And did you just dive in like all the authenticity? Here's me, here's my fam.
[00:15:51] Stacy Havener: Like this is what's happening. Like, how did that evolve?
[00:15:54] Chad Willardson: I was posting on social media and there was almost no traction. People didn't seem to care [00:16:00] about any of the cool things I was sharing about investment world and finance. And I was definitely hesitant. I was probably the latest person. I don't have Facebook anymore, but I was the latest person to download it.
[00:16:14] Chad Willardson: I ended up downloading it in 2016 and signing up for a new Facebook account. And it was only because my campaign manager, when I ran for an election said, you got to have it voters are going to be on there. So I was like, man, I gave in and. I decided that there was a fork in the road moment where I said, either I'm just going to put the least out there.
[00:16:34] Chad Willardson: I can, that is enough to bring in new business and make connections, or I'm just going to go all in and be an open book. And it was a little scary because I remember people saying like, Don't post stuff with your family, like never put your kids online. And I understand the security and safety concerns that people have.
[00:16:54] Chad Willardson: I just decided at one point, I'm like, you know what? Either we're going to be in the public spotlight [00:17:00] and be fully transparent, or I'm not going this route of a public figure in business. It's one or the other. I can't do, I can't do this in between thing. So finally I was like, you know what, I'm just going to be completely transparent.
[00:17:14] Chad Willardson: I'm never going to pre write my stuff. No one's ever going to write it for me. I'm just going to share what's really on my mind. Good, bad, ugly, whatever, personal, non personal. And we'll just see what happens. And once I started doing that, everything changed.
[00:17:28] Stacy Havener: I was going to ask. Yeah. Talk about that.
[00:17:30] Chad Willardson: Yeah, people felt like they know me and they got to know me and they started saying, Hey, this person's a real person.
[00:17:35] Chad Willardson: Hey, this person is financially successful, but they also care about their family. And I think that people are hungry and thirsty for leaders who also have family relationships that they care about. There's plenty of financially successful people who have No care in the world for anyone but themselves, and they're not good parents or they may not even want kids.
[00:17:56] Chad Willardson: That's fine, but there's a lot of people who want to follow someone who has a family. [00:18:00] And so I said, you know what? I've got five kids. I'm happily married. Like I can be a good example to people out there who are younger or who are struggling. And so I just decided to lean into that. And. I mean, from LinkedIn, it's gotten to the point where it sounds weird, but wherever we go, someone's coming up to me and you can ask my wife and kids.
[00:18:18] Chad Willardson: We've been in a small tour in Italy. We've been on the beach in Hawaii. I was in Jerusalem in a hotel. It doesn't matter somewhere. Someone's from LinkedIn and they're like, Hey man, I follow your stuff. And they always say something really positive, which keeps me going because I invest a lot of time on LinkedIn doing what I do.
[00:18:37] Chad Willardson: So,
[00:18:40] Stacy Havener: and I, On a much smaller scale can relate to that.
[00:18:44] Chad Willardson: Well, you do great stuff on linkedin as well. Everyone talks about your phone your stuff
[00:18:48] Stacy Havener: Yeah, and it's pretty surreal When someone comes up to you you're like, oh my gosh, this is definitely surreal But it goes back to something you said earlier, which is when you meet people, they [00:19:00] feel like they already know you.
[00:19:01] Chad Willardson: Correct.
[00:19:02] Stacy Havener: And in some ways, if we go back to this whole, like your client is the hero and you're their guide, and yet there's tons of guides that they could potentially choose, how much work LinkedIn is doing for you before you get down to sort of that selection that they have to make, because they come into the meeting with Chad and maybe it's the first meeting, but it's not the first time they've seen you, heard you, read about your stuff, seen your family.
[00:19:29] Stacy Havener: So, so much of that work is kind of done.
[00:19:33] Chad Willardson: It's beyond that, because the meetings aren't even with me anymore.
[00:19:37] Stacy Havener: Not even the first one. No,
[00:19:39] Chad Willardson: they don't even care. People are, they already know who I am and they know what I stand for. They read books and seen podcasts and seen LinkedIn and they just want to work with our company.
[00:19:48] Stacy Havener: That's so great.
[00:19:50] Chad Willardson: So I'm out of 95 percent of all meetings here.
[00:19:54] Stacy Havener: And when you think about our industry and how sort of [00:20:00] suit and tie and all the things like you think you got to wear the clothes and talk the talk and why do you think more people are reluctant to do kind of what you're doing?
[00:20:10] Chad Willardson: Because I think people are trying to be someone they're not.
[00:20:14] Chad Willardson: They're trying to fit a role. And when you're trying to fit a role, you're doing what everyone thinks you should look like, what everyone thinks you should say, what everyone thinks you should wear, and like, I'll have typos in my Instagram posts all the time, and people will message to me and I'm like, I know, but
[00:20:30] Stacy Havener: But I'm a real person!
[00:20:31] Stacy Havener: I
[00:20:32] Chad Willardson: probably have a typo every single
[00:20:34] Stacy Havener: day,
[00:20:35] Chad Willardson: and I'm told about it, even my daughter's just like, Dad, you misspelled this, and I'm like, I don't care, like, whatever. So I just come as I am. And I think that it does, it comes with criticism. If you're going to be in the public spotlight, you have to be willing to take criticism and just, you can't inhale the praise.
[00:20:54] Stacy Havener: Oh, what a phrase.
[00:20:55] Chad Willardson: Yeah. If you inhale the praise, you're going to inhale the criticism. [00:21:00] And so I don't inhale either. I just do what I do. And hopefully the right people come this direction, like on Instagram, on some of my sponsor business posts. I get so much hate. And what's funny to me is it's always about me being tan.
[00:21:15] Chad Willardson: I'm like, why are these guys, why are these guys so obsessed with me having a tan face? I've never, I've never faked hand in my life. Like I live where the sun is. I love going outside to the beach and like literally I just get trolled daily on social media for my tan. I'm just like,
[00:21:32] Stacy Havener: that is It's unbelievably funny to me.
[00:21:35] Chad Willardson: And I don't delete the hate comments. I always reply to them. I have fun with them. I mean, if people are cussing and stuff, I'll delete it. But if, if they're just making fun of me, like I will always have fun back because I've gotten to the point where like, I just, frankly, it doesn't bother me. Like whatever.
[00:21:49] Stacy Havener: Yeah.
[00:21:50] Chad Willardson: You can say what you want, but.
[00:21:51] Stacy Havener: Well, you've stepped so solidly and strongly into your authenticity and you own it. And I think that goes to like part [00:22:00] of the vibe and probably why entrepreneurs are attracted to Pacific Capital and they feel like you're someone that they can talk to. And I want to switch gears a little bit to your most recent book, which I think is your fifth book.
[00:22:13] Chad Willardson: It is. Yeah. Is that right? Yeah.
[00:22:15] Stacy Havener: Okay, so your fifth book, which is Wealth Wired Differently, and it's really around this idea, entrepreneurs perhaps should be getting advice from other entrepreneurs because they're wired differently. So speak to that a little bit.
[00:22:30] Chad Willardson: I think there's a massive language barrier between financial people and entrepreneurs.
[00:22:35] Chad Willardson: Financial Professionals are typically very rigid and flexible. They have boxes to check. They have checklists, they have rules, guidelines, and they have rules of thumb and standards and things that, but entrepreneurs don't fit in a box. Entrepreneurs don't color within the lines. Don't tell an entrepreneur what they can't do.
[00:22:53] Chad Willardson: And, uh, they're, they're going to get frustrated, right? So. So the challenge that I've heard for so long is [00:23:00] that entrepreneurs feel restricted and they feel tension. They don't feel that alignment with their financial people. And so I wrote this book at the encouragement of our mutual friend, Chad Johnson, and a couple others who said, you've got to share the story of what the advantages are.
[00:23:18] Chad Willardson: When entrepreneurs work with other entrepreneurs, like you understand them, you happen to be in the financial industry, but really, like, if someone says, Chad, what do you do for work? I'm definitely saying I'm using the word entrepreneur very early on, more than the financial stuff.
[00:23:33] Stacy Havener: Yeah,
[00:23:34] Chad Willardson: because at heart, that's really what I am.
[00:23:36] Chad Willardson: I just happen to have a specialty in wealth management and coaching and mentorship, but heart of hearts, like I'm an entrepreneur. And so I speak that language. I don't speak the corporate Wall Street stuff. And so I think there's a massive advantage when you can have that same language, same DNA, same thought patterns and be flexible and understanding with [00:24:00] the way an entrepreneur's brain works.
[00:24:02] Stacy Havener: Gosh, I'm laughing because so much of that resonates. And it's true. And honestly, it's like, why hasn't this book been written before? Like, thank goodness you wrote it. Even when I think about the asset management side, like with boutique founders and fund managers, this is one of the things that we coach them on early on in the process.
[00:24:22] Stacy Havener: It's like, I know you want every big institutional investor as your client. I got it. But like, they're not going to take a flyer on a startup. So wrong time to approach them. However. The early adopters are typically entrepreneurs and oh, by the way, you boutique fund manager are now an entrepreneur too.
[00:24:44] Stacy Havener: And what happens when those two people sit down and talk, you know, an RIA or a family office, who's looking to allocate capital boutique fund manager, who spun out of summer to start their own business. You're so right. It's not really about like, What we do
[00:24:59] Chad Willardson: know [00:25:00]
[00:25:00] Stacy Havener: it's more about like our journeys and who we are and what's important to us and
[00:25:04] Chad Willardson: and how you see the future is how you see the future together.
[00:25:07] Chad Willardson: What ideas do you think are exciting together? That's where you're going to find common languages with your investors and your clients is when you get on that journey with them on the path like. It's the difference between a travel guide and a travel agent, which I talk about in the book. A travel guide has been on the path or is on the same path.
[00:25:24] Stacy Havener: Yes. A
[00:25:25] Chad Willardson: travel agent is just on the phone selling something transactionally that they haven't even perhaps experienced themselves. You know, as a father of five kids, I don't take parenting advice from someone with no kids, I just don't, I don't take fitness advice from someone who's unhealthy. So if as an entrepreneur, I'm taking advice from people who are on that path or who've been on that path and they've shown me, they know what they're doing.
[00:25:48] Chad Willardson: And so when you can relate as a fund manager or as an RA owner or whatever, to your investors and clients. It's not about the systems of business you're doing together. It's about how you see [00:26:00] everything differently than the rest of the world.
[00:26:01] Stacy Havener: Yes. And that's the missing piece for so many people in our business because they're scared of it.
[00:26:08] Stacy Havener: They're scared of it. And they want to talk about the what. And they want to be like you're on this side of the table and I'm on this side of the table, not we're on a journey together and here's where we're going and it's crazy when that clicks for someone like when they realize they can go into a meeting and they don't have to have a presentation and point to like 20 slides and because the investors like this is not what I want.
[00:26:32] Stacy Havener: Why are you doing this?
[00:26:34] Chad Willardson: That's true. Very well said
[00:26:36] Stacy Havener: and it's freeing.
[00:26:37] Chad Willardson: Very liberating.
[00:26:38] Stacy Havener: It's freeing when you don't have to do that. Yeah,
[00:26:40] Chad Willardson: when you can just be yourself. It's very liberating. You don't have to be putting on a show or trying to impress somebody like that. I think also people appreciate just straight truth answers both sides of the coin.
[00:26:55] Chad Willardson: Here's the upside. Here's the downside. Like people want to hear the actual That's cool. Just authentic [00:27:00] answers. They don't want to hear the presentation and the pitch. They already have their wall up. They're already skeptical. So just talk to them like a real person who's has probably similar viewpoints on how business and money should work.
[00:27:12] Stacy Havener: Yeah, and that travel guide versus travel agent is so great. And it brings me back to our earlier conversation about personal brand. Because again, how can I choose you as the guide? How can I know that you're on the journey if you don't let me in?
[00:27:25] Chad Willardson: Right. It's true.
[00:27:26] Stacy Havener: If that's one of my requirements and you don't let me in, then how do I know that you're the person I want to pick, that you're the person whose hand I want to hold as we go to where I want to go?
[00:27:36] Stacy Havener: And that, that all ties together for me. I'm curious, just randomly as a marketing person, how much have the books helped you in your business growth?
[00:27:45] Chad Willardson: That's a good question. It's really hard to measure.
[00:27:48] Stacy Havener: Yeah,
[00:27:49] Chad Willardson: but I think the books are very solidifying as far as its credibility. But I mean, LinkedIn is great.
[00:27:56] Chad Willardson: But when you can say I've got five best selling books and [00:28:00] people can read it and it's very well presented. I think it helps a lot. So we've definitely had people call us and become clients. Who first located us through a book, we had a client, someone in Guatemala. I thought it was a fake inquiry. We got like a, a message on our website saying they wanted to schedule a zoom.
[00:28:19] Chad Willardson: And I'm like, this has to be fake, but the guy read, he got some newsletter, like the top 20 books in 2020 for business finance. And my book was on the list. He read the Kindle in English, his second language scheduled a meeting. And he has tens of millions of dollars from his businesses all over Guatemala and like that's stuff that I never could have dreamed of, but it wouldn't have happened without a book.
[00:28:41] Stacy Havener: Isn't that wild? And what about the podcast? Like now I kind of have to know all the different pieces of your marketing engine.
[00:28:48] Chad Willardson: Yeah, I don't know that I get a ton of traction from the podcast. I get a lot of good feedback, but I don't know that that's like to my target target audience. That's more to parents and families.
[00:28:59] Stacy Havener: Yeah,
[00:28:59] Chad Willardson: but I [00:29:00] think all of it combined people can Google my name and then see what they whatever platform they want to discover who I really am. And I think that's where they can figure out, like, do I like this guy or do I not like this guy? And is he a fit or not? So
[00:29:13] Stacy Havener: totally. Yeah, I've been playing with this sort of.
[00:29:16] Stacy Havener: You know, I like everything in threes as I think most of our brains do, but it's kind of like authority, which you have to establish. And then you need to build an audience. And it's from that audience that you end up finding sort of your true fans. So it's like authority, audience, and then AUM. And I think so many people in our biz just focus on like, no, I just want the AUM.
[00:29:38] Stacy Havener: And it's like, yeah, but that doesn't, that's not an option. Yeah. You know, straight up into the right is just not available. Right. So. Right. All the pieces have to be in place for you to build the business that you want.
[00:29:50] Chad Willardson: Yeah, people come to us because of the brand. No doubt.
[00:29:54] Stacy Havener: Yeah,
[00:29:55] Chad Willardson: I do speak in engagements Like i'm speaking at a couple big conferences at the end of the year [00:30:00] again and the books the newsletter I send out three free newsletters a week.
[00:30:04] Chad Willardson: I post on linkedin seven days a week So I do probably 150 to 200 podcasts a year as a guest You I write at least one article for entrepreneur magazine every month, one for Forbes every month. So there's a lot of content attached to my name that are out there that people can see what I think. So if someone says, Hey, I want to go grab coffee and pick your brain.
[00:30:27] Chad Willardson: I'm like, there's a million things out there. You can pick my brain from that. And I don't drink coffee anyway, so we're not going to get coffee.
[00:30:37] Stacy Havener: That's amazing. So if I'm listening to this, I'm thinking, oh my gosh, how on earth are you doing all that?
[00:30:47] Chad Willardson: Yeah. Is that what you're thinking?
[00:30:49] Stacy Havener: Well, I know, cause I'm with you in strategic coach, but if I'm taking notes and I'm saying, okay, like I'm going to take a page out of Chad's playbook about his marketing playbook, and then they're [00:31:00] writing down all these things and then they're going, I can't do all this.
[00:31:03] Chad Willardson: I mean, it's not an easy, I can't tell you that it's easy. I can't tell you that it's not a lot. But it's in my unique ability, and I enjoy creating and simplifying content in the financial space and entrepreneur space. And I have great team members around me, so they support me a lot. They make it easy so I can show up and just do what I do, and I don't have to deal with so many other things.
[00:31:29] Chad Willardson: I have two full time local executive assistants. I have one remote executive assistant. So I have a lot of support doing so many things so I can focus on, you know, the most important high impact activities of our businesses.
[00:31:44] Stacy Havener: Would you say that's one of your most important lessons on the journey of being an entrepreneur is finding those?
[00:31:49] Stacy Havener: Who's
[00:31:50] Chad Willardson: yeah Who not how principle is critical. I mean having great people around me has made a big difference I've made mistakes in hiring and firing, but I've I would say I've [00:32:00] evolved and continually upgraded every time and it's made a huge difference
[00:32:03] Stacy Havener: Yeah, that's also when you first become an entrepreneur, you're like, how does anyone do all of the things because now I've got to make sure the lights are on and all.
[00:32:11] Stacy Havener: And so when they hear you talking about, you know, you're so in your unique ability, they're probably thinking how?
[00:32:19] Chad Willardson: Yeah. So the book Buying Back Your Time, I think that's what it's called, talks about how entrepreneurs, the first thing you should do as an entrepreneur when you earn some money. Is buy back your time, which means find great people to take things off of your task list.
[00:32:35] Chad Willardson: And I've been obsessively doing that for a long time. So there's not a lot of things that I do anymore, unless it's like the super high impact, valuable stuff. Personally and professionally, my wife will even tease me sometimes and be like your assistant really does this for you. And I'm like, yes, she does.
[00:32:53] Chad Willardson: She's like, you really can't schedule your own haircuts. And I say, I don't schedule my own haircuts. So sorry, [00:33:00] like someone else runs my calendar. And she's like, I'm really going to have to go through your assistance. I'm like, no, you can, you can text me or tap me in the bedroom, but so, but I'm an extreme believer in teamwork, collaboration, delegation.
[00:33:15] Chad Willardson: I don't need to be involved in lots of things and I'm fine not being involved. So
[00:33:19] Stacy Havener: yeah, it's huge. I'm curious what other lessons you would have or learnings, challenges, advice you would have for people who are founders in this biz, particularly first, because I think some of the nuances we're talking about compliance and all the reasons you can kind of sort of scare yourself into conformity.
[00:33:41] Chad Willardson: Yeah, I think that's that is part of it is being willing to be authentic and being open. Being yourself, admitting mistakes. I think financial people who pretend like they've always made perfect decisions and they have a perfect track record of investing like [00:34:00] that, no one believes that. And so be willing to be a real human, get out of jargon.
[00:34:05] Chad Willardson: I think that's one lesson I've really, really differentiated myself on is like, I refuse to allow anyone here. To use jargon words with clients, potential clients, presentations. It doesn't matter. Like I'm like, take that out. If a seventh grader or an old great grandmother can't figure out what that means, then do not say it.
[00:34:25] Chad Willardson: You need to speak in regular people language. Even if someone has a hundred, 200 million, like speak like a person. Don't speak like a financial robot.
[00:34:37] Stacy Havener: Yes. Two great pieces of advice. And then how about one for just entrepreneurs in general, if there's something beyond that, like going outside of financial services now.
[00:34:49] Chad Willardson: Entrepreneurs in general, you need to be in groups and communities with people like you, you need to be sharpening the saw. I just talked about maybe sharpening the ax. Like I just made a post about [00:35:00] that where like, you have to do things that keep you working on your business and staying sharp. That's why I love my business elevated.
[00:35:10] Chad Willardson: Elevating the lifestyle and elevating the success of entrepreneurs to me, it's like super exciting. Like I just, I think about it all the time and um, you have to be in groups where people are pushing you, where you have accountability, you're being mentored and coached, you're being held accountable and you're being just pushed to be great.
[00:35:30] Chad Willardson: You're, you're not surrounding yourself with people who's, who have no ambition.
[00:35:33] Stacy Havener: So I haven't seen you face to face since you launched elevated. So give me like the nutshell on it. I mean, I saw the website, which was great and it had the little bullet points. You have the weekly accountability. They have time with you.
[00:35:45] Stacy Havener: You had an outdoor event. That sounded fantastic. But sort of like, what's the premise of what you're working on together?
[00:35:50] Chad Willardson: Yeah, the premise is building. A community of very tightly connected entrepreneurs, coaching them on principles that are very action [00:36:00] oriented. So this group is not focused on philosophies, it's not, it's not a bunch of talking, it's more action based, it's, it's how quickly can we get to results and outcomes.
[00:36:14] Chad Willardson: And so I'm, I'm really not a, a long talker. I'm more of a doer when it comes to goals and business things. Like I'd rather say, let's pause a meeting and make a phone call and just make progress while we're sitting here. Like, that's how I feel about it. Yeah. And so this, this, this coaching program is where I'm doing two zoom sessions with a group per month.
[00:36:36] Chad Willardson: And I've got some amazing coaches that are trained and certified. Some of them have master's degrees in coaching and they are doing weekly accountability. Some of our clients and members have daily texting where they're checking in for accountability goals they're reaching for. What's cool is the success stories, just 10 X growth in the last just few months of the first part of 20, 24th [00:37:00] program.
[00:37:00] Chad Willardson: We have a client who signed a deal that literally 10 X does income. We have another client who just got like a 6 million deal the day after the event where we were talking about putting yourself in a different mindset to dream big. And on the way to the airport, he figures out something, makes a phone call and signs a 6 million deal.
[00:37:20] Chad Willardson: And he's just, he, I had him share the story last week on our zoom session. He's just like, there's no way this happens if we didn't have this, this, and this in our mastermind session. And so it's just bringing amazing growth focused people together and being deeply involved in what their actual goals are.
[00:37:37] Chad Willardson: So Elevated is not a group where we have events and then go back for months and then come back and have events. We're actually like extremely involved personally in helping you achieve specific goals.
[00:37:50] Stacy Havener: That was going to be my question. So thank you for clarifying because I think that is often missing a lot of the coaching programs.
[00:37:57] Stacy Havener: They're fantastic. They teach you the theories and they [00:38:00] give you the tools, but there's. There's not one that I've seen yet where it's like, no, you tell me the goal and I and what let's work on how we're going to get there. And then I'm going to hold you accountable to correct.
[00:38:09] Chad Willardson: It's it's extremely hands on.
[00:38:12] Chad Willardson: It's very accountable. And in some cases, I've said like, look, let's actually pause the session and help crowd solve this situation. So someone had a problem. They were trying to figure out funding for a business. And I paused him and I said, let's open it up to the group. And We had so many different ideas coming in and eventually it turned into like people who had a connection.
[00:38:34] Chad Willardson: Hey, I'm going to introduce you to them. I'm going to text you this person's info. This guy on LinkedIn, I know like we solve the person's situation in five minutes. And I'm like, you know how valuable that was? Like we could crowdsource solutions all the time.
[00:38:47] Stacy Havener: I love that phrase. I feel like you need to make that something.
[00:38:50] Chad Willardson: I know I do. I've said it a lot. It's a good
[00:38:52] Stacy Havener: one. Yeah, crowdsource solutions. That's really good.
[00:38:56] Chad Willardson: Okay, cool.
[00:38:57] Stacy Havener: Okay, can I switch gears a little bit? I have a [00:39:00] couple questions to end with, which are a riff of Proust's questionnaire, which they're questions designed to get to know you a little bit more, though you've been very forthcoming with your story, and I appreciate that.
[00:39:11] Stacy Havener: Okay, we'll start with the, I don't know if this is going to be easy for you, because Right and read a lot of books, but what book what book inspires you?
[00:39:21] Chad Willardson: Oh, man. Uh, I Sheesh, I read a lot of books The one that the staple that you and I both talk about is 10x is easier than 2x I dance all of an invention already and it's just To me, it's one that I'll continually go back to reread because it just reinforces a massive growth mindset and ways that I can shed things that I don't want to bring with me into the future.
[00:39:48] Chad Willardson: So I would have to say that book.
[00:39:49] Stacy Havener: And can you just summarize? It's such a good book. I swear, like, I carry it around me. Dog eared pages and notes all in it. But, and I'll even challenge my team sometimes with that 10 [00:40:00] X question, but can you share the whole premise around like why 10 X is easier in terms of how many solutions there are?
[00:40:06] Chad Willardson: Yeah, there are fewer pathways to grow by 10 times than there are to grow by two times. So the clarity is, is magnified. When you reach way beyond what you're capable of today, you have more clarity and you have fewer pathways. So it's, it's like, you know, exactly how to get there. If you have just mediocre goals or incremental goals, there's so many different ways you can get there.
[00:40:33] Chad Willardson: And it's, it's confusing to find the right path, but if I have this, if I have to just completely transform, like, for example, if I was significantly overweight and I want to lose 100 pounds in six months, there's not a, like, I'm going to have to do some very serious things and very specific things to reach that ridiculous, insane timeframe goal.
[00:40:55] Chad Willardson: If I say I want to lose two pounds in a year, I mean, I could do lots of different things. And it may or [00:41:00] may not work and whatever, but the clarity that's forced by these incredibly ambitious goals, I think really makes it easy because you just say, this is my only path to get there and I have to do what it takes.
[00:41:11] Stacy Havener: Yeah, so good. Everyone needs to read that book. I agree. Okay, switching. This one might be hard for you too. I don't know. Switching from books to places, what place inspires you?
[00:41:25] Chad Willardson: Ooh, what place inspires me? To me, it's, uh, it's Caribbean water. It's just bright, bright, clear water with, uh, warm temperatures and the sun and sand and some good fish tacos.
[00:41:40] Chad Willardson: So, I, I love It's because you
[00:41:43] Stacy Havener: want to work on your tan.
[00:41:44] Chad Willardson: Yeah, exactly. I'm a, I'm a sun seeker. I'm a sun seeker. So
[00:41:49] Stacy Havener: for all your fans, I got
[00:41:51] Chad Willardson: to stay tan, otherwise they have nothing to hate me on, I guess.
[00:41:55] Stacy Havener: It's so true. And I think the ocean, gosh, the ocean and [00:42:00] the horizon is so inspiring and hopeful. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:42:04] Stacy Havener: Okay. Now you're doing your speaking engagements. You're speaking to a big crowd of entrepreneurs. You're about to walk out onto the stage. What song do they play? What's your walkout anthem?
[00:42:17] Chad Willardson: Oh, dang, that's a hard one. Wow. What is my walkout song? Sheesh. I don't know. I want to hear what other people said on that one.
[00:42:29] Chad Willardson: That's a good one. Oh,
[00:42:30] Stacy Havener: it's this is one of the best because some of the most like, you know, sort of stayed conservative people will be like, Drop some rap song and you're like, that's it. I can't believe it.
[00:42:41] Chad Willardson: I mean, I, I, I like almost almost any kind of music. Like I love, I love classic rock. I love, uh, 90s hip hop.
[00:42:53] Stacy Havener: I
[00:42:53] Chad Willardson: love, uh, I love stuff even like more modern, like imagine dragons and
[00:42:58] Stacy Havener: I like Imagine Dragons too. [00:43:00] Thunder's a great amp up song.
[00:43:01] Chad Willardson: Yeah, that's true. That's true. Some of those songs are great. I would go back to something like Paradise City, something like that, you know?
[00:43:09] Stacy Havener: That's very, that's so perfect. That should totally be your walkout
[00:43:12] Chad Willardson: anthem.
[00:43:12] Chad Willardson: 80s, 80s music to 80s and 90s, early 90s, anything from that era.
[00:43:17] Stacy Havener: Paradise City?
[00:43:18] Chad Willardson: Paradise City.
[00:43:19] Stacy Havener: That'd get the crowd going. That's
[00:43:21] Chad Willardson: right.
[00:43:21] Stacy Havener: Okay. What profession other than your own Would you like to attempt?
[00:43:27] Chad Willardson: Oh, would I like to attempt, like, realistically?
[00:43:30] Stacy Havener: Yes, but also interesting because you have other professions.
[00:43:34] Stacy Havener: Because you are a multi preneur.
[00:43:35] Chad Willardson: I mean, I, I got into the sports business because I love sports and all my kids play. So that's one that I attempted and it's worked. I started, we started that in 2018, I think, fall of 2018. So I'm in coaching and wealth management and sports. Beyond that, I don't know. I don't, there's nothing.
[00:43:55] Chad Willardson: I, I know what I wouldn't do. I wouldn't do anything that's,
[00:43:57] Stacy Havener: Oh, that's my next question. You can't jump though. [00:44:00] Yeah.
[00:44:03] Chad Willardson: I don't think I would try another profession. I mean, I, with, with everything I have going on with authorship, real estate, wealth management, sports coaching, like I feel like my plate is plenty full.
[00:44:17] Stacy Havener: Okay. There's no room for another profession right now. We're putting an X on that one. Okay. So next question is, what profession would you not like to do?
[00:44:26] Chad Willardson: Anything that involves anything building, anything construction, anything handyman. Um, I'm a one implementer on the Colby score, so I'm pretty much useless.
[00:44:38] Stacy Havener: I'm not, I don't mean to laugh.
[00:44:39] Chad Willardson: Yeah, I can't do anything. I can't, I can't hang a mirror. Or picture straight. So anything to do with animals, I'm not a reptile. We just had a spider, I guess, in the office today and someone wanted me to get it. And I was like, that's a hard no. So anything with animals [00:45:00] and anything with like building and stuff, yeah, I'm out.
[00:45:03] Chad Willardson: So,
[00:45:05] Stacy Havener: now, so are any of your kids handy?
[00:45:07] Chad Willardson: Absolutely. Yeah. My wife is, my wife is extremely handy and a couple of kids are just like her. They can build stuff, take stuff apart. You know, I have to ask them.
[00:45:18] Stacy Havener: Yeah.
[00:45:19] Chad Willardson: Like someone know how to work this remote control because I don't know what I'm doing here. Someone come over.
[00:45:24] Stacy Havener: Oh my God. The spider is so good.
[00:45:26] Chad Willardson: Yeah.
[00:45:26] Stacy Havener: Okay. Last question. What do you want people to say about you after you've retired or left the industry?
[00:45:35] Chad Willardson: Here's a twist on that one. I'm not retiring or leaving the industry.
[00:45:38] Stacy Havener: I knew it. I was like, shoot, I should, I should have added that question. I'm not leaving.
[00:45:44] Chad Willardson: It's like, uh, what's his name?
[00:45:45] Chad Willardson: Leonardo. I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving. I, I don't, uh, I mean, I love what I do and I, it's, it's not taxing to me, so, but what my reputation, I hope that my reputation is that, uh, I was [00:46:00] always someone who aimed for success to help teach and inspire people while also maintaining healthy family relationships.
[00:46:08] Chad Willardson: Like to me, I don't ever want to be known as someone who's financially successful without my family attached to it. That's very important to me.
[00:46:15] Stacy Havener: And that's something that a lot of people sacrifice, isn't it? Yes. On their journey. Well, you're living it. You are, you are leading by example, Chad. Thank you so much for being here.
[00:46:26] Stacy Havener: It's been a pleasure. You made me cry, laugh, which is always like my favorite thing, hanging out with my friends and it's been a gift to our listeners. So thank you so much.
[00:46:34] Chad Willardson: Thank you for having me.
[00:46:35] Stacy Havener: This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.
[00:46:41] Stacy Havener: The information is not an offer, solicitation, or recommendation of any of the funds, services, or products, or to adopt any investment strategy. Investment values may fluctuate, and past performance is not a guide to future performance. All opinions expressed by guests on the show are solely their own opinion and do not necessarily [00:47:00] reflect those at their firm.
[00:47:01] Stacy Havener: Manager's appearance on the show does not constitute an endorsement by Stacey Havener or Havener Capital Partners.
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